This album is like “The Dark Crystal” of music, to me. So unique, an entire world designed for only one immense story. It just sounds like it was made on another planet, or in another dimension.
I took an advanced rhythm class at music school back in 2010 and Tigran Hamasyan was also in the class - he transcribed this whole album for his final project that semester.
+mrjazzvids Thats crazy. Thanks for sharing that, I am a huge Meshuggah fan and a big Tigran fan. I always heard a little bit of Meshuggah in Tigran's music,
First time I heard Tigran that piano djent just cut through the speakers so purely. Some artists just make the hairs all over your body prick up and both meshuggah and tigran gave me that experience
if you look into his eyes, you see what we all felt when we discovered mesuhggah. sheer admiration, respect, awe, love. It's basically a religious experience for so many of us
I was bored with current music back in 1996. My friend went through great lengths to contact me while I was out of town. One of the things he HAD to tell me about was this band called "My Sugar". I was like... "ummm ok whatever." I got back into town and he showed me Destroy, Erase, Improve. I was blown away. I have been hooked ever since. I get it. I love it.
Catch 33 is a very special album to me. I love your enthusiasm and passion for this album, just like mine. When I first heard this it blew me away and being a drummer I started to memorize it note for note. Humming to the guitars and enjoying the musical journey it sent me on. It really put me in another place, I can't describe it. Like an outer body experience. I really hope they compose another masterpiece this way. It's so ahead of it's time..
i remember i read some critics about catch 33 that it changed the modern music blah blah blah...i was 16 listening other complex music like BTBAM Dream Theater etc...i could not grasp this thing...i was like wtf am i listening, im on the third song and its the same fuckin riff with displacements..after my 4-5 time the music started to absorb me, like the force of a black hole and its gravity pulling you inside it... Now the best thing about it is, that i still feel mesmerized by catch 33 every fuckin time i listen to it...its like a new level reached where the absence of air lets me breathe.
I think the "Entrapment" section is like a solo to the album, when I hear the album as a single song. It used to sound so random at first, but the build is felt more than melodically understood, yet, there is undeniably melody weaved within the syncopation of "random" bends and notes combined with the driving crash that holds the feel of 4. Meshuggah is so primal and visceral while also sounding as tight as a breaking machine. They have mastered the studder of rhythms to the point of breaking up notes in very exciting ways with surgical precision while maintaining a beastly rawness.
I feel the same way about Catch 33 in particular. I listened almost exclusively to that record for a whole year- like, my only musical diet that year and I did not tire of it. what an amazing project! I can't wait to see this app.
Brendan Baldwin This interests me. I can't imagine listening to mostly one album let alone mostly one band for any extended length of time. I will delve pretty deep with a band... but eventually, sooner than later, I have to balance that out with something else as the situation or mood calls for.
Meshuggah = Gods. They are otherworldy beings sent to make extremely heavy, extremely groovy and extremely complex metal music. I must have listened to Catch 33 hundreds, maybe thousands of times and the "Shed" part still gives me goosebumps every time.
This is the album that introduced me to Meshuggah back in 2008, and I sat on the edge of my bed in silence and listened from start to finish. Absolutely blown away it felt like a religious experience. I still listen to it now everyday at the gym!
Until you figure out how to hear the song in 4/4, you virtually feel no groove at all, just complex, almost chaotic patters. When you do finally discern the rhythm, the groove is absolutely crushing!! Check out the verses on Perpetual Black Second. So exhilarating!
you spoke of a deeper rythmic understanding....its amazing how your mind hears it and recognizes it...but its the most enjoyable thing to learn it and own it...it reels like deep learning...so awesome man.much respect
Derek! Besides discovering that you and I have the same musical background and appreciate composition on the same way, you have blown my mind. I prided myself in being the most appreciative listener and participator of Meshuggah until now. I feel like I've found my mental twin. I no longer feel alone in this world.
I already Meshuggah for all the reasons you gave but seeing this just makes me want to listen to them even more. You have made me appreciate and love their music and music like it even more. Thank you!
Thank you for this video. Up til now..I considered myself THE Meshuggah fan..but I tip my hat to you sir. The feelings you shared about how the music touches and influences you truly hits home with me..and I am veerrry jealous of your friendship with the guys..but you earned it!
Indeed, so deep in it, I share the same feelings sometimes, especially Tool, Steak number 8, Meshuggah, but also Techno and other electronic music (Schlomo, boards of canada, Eeprom, The Haxan Cloak, Holy Other, Fever Ray, ...) Music goes beyond styles and songs, it's pure emotion, that is what gets touched in my case. Even Industrial noise, that is not beautiful at all, but if you listen to whitehouse, you'll find pure agression and emotion, it brings me to places where I like to be. So anyway, I love enthousiasm, and look forward to seeing Meshuggah (again) on GMM in Belgium this summer.
