What other songs have the same tempo AND meter as this one?
August 15, 2014 2:36 PM   Subscribe

I recently learned a dance (contemporary ballet) to "Scare Away the Dark," by Passenger, but the song's not really up my alley. Can you suggest other songs that are the same tempo (71-72 bpm) and meter (3/4 or 6/8, not sure), especially with female singers?

I've found online BPM databases, but nothing that also includes meter, so I don't know how to solve this aside from crowdsourcing. If there is another way, please let me know!

I'm looking for a 3- to 5-minute song that I could more or less sub in for this one to dance the same choreography to. I realize there will be no perfect match, but I'm curious how close I can get. Doesn't need to have the same subject matter, by any means. Thank you!
posted by nevers to Media & Arts (8 answers total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
It sounds quite similar to my ear to Vampire Smile by Kyla La Grange, though I'm no musicologist!
posted by Middlemarch at 3:05 PM on August 15, 2014


If you have some programming ability, TheEchoNest api includes fields for tempo and time signature.

If not, perhaps searching for apps that use the api might give a more user friendly way to search these parameters.
posted by TwoWordReview at 3:14 PM on August 15, 2014


FWIW, it's in 4, with a 12/8 feeling (i.e. four triplets per bar).

Rhythm/tempo-wise, it's a pretty close match to Ravel's Bolero. Which raises possibilities like this loopy a capella version or this tribal version (start late in the track to see where it builds to; there are numerous potential starting points).

Search "bolero vocal" on youtube for more options of various styles. The tempo's dead-on....
posted by Quisp Lover at 3:27 PM on August 15, 2014 [2 favorites]


If you go to Jog.fm you can search for songs by bpm. Like you can put in 71 bpm and it will give you hundreds of songs with that beat. It's used by runners if you want to jog to a certain cadence of steps per minute. But you could use it to find dance music too.
posted by mermily at 4:24 PM on August 15, 2014 [2 favorites]


Response by poster: Quisp Lover, wowza, I was so wrong on time signature. I never would have figured that out, thank you. I will given the Bolero variations a listen!

mermily, yeah, I've seen things like that, but I would like to avoid listening to hundreds of songs and home in on something that has, I guess, a 12/8 feeling.
posted by nevers at 8:19 PM on August 15, 2014


Beirut's "Elephant Gun" isn't the exact same tempo, but the rhythmic feel is pretty close, and I think it's a better song.
posted by John Cohen at 11:23 PM on August 15, 2014 [1 favorite]




Definitely check out some Beirut tracks (Flying Cup Club or Gulag Orkestar) and that piece is definitely in 12/8.
posted by jujulalia at 4:01 AM on August 17, 2014


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