31 days of blogging - day 5
Oct. 10th, 2013 01:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
naushika5. 10 songs you love right now
I actually very recently made a post that was basically this, and it hasn't changed much as I am still listening to those songs quite a lot, heh. That post is over here.
BUT I LOVE MUSIC A LOT and I listen to a crazy variety of stuff, so I still want to share some things. So I'm gonna do something a little bit different. I'm going to share instead some of my favorite vaugely discordant songs. I LOVE discordant music (as long as it's still listenable), I love music that makes me feel wrong and unsettled, and I think I'm probably weird that way BUT Halloween's coming soon so maybe this is the perfect time for this list. :D Without further ado..
My 10 Favorite Discordant/Creepy/Unsettling Feeling Songs
10. Panic! At the Disco - Let's Kill Tonight
I'm gonna ease you into this list with this song, which is a catchy pop song still. :D But it's got screeching instruments and clapping and faux siren sounds and it all makes me so happy. It's not exactly a relaxing song. :D But stay tuned, things get weirder..
09. DJ Dain - That Long Train Ride (Half Life 2 remix)
It starts out fairly innocuously, if ethereal, but half way through things get serious with a verrrryy creepy sample sound used in the song. This sample is also from the game: at one point, in a closet behind a stairwell that isn't on the usual path, there is a little tv hidden in some rubble, and once you get close to it, the tv shows a creepy image and plays a creepy song. It only does it once. It's a super unnerving moment in an already super unnerving game. FABULOUS. Here is just the creepy tv sound by itself. But the song above brings this into the tune, which is already a remix of another melancholy song from the game, so the whole effect is great. I'm a huge video game music remix fan (I have over a gig of remixes!) but this is probably one of my favorites ever.
08. Great Northern - Summertime
This is especially pleasurable to listen to on headphones since at a couple points during the song, the music will go subtly between your ears and you can almost feel it. But I love the slowness of this song, the drawn out high notes, the scratchy guitar at the end, the sadness of the singing, the subtle almost static-sounding noise in some parts, and all the flat and sharp notes. Chilllsss.
07. Set Fire to Flames - Steal Compass / Drive North / Disappear
STRINGS. ALL THE STRINGS. I love the long, sharp notes from violins that layer on each other throughout the song. And as the song builds, the sounds get louder and more discordant. LOVELY.
06. Nine Inch Nails - 34 Ghosts IV
So, I am not a Nine Inch Nails fan at all. Except for this one 4-cd album called Ghosts. All instrumental music, and by the way, it's free to download here. I love SO many of the songs from this album that it was super hard to choose just one. And in fact, I changed it more than once. But I settled on this song in the end because of the optimistic guitar that gives way to heavy and lonely plunking piano notes, squealing synth, the distorted guitar. So you're kind of complacent at first but then the song turns on its head and you're left with a desolate feeling.
05. Oingo Boingo - Islands
Definitely the OLDEST song on this list, as this is from 1982, haha. I'm going to go ahead and credit Oingo Boingo (and Danny Elfman) with a huge impact on my love of weird, discordant music. I discovered Oingo Boingo the summer before eighth grade, in 1995. The same year the band broke up, sadly. But to someone who had listened to pretty much only the pop on the radio, Oingo Boingo blew my mind, and that's why they'll always have a spot in my heart. BUT ABOUT THIS SPECIFIC SONG. More of a traditional rock song (like Let's Kill Tonight), the song is peppered with creepy bells, distorted vocals, high pitched guitar work, unsettling lyrics, and of course, Danny Elfman's voice which is a creepy treat unto itself, to make this extremely listenable yet also quite odd. :D
04. Muse - Forced In
Muse was pretty much my second-level "weird band" after Oingo Boingo. I discovered them sometime in high school. Muse has plenty of traditional rock and pop songs, which are the ones that make it to the radio. But their albums are also full of meandering, orchestral opuses and experimental music like this one. Highly distorted vocals become their own instrument in this song, which pair well with the echo-y guitar, the subdued percussion, and some of Muse's signature synth work; then the end of the song dissolves into discordant noise for the final unsettling blow.
