Deerhoof “Cast Off Crown” Chords

I1)

  This guitar part is loosely in E major, with a borrowed II chord, and a brief
  modulation to D major.

      ii    V    IV   II     iv of D   I of D
    F#m/C#  B    A   F#/C#   Gm/D      D

  This section is roughly E mixolydian. I believe the guitar is playing power chords
  but it may just be octaves sometimes. The bass and guitars here sound a bit
  improvised, moving independently but transforming these simple power chords into
  more complex harmonies (right):
  
    E      D5/G  E5/A  A5/B  => (Gadd9  Aadd9  B7sus)

    E      D5/B  E5/C  F5/D  => (Bm7    CM7    Dm7)

    C/G    Bb5/C C/F   F5/Eb => (C7sus  F      F7)

    C      Bb5/G C5/F  D5    => (Gm7    FM7    D)

    E      D5/G  E5/A  A5/B  => (Gadd9  Aadd9  B7sus)

I2)

  At 0:22 a blast of bluesy 7th chords in E, with a temporary dissonant C7#9 chord
  (distortion makes this chord hard to identify). These bar lengths are ad-libbed
  (31 beats total) and sometimes the chord changes on an eight note:

    8          6      7       10
    E7         A7     C7#9    F#m7

  The guitar falls out and some simple melodies outline E and A chords.

V)

  This section is in D dorian, but playfully borrows A and D from mixolydian. The
  Cm7 is a bit like a Neapolitan Eb chord (there's a real one later). These "add13"
  and "add11" are just B notes. Probably played as 5th fret of the G string and
  open B string.

    Dm7add13              Cm7         A7     D7add13     Dm7add13  G7add11
    Hey mister hey mister out of this picture.       I'm only the  sister.

  Now a long string of secondary dominant resolutions. This section lacks a strong
  tonal center, but roughly starts out in E dorian:

    V/V    V            i
    F#11   B11          Em7
    Royal- ty I learned I will become

  Now shifts to G major, though it doesn't fully resolve:

    V/V                     v/V              V7
    A7                      Am7              D13
    queen of the cast-offs. I will thrice refuse.

  This D13 is a real 13th [D F# A C E G B] (across multiple guitars), not just a D7
  with added 13th. I think the F# is only in the vocal.

V2) (same progression)

  At 1:27 the bass plays out of sync with the guitars in a wonderful way. Following
  a bar of Dm, the guitars play Cm7 and A7 over a full bar, but the bass seems to
  hold the Dm and cram the last two chords into the last 2 beats:

  guitars:    Dm7                  Cm7           A7
  bass:       D           D        D        Eb E C     A
           Oh lover oh lover,      where is the  thun- der?
  
  So the bass ends up playing D and E natural under Cm7, and C natural under A7.
  Maybe a mistake (?), but sounds amazing, as if those last 3 bass notes are 3
  different chords.

B) (1:56)

    F#m/C#  B  A  F#/C#  Gm/D  D

  Here the verse progression transposed up a whole step with some small
  variations. Before the B chord we have a real F Neapolitan.

    Em7        FM7  B  E7        Em7   A7

    G#11  C#11         F#m       B7  Bm7  E7

E)

  To end we get the intro guitar, not tuned up, but rather *down* a whole step.
  I think this is done for two reasons: So the bridge's E7 can lead into the Em
  (this major to minor change is almost thematic to the song), and so that we're
  spit out in the key of the verses.:

    Em/B   A   G  E/B   Fm/C  C    Dm

Deerhoof “Criminals of the Dream” Chords

I)

  See B2 section below. Starts in Eb major, ends in E major.

  A vocal melody is interrupted by a A-G-G bassline, making it sound like
  A7 harmony, but this is a trick. As the bass continues alone we start to
  hear this as what it is: 2-1-1 in G major. The guitars come in with G
  chords to confirm.

V)

  The verses starts in G mixolydian, with bass as a pedal. You can see the
  pattern they're building in the progression:

    G  C/G
    G  F/G  C/G
    G  C/G  F/G  C/G
    G       C/G  F/G  C/G
    G

  A bit of the pattern is then repeated in Eb mixolydian:

    Eb           Db   Ab
    Eb

V2) (with vocals)
B1)

  A lot happens in these 4 chords. The Bb is the V of Eb (shifting from
  mixolydian to ionian). The Db teases that we're back in Eb mixo, but
  instead of leading to Ab, we get harmonic planing down to a C major. The
  melody still has Eb, giving it a jazzy sharp 9 sound, and makes the
  following F chord sound like it functions as the V of Bb. So really the
  C is the V/V of Bb.

