X Factory: Steriogram: Walkie Talkie Man

I love it.

Before we talk about the single, a quick mention of the album, Schmack! There are 12 songs here and the duration is a mere 35:58 according to my CD player. You know what that means don't you? Steriogram have taken my advice - clarity of communication, efficient economical use of composed material. I knew someone would eventually listen to me!

Well, alrighty then. Walkie Talkie Man is a lesson in economy and variation. There is a single four-chord progression that makes up this song, all 2:13 minutes of it. In Classical harmony, using Roman numerals we would describe the progression as ii - V - I - vi (lower case for minor, upper case for major), which is an endlessly repeating prepared perfect cadence (in D major in this case).

In less academic speak this means Em - A - D - Bm round and round. The song has a verse/chorus repetition, so how do Steriogram differentiate between the two? Easy - the verses are spoken (ranted!) and the choruses sung. The speaking could possibly have been inspired by the manic effervescence of Supergroove's Karl Steven, although others I have spoken to hear a distinct Chili Peppers' influence. Whatever, it's great! Many of hip hop's songs that have crossed over into the pop charts have featured a similar combination of rapping in the verses and conventional singing in the choruses.

What really got under my skin was the contrast between the verse and chorus, with the chorus displaying a diatonic melody in D. It is a chill-out moment after the outburst of the verse, but interrupted by more 'spouting off' between the sung phrases! Cantus Interruptus, no less!

The lead melody in the chorus is fairly simple, using d, c#, b and e. It is the backing vocal however, that provides the interest for me. As can be seen from the score it sometimes shares the lead vocal making a unison, and otherwise veers away from the lead, making its own shape. I particularly like the way it drops down to the f# in the third bar of each phrase, making an interval of a sixth between it and the lead, (see score above.)

The sound of the sixth with male voices used to be very common in NZ pop music, with groups such as Hello Sailor, Misex and Dragon using it to great effect in the late seventies and early eighties. There is a definite conservatism, even slightly classical image to the chorus vocal, which is magnified in the breakdowns and is once again a product of the backing vocal and the delivery. This jars nicely with the lyrics describing the walkie talkie man going out of his tree.

The structure is as follows:

Intro               8
Verse              8
Chorus            8
Intro               4
Verse              8
Chorus            8
Chorus           vox and drums only
Chorus           vox/bass/ride/(gat enters after 4)
Chorus           8 kitchen sink (plus full-tilt ranting)
Intro/outro    4

Many groups have written songs with one chord progression throughout and Lynrd Skynrd's Sweet Home Alabama is a great example. All you songwriters should give it a crack because it forces you to think about contrast in order to make the structure transparent.

Buy this album, or I'll send the lads 'round.

Stephen Small is a professional musician and Coordinator of Popular Music Studies at the University of Auckland's School of Creative and Performing Arts. He can be contacted at s.small@auckland.co.nz