03. Grizzly Bear - I Live With You
I don't know anything about guitars so I don't know the right terms, but the guitar in this song sounds so.. scratchy? In a good way. It sounds like someone just found an old guitar in a basement and it was out of tune but they played a song on it anyway. The song has a slow, sad feeling with this guitar, haunting lyrics, and random samples of people laughing, and then everything explodes about 2/3 of the way through with crazy all-over-the-place synth and drums that seem slightly out of beat with the rest of the song. UGH SO GOOD.
02. Shamantis - Justin Bieber U Smile 800% slower
(I prefer the SoundCloud player for this track but it doesn't embed nicely. However here's the SoundCloud link.)
I KNOW RIGHT. JUSTIN BIEBER, WHAT? But listen to the song. Someone took Bieber's U Smile and used a slow-down program to slow it down 800%. The program also does some smoothing/sound adjustment, as well as preserving pitch, so what comes out the other end is not simply a weird slowed-down song but a whole new song. And this song has high, long notes, distorted undecipherable vocals, and haunting notes throughout its entire 35-minute run. It's really gorgeous in a strange way. I get chills listening to this tbqh, and it's a Justin Bieber song, haha. I often use this song as background music while writing or playing Minecraft, which is a creepy game that deserves creepy music.
(As a side note, this slowed-down song was a major inspiration for the soundtrack of the movie Dredd, if you'll recall those crazy scenes with the high people falling through the air and such, they did the same effect on the music during those scenes.)
01. Radiohead - Idioteque
Radiohead is my third-level "weird band" after Muse. (Looking back I can really see my progression of weird music love!) I mean, I could choose 95% of Radiohead's discography for this list. So much of their music is a little bit not right. But Idioteque takes the cake for me. I still remember the first time I listened to this song. It was the middle of the night, I was alone on my computer in the dark, I had been reading creepy stories. And then THIS in my ears. I had chills all over. Repetitive synth, those haunting sharp/flat notes, the bass-y drums that are like a punch to the diaphragm, Thom Yorke's off-key falsetto vocals that layer on each other, the lyrics themselves (We're not scaremongering / This is really happening), lots and lots of discordant sounds and noises (many of them samples from other way more experimental and unlistenable electronic tracks), it all comes together to make the ultimate THIS IS CREEPING ME OUT RN song. <3
(And if you want a whole creepy album to listen to, then Radiohead's Kid A is the best, bar none!)
day 1 + rest of days
I actually very recently made a post that was basically this, and it hasn't changed much as I am still listening to those songs quite a lot, heh. That post is over here.
BUT I LOVE MUSIC A LOT and I listen to a crazy variety of stuff, so I still want to share some things. So I'm gonna do something a little bit different. I'm going to share instead some of my favorite vaugely discordant songs. I LOVE discordant music (as long as it's still listenable), I love music that makes me feel wrong and unsettled, and I think I'm probably weird that way BUT Halloween's coming soon so maybe this is the perfect time for this list. :D Without further ado..
My 10 Favorite Discordant/Creepy/Unsettling Feeling Songs
10. Panic! At the Disco - Let's Kill Tonight
I'm gonna ease you into this list with this song, which is a catchy pop song still. :D But it's got screeching instruments and clapping and faux siren sounds and it all makes me so happy. It's not exactly a relaxing song. :D But stay tuned, things get weirder..
09. DJ Dain - That Long Train Ride (Half Life 2 remix)
It starts out fairly innocuously, if ethereal, but half way through things get serious with a verrrryy creepy sample sound used in the song. This sample is also from the game: at one point, in a closet behind a stairwell that isn't on the usual path, there is a little tv hidden in some rubble, and once you get close to it, the tv shows a creepy image and plays a creepy song. It only does it once. It's a super unnerving moment in an already super unnerving game. FABULOUS. Here is just the creepy tv sound by itself. But the song above brings this into the tune, which is already a remix of another melancholy song from the game, so the whole effect is great. I'm a huge video game music remix fan (I have over a gig of remixes!) but this is probably one of my favorites ever.
08. Great Northern - Summertime
This is especially pleasurable to listen to on headphones since at a couple points during the song, the music will go subtly between your ears and you can almost feel it. But I love the slowness of this song, the drawn out high notes, the scratchy guitar at the end, the sadness of the singing, the subtle almost static-sounding noise in some parts, and all the flat and sharp notes. Chilllsss.
07. Set Fire to Flames - Steal Compass / Drive North / Disappear
STRINGS. ALL THE STRINGS. I love the long, sharp notes from violins that layer on each other throughout the song. And as the song builds, the sounds get louder and more discordant. LOVELY.