Wow! Fantastic interview! Almost she'd a tear listening to how thoughtful, insightful and impassioned this guy is. Bravo man really, awesome awesome awesome.
if you ask me, meshuggah is the sound of all that is opposite of the metal scene. this is not music of evil. Meshuggah is the voice of humanity and good will cutting through the cacophony of hands scrambling for power and wealth in selfishness... in my opinion.
EXACTLY, people say meshuggah is very dark and all because of the imagery in videos like "Bleed", but you can hear in their lyrics that they despise everything evil that's goin on in the world
Evil is a broad word that could be applied to meshuggahs lyrical content depending on your perspective of the world. For me, meshuggahs lyrics always give this vibe of killing your humanity and rebirthing yourself as a machine but still being unable to strip yourself of the negative emotions that make you human. It’s a very introverted, introspective reflection of the inability to shake the evils of humanity no matter what extent you go to to achieve this.
There is not a single boring Meshuggah moment indeed. Thanks for this sincere treatise -- almost a love letter -- to an album, and to a band, dare I say, that will not be surpassed.
Catch 33 sounds like you're machine. I remember there was some vid, where it was used the song "Paradoxical Spiral", where Terminator was spawned from the future (the first one with Arnie). And it looked pretty awesome.
Dude. I have no words. You are the best bestest ever besting best. Much love to you, you Bartók of metal. From now on I'm hearing "sweet-ish" when you say Swedish, that's it.
how much this speaks to me is way too powerful to just be putting in a RUclips comment. I have loved music my whole life. I am a musician and that is what I was meant to do. When I first heard his band, they changed music for me forever. It was absolutely different from everything I've ever heard before it. When I first heard catch 33, it became necessary for me to also learn the music. I sat there on my word pad on my computer and played section after section over and over again learning every single exact note. Then that is all I played for years. Pretty much anyway. I have Meshuggah covers on my Channel right now. I covered in death is life and death is death. I also covered the album itself up until and death is life and death is death. catch 33 I have named my favorite album for many years now. Watching this testimonial of yours reminds me that I am not crazy for worshipping this music the way that I have and for it changing me the way that it has. I have so much more to say but I will leave it here for now.
I don’t know much about music, just playing electric guitar growing up, and listening to some hard rock with my dad as a kid. But I just love Meshuggah. I have never had a band that has stuck for so long like Meshuggah, they’ve been with me through everything. Although my room is decorated poorly, I have a catch 33 poster in the middle of my room. Great words sir
Amazing video, i can relate so much. I highly recommend you listen to the album Masstaden by Vildhjarta. It's also swedish prog death metal, but confers its emotion through hauntingly dissonant beauty and batshit crazy riffs. It has always seemed to have the quality of a metal concerto to me, and I'm sure you would enjoy its compositional difficulty.
Wow this is my favorite interview on metal EVER! Honestly, that's how I've always felt listening to Meshuggah, I was just never able to explain it as well as Derek Johnson lol Meshuggah's music takes me elsewhere EVERYTIME!! I'm so hype to see them at Best Buy Theater June 21st ^____^ Join the shuggah trance and change your life
One of my favorite albums of all time, and the album that exposed me to heavy metal as a whole, and you managed to explain it perfectly. I really don't have any deep understanding of music theory or basic knowledge in how music "works" in general but even then everything you said is everything I've felt about this album since listening to it 10 years ago. And it's crazy to think I have been listening to this album for a decade! I was 14 when I first listened to it and never would have guessed what a profound impact it would have on me. It is art in it's purest form. It's hard not to smile listening to this album. Every time the riff from Dehumanization kicks in it is like falling in love all over again. Great video man. Do you think you'll ever upload some covers of you playing this album? Also, what do you think about the latest album? Keep doing what you're doing man! Thanks for the video.
I found this band a couple months ago. I'm terribly late to the party. As I try to catch up on their albums or attempt any of the drum compositions, I can't help but "zone out" or "in" or whatever to it. It's enigmatic to me. One does not simply "listen" to Meshuggah. Soooo happy I found this band.
My 1st taste of Meshuggah was from my Friend/Guitarist in 98/99. Shortly after Chaosphere was released. I didn't know what to make of it, it sounded insane, I never heard a Drummer like that. I was hooked from then on, missed them on their last Tour, hope they come back to Fl.
