Other topic - awhile back I read this:
Michael: “With this difference: we let hear a shrill tone at the right moment – in our terminology: the magical fifth chord. If you do something the listener doesn’t expect on the crucial moment, his ear will pay extra attention there the next time he listens: this way, you keep music fascinating.”
Link here:
- Spoiler: show
- http://bocpages.org/wiki/Cross_Out_the_Inappropriate
I always thought Mike was referring to the V or v chord - although BoC do use it on occasion, they generally prefer third-relationship chords like III's and VI's. Even plagal relationships like IV-I show up more than the V chord does. Then after observing something interesting about Alpha and Omega I realized that Mike probably meant the 5th chord of a progression - meaning not the "4-chord progressions" found so commonly in pop music.
Some evidence:
Whitewater's main progression is Eb Bb F C G. Again all the chords have a neat IV-I relationship with each other opposite of what most cascading progressions do, which is have V-I relationships. This creates the circle of fifths, but clearly BoC prefer the circle of fourths. This is understandable as plagal (IV-I) progressions can have a darker, warmer sound that's not as intense as authentic (V-I) progressions. However the 5th chord doesn't sound too unnatural since it is held for two measures, making the song have a 4-2 or 6 feel to it. None of the proceeding songs do this, though.
Alpha & Omega's main progression is G#sus (G# C# D), Gsus, Gm7, F#sus, G#m7. This loops for the whole song. It's an interesting example of chromatic relationships, which aren't very stable, that create a sort of "falling" effect. This is especially notable because the G#m7 subtly moves the progression back up to the G#sus where it started so you keep "falling" forever without feeling like you're "rising" back up the keys.
Slow This Bird Down goes B Gaug (#5 so G B D#) F#6 (F# major first inversion, not an added 6), F#m6, GMaj7. This is a nice spooky major/minor progression that gives off an appropriately eerie vibe.
Julie and Candy has a non-constant progression but generally sticks with Db Eb Db Eb F. All the chords are major, which is a good example of parallel major chords moving in major seconds. For this song, though, the flutesy bits play random notes in F Major so your ear hears the Db chord as a spooky bVI that doesn't really belong. The Eb feels like a natural motion to F, and if the chord were F Minor this would be a normal 2017 IV-V-vi progression heard in pretty much every 'EDM' track. But of course it's not because BoC don't like 'normal' progressions...that's why I love 'em.
The Beach at Redpoint has such a drastic example of this that I'd consider the song to be in 10/4 because it's slow and the chords move relatively quickly to the beat. Now that each measure has 10 beats it's the perfect way to squeeze in G#m G#m Em F#m F#m. Now the trick here is that there are really only three chords in the song, but the way they move the notes around between chords (especially the bass, which jumps an octave for each identical chord) makes it sound like there are more. I think there might be some decorative 7's in the chords which accomplish the same effect. In this way, BoC fool us into believing that they're playing the 5-chord game...even when they're technically not.
Fascinating stuff...and I'm sure I missed a ton of songs so let me know if you think you've heard a 5th chord somewhere in one!
