"Pulsating" music?

November 26, 2008 5:05 PM

Examples/ artists of "pulsating" music?

I'm intrigued by the "pulsating" as found (behind the bass) at 1:28-1:30 of THIS OASIS SONG (yt)

Is there a genre that heavily features such pulses / artists?
thanks

posted by mrmarley to Media & Arts (15 answers total)

It's not pulsating, it's 4 notes being played on the bass.
posted by fire&wings at 5:20 PM on November 26, 2008

That pulsating is a brief delay loop. You can find similar textures in many, many genres.

The first thing that comes to mind is, of course, The Smiths' How Soon is Now, which is built around a similar oscillating guitar figure.
posted by googly at 5:28 PM on November 26, 2008

Curve's "Chinese Burn." Much of it features the sound of throbbing red globes.
posted by adipocere at 5:31 PM on November 26, 2008

Oops. Hit post too soon. You might want to check out shoegazer music, which features a lot of delayed guitar. Slowdive , Curve, and Spacemen 3, for example.

You might also want to check out some ambient music, especially ambient dub, which features a lot of delay as well. One place to start: ambience for the masses.
posted by googly at 5:40 PM on November 26, 2008

And more:

Slowdive, Souvlaki Space Station.

Eno/Byrne: Regiment.
posted by googly at 6:12 PM on November 26, 2008

Infected Mushroom
posted by Jenny is Crafty at 6:13 PM on November 26, 2008

The first movement of Steve Reich's Electric Counterpoint (as performed by Pat Metheny) is pretty pulsating.
posted by kindall at 6:21 PM on November 26, 2008

Helter Skillet's "The Look Out."
posted by The corpse in the library at 6:27 PM on November 26, 2008

I immediately thought of Steve Reich's Music for 18 musicians, which is one (nearly) hour-long track titled "Pulse - Sections I-X - Pulse"
posted by mattholomew at 6:34 PM on November 26, 2008

Like others have said, you can find that sound in lots of different places. One band I really like that has a lot of beats along the same lines is Portishead; check it out when you can, and if you decide you dig it, I can probably come up with some good recommendations for you.
posted by xbonesgt at 7:38 PM on November 26, 2008

Frankie Say...Relax? That's a pulsating bassline if I've ever heard one.
posted by ostranenie at 9:19 PM on November 26, 2008

new Kanye "Love Lockdown" has a pulsating thing going on.

First thing I thought of was Azzido da Bass Doom's Night
posted by citron at 10:14 PM on November 26, 2008

"Trace of Sun (Mix 2)" by metalmouse pulses from beginning to end. May only be available on iTunes, not sure. I couldn't find it on YouTube.
posted by good in a vacuum at 11:26 PM on November 26, 2008

You might be interested in the Leslie speaker. As for specific songs, I really like Pink Floyd's Any Color You Like.
posted by boba at 12:09 AM on November 27, 2008

It's hard to make recommendations based on 2 seconds, but there's lots of electronic music that could be described as "pulsating" or "throbbing". A recent, popular example is The Field's From Here We Go Sublime. Try that album's first track, Over the Ice.
posted by PueExMachina at 5:56 PM on November 27, 2008