Did my undergrad thesis on this album just a few months ago and really wish I'd seen this video before it. One of the best talks about anything I've ever seen, never mind that Meshuggah is has been my favorite band for a decade and so has this album. Never been so awestruck and jealous at the same time haha
I just discovered this and as a composer and electric guitarist I can relate so much on these thoughts and I'm really inspired by the speech, so I just wanted to thank you! Also I'm looking forward for the transcriptions. I couldn't find them anywhere online but I'm sure you are still working on it even if it's been quite a few years.
Concerning why programmed drums were used- Why did Meshuggah decide to use programmed drums for Catch 33? Tomas-------Mainly for the same reason that we had whoever wrote the riff record both bass and guitar for those riffs. We’re very used to programming drums because that’s how we usually write songs but then we learn them, rehearse them, then I record live drums. Everyone’s really good at programming drums, so everyone’s kind of a drummer in that sense. Even if you look at the Nothing album, most drum parts that are on there are not written by me but are written by whoever wrote the part or the song or whatever, so they do a lot of drum patterns for our music, for most of them. And for this very album to be able to just come up with a riff, record it, record the bass and be able to record the drum part immediately, we programmed the drums. And what we noticed was for what we wanted this album to be, like a very guitar driven album. What we wanted was basically like a super steady emotionless rhythm section behind it. We have such great samples. We have access to such great stuff as far as drum samples and all that goes. So, we just noticed early on that this just sounds fucking good as it is and if I were to go in there and record like super steady kind of held back drumming, it wouldn’t have come out this way, it would have been a totally different album. Also it would have taken forever just to learn this part that we play for 13 minutes, which that took us a month to learn and it’s not at all like the harder parts of the album to learn. It would have taken like half a year to learn all the drum parts especially with the way we did it. All the riffs were rewritten and revamped throughout. It would have meant going in and rehearsing something silly like for weeks maybe and record that, then a week later relearn it slightly different, record it again and maybe at the end of the week you’re not even using that part. So for this album it was just the right thing to do and it’s kind of cool for our music. What we have always done, the drums are pretty prominent and it’s such a taboo for this style of music to say yeah, this while album is programmed drums. People kind of scratch their heads and we like that aspect of it as well because it’s definitely taboo in a very percussive Metal scene.
Thank you for this. The way of thinking really clicked with me. i work in business but my heart is really in wanting to create art in form of painting and music. I really hope you keep enjoying life and will be able to (the world sadly require money also).
Listening to your words about Meshuggah is such a beautiful thing, i feel absolutely the same way. Meshuggah has such a distinct and interesting sound, while still holding all the aspects of metal. It's wierd, they have a simple idea (although it's not fucking simple at all), yet they're so different from everything i've listened so far. I'm interested in every single genre of music and i'm still trying to find bands that blew me away like Meshuggah did, and still does, in all the other genres.
Were you at the Meshuggah show at Pop’s in St. Louis in 06 or 07? I remember vividly a guy talking to Thomas Haake on the floor out in front of the stage before the show started. He looked just like you but without a beard and was sipping a drink. Was that you? They were there with Mnemic supporting.
I stopped listening to metal in the 90's. Listening sometimes briefly, no feelings whatsoever. And, like a lot of people who got there a little bit late, I stumbled upon... Bleed's drum bass pattern... Hooked since then, and still, just trying to bang my bold head. Correctly. That testimony was badass, we really feel the passion.
This is MAN music dude, i’m a jazz drummer myself, but those rudiments, so well musically coordinatedand powerful beefy sound they create is just unbelievable, it’s just so immense and aggressive you can’t quench the thirst for it, I know exactly how you feel. words are just not specific enough to describe it, you have to just shut it and listen to see what it is.
"I never get sick of the music" this exactly. I don't know any other band or type of music that you never get sick of, even when you listen to the same album over and over every day for months. If regular music is paper, Meshuggah is a tesseract.
wow their sound really pulled you in! such brilliant music as this deserves geek-level obsession. eye had a similar experience the first time i heard Tool. after hearing Stinkfist on MTV in '96, i bought Aenima, and proceeded to listen to it through (77 mins) at least once every day for well over a year, and it still sounds amazing to me. i began as a drummer and have moved through instruments, currently learning piano. Meshuggah is a fairly new obsession for me. i believe that Tomas Haake is a true master of his craft, and the fact that the band somehow manages to keep up with him blows my mind. their music is truly astonishing to behold. i think i have had a similar obsession with Rick Wakeman's amazing piano playing on David Bowie's Life on Mars. the idea of being able to play it had never really been an ambition, because it felt way beyond me, almost incomprehensible to me until fairly recently - 40 years on. i still don't fancy my chances of nailing it, but i understand it now. for a musician and composer, what better project is there than to immerse yourself in a ridiculously ambitious project - a real challenge that sits you in amongst the most amazing music? learning drums is such a great challenge for our brains, and to aim so high as this means you will be busy for a good long while. good luck on your continuing journey.
