An article about Slush
Slush takes everything you never expected from hardcore music and shews it up and swallows it and then spits it out again, and then it’s something completely new. People are talking about slush. Radio stations all over New England are playing slush. Hundreds of kids are hitting slush shows in Boston and Albany and Burlington and anywhere else they play. Slush t-shirts with that weird looking bald guy are on human chests everywhere you look. The band is huge, and they’re getting bigger all the time People are talking about slush, and they’re also writing about slush to, and they’re talking and writing about the fact that slush is a very powerful, tight unit that plays an unusually melodic, crunching music that transcends the usual categories and boundaries. The fact that the sound of slush is hard to describe will eventually make the world music press salivate to write about their music, to be sure, but it also creates an unusual need to understand exactly what the hell these guys are doing. We’ve read articles about who they are and how they got here, so we decided to explore just what it is that they do that makes them so unique. Slush’s sound is guitar fury…and in the state of Vermont, if you want an expert opinion on guitars…go to the expert guitarist and teacher Steve Blair.
A is for Apple, Bis for Boy and P is for Phrygian. Have you ever heard that the Phrygian mode makes dogs howl and women go crazy? Just try playing a major scale from 3 to 3 (mi to mi) and see how a fairly harmless, sweet sounding scale immediately transforms into a dark, sensuous, potentially demonic series of tones. (example 1.)
It’s the resultant half-step first that makes the minor scale (mode) different from all the other commonly known minor scales, and is highly used by Spanish flamenco musicians (who sometimes call it the Andalusian mode) and also by many heavy metal-oriented players.
Whether intentional or not, many of Slush's tunes on the CD seem to sway toward this side of the tonal spectrum. In the first cut, “Mass Appeal”, this is immediately apparent in the ostinato set up by the bass guitar. (example 2.)
The key of E is clearly defined with a root, 5th foundation. The last note F adds the sinister sounding flat 2 scale degree that the Phrygian mode most characterizes.
As bassist Tom Dunn continues this ostinato, guitarists Denny Donovan and Todd Dunn along with drummer Gary Williams annihilate this mysterioso opening section with a barrage of massive textures. The guitarists deviate from any set combination of tones with wailing primal screams reaching into the depths of a microtonal dimension. After several plunges into this chaotic landscape with Jeff Howlett entering with lyrics appropriately matching the sonic mood, they kick into a suction-tight, industrial-like groove with guitars joining in with a chordal version of the already implied half-step motion E to F (example 3). Later, as they shift into a super high speed gear, they modulate to the key of G, again with half-step motion before bringing it back to E for the final kill. These guys are obviously not preparing for a quiet dinner out with mom.
My favorite part of the recording happens on the title track: “Step Inside”. After a powerful intro with sustained, lush chords, the band breaks down into another repeating bass pattern.
Again, the half-step motion is present (and again in the key of E) but this time, the scale that’s outlined is not purely Phrygian but has a major 3rd and flatted 5th (example 4.)
Shortly after the vocals enter, I’m pulled refreshingly into a double guitar riff that ventures off the beaten trail .
While one guitar lays down a pretty straight-ahead Root-5th pattern (E and B), the other explores less safe terrain with major 7ths. (D#) and interchanging major and minor 3rds. (G# and G) (ex. 5). In a way, this almost suggests the key of A-flat (D# = E-flat 5th-G#= A-flat Root) against the key of E, which in a roundabout way implies the technique of Bi-tonality (2 keys at once) that was used heavily by Stravinsky, Ives and other Neo-Classical composers. As mentioned before, who knows how they came up with this but hey, it sounds great and can’t I fantasize a little bit? If only more bands like this utilized such concepts more often it might keep the ears awake beside the use of mega-decibels. On “Find Yourself”, check out the rhythmic tune shifts. Though it could be a simple 4/4 time at the top there’s also a suggested sub-division of ⅜ and ⅝ if counted twice as fast. This equals 8/8 or 4/4 anyway, but this rhythmic twist adds nice shape to the feel. (ex 6).
Thrashing into the vocal section, they get angular with a 6/8 to 8/8 pattern which breaks down to a 7/4. As these two sections rotate, the band finds interesting ways to vary the textures and energy levels while still maintaining the original rhythmic structure. “Soil”, verging on the psychedelic side, trudges forward with a near-dirge conviction as subtle references to early seventies classic rock standards rear their ugly heads.
To summarize, I’m hearing some Phrygian, some micro-tonality, multi-rhythmic layering…And I know this all sounds pretty pompous, but this is where it’s at from a musical standpoint. Denny Donovan and Todd Dun demonstrate a knowledge of musical technique that a lot of bands would die for: and they make it look like it’s the most natural thing in the world. Did Bach really know what he was creating? Did Hendrix and Santana know that the scale they used frequently is called the Dorian scale? Your enjoyment of the music should have little to do with the theories used to compose it. And as you probably know, there’s no such thing as the key of P anyway. There is, however, an amazing amount of power, presence, and pleasure on the new compact disc from Slush.