Radiohead: 15 Step

[kradim]

love this song. best on the album

[Mistwaters]

15 Step is one of many songs Radiohead royally fucked up in the studio.

In this early version, the drums aren't the tindery random bloop-bleep beginning of the studio version...they're these big thick meaty tribal drums, set against this big fat reggae bassline...the whole last half sounds like some forgotten classic out of the Black Ark Studios of Jamaica....they really fucked this song on the album version.

[eatstatic3]

A for the sound, D- for the shitty camera holding.

[nathalie084]

OH MY FUCKIN GOD ! The show tonight started with this song , And I was so fuckin close to the stage ! EXPERIENCE OF A LIFETIME - The sound is FLAWLESS ! Radiohead -parc Jean Drapeau - Montreal/ August 6th 2008

[ItsWhatever24]

man the bass on this is awesome. I sometimes wish the bass on the studio 15 step was a little deeper but its still one of my favourite songs none the less

[hitek86]

The drums on this video are the best ive seen on youtube.

[allanbayer]

Umm ok i guess you're really young and haven't seen much. That's a bold statement you just made!

[hitek86]

As bold as it may be, I think its completely appropriate. Admittedly, there are some great contenders, but these bass hits are top notch. How often do you hear a "danceable" song in 5/4? I think they didn't put big bass in the studio version because it wouldn't fit well with the mellow atmosphere they were trying to construct.

too bad.

[thefonkykid]

Tipical radiohead fan comment, they think Radiohead inevented music, I mean they are great but there's have been really cool experimental groovy stuff in the past, you should chek out early Prince, specially Sign O' The Times and Controversy, they stole the bass from these albums.

[hitek86]

I didn't mean to imply that Radiohead 'invented' music. I know that plenty of people before them have done experimental/groovy stuff, but its not Radiohead, just in the same way Radiohead isn't Prince (who did make some great music).

And I think its a bit silly to think that anyone can come up with something completely original. Thats what makes RH great, they can pull parts from completely disparate types of music to make something great like this.

[Interstate08]

fuckin love it!

[rhplanettelex]

oh man, lets all dance!

[michaelkeefe91]

Amazing song, but wallacerx: this doesn't count as drum and bass ;)

[wallacerx]

15 Steps, Weird Fishes....Radiohead have got into Drum and Bass....only good can come of this.

Biggitup.

[oshoPatriarka]

i'm in love with this song, it makes me crazy! i want to dance when i hear it, and i hate to dance! is one of my in rainbows favorites

[DoctorTchock]

damn, that bass is loud. i wish i could see this song live.

[slitheringinterstate]

Sheatheman, Threadatlas, and others, are back to proving their low IQ's. Guess what "time signature" this song is in? It's in the one you can, or can't play. And rather than get up your own asses about the nomenclature of this funktronic masterpiece, FEEL IT you dumb white fuckers, and you'll figure it out in 20 seconds.

[newnamethatnoonehas]

yeah, and its in 5/4 anyway. haha. 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5. feel those crotchets. lol i dont care.

this is a brilliant song too, this and reckoner, + nude and weird fishes/arpeggi, make this album up there for radiohead.

[c797k79kills]

better groove than morning bell in five?

[hitek86]

More of a personal preference, but I would definitely say 'yes'. This song feels like a new face for Radiohead, and I can't stop dancing to it.

[whalewhalewhale]

bah, its in five!

[RVLVNGDRS]

5/8...everything in this song is 5/8

[threadatlas]

pretty sure thats just 10/8 the whole time.

[Radiohead420DJ]

Honestly, I've no clue what the time signature for this is. Like, if I had the tabs, I could play it and figure it out eventually..instead, I'm going to go smoke a fatty brb :)

[LfunkeyA]

yeah, people keep putting up all kinds of signatures for this song, and while i don't know it myself, it sounds alot like the typical reggaeton beats, so if you know those it should be easy.