I transcribed Autonomy Lost and Imprint of the Un-saved to Guitar Pro 5 today :D I hate how I can't get the drum cymbals right because there aren't that many on midi so I keep changing it every time I go through it :P It's fun how it alternates between how it truncates each part and how it rotates the riff 1 beat. I never seen that rotating thing before, ever. Whoa
Also ironic that this masterpiece, the album that gave you the final push to want to learn drums, is the one with programmed drums. It's another built-n paradox that Meshuggah included. That's how ingeniously paradoxical Catch 33 is!!!
I really enjoyed your episode of Banged up Abroad. Still amazed at how you escaped the jungle and the blood thirsty cannibal cartel. Cheers from Zimbabwe
I completely concur and agree with everything you said. Truly a life changing album. I wish I could be a part of something new that follows along some of these same lines.
Holy hell dude! You are awesome! And i thought i was a hardcore fan. I'm the exact same, i like soo much music but Meshuggah is the one band ill take to my grave. What about the I ep or "Sol Niger Within" have you tabbed them? Do you think its great when they do a more lighter side ala Straws Pulled at Random or Acrid Placidity?
lardplanet They need to get version 3.33 back in print if they haven't already. I used to own it, but it wasn't cheap, since it was "out-of-print" & "rare". I hate when something is hard to find.
I learned up to that octave break before the crazier stuff and that in and of itself is a forearm workout no matter where you play it or tune it. mental and physically difficult if not semi impossible...
![Tomas Haake (Meshuggah) - drumtalk [episode 50]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/ba2X4r12lv4/mqdefault.jpg)
![Tomas Haake (Meshuggah) - drumtalk [episode 50]](/img/tr.png)
![Chino Pacas - Smith (ft. Junior H & Fuerza Regida) [Video Visualizador Oficial]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/BVK6k56X30Y/mqdefault.jpg)
Some bands have fangirls, but Meshuggah has us hairy men.
+kaakatin Fanbear it up!
*smart hairy men*
@@guybuddy1 *Smart stupidly handsome hairy men*
When i try to play their masterpiece i feel like small bitchy fangirl...
@@Death2Dust Well, are you single??
thank you for validating my nerdy obsession with this band.
Catch 33 is too damn underrated!
This album is like “The Dark Crystal” of music, to me. So unique, an entire world designed for only one immense story. It just sounds like it was made on another planet, or in another dimension.
I'd like your comment but its at 33 likes 😂
I took an advanced rhythm class at music school back in 2010 and Tigran Hamasyan was also in the class - he transcribed this whole album for his final project that semester.
+mrjazzvids Thats crazy. Thanks for sharing that, I am a huge Meshuggah fan and a big Tigran fan. I always heard a little bit of Meshuggah in Tigran's music,
+mrjazzvids Super badass, thanks for sharing!
That's sick, I had heard Tigran was a big fan of Meshuggah. What school were you guys at?
First time I heard Tigran that piano djent just cut through the speakers so purely. Some artists just make the hairs all over your body prick up and both meshuggah and tigran gave me that experience
Wow! Now that is a cool story.
if you look into his eyes, you see what we all felt when we discovered mesuhggah. sheer admiration, respect, awe, love. It's basically a religious experience for so many of us
Meshuggah makes my leg days at the gym feel like psychedelic journeys
I was bored with current music back in 1996. My friend went through great lengths to contact me while I was out of town. One of the things he HAD to tell me about was this band called "My Sugar". I was like... "ummm ok whatever." I got back into town and he showed me Destroy, Erase, Improve. I was blown away. I have been hooked ever since. I get it. I love it.
catch 33 is one of the greatest albums of all time, i used to blast that shit EVERY night for months while i delivered papers.
It never fucking gets old, timeless record
This is one of my all-time favourite videos on RUclips
Thank you! Good stuff coming.
Thanks for all the comments. It's coming along. Thank you so much for your support and interest! \m/ derek
Catch 33 is a very special album to me. I love your enthusiasm and passion for this album, just like mine. When I first heard this it blew me away and being a drummer I started to memorize it note for note. Humming to the guitars and enjoying the musical journey it sent me on. It really put me in another place, I can't describe it. Like an outer body experience. I really hope they compose another masterpiece this way. It's so ahead of it's time..
this album really is just that incredible.
great talk man. I love this band to death
you were born in dissonance
Yarr! This interview is truly wonderful to hear. Your devotion to the craft is admirable.
I'd buy that transcription in a heartbeat...
