# Tigran Hamasyan - Jazz +world music +meshuggah +fempop



## wankerness (Oct 19, 2013)

Just thought I'd share this on the off-chance someone else here was interested. This is Tigran Hamsyan's latest album and it's easily my favorite yet - it's called "Shadow Theater." He's a jazz pianist that's done some really interesting genre melding - it's primarily some kind of jazz/Armenian ethnic music on many tracks but he has openly admitted to being inspired by Meshuggah (some of the other tracks are more prevalent with this, especially on the "Red Hail" album), and this album is far more vocally-driven than his early ones. As you can tell, this song is more on the prog-metal side of things than the Armenian/Jazz side. I absolutely love this style of vocals, and many of the tracks are split with male/female vocals layered over each other. The female vocals tend to be a bit more standard and the male ones more world music-influenced.

I absolutely love this and as someone who's a die-hard fan of Meshuggah, Tori Amos, Pat Metheny, Imogen Heap, Pain of Salvation's early stuff, and Maria Schneider Orchestra this is just like the most perfect music I've ever heard. 

WARNING: no guitar, just electric bass


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## in-pursuit (Oct 19, 2013)

why, hello there music that I don't know how I lived without up until this point. thanks for sharing!


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## concertjunkie (Oct 19, 2013)

I feel like you would enjoy this band as well:



and thank you so frickin much for sharing this! I love unique blends like this.


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## wankerness (Oct 19, 2013)

concertjunkie said:


> I feel like you would enjoy this band as well:



Yep, that was pretty entertaining. I'll have to get their whole album.

For a midpoint between this song and Tigran Hamsyan I'd recommend Matt Ulery's album "By A Little Light," it's got some accordion and xylophone weirdness combined with film score influence but is generally categorized as jazz. He has a singer on a bunch of songs but not this one:



If you can find it, "Gone As It Always Was" is my favorite on the album, the only one on youtube is an odd live version featuring Kurt Rosenwinkel and with a stripped down arrangement featuring accordion:



"The Miniaturist" is also really great:

The Miniaturist | Matt Ulery


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## bigswifty (Oct 19, 2013)

Holy shit!!

That was incredible, very cool stuff, and a refreshing change of pace from what normally goes around these boards. Thanks for posting


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## HumanFuseBen (Oct 20, 2013)

listening now.... good lord this is amazing!!!!!!! Never heard anything like this, i'm buying it for sure.
It's like Mats Morgan jamming with Imogen Heap.


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## Rojne (Oct 20, 2013)

Thank you so much for this thread!


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## Murmel (Oct 20, 2013)

My face when it took off  (in a positive way) Definitely wasn't expecting that.
Very different and very cool. Thanks for sharing.


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## spawnofthesith (Oct 20, 2013)

I love Hamasyan, he's going to be hear in town on the 30th, I definitely want to catch him if I get the chance


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## wankerness (Oct 20, 2013)

HumanFuseBen said:


> listening now.... good lord this is amazing!!!!!!! Never heard anything like this, i'm buying it for sure.
> It's like Mats Morgan jamming with Imogen Heap.



Glad to see some other people have liked this!

Unfortunately it has no US distribution yet  It's on itunes but only in France and a couple other Euro countries. So basically, there's currently no way to legally acquire it in the United States. Ridiculous. Record labels ftw. I'll buy it as soon as it's available, but his EP from two years ago STILL isn't available in the US and I've never seen an import for sale either. I'm guessing you might be able to get them at his live shows.

Here's one of the slightly more restrained tracks on the album:



Here's something from his previous EP (also not available in the US) which is really nuts but seems like a test run for this album, it's not quite as good as most of Shadow Theater:



And here are two live videos. The first is one of the slow ballads on the album and the second is a greatly extended version of one of the more complex ones. The bass player is pretty stunning.


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## wankerness (Oct 20, 2013)

spawnofthesith said:


> I love Hamasyan, he's going to be hear in town on the 30th, I definitely want to catch him if I get the chance



If you go, let me know if you can get his new album there! This is seriously my favorite jazz album of all time already and I must own it  Unfortunately for me, it looks like his only US dates coming up are Seattle and Denver.

EDIT: Hmm, looks like you might be able to get it off Amazon.fr currently (the hard copy, anyway, not sure if the mp3 will work) and it's supposedly going to have a US release in a month or two. I WILL WAIT!

http://www.amazon.fr/Shadow-Theater...id=1382303355&sr=8-1&keywords=tigran+hamasyan


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## spawnofthesith (Oct 20, 2013)

If I make it to the show, I'll definitely let you know (and pick up a copy for sure), depending on whats going on with work, I might have already left for a long weekend in Colorado Springs :/ 

We shall see though!


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## Lava Joe (Oct 20, 2013)

Interesting stuff .

Thanks for the post!


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## Kroaton (Oct 21, 2013)

I've been a Tigran fan for a huge while now, nice to see other fans of his out there.

Nate Wood, the monster drummer on Red Hail, also has a really cool jazz band called Kneebody (give the tune a bit of time to build up).

He also sometimes plays bass and drums at the same time.

I'll just throw these out there and leave.






ninjaedit: Forgot about these guys with this mind bending rollercoaster of a song - The Anthropologists of Nosy Mangabe - Universe And Chorus


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## gorthul (Oct 21, 2013)

Excellent tune, thanks for sharing this.


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## Opion (Oct 21, 2013)

I remember listening to something off of Red Hail, thank you so much for posting this thread! Vardavar really is blowing my mind. I wish that EP was available in the US. Really awesome stuff!


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## wankerness (Oct 21, 2013)

Kroaton said:


> I've been a Tigran fan for a huge while now, nice to see other fans of his out there.
> 
> Nate Wood, the monster drummer on Red Hail, also has a really cool jazz band called Kneebody (give the tune a bit of time to build up).
> 
> ...



I heard of kneebody before somewhere, but either didn't know about/wasn't told about the Red Hail connection. That's pretty good stuff.

That bass vid pretty much blows my mind, I didn't know you could use a bow to get that kind of plucked sitar noise. 

The trumpeter is great, I"ll have to ask my brother about him.

That last song would be good if the singer didn't sound like that twit kat edmonson.


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## Kroaton (Oct 22, 2013)

Hah, I somehow dig her vocals even though they are peculiar as all .....

And the trumpeter is one of the only guys in the world who plays makams on the trumpet (microtonal embellishments), giving him the ability to play arabic and turkish music on the trumpet without compromises.


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## concertjunkie (Oct 28, 2013)

spawnofthesith said:


> If I make it to the show, I'll definitely let you know (and pick up a copy for sure), depending on whats going on with work, I might have already left for a long weekend in Colorado Springs :/
> 
> We shall see though!



I will be going definitely to the Tigran show wed, shoot me a message on here if you end up going! I have a copy of the new cd, Shadow Theater as well, which is frickin awesome

I feel like I've heard multiple influences from modern metal bands (track 2, Erishta, has a progression that is inexplicably similar to the "hook" in Tempting Time by Animals as Leaders. Very cool to see how that came out  )

Either way, ....ing stoked to see Tigran live, and even better that I found out about them before they came through denver this week


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## Enselmis (Oct 29, 2013)

concertjunkie said:


> I will be going definitely to the Tigran show wed, shoot me a message on here if you end up going! I have a copy of the new cd, Shadow Theater as well, which is frickin awesome
> 
> I feel like I've heard multiple influences from modern metal bands (track 2, Erishta, has a progression that is inexplicably similar to the "hook" in Tempting Time by Animals as Leaders. Very cool to see how that came out  )
> 
> Either way, ....ing stoked to see Tigran live, and even better that I found out about them before they came through denver this week



Yo, where'd you get the album? I can't find a physical copy.


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## guitareben (Oct 29, 2013)

Oh my, thank you for introducing me to this wonderful music


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## wankerness (Oct 29, 2013)

concertjunkie said:


> I will be going definitely to the Tigran show wed, shoot me a message on here if you end up going! I have a copy of the new cd, Shadow Theater as well, which is frickin awesome
> 
> I feel like I've heard multiple influences from modern metal bands (track 2, Erishta, has a progression that is inexplicably similar to the "hook" in Tempting Time by Animals as Leaders. Very cool to see how that came out  )
> 
> Either way, ....ing stoked to see Tigran live, and even better that I found out about them before they came through denver this week



The pt1/pt2 song def has some modern metal in it, too. I wouldn't be surprised if he's listened to some animals as leaders. Here's an interview from a few years ago: An Interview with Tigran Hamasyan | Nextbop



> MK: I take Arabic at school, so I try to listen to some of these people and musicians. Speaking of Swedish music, I read that you like Meshuggah. Do you like any other metal bands?
> 
> TH: Yeah, I like Tool, I like Apex Theory, and yeah, Meshuggah. But I mean, I like the energy of these bands. But also Im really into Meshuggah and Tool because of their creativeness. Theyre incredible musicians. Rhythmically, its insane. They have a concept.
> 
> ...


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## concertjunkie (Oct 30, 2013)

Enselmis said:


> Yo, where'd you get the album? I can't find a physical copy.



I don't have a physical copy, I managed to get a digital copy from a friend..


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## DavidLopezJr (Oct 30, 2013)

So much goodness, thanks guys!


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## twizza (Oct 30, 2013)

Digging this immensely


Excellent. I will be seeing him in PDX in a week or so.


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## concertjunkie (Oct 31, 2013)

just got home, saw Tigran in Denver tonight. For any one remotely interested in seeing them live, PLEASE GO FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!
I decided to record audio of the entire set, missed the first song or so but managed to get about an hour of audio on my iphone, but this cant truly contain the essence of the calibre of show put on. I felt about the same rush I did watching this trio play (Tigran on piano/vocals/synth, a bassist and drummer) as I do going to metal shows. In fact, I would say this felt like progressive groovy metal show... done with piano and no guitars. The phrasing and emotion this guy puts into his playing is so raw and intense, definitely one of the best, if not THE best show I've been to this year.. possibly ever.

I will find some way to upload these audio files very soon, since this was a true spectacle to experience/see/listen to, and someone else needs to understand even a fraction of how awesome this was.

edit: uploading to my cubby now
when it is done uploading in the morning, i will post the links here for you all to enjoy


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## concertjunkie (Oct 31, 2013)

https://www.cubby.com/pl/Tigran/_fce020ba7a6a45a0b1073f87e3d7e449

parts one and two of the set last night!


another big thanks to the OP for creating this thread. \m/


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## wankerness (Oct 31, 2013)

concertjunkie said:


> https://www.cubby.com/pl/Tigran/_fce020ba7a6a45a0b1073f87e3d7e449
> 
> parts one and two of the set last night!
> 
> ...



Thanks for uploading this - I'll download it when I go home at lunch. What stuff was he playing, if it was a trio?

EDIT: OK, I listened to this. It's awesome, thanks for uploading it! I didn't recognize many of the tracks and the ones I did were mostly nearly unrecognizable, which was kind of cool cause it was mostly very fresh.

PT 1:

1. ? End of something, sounds familiar but can't place it
2. Vardavar
3. INCREDIBLY deconstructed version of "road song," I recognized melodies but couldn't place them till he announced it at the end
4. Drip

PT 2:
1. It sounds like a weird cross of The Poet with Valse d'Amelie ?!?!?!?! Might be something else entirely.
2. Erishta
3. ?!??!?!?! 
4. Collapse/Alternate Universe, I think?! it's certainly VERY different from the album versions (hell of an encore, jeez)


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## Malkav (Nov 23, 2013)

Tigran is awesome!

Here are two staggeringly good videos of him performing stuff that's already in this thread:





Nice good quality "live-ish" videos  

Well one is live, the other seems like it is, but it's on a mountain or something


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## isispelican (Nov 23, 2013)

great stuff!


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## wankerness (Nov 23, 2013)

That court jester video is mindblowing, I had no idea they could pull that off so precisely live, and the quality of the recording (both video and audio) is totally professional. I'm pleasantly surprised he got that kind of treatment. I see that the same account also posted vids of Lament, Alternative Universe, and Hov Arek from that same concert! I can't understand their video descriptions, but I am wondering if there's some DVD or something this will all be on since they list the entire setlist. 

(Trio version of one of the most "metal" songs on the album, has a lot more improvisation than on the album, vocals and sax come in at about 8 minutes, "Collapse" starts at about 12 minutes, that poor singer!! I love the dubstep sounding pedal the bassist is using there, I have to get me one of those)

(I don't know this song, google suggests it's some traditional armenian song, it's not on any of his albums, it's a lot more electronica-influenced than anything on any of his albums, it's pretty cool)

(one of the ballads on the album, really gorgeous vocals, they went all out and hired some string players)


OH, by searching for Oleo Films mentioned in the description I found the entire concert:

Jazz à la Villette : Tigran "Shadow Theater" - ARTE Live Web

Well, I know what I'll be doing for the next hour or two. My favorite songs on the album besides The Court Jester are in this concert but not on youtube, (Seafarer, Road Song and The Poet).


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## jonajon91 (Dec 4, 2013)

I still cant get over how awesome this is. Incredible playing, incredible songwriting and they pull it all off live flawlessly with improvisation!


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## jonajon91 (Dec 4, 2013)

I still cant get over how freaking awesome this is, Incredible playing, incredible songwriting and they pull it all off flawlessly live with improvisation!



wankerness said:


>




Man 11:40 is so ....ing metal and getting in the zone after 10 minutes of piano solo, it just hits so hard!


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## Doug N (Dec 5, 2013)

This is incredible stuff, I literally hadn't ever even heard of this artist until yesterday. Love ss.org and the members here, thanks.


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## heregoesnothing (Dec 5, 2013)

So metal


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## Malkav (Dec 6, 2013)

Full concert of the above videos made it to youtube: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aa0XtJdHPvI


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## wankerness (Dec 6, 2013)

Malkav said:


> Full concert of the above videos made it to youtube:
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aa0XtJdHPvI



Ah, good, I'd been trying to download it off that french site but the stream always crapped out before the last song.

EDIT: Ewww, 360p, guess I'll keep the HD copy of the rest of the songs. Holy's probably the lamest song they played anyway.