    V           VIIb    V/V (of Bb) V
    Bb          Db/Ab   C           F

  A full resolution to Bb is skipped in favor of 2 thrilling modulations:

    I      I
    Db     Eb  (We get a couple nice pentatonic lines here)

B2)

  We start in Eb major, slipping in a borrowed iv chord:

    I      iv          I
    Eb     Abm/Cb /Ab  Eb/Bb 

  The borrowed Abm is used to modulate to Gb major:

    ii   V        IV         V         V7      I
    Abm7 Dbadd9   Cbadd9/Eb  Db        Db7/Cb  Gb/Bb

  A i (Gbm) is used to modulate to E major:

    ii        I        ii   I  V7          I  iv       I
    Gbm/A     E/G#     E/F# E  B7sus/E     E  Am6/E    E

End)

  The G#m chords are dotted with brief A chords then we resolve to E:

    iii            V  I
    G#m7   A  x4   B  E

    v/II    II
    C#m7    F#7add11

Revisiting the outcomes of the 21th century Chinese import boom

The conventional wisdom among economists is that the post-2000 Chinese import boom—which we know rapidly devastated the American manufacturing base—was overall good for the U.S.; that (as I argue) artificial barriers to trade generally make both parties poorer, and over the long run trade ends up lifting all boats. While I think it will always be true that trade barriers increase the price of products, a lot of the other assumptions may not be true. Continue reading  

Sleep Walk analysis

Sleep Walk” is pretty famous for its I – vi – iv – V verses, but there’s more interesting stuff going on, especially for 1959 top 40 radio.

  • The end of the bridge is a G7#9 (AKA the “Purple Haze” chord). The slide emphasizes this by sliding [D, G] up to [F, Bb] and back, and you can really hear the [B, F, Bb] in the rhythm guitar. I can’t think of any other top 40 song that used it so prominently; even “Purple Haze” mostly omits the major 3rd so it’s not as dissonant.
  • The ending is a G chord with the slide using a falling sixth interval: [G, E] – [Gb, Eb] – [F, D]. This is a common blues trick that turns a 6th chord (6 on top) into a 7th (7 on bottom).
  • The final cadence is pure jazz:
    • C6 [8-x-7-9-8-x]
    • G7b9+ [x-8-9-8-9-x] (root played only by bass)
    • C6add9 [x-10-10-9-10-10]

Take the medicine

I saw an image floating around Facebook that said the human body is “programmed” to be a “self-healing machine” and “pills only mask the symptoms” of illnesses. This kind of thinking leads to kids dying and suffering needlessly.

Symptoms are what kill you. You don’t get a gold star for “roughing out” a fever or a painful injury, and the stress endured doesn’t make your body stronger. Stress is bad for you and damages relationships.

Bodies aren’t programmed. Evolution is a sloppy mechanism that produces systems just barely sufficient to survive threats from the immediate environment. Unfortunately, our “immediate environment” is now global, so with respect to the evolutionary time scale our potential sources of illness has exploded. Our systems are not prepared, and even young, talented musicians can succumb to viruses like H1N1.

Why wouldn’t a Basic Income be consumed by inflation?

Interest in the Basic Income is definitely picking up. This recent piece from Andrew Flowers, like most, doesn’t at all mention the possibility that the BI amount could be somewhat or completely eaten away via increased prices.

The BI will give rent collectors—landlords, near-monopolies like AT&T/Comcast, state/local governments, on and on—large incentives to increase rents, prices, and fees. Of course it will have some level of inflation.

If the inflation effect turns out to be large, BI would be a waste of time and scary to roll back, but there’s also a danger it could be regressively redistributive. I think it’s likely Congress would pass the BI only if it also reduced more direct help to the poor. If Congress took away that help, inflation—if occurred—would effectively force the poor to turn over what’s left to the rent collectors higher up the wealth distribution.

BI is still an interesting thought experiment to me, and it’s cool that studies are underway, but those studies need to be large and long enough to detect for inflationary effects, and articles discussing BI should mention that risk.

There are plenty more feasible ways to help the poor: increase wage subsidies like the EITC, target wage subsidies toward those having particular trouble finding work, or even some WPA jobs.