Upbeat instrumental, piano or string music?

March 21, 2009 12:15 PM

Please help me find other songs that have a similar sound to the first 30 seconds of Vampire Weekend's M79.

I am looking for upbeat, celebratory, instrumental music to use as background music for my brother's wedding video. I really like the combination of strings and drums in the Vampire Weekend song. I have found some of the Bela Fleck, Yo Yo Ma, Mark O'Connor, Joshua Bell and Edgar Meyer tunes that are close to what I am looking for:

Etienne Et Petunia - Appalachia Waltz

BT - Heartland: An Appalachian Anthology

1B - Heartland: An Appalachian Anthology

Brooklyn Rider - Brooklesca - is another tune that sounds similar.

Are there any other songs or musicians that are similar to the M79 introduction?

posted by Andy's Gross Wart to media & arts (8 comments total)

Ravel's String Quartet and a few other choice tracks from the Royal Tenenbaums soundtrack.
posted by nitsuj at 12:23 PM on March 21 [1 favorite has favorites]

Daybreaker by ELO.
posted by saladin at 12:36 PM on March 21

It made me think of Golden Brown by the Stranglers

Its a song about drug use.. so maybe not for your brothers wedding :)
posted by TheOtherGuy at 12:44 PM on March 21

If you're looking for instrumental stuff, you might want to check out Moondog.
posted by neroli at 12:52 PM on March 21

There's plenty of music from the classical era (looking at Mozart, Haydn et. al) to choose from in terms of pleasant piano and string music, but I can't find any quickly that have the kind of catchy rhythm you're probably looking for.

For some contemporary sounding string stuff, you could look at Jean-Luc Ponty's stuff with Rite of Strings (no piano). I'm having a hard time, as I'm sure you are, finding music that fits somewhere in between the upbeat instrumental type of music you're looking for and the jazzy, noodly world of fusion.

A lot of music like what you're looking for has been used in movies though! If you don't mind people maybe going "Hey! I saw that movie!" when they hear the music, try stuff like this.
posted by battlebison at 3:01 PM on March 21

A bit more "rock"-y, but some stuff by Yeveto might fit the bill. (On that page "Many Horses" is probably the appropriate one. They have other really pretty stuff, but the other songs there are more rock than you are probably looking for.)
posted by zoinks at 3:35 PM on March 21

What M79 reminded me of when I first heard it was the instrumental stuff from the Royal Tennenbaums soundtrack. (Kinda jaunty, kinda mellow, strings and drums.) So maybe check that out?
posted by nebulawindphone at 7:20 PM on March 21

I subsequently came across Bob Dylan's "Main Title Theme." It is sentimental, yet uplifting.

Thanks to all who helped out.
posted by Andy's Gross Wart at 6:27 PM on April 22