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## Kroaton (Dec 7, 2013)

Tigran needs to get way more attention than he is receiving.


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## MartinMTL (Dec 7, 2013)

One of my favourite musicians at the moment. I can't wrap my head around how mind-blowing his compositions are. The whole Shadow Theater concert is amazing.


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## Malkav (Feb 19, 2014)

Bumping this with more mind blowing Tigran footage: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVN36Ou4BUU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5ogerZedws

And a music video that I don't believe was posted: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EPxV8xl-e0

And a live concert at 720p

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ej7yXsdK8xw

and another live concert at 480p

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OodfvTLjyN8

\/


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## wankerness (Feb 19, 2014)

"The Poet" video can't be viewed in the US! 

I'll check out some of the other vids when I get off work. I was watching a really ridiculous live vid of "Falling" the other day with extended beatboxing and hilarious "edgy" camerawork. That song has about the most impressive drumming I've ever heard on the album version.


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## Nykur_Myrkvi (Feb 20, 2014)

I've been introducing people to Tigran's music since this thread was started. Love it. Thanks again...I think it's again. Maybe I hadn't posted here yet.


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## wankerness (Feb 20, 2014)

Here's that silly live vid of "falling" from french TV, it's ridiculous but it's pretty awesome too.



Here's the album version for comparison.



And here's some other guy's live vid of it I found on youtube which is a great illustration of how amazing Tigran's singer is, the vocals on this make my ears bleed! The pianist is obviously great and the drummer does an admirable job of making it sound something like the original (though obviously he's playing wayyyy less notes because the original is insane).


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## Malkav (Feb 20, 2014)

I just wanna add to this thread that I think Areni Agbabian may have the most beautiful voice I've ever heard come out of a female and I am absolutely enamoured with her <3


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## wankerness (Feb 20, 2014)

Malkav said:


> I just wanna add to this thread that I think Areni Agbabian may have the most beautiful voice I've ever heard come out of a female and I am absolutely enamoured with her <3



Yeah, she's my favorite vocalist for sure. I am disappointed that she doesn't seem to have any sort of web presence whatsoever, so I can't even tell if she's been on any other albums.


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## asher (Feb 21, 2014)

That call and response beatbox-drumming is _awesome_


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## celticelk (Feb 21, 2014)

wankerness said:


> Yeah, she's my favorite vocalist for sure. I am disappointed that she doesn't seem to have any sort of web presence whatsoever, so I can't even tell if she's been on any other albums.



allmusic.com lists that album as her only performance credit.


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## Malkav (Feb 21, 2014)

celticelk said:


> allmusic.com lists that album as her only performance credit.



I truly hope that Tigran continues to work with her, she's just unbelievable, the perfect fit for his music in my opinion.


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## TheHandOfStone (Feb 21, 2014)

What the .... this is so GOOOD!!!


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## Malkav (Feb 22, 2014)

wankerness said:


> "The Poet" video can't be viewed in the US!



I was wondering, have you perhaps tried keepvid? The video is available in South Africa so I had no problems watching it, and can't test, but perhaps if you put the url in keepvid it may ignore the region thing?

I often download videos off youtube instead of streaming them cause the internet in my country is pretty crap.

Also that Falling video is amazing, and as always Areni leaves me absolutely floored


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## wankerness (Feb 22, 2014)

celticelk said:


> allmusic.com lists that album as her only performance credit.



Well, she's on Tigran's "Red Hail" album as well, which is definitely a legit release and she has a huge presence on it, so that makes me think she very possibly is on other stuff too. Allmusic is not nearly as comprehensive as IMDB unfortunately. I found some resume she posted in like 2009 which listed some other stuff she was on, and she has a few tracks with other people on myspace, but yeah. 

EDIT: Oh, allmusic DOES list red hail, but it doesn't have Shadow Theater.


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## wankerness (Feb 22, 2014)

Malkav said:


> I was wondering, have you perhaps tried keepvid? The video is available in South Africa so I had no problems watching it, and can't test, but perhaps if you put the url in keepvid it may ignore the region thing?
> 
> I often download videos off youtube instead of streaming them cause the internet in my country is pretty crap.



I never heard of that site before, so thanks for mentioning it, I was previously having to switch to firefox when I wanted to download something. Unfortunately it didn't work with the region-locked stuff, but it was a good idea!


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## jonajon91 (Mar 29, 2014)

Watched this concert again today.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aa0XtJdHPvI

It still blows me away every time I watch it, it's just too damn good!


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## wankerness (Mar 29, 2014)

The whole thing is on youtube in HD now as separate tracks, just fyi. That is definitely one of the best concert videos I've ever seen.


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## Malkav (Mar 29, 2014)

wankerness said:


> That is definitely one of the best concert videos I've ever seen.



Absolutely this!

Then again I've been left going  after every video of Tigran I've ever seen.
Also FWIW the other day Tigran put up a status saying Shadow Theater will be available in America soon!


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## in-pursuit (Mar 30, 2014)

yep thats in my top 5 live concert performances ever.


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## wankerness (Mar 30, 2014)

Malkav said:


> Absolutely this!
> 
> Then again I've been left going  after every video of Tigran I've ever seen.
> Also FWIW the other day Tigran put up a status saying Shadow Theater will be available in America soon!



About frickin time. I already paid the extra to import it from France though.


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## Malkav (Mar 30, 2014)

wankerness said:


> About frickin time. I already paid the extra to import it from France though.



Bugger, well hopefully at least the videos will become watchable once it releases?

To be honest I don't really know how that stuff works so I'm just being hopeful here


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## wankerness (Mar 30, 2014)

I don't regret spending 20 instead of 14 on it, I listened to this album at least twice as much as I did all other 2013 releases combined so I still basically ripped them off by paying that little. I will rebuy it if the US release is different in any way (I could see them maybe putting the stuff from the Poet single on it). I'd also buy the EP No 1 if they released that in the US. Currently it's vinyl and electronic only, the itunes version can't be bought from the US, and I'm not paying for vinyl when I don't have a turntable.


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## Malkav (Mar 30, 2014)

The video is now available in the U.S, just anounced on his Facebook


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## Peculate (Mar 31, 2014)

So happy to see this here. I love Tigran! He's one of my favorite composers/pianists, and a huge influence on my own music. 
In my opinion _Shadow Theater_ was one of the best albums of 2013!


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## prh (Apr 1, 2014)

shadow theater is amazing. its a bit hard to find but his "EP no1" is hands down one of the best concise releases ive ever heard, everything about it is just ....ing spectacular!


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## AugmentedFourth (Apr 24, 2014)

Tabbed out the outro for The Glass-Hearted Queen.


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## wankerness (Apr 24, 2014)

AugmentedFourth said:


> Tabbed out the outro for The Glass-Hearted Queen.



Cool! I started working on transcribing "Road Song" in vastly simplified format but got frustrated after a while. The feel of that song is odd, I assumed the first section was 6/8 with the phrases going sixteenth-eighth-eighth-sixteenth and an accent on that first 8th, but it FEELS like the measures might actually be starting on the eighth. I'll have to actually tab out the drums to be sure I have it, I guess. I got up to that piano break about 2 minutes in and got annoyed. Someday I'll do more work on it.

There doesn't seem to be any service to upload anything simply anymore without creating an account


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## AugmentedFourth (Apr 24, 2014)

wankerness said:


> Cool! I started working on transcribing "Road Song" in vastly simplified format but got frustrated after a while. The feel of that song is odd, I assumed the first section was 6/8 with the phrases going sixteenth-eighth-eighth-sixteenth and an accent on that first 8th, but it FEELS like the measures might actually be starting on the eighth. I'll have to actually tab out the drums to be sure I have it, I guess. I got up to that piano break about 2 minutes in and got annoyed. Someday I'll do more work on it.
> 
> There doesn't seem to be any service to upload anything simply anymore without creating an account



You can always throw any files you have in a .zip and upload it directly to ss.org and attach it to your post.


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## wankerness (Apr 24, 2014)

There we go, maybe. You can tell I just stopped trying at all on that piano break in M 51. I did figure out that much later riff just cause I wanted to play it on bass, though.


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## Malkav (May 20, 2014)

Bumping this with a rad video of his group playing Love Song off of Red Hail  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqxOUeYsCNA

Areni is just so beautiful it's heart breaking...


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## Malkav (Jun 9, 2014)

Holy shit...

There's a documentary being made about Tigran...

I made squee noises like a little girl when I saw this O_O

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBTkrVn7sXs

EDIT: A solo version of Road Song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yv0bR4MVZzU


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## jonajon91 (Jun 25, 2014)

Finally managed to get my copy of Shadow theater. It's so refreshing to hear it on my ipod through my nice headphones while on the go instead of watching it live on my laptop in my room. I have to say that drip is probably my favorite track at the moment, but that will likely change, it's just so damn groovey (dat sax line), it sounds like it could easily be turned into a metal song though I can't think of anyone that could do it justice.


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## wankerness (Jun 25, 2014)

My brother and I spent a few hours trying to transcribe "The Court Jester," we got a rough outline of some of the sections. That whole outro has some hilarious rhythmic stuff. Basically he does the Meshuggah thing where it's a repeating pattern that fits into 6/8, but if you wanted to notate the rhythm for maximum readability it would be 17/16 - 5/8 - 7/8 - 6/8 - 6/8 - 5/8 - 7/8 - 7/16!


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## jonajon91 (Jun 26, 2014)

I started messing about transcribing drip earlier, but I hit the brick wall of boredom after an hour. Feel free to scoot about and have a look, I will probably continue at later, but these things are easier as collaborations. 
tigran hamyasan - drip


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## wankerness (Jun 26, 2014)

Not touching that one with a ten foot pole, that is definitely the song on that album that sounds the most difficult to transcribe. The rhythms are completely messed, especially on that long unison section. It's a lot less complex in terms of pitches and notes involved, but the rhythms...ugh.


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## Malkav (Jul 29, 2014)

Found Areni's fanpage on FB and promptly discovered she has a website, and she's actually involved in a lot of different projects: 

Areni &#45; News


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## AugmentedFourth (Jul 31, 2014)

Just this 6 second clip was enough to make me tremble with excitement.


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## Poparad (Aug 2, 2014)

I arranged three of Tigran's tunes for a guitar ensemble (multiple guitars, piano, bass, drums). No tab, but there are MIDI files you could import into Guitar Pro.

Two of them are from Shadow Theatre and one is from Ari Hoenig's "Lines of Oppression."

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/8s8g0lyhp4tz9r9/AADkoqMc9wtc92VowHubXE6ra


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## wankerness (Aug 2, 2014)

Poparad said:


> I arranged three of Tigran's tunes for a guitar ensemble (multiple guitars, piano, bass, drums). No tab, but there are MIDI files you could import into Guitar Pro.
> 
> Two of them are from Shadow Theatre and one is from Ari Hoenig's "Lines of Oppression."
> 
> https://www.dropbox.com/sh/8s8g0lyhp4tz9r9/AADkoqMc9wtc92VowHubXE6ra



Awesome, that must have taken a shitload of time. I've been using Finale also, so uploading in that format is the best! You've definitely done wayyyyy more work on The Court Jester than I did, and I have barely used Finale at all so my score looked like garbage. I'm also horrendous at transcribing piano stuff. Something about the tone of the instrument makes it nearly impossible for me to pick out what notes are being played in chords. Thanks for uploading everything, too. I definitely am going to learn the bass parts for Erishta and Court Jester from these!

I do have one comment on Court Jester, though - in the second to last section (that rhythmic thing that repeats a whole bunch of times), I think the 3/8 bar is actually a 7/16. I was listening to it at insanely slow speeds to get all that down, plus if it's 7/16 instead of 3/8 then the whole phrase adds up to being 8 bars of 6/8, which I figure was how he developed that section since he's been vocal about his Meshuggah fandom. 

Here's what I'd figured out, I pretty much only did the lowest note of the piano and the vocal line, but I think I had the rhythm and the vocal line 100%. I think I should have written it out as the time changes like you did, though, that kind of rhythm is way easier to think about in terms of the "compound meters." Sorry about the hideous formatting, I should probably get a dropbox account so I can just upload finale files.


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## Poparad (Aug 3, 2014)

wankerness said:


> I'm also horrendous at transcribing piano stuff. Something about the tone of the instrument makes it nearly impossible for me to pick out what notes are being played in chords.



The different timbre does make it much harder when you're used to transcribing guitar. I've had the same difficulties, but I've been transcribing piano stuff for a while, so it's not too bad, but still not as quick as guitar.



> I do have one comment on Court Jester, though - in the second to last section (that rhythmic thing that repeats a whole bunch of times), I think the 3/8 bar is actually a 7/16. I was listening to it at insanely slow speeds to get all that down, plus if it's 7/16 instead of 3/8 then the whole phrase adds up to being 8 bars of 6/8, which I figure was how he developed that section since he's been vocal about his Meshuggah fandom.



You know, you may be right about that. The fact that it didn't add up to an even number of 6/8 bars really irked me, and I suspected I was off somewhere. Initially I had it all as 6/8, but went with the meter changes for ease of reading, and because unlike Meshuggah, no one in the band is laying down a steady 6/8 meter against that, so it kind of makes it without much benefit to keep in notated like that.


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## AugmentedFourth (Aug 25, 2014)

8-bar lead sheet for "Falling."


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## davemeistro (Aug 25, 2014)

AugmentedFourth said:


> 8-bar lead sheet for "Falling."



Nice! Only thing I'd change is in the 3rd bar, the order of the 8th notes to me sound like they should be C#, F, D, E, instead of C#, E, C#, E.


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## AugmentedFourth (Aug 25, 2014)

davemeistro said:


> Nice! Only thing I'd change is in the 3rd bar, the order of the 8th notes to me sound like they should be C#, F, D, E, instead of C#, E, C#, E.



You're right. Should have checked that bit more thoroughly, I knew something was 'off'.


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## davemeistro (Aug 25, 2014)

AugmentedFourth said:


> You're right. Should have checked that bit more thoroughly, I knew something was 'off'.



