rhythmically odd folk music, it's mathy mondays!
Nick Drake - River Man
Ok, I was going to finally break out the totally insane tech death metal shit today, but this just isn't a totally insane tech death metal kind of morning, so we are going with something a bit more relaxing. River Man is in 5/4, maybe the chillest of the non-standard odd meters, and, while it's not the mathiest thing ever, that is pretty weird for folk music right? More importantly, it is great. The strumming pattern creates kind of a stepping motion, as the song's subject, Betty, either steps through or imagines exploring the river, which then flows around her in lush string arrangements by Robert Kirby (who arranged like every frickin British prog folk album ever) and Harry Robertson. Listen to this while walking around on a foggy morning in Cambridge, where Drake probably wrote a lot of this album; or just close your eyes, and pretend you're in Narnia. Sometimes math can pop up in the strangest places.
Also: two big posts comin, and a mix (which is proving to be annoying to upload intact), so stay tuned!
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