[SUPPERimpostor]

only Radiohead fans discuss time signatures...

i don't think it's necessary to understand music theory to enjoy this song people...come on

[slitheringinterstate]

hannibalsloat...oasis on the searchbar is actually spelled "O-A-S-I-S-".... ;)

[hannibalsloat]

You sad Cunts with your petty comments and pretentious remarks

[slitheringinterstate]

If LfunkeyA was in the audience, while everyone else was clapping the rythm from hearing it, he'd be nervously pacing about, mumbling something like "is it 7/8? Is it 9/7? Perhaps a staccato 324/27? If ONLY somebody would supply me with the sheet music and histrionics of the genre of origin, I could clap too!"

lol...oh LfunkeyA...unintelligence + overconfidence is the most nauseating of combinations wrought upon the human collective. Please cease trying to form words.

[slitheringinterstate]

sheatheman, precisely. Suggesting Western notative-constructs are the "reason music has evolved" is hideously moronic. Music evolves, because artists ae born with sounds in their head. They bounce off and combine with what they hear from others. Some are affected deep enough to understand the "theory" of the piece by just listening. And the LfunkeyA's of the world need adorable little graphs to help decipher what they can't instinctually hear.

[sheatheman]

yes. music evolution is a result of creative people creating. not within the confines of any rules, but just creating tonal and rhythmic textures that evoke some kind of feeling or emotion.

[slitheringinterstate]

LFunkeyA, you're IQ is offensive. Educate yourself on the littany of musical geniuses who didn't notatively "read or write" music and further, found it reductive to a fuller understanding of musical creation. Learn the ways music is taught outside American or Europe. Music predates notation, and its most inventive beacons, don't NEED notation to hear sounds in their head, nor explain those sounds to others, unless that "other" is you, or those of your (ahem) musical calibre.

[sheatheman]

this may have been a little mean-spirited, but i have always thought the same. i hate having to conform to westernized music theory if i want to pursue music in college. there is nothing for it though i suppose.

[LfunkeyA]

this beat is typical reggae, actually its more like typical reggaeton (which steals a lot from arabic music and beats).

[slitheringinterstate]

HAHA!- I like how AORCKid completely missed the point of the previous posts... we're like "just feeling the groove reveals the time signature" then "yea what it's called isn't nearly as important as just knowing how to do it" and then AORCKid busts in out of left field "DRRRRRR?!?!?! PYRAMID SONG IS 4/4/8/7/4 WITH A SWING/PITCH/PUNCH DIRRRRRRR!?!?!?"...lol dumb people are AWESOME...i love watching the fall of Rome vicerally.

[slitheringinterstate]

People obsessed with time-signatures makes me laugh since their so unintelligent and up their own asses.

Ear players just KNOW what the "time signature" is, and don't even think of it as such; they just feel the groove, and replicate it. I feel bad for people that "don't get it". If you sorry asses would just feel the groove filter through your neck and shoulders, you wouldn't need to embarass yourselves by babbling on if it's in 4/4 ot 7/4 or 174/5 or farfignugen/7...music theory jackasses.

[tomsega]

Yep. 'Knowing' the time signature is knowing how to play it, not knowing what it's called. Same as being able to play 'loud' is to be able to

[cstubing]

There are two sides to the coin. I agree that some people are a bit over the top with music theory. By the same token, however, I wholeheartedly agree with LfunkeyA... Do you think all the great classical music works of the past few centuries were products of "just feeling it"???? Or maybe you think things like fugues are for people who just don't get it, eh?

[LfunkeyA]

with your wiseness, music wouldn't have developed over the years/centuries as it has.

[cstubing]

By the way.... "since their so unintelligent"... that's really smooth. You've really sold me on your intelligence.

[RandomUnsungHero]

I'm down with the uptempo Radiohead stuff...keep er coming lads!

[madmatt3000uk]

i doubt there will be any guest vocals on the album.. or at least i hope not. After all you buy a radiohead album to hear Thoms amazing singin.

[slitheringinterstate]

What's with this new rumor on all the Spin and NME sites that on the song "4 Minute Warning" studio version is going to feature guest vocals by American country-bluegrass star Gillian Welch?...must be coming out of New York's media market since the album is being mastered there?

p.s.- to be honest i didn't know much about her but the rumor made me listen to some of her stuff...in retrospect, I can hear how it's really an appalachian hymnal structure i.e. Allison Kraus' "Scarlet Tide.