Just needed that Armenian flavor is all


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## AugmentedFourth (Aug 27, 2014)

The new music video corresponding to the 6 second teaser released a bit ago ("The Year is Gone"):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d17lL-asPdk

Not available to watch in the U.S. and probably some other countries. I recommend youtube-proxy.co.


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## jonajon91 (Sep 9, 2014)

Currently working on a transcription for Holy. I on;y have the first 2-3 minutes of vocals down so far, but it's a hell of a lot easier than drip. that's for sure.
Also, god damn, I love this song


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## wankerness (Sep 9, 2014)

Did you hear the original? It's weird how close it is. I'll have to look it up when I get home from work, it mentioned it in the CD booklet.


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## jonajon91 (Sep 9, 2014)

I looked for it, but I never found it. If you could link it, that would be awesome.


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## wankerness (Sep 10, 2014)

jonajon91 said:


> I looked for it, but I never found it. If you could link it, that would be awesome.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmafu7FBicQ#t=48 There's Holy. It's basically the same thing without any modern chordal flourishes, and obviously with a very different vocal style considering when it was written/recorded and the genre. 

Erishta, Drip and Pagan Lullabye are all labelled as "from traditional melodies" and list a region, but I definitely couldn't find any of the real source material via youtube without any name to go on. Here's some from the region that Drip was sourced to:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l90RO3j_VIA


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## jonajon91 (Sep 10, 2014)

This is all I have for 'holy' so far, it's just the vocal part so far, piano and bassoon to come (at some point). It gets a little messy around the end with time signatures though if someone can listen through and see if I have it right, a fresh pair of ears, that would be awesome.

https://www.mediafire.com/?dq8lvlpt22nv7bp


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## CaptainD00M (Sep 10, 2014)

wankerness said:


> I absolutely love this and as someone who's a die-hard fan of Meshuggah, Tori Amos, Pat Metheny, Imogen Heap, Pain of Salvation's early stuff, and Maria Schneider Orchestra this is just like the most perfect music I've ever heard.
> 
> WARNING: no guitar, just electric bass




Tori Amos - Raining Blood Cover = Interesting.

That is all.


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## jonajon91 (Sep 11, 2014)

I have started working on the piano transcription for holy, but this is no strong area for me. My query here is that in bar four, it looks like he has used parallel 5ths which is a harmony faux pas so really I must be in the wrong here. Any help?


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## wankerness (Sep 11, 2014)

Parallel 5ths is only a hard and fast rule in intro theory classes with partwriting assignments. That said, you might be hearing piano overtones. I'll give it a listen tonight.


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## jonajon91 (Sep 11, 2014)

Cheers buddy, if I get another spare half an hour or so today, ill get working on it again.


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## wankerness (Sep 11, 2014)

jonajon91 said:


> Cheers buddy, if I get another spare half an hour or so today, ill get working on it again.



Measure 3 has a Bb in it, and in measure 4 the root is a C instead of the G you have, and I think the only voice that's moving in that measure four is the top one (I think it's a C G C whole note with the E D C descending over it, with the D and C as parallel octaves, not fifths). The next chord is a cool stacked one that's something like A C E F C.


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## jonajon91 (Sep 12, 2014)

I didn't catch all that you said, but I have now done the full 8 bar intro, this look better?


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## wankerness (Sep 12, 2014)

I'm not good at picking out what notes are actually being played in piano chords cause I haven't practiced, but those are all the tonalities. I wouldn't be surprised if it mostly sticks to four part.


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## jonajon91 (Sep 12, 2014)

Cheers man. I was about to +rep you for the help, but you were the last person I repped so that's not allowed. Either way, i'm sure I will call upon you again before I have finished this.


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## russmuller (Sep 25, 2014)

I [email protected]#$ing LOVE this music.


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## JoeyW (Sep 25, 2014)

This album is consuming my whole life, specifically Drip. I think it's the first song I've _literally_ been obsessed with to the point that its pathetic and I hate myself lol.


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## JosephAOI (Sep 25, 2014)

JoeyW said:


> This album is consuming my whole life, specifically Drip. I think it's the first song I've _literally_ been obsessed with to the point that its pathetic and I hate myself lol.



Drip is my favorite song ever. Enjoy this shitty little cover of the first two riffs from months ago as proof


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## russmuller (Sep 26, 2014)

JosephAOI said:


> Drip is my favorite song ever. Enjoy this shitty little cover of the first two riffs from months ago as proof




That is definitely a sick, sick song.

I really with I had the time and talent to work up a good guitar cover/arrangement of The Court Jester. I think those romantic-sounding rolling arpeggios on the piano would sound nice on a classical guitar, do the vocals on a steel string acoustic, and the sax on an electric guitar... Maybe some day.


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## JosephAOI (Sep 26, 2014)

I've been working on Road Song recently. If you guys want, I can put up a partial cover of that too?


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## wankerness (Sep 26, 2014)

russmuller said:


> That is definitely a sick, sick song.
> 
> I really with I had the time and talent to work up a good guitar cover/arrangement of The Court Jester. I think those romantic-sounding rolling arpeggios on the piano would sound nice on a classical guitar, do the vocals on a steel string acoustic, and the sax on an electric guitar... Maybe some day.



The scores posted on the last page here are pretty good, you could pretty easily transfer them to other instruments if you have Finale.


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## Nyx Erebos (Sep 27, 2014)

I've seen him at jazz in Marciac, it was glorious. There were loads of jazz geniuses but I'm pretty sure he is the one who made the biggest impression on the crowd (well maybe with Hiromi Uehara).


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## wankerness (Sep 29, 2014)

Nyx Erebos said:


> I've seen him at jazz in Marciac, it was glorious. There were loads of jazz geniuses but I'm pretty sure he is the one who made the biggest impression on the crowd (well maybe with Hiromi Uehara).



I am so jealous of you French, he hasn't played with his full group setups in this country for a long time.


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## Malkav (Oct 10, 2014)

I really wish there were a full version of him doing this, but for all those talking about Drip here's Tigran playing it on a couch 



That is some mad percushion


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## AugmentedFourth (Oct 10, 2014)

Malkav said:


> I really wish there were a full version of him doing this, but for all those talking about Drip here's Tigran playing it on a couch
> 
> ...
> 
> That is some mad percushion



The coin pile hit kills me every time.


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## CyborgSlunk (Oct 11, 2014)

Music genius is something that shouldnt be thrown around too much, but damn, if this dude isnt one, i don´t know. He just lives and breathes his music, and its both inspiring and depressing that I wont ever achieve this level of musical skill.


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## Nykur_Myrkvi (Oct 11, 2014)

Finally got a physical copy of Shadow Theater somewhere between my last post here and now. It's just so damn good!


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## jonajon91 (Oct 12, 2014)

Got pics?


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## kchay (Oct 12, 2014)

I love you people. Just found the thread and the transcriptions. 
I did a 'Seafarer' cover a while ago, if anyone wants me to write that out. I only arranged it for guitar, though:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBXmARXfyWA&list=UUQkPAjA8aqlpO-NyjDSjfXA


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## JosephAOI (Oct 12, 2014)

Nykur_Myrkvi said:


> Finally got a physical copy of Shadow Theater somewhere between my last post here and now. It's just so damn good!



Where did you get a copy from??


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## wankerness (Oct 12, 2014)

JosephAOI said:


> Where did you get a copy from??



You can get it off amazon, you've been able to for a while, it just used to cost like 25 bucks cause it was a french import. I think it's legitimately released in this country now. It's definitely gotten cheaper.

I need to buy Red Hail still. It's quite a different album, it's a lot spazzier and has a lot more improvisation to it, but it's definitely the second best thing out there.  I can't wait for his next album in this vein, though based on his previous catalog his next album might be another primarily solo piano one.


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## JosephAOI (Oct 12, 2014)

Yeah, I knew that there were imports on amazon but I've been looking for an American version just for the sake of having it


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## Nykur_Myrkvi (Oct 14, 2014)

I got mine off Amazon.co.uk. It had been quite expensive but suddenly there was one copy left for 5 quid so I jumped on that deal without giving it a second thought.


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## AugmentedFourth (Oct 15, 2014)

Worked on transcribing most of "Corrupt." Only thing I really haven't done is any of Tigran's parts (besides the obvious guitar double)  I am pretty much lost when it comes to picking out chords like that... especially with the arrangement this dense.

Tigran_Hamasyan_-_Corrupt.gp5


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## jonajon91 (Nov 5, 2014)

Can anyone help me get some info on the folk songs that influenced Drip? I have found two pieces of sheet music that could be what I am looking for, but there is a bit of a problem that I don't speak Armenian.
One bookreader demo
Two bookreader demo

Anyone got any names or interviews I can check out?


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## wankerness (Nov 5, 2014)

What are you asking for, exactly? You can get recordings of that piece, both contemporary and non, by searching its name. I dunno what kind of names you're looking for or interviews you'd find on any song, though. I assume you did this already to have even found those sheet music things (or did you get a direct link to them from somewhere?). Anyway, they're both "Jur kuga verin saren" according to translator, aka Water From the Mountain, it seems to be on myspace but it won't play, so here's an amazon sample of it (it's not on youtube):

http://www.amazon.com/Water-Mountain-kuga-verin-saren/dp/B0010YP0WS

It seems to be by Komitas. Did you mean to link two different arrangements of the same song? It's definitely what the first section of Drip is based on, I dunno about the bridge section.

How did you even get links to two separate scores of it if you didn't know what it was called?  One book is Komitas Vol 1 and the other is Vol 3 and the pieces have exactly the same title.


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## AugmentedFourth (Nov 6, 2014)

wankerness said:


> How did you even get links to two separate scores of it if you didn't know what it was called?  One book is Komitas Vol 1 and the other is Vol 3 and the pieces have exactly the same title.



The YouTube video comment section.


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## jonajon91 (Nov 6, 2014)

^ yeah, I lifted those two links from straight from the YouTube comment section. I also found last night that there is another song called 'esor urpat e' which I am going to look for after I am done typing here.
May as well explain why I want the sources so much, I have a new piece of coursework at my uni to write a folk song taking heavy inspiration from one or two existing folk songs. I figured this would be a great opportunity to carry on looking at drip and Tigran while kind of doing work.


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## jonajon91 (Nov 25, 2014)

Woohoo! New music!



I'm still digesting shadow Theater

---edit---

I hope we get treated to more of Areni's beautiful vocals.


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## Malkav (Nov 25, 2014)

jonajon91 said:


> I hope we get treated to more of Areni's beautiful vocals.



Oh hell yes! So awesome :3

Also I highly agree, I feel Areni is literally the perfect fit for his music and I hope that she remains a life long staple of his band


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## wankerness (Nov 25, 2014)

His release pattern has been full group/small group since the beginning so this might be a trio album. Areni was on Red Hail but not A Fable, so unfortunately we might have to wait for the next album for another full band deal like Shadow Theater and Red Hail. It's probably something to do with the amount of composition, arranging and hiring of musicians that has to go into his full band deals while a trio or solo album can be generated partially by whatever they were doing on the tour and is much lower impact but allows him to keep releasing stuff. 

I hope I'm wrong and he'll do an unprecedented full band/full band move, but don't get your hopes up too much! They haven't announced any details yet. With any luck it will be in the vein of the EP where it's sorta half between band and small group and we'll get Areni on a couple tracks. The sample there sure was in the vein of that EP.


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## Malkav (Nov 26, 2014)

Areni announced on facebook that she'll be on the new album 

EDIT: Other members on this album will be Arthur Hnatek, Sam Minaie and Gayane Movsisyan.


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## jonajon91 (Nov 26, 2014)

---edit---

I should probably check the thread before I post, but ah well.


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## wankerness (Nov 26, 2014)

I can't figure out from google what Gayane Movsisyan plays. I'm disappointed we're losing Nate Wood, but I'm sure this guy is good too, looks like he's been touring with them. Great news on Areni and Sam.


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## HassanIqbal (Nov 27, 2014)

wankerness said:


> I can't figure out from google what Gayane Movsisyan plays. I'm disappointed we're losing Nate Wood, but I'm sure this guy is good too, looks like he's been touring with them. Great news on Areni and Sam.



Gayanée is the vocalist from Tigran's EP n°1, Nate is on the album too along with Ben and Chris.

Areni's updated status: "Coming soon! With Arthur Hnatek, Sam Minaie, Ben Wendel, Nate Wood, Chris Tordini, Gayanée Movsisyan, Tigran Hamasyan and me!"


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## wankerness (Nov 27, 2014)

Two set drummers and two bassists, huh? I guess they'll switch off on songs or something. Glad that they're getting Ben Wendel again, though he didn't have much to do on the album version of Shadow Theater.


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## ayytist (Dec 9, 2014)

fukken WOW


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## wankerness (Dec 9, 2014)

I'm not that excited by that simply compared to Shadow Theater (obviously it's still really awesome compared to almost anyone else), it sounds like a B-side since it doesn't really develop or have any harmonization or non-rhythm instruments or anything and I don't like the synths in the first/last section, it just sounds kinda undercooked compared to all the full songs on Shadow Theater. It sure does accentuate the Meshuggah influence in probably the biggest way yet besides maybe the couple of distorted guitar tracks on Red Hail, 4/4 pulse over that kind of heavy thing with china cymbal is totally classic Meshuggah. If this is just a "transition track" like the similar Corrupted on Red Hail, then I take back everything and it rules!

EDIT: There's a short sample of the track after it on the preorder page and that one is nothing like anything on the previous album, it's very post-rock or something with heavy vocals and odd electronics. It certainly sounds nothing like Entertain Me. Entertain Me also seems to be one of the shortest tracks on the album which is a good sign.

http://www.nonesuch.com/albums/mockroot

I just preordered it! This and Maria Schneider's upcoming album are probably going to be my albums of the year and they both come out first thing.

DOUBLE EDIT: Oh, they give you the full track of both of those songs when you preorder. This Apple Orchard song is a lot better imo. As mentioned before, it's rather post-rock. It's very simple in terms of technicality but it's got really lush, depressing chords and vocals. It also has electric guitars very present in the mix.


