Ivybridge Diary 3

Greetings all.

This week we spent the studio time polishing off the structure and dynamics of the aforementioned ’Dwanye Dibley’. Since we’ve satisfied some of our slightly more metal inclinations with this track by including what can only be described as a ’chugga-chugga’ section, we thought we’d go through five of our favourite chugga-chugga sections. Since the chugga-chugga is a staple of much old skool metal, we’ll stick to some of the more inventive manifestations seen in recent years, so here goes.

5 • Smashing Pumpkins ’An Ode To No One’ (From ’Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness’)
00:00 – 00:39
In at five is the intro to this hard rocker from the Mellon Collie album. The oldest song on the list, this track has the audacity to open with some beautifully subdued chugga-chugga that sits comfortably underneath the vocals until the song erupts into awesome riffage. This section is different in that it hardly uses any drums at all, eschewing bombast for texture.

4 • Biffy Clyro ’The Kids From Kibble And The Fist Of Light’ (From ’Infinity Land’)
00:00 – 00:09
The next portion on the list does exactly what the Pumpkins section doesn’t: Hits you hard between the eyes with brutal noise. The only thing is that the Biffy chaps have chosen to punctuate the insanity with vocal bursts which seem to have been lifted straight out of schoolboy vocabulary. This equals only one thing = more insanity. Genius.

3 • The Mars Volta ’Ourborous’ (From ’The Bedlam In Goliath’)
00:10 – 00:40
This is Matt’s favourite piece on the list. Following the slightly disconcerting sound that you hear when somebody’s ringing your mobile when it’s near your speakers, The Mars Volta launch into some quality chugga-chugga, except that it’s laced with salsa rhythms and incredible groove. This is how to do chugga-chugga that people can dance their arses off to.

2 • Tool ’Jambi’ (From ’10,000 Days’)
00:00 – 00:15 and 03:56 – 05:27
You might have noticed from the listed time codes that this track in the list for not one, but two reasons. The first reason is for Jambi’s intro. Crushing guitars come in from the off in a startlingly groovy 9/8 pattern that is closely followed by cataclysmic drumming that would make Meshuggah weep. The second reason is what Charlie would call the ’most rocking riff of all time’. Probably best not to dissect this part, only to say that it does indeed rock. If you’ve not heard it, definitely check it out. Probably the only chugga-chugga section cooler than this is…

1 • Oceansize ’Catalyst’ (From ’Effloresce’)
00:12 – 00:36
Again, this is track that you need to hear rather than us try and describe it (but we’ll give it a go). After a wall of sound intro the noise quickly dissipates into an awesomely syncopated mesh of guitar rhythms. Only the rhythm is split between two guitars. Seriously cool. And even cooler live. Check this one out on YouTube if you can.

So there. Plenty of stuff for you peeps to check out. And that goes doubley for those who really haven’t the faintest idea what on earth we’re blathering on about.

We’ll be back, same time next week.

Keep safe.

Ivybridge x.