There is no other band in metal like Meshuggah who can make the simple and the complex co-exist so beautifully
Vildhjarta>meshuggah
@@Unanythangno
i remember i read some critics about catch 33 that it changed the modern music blah blah blah...i was 16 listening other complex music like BTBAM Dream Theater etc...i could not grasp this thing...i was like wtf am i listening, im on the third song and its the same fuckin riff with displacements..after my 4-5 time the music started to absorb me, like the force of a black hole and its gravity pulling you inside it...
Now the best thing about it is, that i still feel mesmerized by catch 33 every fuckin time i listen to it...its like a new level reached where the absence of air lets me breathe.
I think the "Entrapment" section is like a solo to the album, when I hear the album as a single song.
It used to sound so random at first, but the build is felt more than melodically understood, yet, there is undeniably melody weaved within the syncopation of "random" bends and notes combined with the driving crash that holds the feel of 4.
Meshuggah is so primal and visceral while also sounding as tight as a breaking machine.
They have mastered the studder of rhythms to the point of breaking up notes in very exciting ways with surgical precision while maintaining a beastly rawness.
I’m so in love with that whole section.
I wish meshuggah could get back to something like catch 33 or I again. Two of my favorite pieces of music ever.
Damn and i thought i geeked out to Catch 33
*eloquently describes his love for, and the beauty of, Meshuggah's music.*
"Thanks, Derek!"
"YARRRRR!!!"
Amazing.
Dont cheat me! This is Adrien Brody!
I was thinking the same thing
Mateusz Jagocha - Hahahaha! THATS who! I was thinking; "Who does this guy look like?" :D
Mateusz Jagocha s
Same
I feel the same way about Catch 33 in particular. I listened almost exclusively to that record for a whole year- like, my only musical diet that year and I did not tire of it. what an amazing project! I can't wait to see this app.
Brendan Baldwin
This interests me. I can't imagine listening to mostly one album let alone mostly one band for any extended length of time. I will delve pretty deep with a band... but eventually, sooner than later, I have to balance that out with something else as the situation or mood calls for.
Meshuggah = Gods.
They are otherworldy beings sent to make extremely heavy, extremely groovy and extremely complex metal music.
I must have listened to Catch 33 hundreds, maybe thousands of times and the "Shed" part still gives me goosebumps every time.
Mate I've listened to that record for 16 odd years and it still changes itself on a regular basis. One of the all time great compositions
I am also a classical composer that loves Meshuggah!
Same actually
This is the album that introduced me to Meshuggah back in 2008, and I sat on the edge of my bed in silence and listened from start to finish. Absolutely blown away it felt like a religious experience. I still listen to it now everyday at the gym!
Until you figure out how to hear the song in 4/4, you virtually feel no groove at all, just complex, almost chaotic patters. When you do finally discern the rhythm, the groove is absolutely crushing!! Check out the verses on Perpetual Black Second. So exhilarating!
You sir are a beautiful person. It just soothes my ears listening to someone talking so passionately about music, with so much care and love.
you spoke of a deeper rythmic understanding....its amazing how your mind hears it and recognizes it...but its the most enjoyable thing to learn it and own it...it reels like deep learning...so awesome man.much respect
The members of Meshuggah must be delighted to have people like you as their fans.
Derek! Besides discovering that you and I have the same musical background and appreciate composition on the same way, you have blown my mind. I prided myself in being the most appreciative listener and participator of Meshuggah until now. I feel like I've found my mental twin. I no longer feel alone in this world.
I already Meshuggah for all the reasons you gave but seeing this just makes me want to listen to them even more. You have made me appreciate and love their music and music like it even more. Thank you!
Ive watched this video 6 or more times...I love the passion in your eyes!
Still watching - 2018
2019 - still watching
I started listening to Meshuggah about a year before this album came out. I got to see them on that tour, playing for 50 people in Norfolk VA lol
Thank you for this video. Up til now..I considered myself THE Meshuggah fan..but I tip my hat to you sir. The feelings you shared about how the music touches and influences you truly hits home with me..and I am veerrry jealous of your friendship with the guys..but you earned it!
i was thinking the same :)
Indeed, so deep in it, I share the same feelings sometimes, especially Tool, Steak number 8, Meshuggah, but also Techno and other electronic music (Schlomo, boards of canada, Eeprom, The Haxan Cloak, Holy Other, Fever Ray, ...) Music goes beyond styles and songs, it's pure emotion, that is what gets touched in my case. Even Industrial noise, that is not beautiful at all, but if you listen to whitehouse, you'll find pure agression and emotion, it brings me to places where I like to be. So anyway, I love enthousiasm, and look forward to seeing Meshuggah (again) on GMM in Belgium this summer.
brilliant show that was!
Merzbow to me is chaotic bliss.