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## wankerness (Dec 9, 2014)

So that's on youtube now, and it's posted on his official channel so I don't feel bad about linking it. I've listened to it a LOT today, it's really dark and really gorgeous. I think it's a bit simpler than Shadow Theater and I can't even tell if that's Areni singing the falsetto parts since it's so buried in the mix, but damn is it good.


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## AugmentedFourth (Dec 9, 2014)

Words cannot describe how absolutely ecstatic I am for this release.



wankerness said:


> I'm not that excited by that simply compared to Shadow Theater (obviously it's still really awesome compared to almost anyone else), it sounds like a B-side since it doesn't really develop or have any harmonization or non-rhythm instruments or anything...



I'm not sure I agree. Although topping Shadow Theater is a near mythical feat, judging from these two tracks this album is shaping up to be just as good, I'd say. It definitely has some development, much more so than say, Corrupt. (Which is basically strophic.)

A | B | A+B | A' | A'' | coda

There is a lot of melodic complexity in the A section. If anything I would say that the common thread between the two tracks is the insane melodic complexity that we all love about Tigran. B seems more boring in comparison, but the rhythmic complexity is there without a doubt. Very metal-ish. As for harmonization, you said there is none but he pretty clearly pairs that B section as a bass line with a slightly modified version of the A section. Probably the height of the track, essentially in the middle. Very classical.



wankerness said:


> ...and I don't like the synths in the first/last section, it just sounds kinda undercooked compared to all the full songs on Shadow Theater.



I see what you are saying. They don't bother me quite as much, and it reminded me of The Bad Plus's last album. Normally they are a straight-up jazz piano trio, but on "Made Possible" they tried embellishing using very occasional software instruments (including software drums and trumpets). If anyone in this thread has not gotten into tB+, they need to do so. If you like Tigran I can almost guarantee you will like tB+. The only exception I can think of is that tB+ are much more second-half-of-the-20th-century influenced, which I like, but it's not what you see in Tigran's music.



An example of their more subtle use of synths:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skOxnxIROkY&t=4m56s

Less subtle:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skOxnxIROkY&t=16m9s


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## jonajon91 (Dec 9, 2014)

Not related to the new album or the two new songs, but one of my recent assignments at uni was to take a folk melody and turn it into something new and fresh. I chose the same Armenian folk song that 'Drip' was based on and turn it into a classical guitar duet. I have finished writing it as of today, but i'm thinking about finding someone else who plays classical guitar (either in real life or on this forum) and filming it, it would be something really awesome to share with you guys is all.


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## wankerness (Dec 9, 2014)

I saw the bad plus live in support of that album, and after seeing them live I just can't listen to their albums. They sound so flat, compressed and sterile compared to their live shows, which are absolutely explosive. The track "In Stiches" in particular was one of the most stunning things I've ever heard/seen live, the amount of crescendo they were able to pull off in a huge concert hall was just mindboggling. On the album, of course, the dynamic change is very little due to the limitations of CD sound, even though the playing and writing is still great, it just isn't even remotely close to how it was when I saw them live. Their stuff just seems flat on album, I guess. I never got into them very much before seeing them live, and then after seeing them live it just made their albums seem even WORSE. I'll definitely go see them any time they're in the area, though. But yeah, I wouldn't put them remotely in the same ballpark as Tigran when it comes to albums. I don't mind their albums, but there's nothing that really got me excited besides maybe "Seven Minute Mind" and "Physical Cities." I guess the trio thing is what holds them back for me. A big part of what I love about Tigran is the vocals and how lush it gets, while they're more just edgy, somewhat spazzy jazz with a lot of rock influence (some of their covers are pretty lame, like "Narc"). It's both too traditionally jazz and too unstructured for me. I'm DEFINITELY very much about the complex compositions over improvisation, which I guess is why I'm not much of a jazz guy.

Well, yeah, of course there's harmony in the piano part, I just mean there's not like the complex interlocking vocal and sax lines over the top of it, it's just complex piano noodling with bass. I mean it's less dense compositionally than all my favorite tracks on Shadow Theater...it even has less going on than Collapse/Alternate Universe. It's more along the lines of Vardavar, I guess, but without the weird little flourishes like beatboxing, manipulated vocals and classical interludes that made that one for me.


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## jonajon91 (Dec 10, 2014)

[SC]https://soundcloud.com/jonathan-keeler-1/water-from-the-mountain-duet[/SC]

This is what I have so far, at the moment it is just logic sounds, but I would love to record this with live instruments at some point.


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## asher (Dec 11, 2014)

ayytist said:


> fukken WOW


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## MartinMTL (Dec 11, 2014)

AugmentedFourth said:


> I see what you are saying. They don't bother me quite as much, and it reminded me of The Bad Plus's last album. Normally they are a straight-up jazz piano trio, but on "Made Possible" they tried embellishing using very occasional software instruments (including software drums and trumpets). If anyone in this thread has not gotten into tB+, they need to do so. If you like Tigran I can almost guarantee you will like tB+. The only exception I can think of is that tB+ are much more second-half-of-the-20th-century influenced, which I like, but it's not what you see in Tigran's music.
> 
> 
> 
> ...





Oh, my god. I need more. Not to get too off track, but what other artists are there like this? I need more of this modern jazzy stuff. Along with prog/death metal I mostly listen to jazz, but just the classics, so I need more!

Also, the piano in the last few seconds of the teaser for mockroot is just astounding. Definitely haven't been this excited for an album in a while.


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## Zalbu (Dec 11, 2014)

This is more brutal than many metal bands 

The funny thing is that I actually heard about Tigran a while back, before I stumbled across this thread, but I completely forgot about it. So if you have an hour and a half to spare, check out this video. It's unreal.

(I know, it was linked earlier in the thread but it deserves to get linked again)


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## Dusty Chalk (Dec 11, 2014)

GoGo Penguin is pretty good, too (not as good as Bad Plus, but still quite good).

And Hiromi is fochin' aye fantastic.


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## Cnev (Dec 11, 2014)

Let's not forget Mouse on the Keys!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAcy16aDInQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFoetd0sD6Y

So excited for Tigran's new one. Moreso than any other recent release I've anticipated as of late.


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## AugmentedFourth (Dec 12, 2014)

MartinMTL said:


> Oh, my god. I need more. Not to get too off track, but what other artists are there like this? I need more of this modern jazzy stuff. Along with prog/death metal I mostly listen to jazz, but just the classics, so I need more!



As Cnev said, this is a Mouse on the Keys track any Tigran fan will like:



Guitar-based:



Piano-based:


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## MartinMTL (Dec 12, 2014)

Nice, lots to check out!

I already have some Vijay iyer already, but the other stuff is sounding pretty good. Thanks dudes.


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## wankerness (Dec 12, 2014)

That mouse on the keys track sounds like a video game soundtrack that was trying to copy Tigran but given a tight time limit which prevented them from fully developing it and not given a real piano player, it's like a retread of him minus the ethnic influences and the insane technical abilities. Ew. The two live tracks linked above are pretty good, though. The crashier, rawer sound of those does it a big benefit.

Lye By Mistake reminds me of 90s prog or something, I might have to check more of that out. It has similar sonics to Chris Poland's "OHM" but the playing is way more scattershot and proggy. 

Vijay Iyer Trio is not my thing.

Gogo Mouse is alright, despite the infuriating name. I like the chord changes, but again it's just really lacking compared to how much is going on with Tigran's stuff. It's like a group of indie rockers instead of jazzers, the playing is really lacking in comparison to Tigran or the Bad Plus, but I guess since they're indie rockers they are maintaining an ironic distance from what they do by keeping the music safe and simple enough that no one can accuse them of showing off and by giving themselves a name like Gogo Mouse. I guess I just can't get into piano/drum/bass trios.


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## AugmentedFourth (Dec 12, 2014)

wankerness said:


> ...but I guess since they're indie rockers they are maintaining an ironic distance from what they do by keeping the music safe and simple enough that no one can accuse them of showing off and by giving themselves a name like Gogo Mouse. I guess I just can't get into piano/drum/bass trios.



They are very technically proficient, and probably have just as much jazz background as Tigran. They just appreciate other styles so they take influence from those. Here is a bit of song by them that people might like more:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oE9CtmSGSE&t=2m19s


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## jonajon91 (Dec 12, 2014)

Mouse on the keys are worth listening more to. I think you made the mistake of comparing it to tigran too much, just enjoy them for what they are.


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## Dusty Chalk (Dec 12, 2014)

It's GoGo _Penguin_, Wankerness. Lollers.

But yeah, there's always peaks and troughs, not everyone can be the best. I'm a poor man's Mike Oldfield, and I'm alright with that.


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## Cnev (Dec 12, 2014)

It's pretty unfair to judge them soley on the basis of how well or poorly they emulate Tigran. I linked them because they share an obvious and general similarity in genre, but musically they are very different to my ears, and equally appreciable. If it ain't your thing, it ain't your thing. But, they deserve a fair listen, imo.


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## wankerness (Dec 13, 2014)

Cnev said:


> It's pretty unfair to judge them soley on the basis of how well or poorly they emulate Tigran. I linked them because they share an obvious and general similarity in genre, but musically they are very different to my ears, and equally appreciable. If it ain't your thing, it ain't your thing. But, they deserve a fair listen, imo.



When someone posts them with the caption "any fan of Tigran will like this" I think comparing them to Tigran is entirely justified! I explained why that isn't the case  The two tracks you posted were better because they didn't sound like Tigran to me, they sounded like their own thing, it was much crashier and rawer. I'll probably give them a listen at some point, I just got into Becca Stevens yesterday so now I'm going through the 15 or so albums of hers I just acquired before I do anything else. This Bjorkestra stuff is amazing.  

That other Gogo penguin track linked was better. Man oh man, do I feel stupid when I type their name. I guess having two piano trio groups that play in roughly the same style with cartoony animal names had me confused when I typed "Gogo Mouse" earlier.


----------



## JoeyW (Dec 13, 2014)

Mouse on the keys is so great. I haven't stopped listening since discovering them here last night, thanks to whoever brought it up!


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## AugmentedFourth (Jan 21, 2015)

Transcribed Amran Gisher, the closing track off of Aratta Rebirth.


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## wankerness (Jan 21, 2015)

New album got delayed to February 17! Oh well, that's a pretty small delay.


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## cfrank (Jan 21, 2015)

AugmentedFourth said:


>




Dude! Lye by Mistake is theee shit! Totally forgot about them! 
Really stoked for this new record, somehow i missed the opportunity to see Tigran twice in some jazz festivals last year!


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## concertjunkie (Jan 22, 2015)

jonajon91 said:


> [SC]https://soundcloud.com/jonathan-keeler-1/water-from-the-mountain-duet[/SC]
> 
> This is what I have so far, at the moment it is just logic sounds, but I would love to record this with live instruments at some point.



Do you have the arrangement written out in either tablature or notation? It sounds like it would be a fun piece to learn


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## jonajon91 (Jan 22, 2015)

Will GP5 do you?


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## Malkav (Jan 22, 2015)

Aw Yus!


----------



## jonajon91 (Jan 22, 2015)

Actually sounds a little too mathy for me (strange I know) I think it's catering for the Drip/parallel universe fanboys. I much preferred the jazzier/folkier songs off shadow theater to be honest.

---edit---

Still really sad about the rep bar being gone


----------



## jonajon91 (Jan 22, 2015)

Can't seem to find the GP file at the moment. PDF will have to do for now.


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## octatoan (Jan 24, 2015)

I can't help but smile whenever I see Tigran's face. 

I'm straight AFAIK but . . . he's just so cute haha. *ducks*

On another note, does he remind anyone else of Glenn Gould?


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## AugmentedFourth (Jan 26, 2015)

Three new Tigran songs!


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## wankerness (Jan 26, 2015)

I think I'll hold off on listening to them till the album comes out, hearing "demo versions" of things ahead of the release date tends to decrease enjoyment of the album one for me for some reason. If they're going to be solo piano on the album then I will have made a stand for no reason though


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## wankerness (Jan 29, 2015)

So uh...I didn't like this. There's about 2 songs that could stand alongside the material on Shadow Theater, it sounds like a bunch of sketches instead of fully developed songs. I'll listen to it another 50 times to be sure, but on first listen I'm very disappointed, while with Shadow Theater I was instantly blown away by every single song on the album. It's not BAD but on first listen it's definitely inferior to Shadow Theater, EP No 1 and Red Hail.


----------



## asher (Jan 30, 2015)

octatoan said:


> I can't help but smile whenever I see Tigran's face.
> 
> I'm straight AFAIK but . . . he's just so cute haha. *ducks*
> 
> On another note, does he remind anyone else of Glenn Gould?




He just looks so goddamn happy. It's awesome.

Also holy crap that guitarist keeping up...


----------



## AugmentedFourth (Jan 30, 2015)

asher said:


> He just looks so goddamn happy. It's awesome.
> 
> Also holy crap that guitarist keeping up...



Yes, the guitarist (Charles Altura) was the guitarist on "Aratta Rebirth". I saw some comments on the video complaining about his playing, but he really is actually a very talented guitarist. The miking is just awful.


----------



## wankerness (Feb 2, 2015)

wankerness said:


> So uh...I didn't like this. There's about 2 songs that could stand alongside the material on Shadow Theater, it sounds like a bunch of sketches instead of fully developed songs. I'll listen to it another 50 times to be sure, but on first listen I'm very disappointed, while with Shadow Theater I was instantly blown away by every single song on the album. It's not BAD but on first listen it's definitely inferior to Shadow Theater, EP No 1 and Red Hail.



I listened to it another 10 or so times. My issue with it is it very much is a trio jam album. The majority of it is crashy, smashy power trio stuff that's insanely technical but is often just smashing the low notes on the piano in conjunction with the bass and drums. For what it is, it's great, but compared to Shadow Theater I find it really lacking. It's like if 3/4 of the album was Alternate Universe, and they cut the vocals and the saxophone out of that song.

