Music with fiddly bits

September 28, 2015 10:49 AM

I like music with fiddly bits. Recommend me more of same.

Examples:

Bach's BWV 578 ("Little Fugue")
BWV 1004, the Chaconne
Zedd, "Addicted to a Memory"
Avicii, "Heart Upon My Sleeve"
Vulfpeck, "Fugue State"

So... classical or EDM recommendations would be equally welcome

posted by curuinor to Media & Arts (14 answers total)

Best answer: Dokken - Mr. Scary
Ceili Rain - That's all the Lumber You Sent (for that matter, virtually all Celtic rock is chock-full of fiddly bits)
Field Music - Them That Do Nothing
posted by jbickers at 11:59 AM on September 28, 2015

Irish Traditional Music, at least in the hands of some players, is full of fiddly bits, although unlike classical music there's no counterpoint. Tommy Peoples and Frankie Gavin, for example.
posted by mr vino at 12:09 PM on September 28, 2015 [1 favorite]

Best answer: In all of those examples, I think, the fiddly bits rest on a driving repetitive base.

There should be lots more Bach where that came from. The Passacalgia and Fugue in C is an obvious one.

Superficially mellower, but a good Coleman Hawkins solo on a ballad can push the same buttons for me: Mood Indigo, with Coleman Hawkins and Duke Ellington.

A lot of Indian classical music is fiddly bits over a repetitive cycle of some kind, but I'm not knowledgeable enough to pick out a good example.
posted by bfields at 1:05 PM on September 28, 2015

Do you know the music of Shpongle? Because it's basically ALL fiddly bits.

You might start with Tickling the Amygdala (a little slow to start) or Nothing is Something Worth Doing (my fave!)
posted by spindrifter at 1:42 PM on September 28, 2015 [1 favorite]

Best answer: György Ligeti's Continuum and Hungarian Rock are made up fairly solidly of fiddly bits.
posted by Jabberwocky at 2:29 PM on September 28, 2015

Best answer: Fairport Convention is fiddly - start with Come All Ye, I think all of the songs on the album Liege and Lief have you covered.

Also (and this is the second time I've used them in an askme answer in a week) Dexy's Midnight Runners is fiddle heavy. The classic track Come on Eileen, but really anything off any of the records is gonna have a lot of fiddle.
posted by askmehow at 5:39 PM on September 28, 2015

How about Steve Reich - Music for 18 Musicians?
posted by Zephyrial at 5:52 PM on September 28, 2015

Thomas Dolby - I Love You, Goodbye
posted by fuse theorem at 6:36 PM on September 28, 2015 [1 favorite]

Chopin's piano nocturnes are full of fiddly bits. Also check out Bartók's Six Romanian Dances for piano.
posted by sweetshine at 7:18 PM on September 28, 2015

If you want electronic fiddly bits on some really good drugs, Aphex Twin may fit the bill. Flim. Ziggomatic < worth staying through the end if you can bear it (you'll literally be thanked for your attention).
posted by STFUDonnie at 7:50 PM on September 28, 2015

Best answer: Devil Went Down to Georgia - Charlie Daniels Band
Pictures of Matchstick Men - Camper Van Beethoven
posted by SisterHavana at 9:32 PM on September 28, 2015

Best answer: Avicii, "Heart Upon My Sleeve"

Based on that one, I feel like you might be into some German hard trance (try looking up DJ Scot Project or Hennes & Cold and follow YouTube suggestions from there), perhaps some psytrance (Analog Pussy, Astral Projection, Nuclear Ramjet are/were big names in the genre) or trance in general-- the track Gouryella does some similar stuff with bass and strings.

If you like less straightforward bang bang bang bang stuff, start with Crystal Method and go from there.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 12:39 AM on September 29, 2015

What, intricate stuff? Hmm, Frank Zappa did a lot of that, interspersed with mono-chord jams of course, but still the avant-jazz sophistication was pretty obvious.
posted by Rich Smorgasbord at 3:13 AM on September 29, 2015

Jazzanova's album "In Between"
Dream Theater "Ytse Jam"
Rush "YYZ"
Dixie Dregs
posted by 4midori at 7:35 AM on September 29, 2015