Comments on: Please Rock My Boat

Question: Please Rock My Boat

cashman — Fri, 02 May 2008 05:00:57 -0800

Trying to find similar songs like these: electronic-ish with math-like beats.

I love electronic or other genre songs with beats that seem almost mathematical. They often have numerous sequences and parts weaving in and out.

I put songs that exhibit this stuff like Dntel's Rock My Boat and Erin Lang's Happy to See You on this muxtape. Listen for a few seconds and see if any similar songs come to mind. I'm looking for specific songs rather than artist recommendations or instrumental stuff.

Got any songs for me?

By: dmd

dmd — Fri, 02 May 2008 05:34:03 -0800

Massive Attack's Teardrop comes to mind somewhat.

By: Mach5

Mach5 — Fri, 02 May 2008 05:36:49 -0800

Are you aware of the totally awesome and infinitely productive Aphex Twin? The man who mathematically inserted is OWN FACE into a tune? He's got a million albums, I recommend starting off with Druqks, the Richard D James album, and Come to Daddy.

By: Jaltcoh

Jaltcoh — Fri, 02 May 2008 05:40:41 -0800

I'm not quite sure what a "mathematical" beat is, but based on your examples, I recommend:

Styrofoam featuring Ben Gibbard - Couches in Alleys

Bjork - Hunter

By: fire&wings

fire&wings — Fri, 02 May 2008 05:52:16 -0800

Bjork - Hyperballad

By: 5MeoCMP

5MeoCMP — Fri, 02 May 2008 05:58:52 -0800

If you search for the genre "trip-hop" you may find more of what you're looking for.

Boards of Canada - Music is Math (album Geogaddi) -- or mostly anything else by them.

Lamb - Trans Fatty Acid

Transglobal Underground - Lexicona

Mighty Math - any track from Up Life Gone Star though it's instrumental instead of vocal

By: fvox13

fvox13 — Fri, 02 May 2008 06:10:35 -0800

I highly recommend "Playing the Market" by Emerald Suspension.

By: TheNewWazoo

TheNewWazoo — Fri, 02 May 2008 06:19:12 -0800

How about BT's Fibonacci Sequence?

By: 5MeoCMP

5MeoCMP — Fri, 02 May 2008 06:28:53 -0800

Oh, also: have you tried putting the names of Your Favourite Artists into something like Gnoosic or Last.fm and seeing what they come up with? Last.fm at least will play snippets.

Also check out what Magnatune has on offer, they are a label that treats their independent artists very well.

By: TheOtherGuy

TheOtherGuy — Fri, 02 May 2008 06:44:53 -0800

I only heard it once.. but there is a song called 'Pi' on Kate Bush's last album (Aerial, 2005) that i recall had a similar feel to the type of music you describe. Check it out, it was kind of electronic.. a little bit different to her normal stuff. FWIW wikipedia says she

'sings the number to its 137th decimal place (though she omits, for an unknown reason, the 79th to 100th decimal places).

By: 2or3whiskeysodas

2or3whiskeysodas — Fri, 02 May 2008 07:24:32 -0800

Please don't take this the wrong way, but could you get a little more specific? To my ears and, I suspect, the ears of many, the beats in those tracks aren't particularly notable as being "math-like". They sort of just sound like standard drum-machine fare, which I don't say negatively.

Is it the slowish tempo? Is it the way the electronics interplay with the more acoustic-sounding elements? Is it the female singer?

I mostly ask because I was going to make some suggestions but then wasn't at all sure they'd be appropriate to your question.

By: cashman

cashman — Fri, 02 May 2008 07:54:52 -0800

I'm sorry - I just didn't want to put up a huge description that nobody would read anyway, and have people miss the vital parts.

Is it the way the electronics interplay with the more acoustic-sounding elements?

Yes, for the most part. If you listen to the songs, the beat and the various elements play in and out of each other, in an almost systematic way. The sounds and the noises are more like math, than like say the jerky riffs of some Led Zeppelin or some Metallica. A lot of noises and sounds swirling around the beat, like the connections in a dna helix. Math-like, in the way that it seems confined and is proceeding step-by-step. Remember doing math equations? One step at a time - subtract 3 from both sides. Multiply both sides by 7x. It's a little out there, I know, but I hope somebody feels me.

There's a clean feel to them too, isn't there? Forgive me not being able to get a precise handle on the style. Teardrop was a good recommendation, though I already have that.

Make any suggestion you feel is close - just please suggest a song or two, and not general artists, collections or albums.

By: spec80

spec80 — Fri, 02 May 2008 08:25:07 -0800

My boyfriend wants me to suggest to you this Venetian Snares song. You have to click on the arrow next to listen to hear it. He says he thinks you would find it to be directly what you want, though perhaps not accoustic enough.