The lack of Areni is the worst thing to me, she's on about 4 tracks and really isn't in the forefront on more than two of them (unless you count the "bonus track"). The saxophone is even more MIA. It's just...a heavy trio album with some ballads and vocals here and there. If you go into it expecting that, it's awesome. If you go into it expecting Shadow Theater or Red Hail, you'll probably be bitterly disappointed. Double-Faced and The Apple Orchard in Saghmosavanq are the only two that have songwriting comparable to Shadow Theater imo, many of the rest are just kind of jammy and heavy. Entertain Me is very much representative of the tone of the album. There's some great heavy stuff in there, particularly the last couple songs. Kars 1 is quite reminiscent of Drip, though it doesn't have nearly as much weird stuff going on in it.

The Roads that Bring Me Closer to You is another stand-out, it's got a very cinematic feel and has a nice swirl of vocals. Song for Melan and Rafik starts out amazingly but eventually devolves into some rhythmic chord pounding. To Negate has a very entertaining groove to it, it kinda reminds me of the nutty keyboard section on Opeth's "The Lotus Eater." Most of the album is GOOD, it's just a gigantic letdown to me as I was such a huge fan of the dense, lush sound on Shadow Theater and Red Hail and Ep No 1, and Areni is my favorite singer ever. Maybe the next album will be more composed and this was just sort of a "let's record what we've been doing live" album, I know a lot of jazz guys do that sort of alternating release pattern.


----------



## spawnofthesith (Feb 3, 2015)

Your description makes me so ....ing stoked to hear this


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## AugmentedFourth (Feb 3, 2015)

Eh, wankerness's description makes me significantly less pumped. Personally I really like Alternative Universe. The melodies are really fresh and the harmonies aren't lacking, with little-to-no chug-a-lug-lug. Drip was more of a weak point in my eyes of Shadow Theatre. Granted, it's an amazing song and I love it, but compared to the other behemoths of the album it seems to pale a bit.

I concur on the point of Areni. She is probably (one of?) my favorite vocalist as well, alongside Andreas Scholl and Stu Smith. I am somewhat disappointed to potentially be seeing more of this.


----------



## wankerness (Feb 4, 2015)

I love Alternate Universe/Collapse, but if they didn't have the vocals or the long solo sections they'd be like this album! The only stuff I ever skip on Shadow Theater when listening to it are the transition track and the one that sounds like old Sigur Ros. 

The smashy trio stuff is certainly much heavier and Meshuggah-ish than that Bad Plus example you linked there, not to mention much more technical, it just did get annoying often when they'd repeat the same "riff" several times without any lead stuff over it or any harmonization changes or anything. It would be awesome live.

Anyway, lowered expectations will probably make you like the album more, so consider this a favor!


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## JamesM (Feb 4, 2015)

But... Areni is what made Shadow Theater so good for me.  I wanted a lot of her.

EDIT:
Anyone have a list of stuff she's contributed to?


----------



## jonajon91 (Feb 4, 2015)

She has a website, I think it says her projects somewhere on there. 



JamesM said:


> I wanted a lot of her.



Me too


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## wankerness (Feb 4, 2015)

JamesM said:


> But... Areni is what made Shadow Theater so good for me.  I wanted a lot of her.
> 
> EDIT:
> Anyone have a list of stuff she's contributed to?



Barely anything. I did an extensive search a few months ago and pretty much the only other recordings out there are just her playing piano in jazz groups and not singing.


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## BEADGBE7 (Feb 4, 2015)

wow, how did i not see this thread? Ive been listening to this guy for a couple months now and he's really something.. he's playing 3 California shows this month!! can't wait!


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## davemeistro (Feb 6, 2015)

I'm digging this album so hard


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## AugmentedFourth (Feb 7, 2015)

Because Clément Belio is a god, he posted this transcription of "Vardavar," which he used in his cover of the tune. Praise be.

And @davemeistro, I'm diggin' that tune. I'm gonna have to use that video as a jumping off point for a transcription (unless maybe you already did so?)


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## octatoan (Feb 8, 2015)

^ Alturaesque tapping, here I come!

Edit: A4, gp5 pls, I haz TuxGietur onlie


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## brownsounds (Feb 8, 2015)

*EDIT*: Found it on amazon

So is there anyway to pre order a physical copy of Mockroot in the US?


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## wankerness (Feb 8, 2015)

Yes, though at this date it's barely a pre-order - mine shipped already. As I posted on the last page, it's on nonesuch records.

Mockroot | Nonesuch Records - MP3 Downloads, Free Streaming Music, Lyrics


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## AugmentedFourth (Feb 8, 2015)

octatoan said:


> ^ Alturaesque tapping, here I come!
> 
> Edit: A4, gp5 pls, I haz TuxGietur onlie



Hmm. GP6 is failing to produce a non-corrupt GP5 file. Trying to open it will likely crash your GP5 or TuxGuitar, so I included a .midi and a musicXML as well. The musicXML appears to be incorrect as well, however. Finale and GP5 throw an error at line 173. Your best bet is a very careful midi import.

EDIT: If all else fails, pdf.


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## AugmentedFourth (Feb 9, 2015)

I didn't know Tigran did dubstep:



He starts playing with vocal looping and feedback at around the ~2 minute mark, does some avant-electronica business and then goes straight dubstep at 3:32.


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## bazdesh (Feb 10, 2015)

Here's a quick tabitytab of The Roads That Bring Me Closer to You from Mockroot, I love this theme so much..


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## wankerness (Feb 10, 2015)

Got the physical copy of the CD today, including credits. Areni is actually only on ONE track (Song for Melan and Rafik), damn. Some other woman is on The Roads that Bring Me Closer To You and Tigran does the only vocals on the rest of the album. I thought the female vocals on those other couple tracks were way less interesting, I guess that's cause they were just him doing falsetto and he's not even remotely able to do the same gymnastics in that register that Areni did on the previous album!


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## AugmentedFourth (Feb 10, 2015)

Yes, Gayanée Movsisyan's vocals are easily contrasted with Areni's, since Gayanée's sound so much more operatic and are a bit throatier. Her vibrato is also wider (once again more operatic).

EDIT: It only credits Gayanée for The Roads that Bring Me Closer To You, but she pretty clearly sings on the 'hidden track' at the end.


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## wankerness (Feb 11, 2015)

AugmentedFourth said:


> Yes, Gayanée Movsisyan's vocals are easily contrasted with Areni's, since Gayanée's sound so much more operatic and are a bit throatier. Her vibrato is also wider (once again more operatic).
> 
> EDIT: It only credits Gayanée for The Roads that Bring Me Closer To You, but she pretty clearly sings on the 'hidden track' at the end.



Yeah. I wanted to know what the name of that track was cause it sounded vaguely familiar, but no dice, the booklet makes no mention of it.


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## Thorerges (Feb 11, 2015)

Maybe I'm ignorant but where is the meshuggah in this?


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## wankerness (Feb 11, 2015)

Thorerges said:


> Maybe I'm ignorant but where is the meshuggah in this?



Lots of polymeter, on this latest record the drummer often is simply just doing a 4/4 pulse over the heavy odd time signature piano/bass riffs instead of the whole band playing the crazy time sigs and it just adding up to 4/4 (or 6/8 in the case of The Court Jester). The newest album and Red Hail have more obvious Meshuggah influence than Shadow Theater, but he's been very explicit that he's a fan of them so it's not just a coincidence. For example, listen to the very beginning of entertain me - pure Meshuggah there. The drummer's just clonking away in 4/4 (on a china cymbal, no less!) and hitting the snare on 3 every measure, while the rest of the band and the bass drum are doing something else entirely that adds up to 4/4 with the repetitions. Almost the entire song is the same way, actually.


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## brownsounds (Feb 11, 2015)

Yeah I don't hear the dent...jk. I'd say it's mostly the rhythmic nature/syncopation/odd time sigs. I think I read that meshuggah is one of his influences. Not sure how to embed youtube vids (someone tell me!) but this song is a really good example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-GUNcSWSko&feature=youtu.be


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## AugmentedFourth (Feb 12, 2015)

As far as metal-sounding stuff goes, the intro to "Double-Faced" wrecks hard.


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## octatoan (Feb 12, 2015)

A4, the MIDI worked. Thanks.


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## russmuller (Feb 16, 2015)

I have to say, I really like Mockroot. It goes to some interesting places. I'm still chewing on the later cuts from the record, but I think it's an excellent piece of work.


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## brownsounds (Feb 16, 2015)

russmuller said:


> I have to say, I really like Mockroot. It goes to some interesting places. I'm still chewing on the later cuts from the record, but I think it's an excellent piece of work.



Is the record out?


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## Poparad (Feb 16, 2015)

brownsounds said:


> Is the record out?



Sort of. It's been out for non-USA countries for a month. I got my copy last week, but I preordered it from Nonesuch. I think tomorrow is the official USA release date.


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## brownsounds (Feb 16, 2015)

Poparad said:


> Sort of. It's been out for non-USA countries for a month. I got my copy last week, but I preordered it from Nonesuch. I think tomorrow is the official USA release date.



The next 12 hours are going to be long...


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## russmuller (Feb 16, 2015)

Poparad said:


> Sort of. It's been out for non-USA countries for a month. I got my copy last week, but I preordered it from Nonesuch. I think tomorrow is the official USA release date.



I also preordered from Nonesuch.


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## thearistocat (Feb 17, 2015)

The Grid songs are very cool. I had to listen while doing homework, but I think I'll like the album a lot. He seems to have taken Shadow Theater a bit further: they're not too similar but I can still hear it's the same guy, if that makes sense


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## wankerness (Feb 17, 2015)

It's more of a step back from Shadow Theater. I listened to Red Hail again last night and that album is definitely much more similar to Mockroot than Shadow Theater is. Red Hail has a lot more vocals and sax on it and the compositions are a bit denser, but they are similarly sparse and "jammy" much of the time in comparison to Shadow Theater's very focused compositions.

I have listened to Mockroot around 30 times now and it's grown on me about as much as it's going to, I think. It's not nearly as good as Red Hail or Shadow Theater but it's still probably going to be one of the best albums of the year.


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## thearistocat (Feb 17, 2015)

wankerness said:


> It's more of a step back from Shadow Theater. I listened to Red Hail again last night and that album is definitely much more similar to Mockroot than Shadow Theater is. Red Hail has a lot more vocals and sax on it and the compositions are a bit denser, but they are similarly sparse and "jammy" much of the time in comparison to Shadow Theater's very focused compositions.
> 
> I have listened to Mockroot around 30 times now and it's grown on me about as much as it's going to, I think. It's not nearly as good as Red Hail or Shadow Theater but it's still probably going to be one of the best albums of the year.


I think you're right about it being more similar to Red Hail than to Shadow Theater. 
30 times? when did you get it, that's crazy...


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## AugmentedFourth (Feb 18, 2015)

IMO, Aratta Rebirth, Shadow Theater, and Mockroot are all albums which have no dull tracks to me. They are albums par excellence.

I disagree, however, that Mockroot is more similar to Aratta Rebirth than Shadow Theater.

Part of what defines Aratta Rebirth for me is the way that some of the same ideas are carried through the middle tracks. Also, the more jazz-fusiony flavor of the duology and various other tracks on the album, e.g. Shogher Jan and Falling.

Mockroot seems to lack this. The only similarity is the jazz-fusiony duology with (Out of) The Grid. There's no continuation of ideas save Kars (which hardly counts). Mockroot is much less jazz fusion than Aratta Rebirth, and has more focused compositions like in Shadow Theater.

To Love: No improv, very straightforward strophic form.

Song for Melan and Rafik: Very lush, focused on lush harmonies + guiding vocal melody for first half, later introduces rhythmic drive (see: The Poet/Erishta).

Kars 1: The "Drip" of Mockroot.

Double Faced: Actually, this one reminds me of AAL.  Not really jammy though, except for the short middle interlude.

The Roads That Bring Me Closer to You: See: "Holy".

Lilac: Reminds me more of A Fable, since it is basically solo piano on the same changes just flourishing a melody and doing some improv. Not comparable to anything on Shadow Theater or Aratta Rebirth.

Entertain Me: More similar to Aratta Rebirth here, but it's also a bit like the style of the middle section of "Alternative Universe" expanded into a full song.

Apple Orchard: See "Lament".

Kars 2: See "The Year is Gone".

To Negate: Really cool IMO in its ability to extend the initial idea into really funky shit, almost no improv. Nothing on Aratta Rebirth to really compare to. Maybe "Serpentine"? But with no improv, though.

The Grid/Out of: More similarity to the duology of Aratta Rebirth than of Shadow Theater, although the hidden track is the "Seafarer" of Mockroot.

EDIT: When making direct comparisons between songs, I mean in the general qualities like instrumentation, form, and level of improvisation. That's not to say they are really that similar, obviously.


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## Veldar (Feb 18, 2015)

As a bassist should I get Shadow or Mockroot?


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## wankerness (Feb 18, 2015)

Shadow has more colorful basslines, Mockroot has fewer instruments and thus the bass is more important. Get them both!


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## Veldar (Feb 18, 2015)

wankerness said:


> Shadow has more colorful basslines, Mockroot has fewer instruments and thus the bass is more important. Get them both!


 
Well Shadow it is and then Mockroot next.


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## tomsargent (Feb 18, 2015)

Welp, this is a party I am super late to. I've seen the title for this thread COUNTLESS times, and never bothered to click on it. I just got through my first listen of Shadow Theater. I have to say that 'Seafarer' is one of the most moving pieces of music I've heard in a long time. After reading what you guys have written about Mockroot, I think I'm going to buy that soon, but not yet. I'm really enjoying this album, and I want to meditate on it a bit longer before distracting myself with other things.


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## wankerness (Feb 18, 2015)

I went WEEKS where I didn't listen to a single other song, just that album repeatedly!


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## JosephAOI (Feb 21, 2015)

Tigran just never fails to impress me beyond words. Such an incredible and inspirational musician. I'm currently on my 3rd listen of Mockroot and I'm really digging it so far. It's like if he took shadow theater and stripped it down a little bit, made it somewhat heavier, a lot darker, and more concise, almost. I've yet to actually get Red Hail though, so I still need to listen to that.