[ballekonny]

I love this! I can't wait for the next album, with tour!

[mevil314]

Techno'd up rolling stones just close you eyes imagine jagger singing, a richards centric riff and the chemical brothers messing around with it, long live radiohead they never fail to amaze me

[Radiohead420DJ]

Everytime I listen to this song, I keep thinking ''this is a tribute to Idioteque''. I bloody cannot wait for LP7 anymore. COME ON.

[ServerNotFound]

''this is a tribute to Idioteque''

huh? it sounds nothing like Idioteque

[Radiohead420DJ]

It has the similar synth/kick used in Idioteque. And yeah, I know this doesn't sound like Idioteque. I was just saying, it's like Radiohead evolved from Idioteque into something like this. It's a fair comment, let it be.

[KevonKunert]

this song is awesome! best quality/version of it on youtube! =)

[captainkidding]

i hope this song makes it on the new album. cant wait for the release!!

[Superman54]

great song, im a drummer and i didnt notice it was in 5/4 until a few listens later, it's that catchy and easy to listen to (most odd time songs arent as catchy as 4/4 songs but this is just great).

[queerp]

how do you know timings? i wanna learn how to know the timing of songs. any hints?

[Radiohead420DJ]

Lol @ queerp.

[ofarevolution441]

count to 5 in time with the music.

not that complex.

[cstubing]

Yeah, it's kind of hard to miss that it's in 5/4... I love their songs with oddball rhythms. Bring the Pyramid Song time signature debate, bitches!!!

[Superman54]

oh man that song has such a wacked out signature. and im gunna say pyramid song is 4/4 BUT it goes over the barline and comes back to hit the 1 of 4/4 every 4 bars. so maybe 12 quarters in one long bar? so 12/4? never seen that...what do you think?

[cstubing]

I've heard that Phil himself said on the topic, "There is no time signature." I count 16 beats before everything lines up again. Really, though, time signatures are totally academic, so who cares. 8^) The way the music cycles off and then back into the rhythm is just brilliant.

[sheatheman]

you are exactly right. thom plays 3 chords, then rests, then he goes in 5's with a rest in between. radiohead doesn't think about music theory when making music. i saw one attempt at writing pyramid song out in sheet music and the author changed from 9/8 to 5/4 every 2 bars or something similar to that. anyways, when phil comes in with the drums everything melts together perfectly.

[janxmcganx]

The Pyramid Song is in 4/4, although it doesn't sound like it at first.

[sheatheman]

you cant really call it a 4/4. if it was a 4/4, it would have to resolve after 4 quarter notes.

is it the piano that establishes the ryhthm or the drums? its ambiguous. what you have to do is play the drum part yourself and discover how it doesnt work if you treat it like a 4/4.

[AOCRkid]

pyramid song is 4/4 with a swing

[gibletto]

If you really want to count it, it's 16/16 ;)

Two measures of 3, one of 4, then 3 twice again.

So...

1.2.3/1.2.3/1.2.3.4/1.2.3/1.2.­3 in 16ths.

[LfunkeyA]

pyramid song has a jazz-like beat that has been played so many times before radiohead was even heard of

[cstubing]

Really, where?

[LfunkeyA]

i'll look up some examples now, as for a newer band that's done similar beats before radiohead, check portishead

[cstubing]

I don't think anyone is saying that Radiohead were the first to use 5/4 or whatever you want to call Pyramid Song's rhythm... which is what you seem to think. Judging from your comments, you of all people should realize that everything has essentially already been done, and everything new is going to be "borrowing" from some other music in many different places.

[LfunkeyA]

of all people, i have realized that a long time ago. however, many radiohead fans believe that radiohead is 'the first' in everything (you'll always find such comments on RH vids), which is not true. radiohead combines different stuff very well, and their music is great, but they've hardly invented any musical technique, they just make stuff that sounds really good.

[cstubing]

Well, all we were doing was talking about things we like of theirs, not claiming them to be inventors. But hey, I'm not trying to be combative with you.. I like interesting rhythms and oddball beats -- if you have any musical suggestions, I'm always interested to hear new things.

