Help identify this song!

July 11, 2008 12:58 PM

Help identify this song!

I never thought I would ask one of these questions... sorry!

Male vocalist, same intonation/range as sigur ros maybe... the vocals are relatively quiet and almost-but-not-quite behind the music. I want to call it shoegaze but it's probably not quite like that. All I can remember is a mid-tempo verse part with a fairly monotonic vocal and a straight 8ths bass pattern under a fairly clean repeating 3-note guitar arpeggio (in 6/8). Then there's a faster-paced solo/break (or maybe the chorus) partway through the song -- it's actually a different tempo from the verses, more distortion on the guitar. The song ends on the same up-tempo guitar solo.

Don't know the time period, I've heard it a few times recently but it could be 10 years old for all I know. My memory's hazy but I'll try to add detail if I think of anything. I wish I could remember some lyrics...

posted by Chris4d to media & arts (7 comments total)

Where have you been hearing it? Dorm? Clubs? Bars? 30-something friends' houses? Country, coast and context is likely to help with this kind of tricky question IMO, since the folks who go to the same kind of places you do may have heard it too.

Even though the details don't quite match up, FWIW, your description made me think of "Finger on the Trigger, Transfigured" by early-90s Estonian band Röövel Ööbik. Can't vouch for the site, but I found a sample here. Good luck!
posted by Your Time Machine Sucks at 2:25 PM on July 11

Hmm, my song is a little more poppy and maybe less depressed sounding...? The drums had more presence too. In that vein, though, yeah.

I live in Phoenix, AZ, USA and I've heard it on the local alternative station and recently on slacker radio in a sandwich shop. I asked them the name of the track, but it had moved to the next song and they couldn't backtrack.

Thanks for trying though!
posted by Chris4d at 4:21 PM on July 11

It's a long shot, but have you looked at Royksopp? Something about your description reminds me of them. (Do a search on Youtube, their videos are great and most songs are there.)

Also, it sounds like you're like me - the things you notice about music are instruments, beats, tempo, time signatures. Not vocals. Because of this I've made a habit of listening intently whenever I hear a song I want to find, and writing down a few of the words -- Google works much better on lyrics...
posted by mmoncur at 11:05 PM on July 11

If you have access to an iPhone with the 2.0 software released today, download the Shazam app, for free. Play the song, hold the phone up to the speakers, and the song will be identified for you. It's freaky, and it works.
posted by santaliqueur at 12:08 AM on July 12

The first thing that came to my mind was the band, She Wants Revenge. They are one of my favorite bands, and when I was down in Scottsdale I heard them quite a bit on one of the local stations.
posted by jaynedanger at 12:50 PM on July 12

It sounds exactly like Feel the Pain by Dinosaur Jr. except for the description of the vocals
posted by minifigs at 5:21 AM on July 24

That's the one! I finally heard it again and it's definitely Dinosaur Jr. (and I was sorta misremembering the vocals...)

thanks minifigs!
posted by Chris4d at 4:39 PM on September 29