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## wankerness (Feb 21, 2015)

EP No 1 is a great midpoint between Red Hail and Shadow Theater, I like most of the songs on it more than the majority of Mockroot, largely because Areni actually has a good presence through it. It's definitely worth tracking down. For some idiotic reason it's not available to buy on itunes or listen to on spotify unless you live somewhere other than the US. You can either import a vinyl for a lot of money, or you can listen to it illegally on youtube.  Here are the track names:

The Old Garden	
Tragicomedie	
A Crane Came From Van	
Mother, Where Are You?	
Vardavar


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## Blasphemer (Feb 23, 2015)

Varvadar is my jam. The flute solos in that get me every time.


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## Poparad (Feb 24, 2015)

I finally got around to listening to Mockroot this week (too many new albums hit me all at once). Man, what a killer record. It grooves like a ............. It's kind of like an acoustic Meshuggah record.

I don't think it's really worth it to try to compare it to his previous albums. It's obviously continuing in his idiom, but it's a new angle on it. It's connected to the past albums in sound, but it's a fresh set of tunes with their own identities.


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## Slunk Dragon (Feb 24, 2015)

I can't believe I've been ignoring this thread. Holy hell I now have a new fixation!


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## codync (Mar 10, 2015)

I spent Saturday learning and recording this cover of Entertain Me and I even got to put my bass synth to use! Love the new album.


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## JosephAOI (Mar 10, 2015)

Oh yeah, I forgot to post it here but here's the first minute or so of Double-Faced that I learned by ear.



Also, is there anyone on here with GP5 and ridiculous knowledge of rhythm that would care to clean up a tab of The Grid that I'm working on? I'm far too lazy to get the note values correct for the clean part at :35 that goes back into the groove thing. Thought it was a time change or something in triplets at first but I'm certain it's not now. Forgot it layered over the rhythm groove that comes before it. Anyway, I have all the notes correct for it. The note values themselves are just totally wrong haha


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## Slunk Dragon (Mar 16, 2015)

Entertain Me is so freaking brutal, may post a guitar cover of it tomorrow!


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## Rational Gaze (Mar 17, 2015)

Tigran is the ....ing man. Red Hail is my jam.

5 years ago, my buddy Matt and I did a little shitty jam cover of Red Hail and some other song I cannot recall the name of. Matt killed it on drums. It was a blast. Shit was hard yo!!!

[SC]https://soundcloud.com/cascadeofcollapse/red-hail-tigran-hamasyan-cover[/SC]


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## Malkav (Mar 17, 2015)

Slunk Dragon said:


> Entertain Me is so freaking brutal, may post a guitar cover of it tomorrow!



I spend a solid 20 minutes everyday while getting ready just jamming Entertain Me on repeat, that shit is like my oxygen these days


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## AugmentedFourth (May 30, 2015)

Did a full transcription of "The Apple Orchard in Saghmosavanq," sans drums:

The Apple Orchard in Saghmosavanq.zip


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## wankerness (Jun 4, 2015)

AugmentedFourth said:


> Did a full transcription of "The Apple Orchard in Saghmosavanq," sans drums:
> 
> The Apple Orchard in Saghmosavanq.zip



I'll send you a corrected version of this this weekend if I don't have anything else to do. The melody's very good and most of the chords are, just a few things here and there. I've listened to this damn song way too many times so it sticks out to me.

EDIT: Nevermind, I guess I can't open it. I thought .musx was a finale file but apparently that is just .mus, or else I need newer than Finale 2011 to open it.


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## Poparad (Jun 4, 2015)

wankerness said:


> I'll send you a corrected version of this this weekend if I don't have anything else to do. The melody's very good and most of the chords are, just a few things here and there. I've listened to this damn song way too many times so it sticks out to me.
> 
> EDIT: Nevermind, I guess I can't open it. I thought .musx was a finale file but apparently that is just .mus, or else I need newer than Finale 2011 to open it.



Musx is the new format for Finale 2014. You can export to a 2012 compatible .mus from 2014, though. Just like with Pro Tools and their .ptx, the idea is that future versions will all be compatible with each other, so no more of this backwards incompatibility bull.....


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## wankerness (Jun 4, 2015)

Poparad said:


> Musx is the new format for Finale 2014. You can export to a 2012 compatible .mus from 2014, though. Just like with Pro Tools and their .ptx, the idea is that future versions will all be compatible with each other, so no more of this backwards incompatibility bull.....



Well, I only have 2011. Help seems to suggest there's no way to export to 2011 from 2014, so that is unfortunate. I'm not going to upgrade until I'm sure I want to use finale instead of sibelius, they both seem to have a lot of unique drawbacks.  I might just import the midi into 2011 and see how badly it mangles it, since there aren't shifting time sigs and he didn't use many articulations or anything else that confuses the midi import process it might not be too bad.


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## AugmentedFourth (Jun 5, 2015)

wankerness said:


> Well, I only have 2011. Help seems to suggest there's no way to export to 2011 from 2014, so that is unfortunate. I'm not going to upgrade until I'm sure I want to use finale instead of sibelius, they both seem to have a lot of unique drawbacks.  I might just import the midi into 2011 and see how badly it mangles it, since there aren't shifting time sigs and he didn't use many articulations or anything else that confuses the midi import process it might not be too bad.



I briefly listened over the midi file, and the only thing it really mangled is the vocal line that is over the piano arpeggios, because I tried to use a glissando but it basically just made the midi play the wrong notes for some reason.

This is the best I can do, my version of finale allowed me to export as a "Finale legacy format":


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## wankerness (Jun 5, 2015)

AugmentedFourth said:


> I briefly listened over the midi file, and the only thing it really mangled is the vocal line that is over the piano arpeggios, because I tried to use a glissando but it basically just made the midi play the wrong notes for some reason.
> 
> This is the best I can do, my version of finale allowed me to export as a "Finale legacy format":



Won't work, but thanks for trying. It gives me the error "this was saved by a later version of finale for windows." What's the point of legacy files if you need the new version to open them anyway?!?! 

My brother has finale 2014, maybe I'll try and get a copy from him.

EDIT: yeah, I'll just use his version. It's just a few measures I'll probably mess with. Thanks for doing this, I always wanted to transcribe this since I first heard it but I've just been way too lazy recently when it comes to anything musical 

EDIT 2: I got Finale 2014 from him and am now screwing around with it. One of the main things is that the sixteenth note figure that the bass is doing at the end of each four bar phrase in the loud section towards the end there ends with an Ab-G instead of a Bb-Ab.


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## wankerness (Jun 28, 2015)

Time for an incredible story of idiocy:

Tonight, I saw Becca Stevens live, who is an absolutely fantastic singer/songwriter (she's also done guest appearances on a ton of jazz albums). Anyway, after the show, I was talking to the band's roadie, and she introduced me to the bassist. I was talking to him, and I said I liked his playing and asked what else he'd played on. He said "recently I've been working a lot with this piano player." I said "who, maybe I've heard of him?" He says "Tigran.." and I cut him off and go "WHAT?! I'VE LISTENED TO SHADOW THEATER ABOUT A HUNDRED TIMES!" He says "yeah, I recorded about half the songs on Shadow Theater and have done a bunch of shows with him over the last few years." I said "WHAT SONGS DID YOU RECORD" and he goes "Drip, The Court Jester, The Year Is Gone, Lament, uh...I can't even remember the other titles." So, I instantly went into fanboy overdrive and was telling him how that was my favorite album of 2013 and I LOVED his bass playing on Drip/Court Jester and I was starting to ask him questions about technical aspects of how he was playing it - I talked to him for like 5 minutes just about how he plays the full band heavy entrance in Court Jester! I could have talked to that dude for hours. What a chill guy. He said if I was trying to get a good transcription, I should just listen to the audio from that show on youtube cause he played the same thing there and is more audible. He said the parts were all written out when he got them. I foolishly didn't ask how the outro to Court Jester was notated meter-wise. So yeah, that was him in that live in Frnace video and on half of that album and I didn't even recognize him or his name. I FAIL. It was so great to meet him, though. Chris Tordini is his name. He apparently works with everyone.

He said that he only played on one track on Mockroot, which was the one with Areni, which he said had actually been recorded during the Shadow Theater sessions.  He said he'd been sad that it got left off Shadow Theater and was really happy when they put it back on that one. He also said that Tigran's next album is written around a full women's choir, he said it was "religious or Christian or something" which I assumed meant Armenian stuff, but hey, maybe not! He said he didn't think Areni was involved (apparently pronounced ARNIE).

Oh, and check out Becca Stevens, she's f***in fantastic.


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## Malkav (Jun 28, 2015)




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## jonajon91 (Jun 28, 2015)

Oooh damn, I have not seen this.


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## wankerness (Jun 28, 2015)

I'll have to watch that later, thanks for posting.

I'm still kicking myself about meeting that bassist last night and being completely blindsided. It's the guy in that shadow theater live video I've watched several times, I should have recognized him! My biggest question about that album was how the heck the outro of Court Jester was notated, like if that was all written in 6 or what. It must be crazy to be a bass player and get handed a part like that! I also really wonder how that unison section of Drip was notated cause parts of it are so arhythmic it's insane. This guy actually was handed the written out parts for this by Tigran, and has them committed to memory since he had to play them so many times both for the recording and live! And I could have been told it all if I'd been able to formulate all these thoughts quickly enough at midnight!


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## Poparad (Jun 29, 2015)

wankerness said:


> Time for an incredible story of idiocy:
> 
> Tonight, I saw Becca Stevens live, who is an absolutely fantastic singer/songwriter (she's also done guest appearances on a ton of jazz albums). Anyway, after the show, I was talking to the band's roadie, and she introduced me to the bassist. I was talking to him, and I said I liked his playing and asked what else he'd played on. He said "recently I've been working a lot with this piano player." I said "who, maybe I've heard of him?" He says "Tigran.." and I cut him off and go "WHAT?! I'VE LISTENED TO SHADOW THEATER ABOUT A HUNDRED TIMES!" He says "yeah, I recorded about half the songs on Shadow Theater and have done a bunch of shows with him over the last few years." I said "WHAT SONGS DID YOU RECORD" and he goes "Drip, The Court Jester, The Year Is Gone, Lament, uh...I can't even remember the other titles." So, I instantly went into fanboy overdrive and was telling him how that was my favorite album of 2013 and I LOVED his bass playing on Drip/Court Jester and I was starting to ask him questions about technical aspects of how he was playing it - I talked to him for like 5 minutes just about how he plays the full band heavy entrance in Court Jester! I could have talked to that dude for hours. What a chill guy. He said if I was trying to get a good transcription, I should just listen to the audio from that show on youtube cause he played the same thing there and is more audible. He said the parts were all written out when he got them. I foolishly didn't ask how the outro to Court Jester was notated meter-wise. So yeah, that was him in that live in Frnace video and on half of that album and I didn't even recognize him or his name. I FAIL. It was so great to meet him, though. Chris Tordini is his name. He apparently works with everyone.
> 
> ...



I just saw Becca in Ohio last week, and I didn't put two and two together either! Oops. My girlfriend is a huge Tigran fan, but stayed home from the Becca show. Had she known...


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## wankerness (Jun 29, 2015)

Poparad said:


> I just saw Becca in Ohio last week, and I didn't put two and two together either! Oops. My girlfriend is a huge Tigran fan, but stayed home from the Becca show. Had she known...



She missed out, since Becca Stevens is awesome! I'm glad to hear someone else knows who she is and went to her show. The one in Milwaukee was rather poorly attended, though it was in a hole-in-the-wall size venue (I think it was technically full, but there were like 25-30 people there!). From talking to some of the other attendees, it seemed like I was the only one who'd come in from out of town to see her. The only chairs in the room with the stage were literally next to the stage, I was probably 6 feet from Becca and 3 from the drum set. It was kind of awkward (I feel weird looking at a singer if I'm RIGHT IN FRONT OF THEM and they can see me clearly!), but pretty awesome. I'd only heard her albums previously and it was pretty stunning to see that stuff played live, I hadn't noticed how intricate all her guitar playing is. She even managed to make interesting and complex ukelele lines! 

She's pretty much a beast, one of the best singers I've ever heard (a great demo is "The Confession" from the Billy Childs Laura Nyro tribute album) and I was pretty shocked at how good her guitar playing was when I saw her live, and she was essentially flawless on both vocal and guitar counts while playing. Also, she had a great sense of humor, I loved all the back and forths with her and the accordion player. They played 14 songs and almost all of them were great, my favorites were the two new songs which she hasn't recorded yet (Heron Hawk and something that David Crosby had written the lyrics for?). Meeting my previously anonymous bass-playing hero afterwards was just the icing on the cake!

Becca Stevens samples, all but the last Laura Nyro - Confession one feature Mr. Tigran bassist on them. She's also the singer for a jazz group that does exclusively Bjork covers, so if you're a bjork fan might want to check those out (Travis Sullivan's Bjorkestra is the name).






(This is an Usher cover, but she made it creepy and the outro sure is badass)


(this live version is a bit more restrained than the album)


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## InCasinoOut (Jun 29, 2015)

wankerness said:


> Time for an incredible story of idiocy:
> 
> Tonight, I saw Becca Stevens live, who is an absolutely fantastic singer/songwriter (she's also done guest appearances on a ton of jazz albums). Anyway, after the show, I was talking to the band's roadie, and she introduced me to the bassist. I was talking to him, and I said I liked his playing and asked what else he'd played on. He said "recently I've been working a lot with this piano player." I said "who, maybe I've heard of him?" He says "Tigran.." and I cut him off and go "WHAT?! I'VE LISTENED TO SHADOW THEATER ABOUT A HUNDRED TIMES!" He says "yeah, I recorded about half the songs on Shadow Theater and have done a bunch of shows with him over the last few years." I said "WHAT SONGS DID YOU RECORD" and he goes "Drip, The Court Jester, The Year Is Gone, Lament, uh...I can't even remember the other titles." So, I instantly went into fanboy overdrive and was telling him how that was my favorite album of 2013 and I LOVED his bass playing on Drip/Court Jester and I was starting to ask him questions about technical aspects of how he was playing it - I talked to him for like 5 minutes just about how he plays the full band heavy entrance in Court Jester! I could have talked to that dude for hours. What a chill guy. He said if I was trying to get a good transcription, I should just listen to the audio from that show on youtube cause he played the same thing there and is more audible. He said the parts were all written out when he got them. I foolishly didn't ask how the outro to Court Jester was notated meter-wise. So yeah, that was him in that live in Frnace video and on half of that album and I didn't even recognize him or his name. I FAIL. It was so great to meet him, though. Chris Tordini is his name. He apparently works with everyone.
> 
> ...