06. Nine Inch Nails - 34 Ghosts IV
So, I am not a Nine Inch Nails fan at all. Except for this one 4-cd album called Ghosts. All instrumental music, and by the way, it's free to download here. I love SO many of the songs from this album that it was super hard to choose just one. And in fact, I changed it more than once. But I settled on this song in the end because of the optimistic guitar that gives way to heavy and lonely plunking piano notes, squealing synth, the distorted guitar. So you're kind of complacent at first but then the song turns on its head and you're left with a desolate feeling.
05. Oingo Boingo - Islands
Definitely the OLDEST song on this list, as this is from 1982, haha. I'm going to go ahead and credit Oingo Boingo (and Danny Elfman) with a huge impact on my love of weird, discordant music. I discovered Oingo Boingo the summer before eighth grade, in 1995. The same year the band broke up, sadly. But to someone who had listened to pretty much only the pop on the radio, Oingo Boingo blew my mind, and that's why they'll always have a spot in my heart. BUT ABOUT THIS SPECIFIC SONG. More of a traditional rock song (like Let's Kill Tonight), the song is peppered with creepy bells, distorted vocals, high pitched guitar work, unsettling lyrics, and of course, Danny Elfman's voice which is a creepy treat unto itself, to make this extremely listenable yet also quite odd. :D
04. Muse - Forced In
Muse was pretty much my second-level "weird band" after Oingo Boingo. I discovered them sometime in high school. Muse has plenty of traditional rock and pop songs, which are the ones that make it to the radio. But their albums are also full of meandering, orchestral opuses and experimental music like this one. Highly distorted vocals become their own instrument in this song, which pair well with the echo-y guitar, the subdued percussion, and some of Muse's signature synth work; then the end of the song dissolves into discordant noise for the final unsettling blow.
03. Grizzly Bear - I Live With You
I don't know anything about guitars so I don't know the right terms, but the guitar in this song sounds so.. scratchy? In a good way. It sounds like someone just found an old guitar in a basement and it was out of tune but they played a song on it anyway. The song has a slow, sad feeling with this guitar, haunting lyrics, and random samples of people laughing, and then everything explodes about 2/3 of the way through with crazy all-over-the-place synth and drums that seem slightly out of beat with the rest of the song. UGH SO GOOD.
02. Shamantis - Justin Bieber U Smile 800% slower
(I prefer the SoundCloud player for this track but it doesn't embed nicely. However here's the SoundCloud link.)
I KNOW RIGHT. JUSTIN BIEBER, WHAT? But listen to the song. Someone took Bieber's U Smile and used a slow-down program to slow it down 800%. The program also does some smoothing/sound adjustment, as well as preserving pitch, so what comes out the other end is not simply a weird slowed-down song but a whole new song. And this song has high, long notes, distorted undecipherable vocals, and haunting notes throughout its entire 35-minute run. It's really gorgeous in a strange way. I get chills listening to this tbqh, and it's a Justin Bieber song, haha. I often use this song as background music while writing or playing Minecraft, which is a creepy game that deserves creepy music.
(As a side note, this slowed-down song was a major inspiration for the soundtrack of the movie Dredd, if you'll recall those crazy scenes with the high people falling through the air and such, they did the same effect on the music during those scenes.)
01. Radiohead - Idioteque
Radiohead is my third-level "weird band" after Muse. (Looking back I can really see my progression of weird music love!) I mean, I could choose 95% of Radiohead's discography for this list. So much of their music is a little bit not right. But Idioteque takes the cake for me. I still remember the first time I listened to this song. It was the middle of the night, I was alone on my computer in the dark, I had been reading creepy stories. And then THIS in my ears. I had chills all over. Repetitive synth, those haunting sharp/flat notes, the bass-y drums that are like a punch to the diaphragm, Thom Yorke's off-key falsetto vocals that layer on each other, the lyrics themselves (We're not scaremongering / This is really happening), lots and lots of discordant sounds and noises (many of them samples from other way more experimental and unlistenable electronic tracks), it all comes together to make the ultimate THIS IS CREEPING ME OUT RN song. <3
(And if you want a whole creepy album to listen to, then Radiohead's Kid A is the best, bar none!)
day 1 + rest of days