[cstubing]

Sorry, I also meant to say -- please give me a song name not just a group.. like what Portishead song? I'm not going to go out and buy the boxed set to find out what you're talking about. ;)

[LfunkeyA]

i couldn't find the portishead performance, but i found the worst example possible (performed a long time after the pyramid song was created). anyways, i'll try looking for better free jazz drumming vids. search 'Bootyhog - Kazzemussik, free jazz drumming' to see the vid.

[LfunkeyA]

nah, even the signature is different, but the influence is clear. abstract free jazz drumming.

[LfunkeyA]

no im not trying to fight either (although some people really get pissed at what i say). musical suggestions? i've been trying to learn and make music for years, with no effect. i'm a music invalid.

[seapockets]

the best

[chrisjhart221138]

that bass is so deep i almost threw up

[jimbob0025]

i know, its horrible..!

[LfunkeyA]

it's freakin awesome if you got good speakers.

[RVLVNGDRS]

Woop, my bad, I just watched some earlier videos of 15 step and realized that they must have changed the ending around mid-may...nvrmnd what I said......although STILL pretty kool, we sorta get to see an actual change Radiohead made to a song.

[RVLVNGDRS]

Hmmm, interestingly enough, Colin messes up at the climax at 2:38...I dunno if anyone else noticed...no one seemed to have pointed out that he comes in a bar late and continues (for some reason) playing on that same late bar...just weird.

[effteapea]

I didnt think so. It works...

[RVLVNGDRS]

hehe, read my other comment...it turns out they were still developing this song at the time, and it changed around...mid-may i think it was...

[robbro7]

The sound on this video is insane :|

[Kjobbit]

hehehe, just try and get a greenday audience to clap a rhythm like that.

[agibba]

sounds like Morrisey/Johnny Marr. Ever heard of The Smiths?

[minestrone11]

WOW, niiiiice sound quality!

[rusjones]

Man that bass awesome.. seem 'em twice in a 10 days :p Fucking awesome band

[Tellyourstorydrifter]

Well Thome Yorke isn't crazy anymore.

[insoucant]

hmmm...Their newer stuff seems a lot less "depressing"..

[iamjason]

ya...doesn't sound like any Kid-a stuff

hope it will be another new-stuff for Radiohead

[DrumFlo]

i dunno bout that, though. there's some "brighter" stuff, but have you heard videotape or down is the new up? Especially "Down" - god that one's dark (and i love it!)

[sigur111]

absolutely amazing, the bit johnny greenwood plays at about 45seconds is !!!!

[elementsofstars]

Can somebody post the mp3? :(

[orangejackster]

seriously though. I know we all say it every time but this really is going to be the best album they have ever done. It just seems to have the right mix of songs. Songs like Videotape and arpeggi are perfect enders whereas you have 15 step and DITNU that just really turn up the rhythm. Dont think I've ever been as excited about an album.

[JAZMINPISACO]

you re totally right! its gonna be an awsome 7th album!

this guys stil have alot to say!

[lefty2510]

Literally, smashinging.

[lefty2510]

It a huge brick-like wall of bass smashinging into your face. Oh. My. God.

[GreySpot19]

whoa! BBBAAASSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!

[Jellysauce]

is it to hard to keep the camera up or what? the shaking was starting to piss me off.

[matu2982]

buenisimo

[halalrooles]

saw them live in the Hammersmtih Apollo in London 19th may... i love this song so much :) my fav. of the new ones

[GreySpot19]

pretty good song... kinda obscure, in a good way.

awsome beats. FUNKY. great sound.

[Frightmind]

I can barely make out what he says but the the music is amazing, I can't wait to see it live.

[tiagocardoso]

The initial clapping rhythm sounds just like a rhythm that a Portuguese audience did during Morning Bell in Lisbon, when new songs from HTTT were revealed.

I read that Thom and the band were amazed by it. Is this the prove of that ?

Great song really.

[binstig]

what a tune

[Sampson9911]

ahh, the bass.

[rayray160990]

Lucky lucky Copenhagen