Aww man, you saw this at the Jazz Estate? I was there Friday for We Six + Brian Lynch, and saw her posters up. I was curious about it, but worked on Saturday for Pabstfest at Burnhearts. Was too wiped out to go.


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## gfactor (Jun 29, 2015)

This thread is turning me on to so much great music thank you!


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## Poparad (Jun 29, 2015)

wankerness said:


> They played 14 songs and almost all of them were great, my favorites were the two new songs which she hasn't recorded yet (Heron Hawk and something that David Crosby had written the lyrics for?).



Those were my favorites, too, and I told her so afterwards. I encouraged her to record them asap so we can all enjoy them! They're from a concert she did last week of a collection of songs called "Regina" that she was commissioned to write.


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## wankerness (Jun 29, 2015)

Poparad said:


> Those were my favorites, too, and I told her so afterwards. I encouraged her to record them asap so we can all enjoy them! They're from a concert she did last week of a collection of songs called "Regina" that she was commissioned to write.



Thank God you told her that, that's a load off my mind! If I had been coherent I would have said something similar, cause I really want to hear those songs again too, but when I talked to her I basically just said "hurr durr I liek you hurr durr."  Did she say anything about them being recorded?


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## shpence (Jul 1, 2015)

Hey whomever mentioned to check out Becca Stevens, thanks! I'm really enjoying it.


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## jonajon91 (Jul 1, 2015)

There was a music video for lament uploaded today on YouTube, but it seems to be private at the moment. Something to look forward to at least.


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## Tube777 (Jul 1, 2015)

Love that thread! Thanks for sharing these great artists!

Here's my little contribution:

Maria joao (singer), Mario laginha (piano)
World jazz stuff from Portugal

http://youtu.be/4uH3Ssk6kWA

One of my fave groove and awesome bass solo


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## WildBroskiAppears (Jul 2, 2015)

I've started to think of the 5/16-based section in Double-Faced as a sort of pacer test for rhythmic control that progressively increases in difficulty.

Starts with the 5/16 pinned beneath a plain 4/4 pulse, very easy to follow and time the extended rest at the end of each bar. Then they lose the dada-da-dada-da-dada-da hihat click and accent the 5/16's solely with the kick while still maintaining 4/4. That is still relatively easy to follow while maintaining an internal pulse. The twist in that area comes once they start to drop the pretense of the 4/4 for those last three 5/16 groups before the rest. Finally, the 5/16 group becomes the main pulse, with no trace of the original quarter note pulse to be found. That is where I fail the test, personally. I end up just latching on to the 5-tuplets and trying my best to time the extended rest properly. Regardless, it is very fun and intriguing to listen to.


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## Poparad (Jul 3, 2015)

wankerness said:


> Thank God you told her that, that's a load off my mind! If I had been coherent I would have said something similar, cause I really want to hear those songs again too, but when I talked to her I basically just said "hurr durr I liek you hurr durr."  Did she say anything about them being recorded?



She said she would like to record them, but currently hasn't made any plans (the debut show was just two days earlier when I spoke to her, so I'm sure that had been her main focus until then). She sounded a little unsure about the songs, since they were new (I'm the same way too... I think new stuff I write is weak until I play it a bunch and/or record it, then it grows on me), but she said she was happy to hear that I liked them so much.


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## wankerness (Jul 3, 2015)

Poparad said:


> She said she would like to record them, but currently hasn't made any plans (the debut show was just two days earlier when I spoke to her, so I'm sure that had been her main focus until then). She sounded a little unsure about the songs, since they were new (I'm the same way too... I think new stuff I write is weak until I play it a bunch and/or record it, then it grows on me), but she said she was happy to hear that I liked them so much.



Good to hear! I'm surprised she was unsure of them since they sounded very fully composed to me! Makes me regret more not managing to say anything good in the 20 seconds I talked to her for. It kinda blows my mind how few people seem to have heard her solo stuff. I hope she comes through the midwest again sometime, would be good to talk to her when there aren't several other people vying for her attention and I'm not in spaz mode. I did mention to her that I'd been listening to her back catalog, and one of the things I named (Dapp Theory) made her go "oh god. I don't think I've even heard that" in a disgusted manner like "ugh I was trying to forget that," haha. I faux-pas'd!! And right at that moment some family friend of hers came up and just walked in front of everyone so I was like "uhhh, awkward, I'm out of here!!"


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## jonajon91 (Jul 17, 2015)

jonajon91 said:


> There was a music video for lament uploaded today on YouTube, but it seems to be private at the moment. Something to look forward to at least.



eyo


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## TheHandOfStone (Aug 17, 2015)

Congrats to Tigran on getting married!


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## wankerness (Aug 29, 2015)

Tigran Hamasyan

Here's the site for his new album, it comes out September 4th on ECM (according to some internet sources, Tigran's site doesn't mention anything!). As mentioned by that bass player, it sounds like "some kind of choral religious stuff." The background music on the site starts out VERY subtle but pretty cool once the piano comes in. Make sure you listen to the entire track, it gets progressively better as it goes along. The falling part at the end is completely gorgeous. I'll definitely be interested to hear the whole album.

Here's a detailed press release kind of article about it:

http://www.mintakamusic.com/tigran-the-luys-i-luso-project-for-piano-choir/


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## jonajon91 (Aug 29, 2015)

London show in October? I don't care if I have to go on my own, I am there.


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## Dusty Chalk (Aug 29, 2015)

Stupid audio clip keeps starting and stopping.


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## TheHandOfStone (Sep 6, 2015)

I'm not sure how to order from that ECM website, and Amazon/iTunes now have the release date listed as October 2nd.


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## wankerness (Sep 6, 2015)

TheHandOfStone said:


> I'm not sure how to order from that ECM website, and Amazon/iTunes now have the release date listed as October 2nd.



ECM doesn't have their own store, I don't think. It's available now on amazon.fr and some other euro sites. As usual, US release date is late.


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## wankerness (Sep 21, 2015)

My brother did this when he was bored last week, PDF posted cause this site won't accept midis, and I don't think he wants me posting the finale file 

He is MUCH, MUCH, MUCH better than me at transcribing piano, haha.


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## TheHandOfStone (Sep 24, 2015)

That's awesome!

Makes me wish I had invested more time into reading music. I can "decode" it but I'm by no means fluent. When I actually get around to transcribing some Tigran, it'll probably be in Guitar Pro lol.


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## TheHandOfStone (Oct 4, 2015)

American release of Luys i Luso was 2 days ago. I'm quite enjoying it although it's obviously nothing like his usual output. There are still shades of jazz underneath the layered voices, which are beautiful in their own right.

Does anyone have translations for the song titles? Google Translate is being unusually unhelpful lol.


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## wankerness (Oct 4, 2015)

Yeah, google translate can't do armenian unless you can find it in armenian alphabet, so the phonetic deals on this Tigran album are non-translatable. You can sometimes translate it by searching for one of the titles, finding a page that's mostly in armenian, and then doing translate on THAT after figuring out which section of it corresponds to the phonetic version.  For example, run google translate on this page:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEFn-903EYY

As far as I can tell, these are the titles. You can find all of them via google-fu (it's faster if you exclude "Tigran" from the search results). Some of them turned up on compilations of Armenian folk music which were kind enough to list the english title in the track name on itunes, for example. The only one I'm not sure on is the second there. I don't have the actual CD yet, but it very possibly says in the booklet what the translations are!

1. Ov Zarmanali 1 (O great mystery)
2. Ankanim araji Qo (Literal translation seems to be "Fall before you/thee," frequently labelled as "Hymn of Repentance")
3. Ov Zarmanali 2
4. Hayrapetakan Maghterg 1 (Pontifical Hymn)
5. Bazum en Qo gtutyunqd (Where are you my mother) (lyrics here)
6. Nor Tsaghik (new flower)
7. Hayrapetakan Maghterg 2
8. Hayrapetakan Maghterg 3
9. Havoun Havoun (about the bird) [Not sure how that translation works, but I found it translated as that in multiple sources]
10. Voghormea indz Astvats (show mercy on me god)
11. Sirt im Sasani 1 (my heart trembles)
12. Surb Astvats (holy god)
13. Sirt im Sasani 2
14. Orhnyal e Astvats (blessed be god)


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## TheHandOfStone (Oct 4, 2015)

Thank you, that's very informative. I couldn't figure out why the Armenian setting wouldn't work. I guess I'm not even good at automatic translation.


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## wankerness (Oct 5, 2015)

I like this album a lot, so far I'm liking it a lot more than Mockroot, though I might not listen to it that often since it definitely isn't something you can play in your car or anything. Really moody stuff, with a ton of gorgeous harmonies. The only thing that really put me off on first listen is the poundy rhythmic bit about 2/3 through Nor Tsaghik, I guess he just couldn't resist having at least one part like that on one of his albums! There's a similar part towards the end of Track 10, but that one is much more integrated with the sound of the rest of the album.


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## TheHandOfStone (Oct 6, 2015)

That's funny; I'm listening to it right now and thinking "man, 6 and 10 are absolutely _great,_ and it'd be a bummer if there'd been no pounding rhythmic parts on this album." But I admit that it is a _little_ bit out of place. 

And this album has actually helped me to appreciate Mockroot a bit more as well. It kind of makes sense that such an austere, stripped-back album would precede something like this. Shadow Theater may have been the perfect balance, but his two most recent releases are the absolute extremes of his style.


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## Slunk Dragon (Oct 9, 2015)

I haven't seen this vid around, but MY GOD, that handle on rhythm is just too nutty for proper words. I freaking love it!!!


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## jonajon91 (Oct 9, 2015)

Good god that guitarist has chops.


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## wankerness (Oct 31, 2015)

The booklet has translations for all titles and lyrics. Some of them I was pretty close with on my googling, others were way off!

1. Ov Zarmanali 1 *O this amazing and great mystery*
2. Ankanim araji Qo *I kneel before you*
3. Ov Zarmanali 2
4. Hayrapetakan Maghterg 1 *patriarchal ode*
5. Bazum en Qo gtutyunqd *your mercy is boundless*
6. Nor Tsaghik *new flower*
7. Hayrapetakan Maghterg 2
8. Hayrapetakan Maghterg 3
9. Havoun Havoun *the bird, the bird was awake*
10. Voghormea indz Astvats *god have mercy upon me*
11. Sirt im Sasani 1 *my heart is trembling*
12. Surb Astvats *holy god*
13. Sirt im Sasani 2
14. Orhnyal e Astvats *blessed is god!*


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## Apatheosis (Nov 2, 2015)

...I wrote some stuff a few months back that has a bit of a Tigran vibe

https://soundcloud.com/apatheosis/ewq-excerpt-ii?in=apatheosis/sets/contemporary-jazz

https://soundcloud.com/apatheosis/ewq-excerpt-iv?in=apatheosis/sets/contemporary-jazz

I'd love to start a band and perform this kind of material live.


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## bazdesh (Nov 5, 2015)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rR4O5lVCNTY
you heard these guys?


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## Apatheosis (Nov 5, 2015)

bazdesh said:


> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rR4O5lVCNTY
> you heard these guys?



This is great


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## jonajon91 (Nov 7, 2015)

I think the Shadow theater concert has been taken of YouTube, I can't find it anywhere. Does anyone have it or know where I can get hold of it?


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## bazdesh (Nov 8, 2015)

jonajon91: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHYMOlHLLJWj9RBQvxksMqDZsewwkkmkx
This seems to be working, not a "complete" video, but still.


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## TheHandOfStone (Nov 13, 2015)

*EDIT:* This post _used to_ include a video of Tosin Abasi playing along to a song off of Mockroot. He deleted it.


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## MattHood0 (Dec 24, 2015)

If anyone's interested, I transcribed the piano for The Grid, including the solo. Enjoy!


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## Guthrielicious (Dec 24, 2015)

MattHood0 said:


> If anyone's interested, I transcribed the piano for The Grid, including the solo. Enjoy!



Always! I love transcriptions of Tigran as well as transcribing his stuff myself. Inspiring many of his compositions really.

Do you have it in midi? or did it go straight on paper?


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## jonajon91 (Dec 24, 2015)

It's a Christmas miracle! It boggles my mind that people can transpose music like this, it just flies by so fast.


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## wankerness (Dec 24, 2015)

Guthrielicious said:


> Always! I love transcriptions of Tigran as well as transcribing his stuff myself. Inspiring many of his compositions really.
> 
> Do you have it in midi? or did it go straight on paper?



Looks like Finale or Sibelius. It's just a pain in the butt to upload files that aren't one of the handful approved as attachments on this site.


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## AugmentedFourth (Dec 24, 2015)

wankerness said:


> Looks like Finale or Sibelius. It's just a pain in the butt to upload files that aren't one of the handful approved as attachments on this site.



Personally, I typically don't upload to the site, I just use mediafire.

Transcription looks great though. Thanks for the upload, man.


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## AngstRiddenDreams (Dec 25, 2015)

The wub wub wub's killed me


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## MattHood0 (Jan 4, 2016)

I do have MIDI (engraved with Lilypond), but as wankerness pointed out, attachments are a pain. Here's a dropbox link, to a zip with both the PDF and MIDI files. I'm not sure why I didn't think of that earlier.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/87ul0v75ghr19hk/The%20Grid%20%28Tigran%20Hamasyan%29.zip?dl=0


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## MattHood0 (Jan 4, 2016)

Does anyone have any requests, from Shadow Theatre or Mockroot? I'm just getting into to transcription, and The Grid was great fun. A part of me wants to tackle Out of the Grid, for completion's sake, but I also want to try something different.


