The krautrock-style freakout “Polacca” by OOIOO features some obvious participatory discrepancies. First, whereas the bass is in 6, drums and guitar are in a duple meter, pre-empting beats 2 and 4 ever so slightly. Different vocal styles overlap each other, some sounding very present, others sounding like they are leaking in from another room. While the band plays hooky riffs, the vocalists sing in an eerie legato or shout lyrics in a staccato speaking voice. During the musical meltdown at the end, drums maintain a 4/4 pattern (when they aren’t simply dropped) whereas the other percussionists play syncopated ostinatos that line up only very loosely.

Spaced Cowboy is an uncomfortable listen because of how it juxtaposes the tight, feel-good groove of funk and soul with a dark and disaffected vocal performance from Sly Stone. Whereas the band is punchy and active, Sly is hardly singing; his voice is a low grumble, the lyrics are lost in the mix, and the audio fidelity is comparatively poor. Verses are punctuated by cowboy yodeling, a sound that is discrepant in the context of funk, sung with gusto but without great care for rhythm or pitch. The discrepancy between moods conveys a disillusionment with the spirit of the 1960s. I am a huge fan of Sly and the Family Stone, and I think that his post-60s output is the soundtrack to the death of hope and progress in the 1970s.

The participatory discrepancy in Agua Que Va A Caer is rhythmic. Bass and conga give a syncopated but generally constant triple meter. Vocalists and guitarists are also playing in a triple meter, but consistently out of phase with conga and drums, pre-empting the downbeat of the rhythm section. Through repetition it grows to sound normal, and adds a layer of groove.