Wow! Fantastic interview! Almost she'd a tear listening to how thoughtful, insightful and impassioned this guy is. Bravo man really, awesome awesome awesome.
if you ask me, meshuggah is the sound of all that is opposite of the metal scene. this is not music of evil. Meshuggah is the voice of humanity and good will cutting through the cacophony of hands scrambling for power and wealth in selfishness... in my opinion.
EXACTLY, people say meshuggah is very dark and all because of the imagery in videos like "Bleed", but you can hear in their lyrics that they despise everything evil that's goin on in the world
MuffMuff36 catch 33 is unbelievable constructed amazing!!!
Evil is a broad word that could be applied to meshuggahs lyrical content depending on your perspective of the world.
For me, meshuggahs lyrics always give this vibe of killing your humanity and rebirthing yourself as a machine but still being unable to strip yourself of the negative emotions that make you human.
It’s a very introverted, introspective reflection of the inability to shake the evils of humanity no matter what extent you go to to achieve this.
There is not a single boring Meshuggah moment indeed. Thanks for this sincere treatise -- almost a love letter -- to an album, and to a band, dare I say, that will not be surpassed.
Catch 33 sounds like you're machine. I remember there was some vid, where it was used the song "Paradoxical Spiral", where Terminator was spawned from the future (the first one with Arnie). And it looked pretty awesome.
Dude. I have no words. You are the best bestest ever besting best. Much love to you, you Bartók of metal.
From now on I'm hearing "sweet-ish" when you say Swedish, that's it.
how much this speaks to me is way too powerful to just be putting in a RUclips comment.
I have loved music my whole life. I am a musician and that is what I was meant to do. When I first heard his band, they changed music for me forever. It was absolutely different from everything I've ever heard before it. When I first heard catch 33, it became necessary for me to also learn the music. I sat there on my word pad on my computer and played section after section over and over again learning every single exact note. Then that is all I played for years. Pretty much anyway. I have Meshuggah covers on my Channel right now. I covered in death is life and death is death. I also covered the album itself up until and death is life and death is death. catch 33 I have named my favorite album for many years now. Watching this testimonial of yours reminds me that I am not crazy for worshipping this music the way that I have and for it changing me the way that it has. I have so much more to say but I will leave it here for now.
my channel with the covers is named
mathprodigy
I don’t know much about music, just playing electric guitar growing up, and listening to some hard rock with my dad as a kid. But I just love Meshuggah. I have never had a band that has stuck for so long like Meshuggah, they’ve been with me through everything. Although my room is decorated poorly, I have a catch 33 poster in the middle of my room. Great words sir
Amazing video, i can relate so much. I highly recommend you listen to the album Masstaden by Vildhjarta. It's also swedish prog death metal, but confers its emotion through hauntingly dissonant beauty and batshit crazy riffs. It has always seemed to have the quality of a metal concerto to me, and I'm sure you would enjoy its compositional difficulty.
Etchei
You might like the now defunct band Means End.
After hearing how deeply you understand the band and its progression. I’ll bet the violent sleep of reason was a gift from heaven to your ears.
Wow this is my favorite interview on metal EVER!
Honestly, that's how I've always felt listening to Meshuggah,
I was just never able to explain it as well as Derek Johnson lol
Meshuggah's music takes me elsewhere EVERYTIME!!
I'm so hype to see them at Best Buy Theater June 21st ^____^
Join the shuggah trance and change your life
This interview is profound. I am going to dedicate the next year and a half of my life transcribing it into all languages and sounds.
One of my favorite albums of all time, and the album that exposed me to heavy metal as a whole, and you managed to explain it perfectly. I really don't have any deep understanding of music theory or basic knowledge in how music "works" in general but even then everything you said is everything I've felt about this album since listening to it 10 years ago. And it's crazy to think I have been listening to this album for a decade! I was 14 when I first listened to it and never would have guessed what a profound impact it would have on me. It is art in it's purest form. It's hard not to smile listening to this album. Every time the riff from Dehumanization kicks in it is like falling in love all over again. Great video man.
Do you think you'll ever upload some covers of you playing this album? Also, what do you think about the latest album?
Keep doing what you're doing man! Thanks for the video.
this man existing makes me happy Derek Johnson... fucking thank you for this contribution
If i could only choose one a metal album to bring on a desert island.. This would be it.
Hey, this is the dude on that Bleed video!
I found this band a couple months ago. I'm terribly late to the party. As I try to catch up on their albums or attempt any of the drum compositions, I can't help but "zone out" or "in" or whatever to it. It's enigmatic to me. One does not simply "listen" to Meshuggah. Soooo happy I found this band.
My 1st taste of Meshuggah was from my Friend/Guitarist in 98/99. Shortly after Chaosphere was released. I didn't know what to make of it, it sounded insane, I never heard a Drummer like that. I was hooked from then on, missed them on their last Tour, hope they come back to Fl.