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## wankerness (Jan 4, 2016)

MattHood0 said:


> Does anyone have any requests, from Shadow Theatre or Mockroot? I'm just getting into to transcription, and The Grid was great fun. A part of me wants to tackle Out of the Grid, for completion's sake, but I also want to try something different.



Road Song would be my vote. I started a powertab of it, but for obvious reasons that probably wouldn't be much help to you. I'll post it later anyway.


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## Zalbu (Jan 4, 2016)

MattHood0 said:


> Does anyone have any requests, from Shadow Theatre or Mockroot? I'm just getting into to transcription, and The Grid was great fun. A part of me wants to tackle Out of the Grid, for completion's sake, but I also want to try something different.


Drip from Shadow Theater would be neat, at least that one sounds like something us humans can play


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## wankerness (Jan 4, 2016)

Zalbu said:


> Drip from Shadow Theater would be neat, at least that one sounds like something us humans can play



I think that would be one of the most annoying to transcribe just cause of how nasty the rhythms are. It's easy to transcribe a million sixteenth notes in shifting time signatures, much less easy to transcribe super-weird syncopation in 4/4!


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## Zalbu (Jan 4, 2016)

wankerness said:


> I think that would be one of the most annoying to transcribe just cause of how nasty the rhythms are. It's easy to transcribe a million sixteenth notes in shifting time signatures, much less easy to transcribe super-weird syncopation in 4/4!


Eh, you're probably right, my method of measuring how difficult something to play is is more or less "how many notes a second do you have to play?" 

And Drip have a pretty wicked piano solo towards the last part of the song that's pretty hard to hear.

Edit: I meant Drip, not Grid...


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## MattHood0 (Jan 5, 2016)

wankerness said:


> I think that would be one of the most annoying to transcribe just cause of how nasty the rhythms are. It's easy to transcribe a million sixteenth notes in shifting time signatures, much less easy to transcribe super-weird syncopation in 4/4!



Spot on. The Grid was just a matter of slowing the song down 50%, and the rhythm is consistent through almost all of the piece. I am pretty curious about Drip, so I'll give it a go. Road Song too, I've got parts of that worked out anyway. Don't hold your breath though, it'll take me a while!


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## Bakerman (Jan 5, 2016)

MattHood0 said:


> If anyone's interested, I transcribed the piano for The Grid, including the solo. Enjoy!



I would consider a different notation approach for this: all 4/4, except measures 123-126. From Tigran's track by track comments: "Its based around a grid-like rhythmic pattern, which is two bars of 4/4 that is grouped in 5, 5, 7, 5, 5, 5/16 notes."

This would mean at measures 29-30 beat 1 doesn't shift. The ascending groups from before descend in the same part of the measure as before, moving accents to the new lowest notes. (9th note of measure 31 should be A&#9837; not C.) The "1" of your 4/4 on the next page would actually be "2", putting snare on 2 and 4.

Thinking and feeling 4/4 might make rhythms sound more on-grid where you have less common tuplets. For example measures 83-87 seem to be this, played pretty accurately:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/28651/grid-rhythm.png


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## Konfyouzd (Jan 5, 2016)

Finally something that isn't palm muted open notes... This is good sh!t...


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## TheHandOfStone (Jan 5, 2016)

Yeah The Grid is "officially" in 4/4, but IMO whatever notation helps you count it better is fine.


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## MattHood0 (Jan 6, 2016)

Bakerman said:


> I would consider a different notation approach for this: all 4/4, except measures 123-126. From Tigran's track by track comments: "Its based around a grid-like rhythmic pattern, which is two bars of 4/4 that is grouped in 5, 5, 7, 5, 5, 5/16 notes."
> 
> This would mean at measures 29-30 beat 1 doesn't shift. The ascending groups from before descend in the same part of the measure as before, moving accents to the new lowest notes. (9th note of measure 31 should be A&#9837; not C.) The "1" of your 4/4 on the next page would actually be "2", putting snare on 2 and 4.
> 
> ...



I'm not exactly going to try and disagree with Tigran , but I've got a certain philosophy when it comes to this stuff.

I feel (this is strictly imho) that the time signature should only serve the 'tactus', the beat that is felt. In "The Grid", what you feel is 5 + 5 + 7, 5 + 5 + 5, because that's where the beats are. Appropriate time signatures might be 17/16 + 15/16 (as I've used), 10/16 + 12/16 + 10/16, or even 5/16 + 5/16 + 7/16 + 5/16 + 5/16 + 5/16 - all of these are accurate representations, and the beaming can do the rest of the work. Just because there happens to be 32 semiquavers in the riff doesn't mean that 4/4 is a good way of representing it.

This is demonstrated in the part where they go into a straight feel (2:15, bar 33 on my transcription). The bass line is, for the sake of this example, the same, but the feel is one of straight crotchets. That's why I notate this part in 4/4, despite it being melodically (and in one sense rhythmically) the same as previous parts notated with different signatures. In this section, everything is grouped into beams of four semiquavers, with all syncopation extraneous to the crotchet tied.

If we were to just simplify everything mathematically, we'd have parts of totally different rhythmic feels that look rhythmically identical without close inspection. This difficulty would become even more pronounced on the next track, "Out of the Grid", where Tigran extends the polymetricism by playing the riff in triplet compound time, albeit with an odd time signature ending to resolve it before things get out of hand. 

But as TheHandOfStone says:


TheHandOfStone said:


> IMO whatever notation helps you count it better is fine.


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## Bakerman (Jan 6, 2016)

MattHood0 said:


> In "The Grid", what you feel is 5 + 5 + 7, 5 + 5 + 5, because that's where the beats are. Appropriate time signatures might be 17/16 + 15/16 (as I've used), 10/16 + 12/16 + 10/16, or even 5/16 + 5/16 + 7/16 + 5/16 + 5/16 + 5/16 - all of these are accurate representations, and the beaming can do the rest of the work. Just because there happens to be 32 semiquavers in the riff doesn't mean that 4/4 is a good way of representing it.



It's also possible to count/feel it in 4/4 though, with accents that aren't all on downbeats. It's not the only way, but I'd say that's what Arthur's doing here w/ hi-hat:

https://youtu.be/-6R4kCQk6XA?t=11m14s


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## MattHood0 (Jan 9, 2016)

Bakerman said:


> It's also possible to count/feel it in 4/4 though, with accents that aren't all on downbeats. It's not the only way, but I'd say that's what Arthur's doing here w/ hi-hat:
> 
> https://youtu.be/-6R4kCQk6XA?t=11m14s



I wouldn't think so, I think that they're playing in a sort of quintuplet compound time, and what he's doing on the hat fits that pretty nicely. Pretty much think of 15/16 as 3/4 with quintuplets, just as 12/8 is felt as 4/4 in triplets. The septuplet in the 17/16 part makes it less regular, but the principle still applies.

They do feel it in 4/4 at this point, however, that much is clear.


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## Bakerman (Jan 10, 2016)

He's doing quarter notes on hi-hat in both of those sections. (With foot; not sure if you thought I was referring to the stacked cymbals in front as hi-hat.) I feel like that's a good clue to how he's feeling the beat. One section is just busier without snare on 2 & 4.

Around 13:48 he's even tapping foot in quarters while keeping HH closed.


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## AugmentedFourth (Jan 12, 2016)

Here's a transcription I did of "To Negate" (in .pdf and .musx):

Tigran_Hamasyan_-_To_Negate.zip


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## jonajon91 (Jan 13, 2016)

This is exactly why I miss being able to give little green boxes, you guy's are fantastic.

---edit---

I don't suppose you could upload either the .midi or the .sib file?


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## AugmentedFourth (Jan 13, 2016)

jonajon91 said:


> I don't suppose you could upload either the .midi or the .sib file?



I'm not sure that Finale exports to Sibelius, but this .mid should work.


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## wankerness (Jan 13, 2016)

Just get Finale IMO, Sibelius has the tyranny of not being able to have incomplete measures even for a second!


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## Guthrielicious (Jan 13, 2016)

Have anyone of you heard luys i luso yet? and if so what are your "favorites"/recommendations? I notice that the album has quite a tracklist. I know that the release is different from his other works, but are there songs that feel like his previous compositions?


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## jonajon91 (Jan 13, 2016)

I don't think it's something you can go into thinking of it as a jazzy Tigran album. This is 70% church music, 20% modern classical, 10% jazzy Tigran. There are two tracks on here that do have some funky rhythms, but I think that they are actually the weaker tracks and a little out of place. Still, it's worth checking out, one of my favourite albums from last year.


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## wankerness (Jan 13, 2016)

Guthrielicious said:


> Have anyone of you heard luys i luso yet? and if so what are your "favorites"/recommendations? I notice that the album has quite a tracklist. I know that the release is different from his other works, but are there songs that feel like his previous compositions?



Yes, I think it's substantially better than Mockroot, though I'm probably in a tiny minority. I think his best albums are Shadow Theater, Luys I Luso and Red Hail in that order. Just listen to the whole album. There are a couple (Nor Tsaghik and Voghormea inds Astvats) that have more in common with the clonky stuff on his last couple albums, but most of it is much richer and more subtle. It's a bit less straightforward than "Holy" from Shadow Theater, but if you like that you will probably love this.


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## AugmentedFourth (Jan 13, 2016)

Agreed, Luys I Luso is a beautiful album. Personally I think the "jazzer" parts are done well. Probably the most jazz moment is @~6:20 in _Ov Zarmanali 2_, and I think it's done well even considering he goes fairly wild with the solo; it still fits.

EDIT: In case anyone missed it because it got stuck as the last post on the previous page: Tigran_Hamasyan_-_To_Negate.zip


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## jonajon91 (Mar 6, 2016)

AugmentedFourth said:


> Here's a transcription I did of "To Negate" (in .pdf and .musx):
> 
> Tigran_Hamasyan_-_To_Negate.zip



I sent this to 'blumen!' on facebook and it probably led to this cover which is super cool.


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## jonajon91 (Jul 5, 2016)

Is there any word on new music from camp Tigran yet?


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## Malkav (Mar 30, 2017)

New album drops tomorrow:



Also the Shadow Theater concert is up in 1080p here:


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## brownsounds (Mar 31, 2017)

Really enjoying the new album! Was hoping for some more aggressive tracks like on Mockroot but overall it's great. Speaking on which...can anyone recommend me any of his tracks that are "heavier". Haven't had a chance to go through his back catalogue yet.


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## wankerness (Mar 31, 2017)

Listen to all of Red Hail and Shadow Theater immediately!!!

Mockroot is not BAD, but it seems so thin compared to those two albums. There are many songs that just simply have the same poundy "riffs" repeated over and over and over.

I need to listen to this new one!

PS: For anyone that reads music AT ALL, check out this! This is the most insane transcription job I've ever seen. Make sure you actually follow the link to youtube, the embedded version is way too small to read.



It's a full transcription of the crazy live version of "what the waves brought." (The original is on A Fable and is not nearly this long or complex.) I love the long sustained sections of septuplets. I don't get how the hell he can play this. The beat boxing is also ridiculous rhythmically with what else is going on, though I don't know if he was thinking so hard about the rhythms of it.


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## wankerness (Apr 1, 2017)

PS - here's another great Tigran heavy/proggy song that I only somewhat recently discovered, it was on Ari Hoenig's album but has Tigran playing on it and was very obviously written by him.



This album is quite good, by the way. It has an extremely technical young group blowing through a lot of standards. It's very entertaining hearing flashy young speedsters like this playing that kind of music. This one might be the funniest, just listen to the dueling piano/guitar lines. They're not really exchanging bars, it's more just they're both soloing at all times while listening to each other. It turns into near-complete chaos right before the drum solo (~2:45)


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## TheHandOfStone (Apr 2, 2017)

Though I'm loving the new album so far, I can't help but be frustrated by some of the track lengths. We got 10 songs, but 4 of them are < 2.5 minutes in length. Granted, there have always been a few short songs on every Tigran album, but it bothered me less on his longer releases. This one is only like 45 minutes total. It has so many good ideas that end before being fully developed.


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## brownsounds (Apr 3, 2017)

wankerness said:


> Listen to all of Red Hail and Shadow Theater immediately!!!
> 
> Mockroot is not BAD, but it seems so thin compared to those two albums. There are many songs that just simply have the same poundy "riffs" repeated over and over and over.
> 
> ...




Thanks for the recommendations!


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## wankerness (Apr 3, 2017)

TheHandOfStone said:


> Though I'm loving the new album so far, I can't help but be frustrated by some of the track lengths. We got 10 songs, but 4 of them are < 2.5 minutes in length. Granted, there have always been a few short songs on every Tigran album, but it bothered me less on his longer releases. This one is only like 45 minutes total. It has so many good ideas that end before being fully developed.



It's probably like A Fable, then. I have listened to that several times, but it mainly functions as background music, with a couple really great tracks. They're mostly all really short. The live versions of them tended to be far longer and go more places. For a great example, see the link above for What the Waves Brought compared to the studio version. I'm hoping his next album is in the vein of Red Hail/Shadow Theater. He seems to alternate intricately written & densely layered album with small thin album, and I guess it's now time for a big album again (Red Hail/A Fable/Shadow Theater/Mockroot/Luys i Luso/this).


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## TheHandOfStone (May 2, 2017)

Here's a video of Tigran's performance and commentary at Visioninmusica 2017. It contains "Markos and Markos," "Lilac," and a bit on his inspiration for An Ancient Observer.


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## TheHandOfStone (Jan 10, 2018)

Apparently we're getting a new Tigran album in February?!? I had no idea.


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## wankerness (Jan 10, 2018)

It's just an EP of unused stuff from An Ancient Observer. Meh. We need another densely written one ASAP!!


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## jonajon91 (Jan 11, 2018)

Yes give us dense. It can be folky, jazzy or proggy at this point I just need more!


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## wankerness (Jul 12, 2020)

He has a new album coming out in August, and I just looked at the track listing and saw one song is featuring Tosin Abasi!!!


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## davemeistro (Jul 13, 2020)

got some stank on this one


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## Doug N (Jul 25, 2020)

davemeistro said:


> got some stank on this one



Titz/Ritz


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