By: spec80

spec80 — Fri, 02 May 2008 08:29:07 -0800

He also says : Venetian Snares isn't as underground as he used to be, but that song is an incredible example of algorithmic composition and sound design IMHO :-)

I say: uuuuugh... maaaaath.

By: cashman

cashman — Fri, 02 May 2008 09:06:52 -0800

I like it, spec80. It's instrumental only though, and I'm looking for songs with a vocalist. Thanks to your boyfriend, he's right - that is along the lines of it (if only there was a singer). If they'd put a singer on that track, they would have had to lope the instrumentation in and out more, I think, and then it would have been exactly what I'm looking for. Thank you and your boyfriend.

By: alikins

alikins — Fri, 02 May 2008 09:28:06 -0800

Battles

By: rabbitsnake

rabbitsnake — Fri, 02 May 2008 09:30:13 -0800

Matmos' new album called Supreme Baloon seems to fit your category. It is composed completely from synths and weaves melodies and riffs in and out of the songs. Here is a song called Rainbow Flag that opens the album.

By: spec80

spec80 — Fri, 02 May 2008 09:35:46 -0800

Múm - Now There's that Fear Again

Khonnor - A little secret

By: Eringatang

Eringatang — Fri, 02 May 2008 09:47:10 -0800

LCD Soundsystem, particularly Someone Great, Postal Service Clark Cable; Marlene Dietrich's Favourite Poem by Peter Murphy also reminds me of what you are looking for in a different way because of the beat of the poem on top of the beat of the music, but the youtube versions are all acoustic and don't sound as mathy as I remember it sounding (on my mixtape from 1990). Seconding Battles. Oh, and the Beta Band Squares (and others).

By: aubilenon

aubilenon — Fri, 02 May 2008 09:51:24 -0800

You might like Dahlia or Herbert (not all his tracks have vocals). Psapp is also worth checking out.

By: Eringatang

Eringatang — Fri, 02 May 2008 10:13:12 -0800

One particular herbert song to try: The audience. That whole album is great.

By: umbú

umbú — Fri, 02 May 2008 10:48:53 -0800

Múm - we have a map of the piano fits the bill, I think. Also see this kid's version.

By: ThomThomThomThom

ThomThomThomThom — Fri, 02 May 2008 10:49:02 -0800

Seconding Mum & Boards of Canada. They're pretty cool.

Have you checked out +/- ? You might also like some stuff by M83. Or even maybe Brian Eno?

By: anthill

anthill — Fri, 02 May 2008 11:57:28 -0800

Not at all electronic, nor beats, but somewhat math. Lateralus.

By: lekvar

lekvar — Fri, 02 May 2008 12:11:54 -0800

You might try some Apparat, or his collaboration with Ellen Allien, Orchestra of Bubbles.

By: Unicorn on the cob

Unicorn on the cob — Fri, 02 May 2008 12:38:49 -0800

Section 25 - Looking from a Hilltop.

By: Area Control

Area Control — Fri, 02 May 2008 12:53:44 -0800

Get the soundtrack to the movie Pi.

By: zengargoyle

zengargoyle — Fri, 02 May 2008 13:05:12 -0800

Don Caballero, Drive Like Jehu.

Search for "Math Rock".

By: anthill

anthill — Fri, 02 May 2008 13:09:58 -0800

Also: What about Philip Glass? No female singers, no electonics, but lots of permutations.

By: naju

naju — Fri, 02 May 2008 13:11:51 -0800

Tujiko Noriko - Rocket Hanabi

By: citron

citron — Fri, 02 May 2008 15:21:10 -0800

isolée - beau mot plage

By: citron

citron — Fri, 02 May 2008 15:23:20 -0800

also, all of Tricky Maxinquaye. Fila Brazilia, maybe?

By: cashman

cashman — Fri, 02 May 2008 17:34:39 -0800

Thanks all! That Psapp is great, and a lot of the other suggestions were nice to listen to, even though some of them are instrumentals. "This place is a prison" is my favorite Postal Service song, and another example of this type of music. Thanks for making my Friday.

By: spatula

spatula — Sat, 03 May 2008 01:16:49 -0800

Holy Fuck (That's their name.)

By: eponymouse

eponymouse — Sat, 03 May 2008 10:44:51 -0800

F-R-E²-Z-E-P-O-P, Freezepop forever.

Yes, Freezepop. Totally cute, bouncy-sounding electronic stuff; nice tricky beats.

By: eponymouse

eponymouse — Sat, 03 May 2008 10:50:55 -0800

Oops, also Yellow Magic Orchestra - Computer Games (it gets great about 2 minutes in).

Not sure if that's totally what you're looking for, but hope it's somewhat helpful.

By: Overzealous

Overzealous — Sun, 04 May 2008 17:11:32 -0800

I recommend the underrated song "Television" by the group Baxter. The whole album is decent but that single is really terrific.