I love introducing people to meshuggah,
They always hate it.
Then a year later they are obsessed
Did my undergrad thesis on this album just a few months ago and really wish I'd seen this video before it. One of the best talks about anything I've ever seen, never mind that Meshuggah is has been my favorite band for a decade and so has this album. Never been so awestruck and jealous at the same time haha
Would you be able to share your thesis?
I just discovered this and as a composer and electric guitarist I can relate so much on these thoughts and I'm really inspired by the speech, so I just wanted to thank you! Also I'm looking forward for the transcriptions. I couldn't find them anywhere online but I'm sure you are still working on it even if it's been quite a few years.
Thank you. A more eloquent explanation for their style has not been uttered. TY.
Bravo man, wow all of a sudden I don't feel alone!
Concerning why programmed drums were used-
Why did Meshuggah decide to use programmed drums for Catch 33?
Tomas-------Mainly for the same reason that we had whoever wrote the riff record both bass and guitar for those riffs. We’re very used to programming drums because that’s how we usually write songs but then we learn them, rehearse them, then I record live drums. Everyone’s really good at programming drums, so everyone’s kind of a drummer in that sense. Even if you look at the Nothing album, most drum parts that are on there are not written by me but are written by whoever wrote the part or the song or whatever, so they do a lot of drum patterns for our music, for most of them. And for this very album to be able to just come up with a riff, record it, record the bass and be able to record the drum part immediately, we programmed the drums. And what we noticed was for what we wanted this album to be, like a very guitar driven album. What we wanted was basically like a super steady emotionless rhythm section behind it. We have such great samples. We have access to such great stuff as far as drum samples and all that goes.
So, we just noticed early on that this just sounds fucking good as it is and if I were to go in there and record like super steady kind of held back drumming, it wouldn’t have come out this way, it would have been a totally different album. Also it would have taken forever just to learn this part that we play for 13 minutes, which that took us a month to learn and it’s not at all like the harder parts of the album to learn. It would have taken like half a year to learn all the drum parts especially with the way we did it. All the riffs were rewritten and revamped throughout. It would have meant going in and rehearsing something silly like for weeks maybe and record that, then a week later relearn it slightly different, record it again and maybe at the end of the week you’re not even using that part.
So for this album it was just the right thing to do and it’s kind of cool for our music. What we have always done, the drums are pretty prominent and it’s such a taboo for this style of music to say yeah, this while album is programmed drums. People kind of scratch their heads and we like that aspect of it as well because it’s definitely taboo in a very percussive Metal scene.
that's really awesome! could you site the source? Cheers!
@@derekjohnsoncomposer Found the source: www.metal-temple.com/site/catalogues/entry/musicians/tomas_haake_meshuggah.htm
@@Maldito011316 Cool! Thanks!
Thank you for this.
The way of thinking really clicked with me.
i work in business but my heart is really in wanting to create art in form of painting and music.
I really hope you keep enjoying life and will be able to (the world sadly require money also).
Listening to your words about Meshuggah is such a beautiful thing, i feel absolutely the same way. Meshuggah has such a distinct and interesting sound, while still holding all the aspects of metal. It's wierd, they have a simple idea (although it's not fucking simple at all), yet they're so different from everything i've listened so far.
I'm interested in every single genre of music and i'm still trying to find bands that blew me away like Meshuggah did, and still does, in all the other genres.
Were you at the Meshuggah show at Pop’s in St. Louis in 06 or 07? I remember vividly a guy talking to Thomas Haake on the floor out in front of the stage before the show started. He looked just like you but without a beard and was sipping a drink. Was that you?
They were there with Mnemic supporting.
Yar!
@@derekjohnsoncomposer Wow! My mind is blown. So weird!
I stopped listening to metal in the 90's. Listening sometimes briefly, no feelings whatsoever. And, like a lot of people who got there a little bit late, I stumbled upon... Bleed's drum bass pattern... Hooked since then, and still, just trying to bang my bold head. Correctly. That testimony was badass, we really feel the passion.
Thank you. I just want to tell you, don't be anxious. You are on the right path. Catch 33...
This guy validates how I feel about music
This is MAN music dude, i’m a jazz drummer myself, but those rudiments, so well musically coordinatedand powerful beefy sound they create is just unbelievable, it’s just so immense and aggressive you can’t quench the thirst for it, I know exactly how you feel. words are just not specific enough to describe it, you have to just shut it and listen to see what it is.
"I never get sick of the music" this exactly. I don't know any other band or type of music that you never get sick of, even when you listen to the same album over and over every day for months. If regular music is paper, Meshuggah is a tesseract.
Please let this still be being worked on
wow their sound really pulled you in! such brilliant music as this deserves geek-level obsession. eye had a similar experience the first time i heard Tool. after hearing Stinkfist on MTV in '96, i bought Aenima, and proceeded to listen to it through (77 mins) at least once every day for well over a year, and it still sounds amazing to me. i began as a drummer and have moved through instruments, currently learning piano. Meshuggah is a fairly new obsession for me. i believe that Tomas Haake is a true master of his craft, and the fact that the band somehow manages to keep up with him blows my mind. their music is truly astonishing to behold. i think i have had a similar obsession with Rick Wakeman's amazing piano playing on David Bowie's Life on Mars. the idea of being able to play it had never really been an ambition, because it felt way beyond me, almost incomprehensible to me until fairly recently - 40 years on. i still don't fancy my chances of nailing it, but i understand it now. for a musician and composer, what better project is there than to immerse yourself in a ridiculously ambitious project - a real challenge that sits you in amongst the most amazing music? learning drums is such a great challenge for our brains, and to aim so high as this means you will be busy for a good long while. good luck on your continuing journey.
I transcribed Autonomy Lost and Imprint of the Un-saved to Guitar Pro 5 today :D
I hate how I can't get the drum cymbals right because there aren't that many on midi so I keep changing it every time I go through it :P
It's fun how it alternates between how it truncates each part and how it rotates the riff 1 beat. I never seen that rotating thing before, ever. Whoa
what happened with the app? did it came out
This alb is a *MASTERPIECE* ❤️
Beautifully storytelling ❤.
And so smart! Like all of us musicians 😉
Who ever you are, you are beautiful in a way we don’t se people anymore ❤
Meshuggah is a personal experience.
Very talented band! Keep those riffs! Greetings from Puerto Rico! \m/
How could I get those transcriptions?
I have ALWAYS felt the same way you do about this record.
An absolute masterpiece.
Thank you for sharing this !
hmm, I never thought I'd find someone as obsessed with music as I am... :-P
When will I have access to this god program sir? I watch this video once a week just to remind myself that I’m not crazy for loving this band so much.
good news coming soon. hang tight! \m/
@@derekjohnsoncomposer I'm just finding this video/interview now and please god yes the iPad app pleaaaaaase. Lemme beta test that shit!
Also ironic that this masterpiece, the album that gave you the final push to want to learn drums, is the one with programmed drums. It's another built-n paradox that Meshuggah included. That's how ingeniously paradoxical Catch 33 is!!!
Nice on pointing that out! Really cool to see how the theme of the paradox spreads out in the real world
Hey whatever happened to this? I would love to buy this, whether it's in an app form or a PDF form!
I agree, it causes goosebumps
Catch 33 have never been one of my favourites. I will have to check it out again now.
Shit, I found this SO interesting! Thank you for your thoughts man! \m/
I really enjoyed your episode of Banged up Abroad. Still amazed at how you escaped the jungle and the blood thirsty cannibal cartel. Cheers from Zimbabwe
A lot of online music educators are a bit snobbish when it comes to metal so I really dig this. Catch 33 is a masterpiece.
Derek johnson, how far did you get?
Ollie Gilmour I guess not that far...
Is this app available?
I must know the name of that app! pleaseee?
2024 - still here!
I completely concur and agree with everything you said. Truly a life changing album. I wish I could be a part of something new that follows along some of these same lines.
Holy hell dude! You are awesome! And i thought i was a hardcore fan. I'm the exact same, i like soo much music but Meshuggah is the one band ill take to my grave.
What about the I ep or "Sol Niger Within" have you tabbed them? Do you think its great when they do a more lighter side ala Straws Pulled at Random or Acrid Placidity?
lardplanet
They need to get version 3.33 back in print if they haven't already. I used to own it, but it wasn't cheap, since it was "out-of-print" & "rare". I hate when something is hard to find.
Did you find the Fibonacci sequence that runs through all the major riffs?
Adrien Brody loves Meshu...awesome!
And, is that transcription available?
Hey I apritiate with my soul what you done, where can I get the transcriptions?
Excellent interview!
Did the app ever come out? I’m trying to find it
simply put..catch 33 is the lateralus of metal....the best wroten concept metal album ever put to tape!!
lateralus is metal, maybe the lateralus of "Djent"
@@YukonASMR "djent"the fuck is that suppossed to mean????
I learned up to that octave break before the crazier stuff and that in and of itself is a forearm workout no matter where you play it or tune it. mental and physically difficult if not semi impossible...
This man is a real trooper.
Did the project end abruptly? It's been almost 10 years :(
is that app available now?
The John Wick of transcribing