Chug-a-lug, Donna.
July 27, 2010 7:03 PM   Subscribe

Help me find instrumental songs in that slow dreamy drunken slow-rock style like "The Pink Room". Examples within.

Sorry I can't phrase it any better than that. The song The Pink Room (video NSFW) by Angelo Badalamenti off of the soundtrack to Fire Walk With Me really struck a chord with me. I want to find more music like that. Of course we have something similar in Rumble by Link Wray, and also in A#1 by The Sadies (track four at that link).

Unfortunately that's all I can really find in this style, considering I don't know any words to phrase what I'm looking for.

Do you have any tracks (or god willing, an entire album) in this style that you could recommend to me?
posted by komara to Media & Arts (28 answers total) 17 users marked this as a favorite
 
Best answer: Well, if you liked that, there's a second Twin Peaks television soundtrack. The track off of it which immediately made me think of "The Pink Room" was "Blue Frank."

And, since you like The Sadies, Neko Case's Blacklisted album has quite a bit of that particular sound.
posted by adipocere at 7:09 PM on July 27, 2010


Response by poster: I can't believe I forgot about "Blue Frank" - thanks for the reminder. Are any of those Case songs instrumental or do they all have vocals?
posted by komara at 7:17 PM on July 27, 2010


I think there's an instrumental buried on the last track, unlisted. I'll have to dig it out to be sure.
posted by adipocere at 7:19 PM on July 27, 2010


Response by poster: A preview of all the tracks seems to show vocals everywhere, so I'ma skip it. Thanks though.
posted by komara at 7:21 PM on July 27, 2010


Is "Sleepwalk," by Santo and Johnny, too slow? (That particular version is a little annoying, but it was the handiest)

Are you looking for a kind of rich, echoey production with a lot of layers to it?
posted by adipocere at 7:44 PM on July 27, 2010


Response by poster: Ah, I'm sure I can find a version of "Sleepwalk" that I like. Thanks for giving it a name - never knew it before. I think a lot of what I want is richer, yeah, and more minor key. "The Pink Room" has a really kind of grindy gritty sound, whereas "Sleepwalk" would do well as the background for a sunset on a California beach. I'm gonna go find a copy of it anyway, but something more threatening or ominous would be great.
posted by komara at 8:08 PM on July 27, 2010


Best answer: Friends of Dean Martinez?
posted by transient at 9:19 PM on July 27, 2010


Response by poster: I'll take it. Not quite the same, but it'll fit in with the rest no problem.
posted by komara at 9:36 PM on July 27, 2010


Calexico - Gypsy's Curse
posted by hydrophonic at 9:40 PM on July 27, 2010


Awesome! I love this style of music, but can never seem to think of exactly which songs fit the bill when I try to explain it to others. I've gone through the approximately ten bajillion songs on my hard drive (which has taken a couple of hours because my DEADBEAT ROOMMATE hasn't paid the cable bill in FIVE MONTHS and our internet got shut off suddenly...yeah, just found that out. THANKS A LOT, LOSER.) to find some that you might like. ANYWAY...a lot of them have vox, and not all of them are quite right, but hopefully you'll find something you dig!

And so, I present to you, in absolutely no order whatsoever, the songs:

Sweet Jane - The Cowboy Junkies
Venus in Furs - Velvet Underground
Collibosher - The Small Faces
Exotic Dance - Roy Ayers
Brawling Broads - Roy Ayers
The Pusher - Steppenwolf
Rebel Rouser - Duane Eddy
Fame - David Bowie
Mercy Mercy Mercy - Cannonball Adderley Quintet
Cissy Strut - The Meters
Rock On - David Essex
Bullwinkle Part II - The Centurians
Ain't No Sunshine - Bill Withers
Pipeline - The Chantays
Son of a Preacher Man - Dusty Springfield
Green Onions - Booker T and the MGs
And finally, Sitting on Top of the World, Cocaine, and I Feel Free by Cream.
posted by phunniemee at 9:46 PM on July 27, 2010


Best answer: The Plugz - Reel Ten
posted by cazoo at 9:52 PM on July 27, 2010


You'd probably like the slower songs by the Birthday Party ("Deep in the Woods" is the first one to come to mind) and the earlier records by Crime & the City Solution when Rowland S. Howard was in the band. And the band Morphine. Sorry for lack of links--am on a phone today.
posted by K.P. at 1:31 AM on July 28, 2010


You might like some Kid Dakota. (1) (2)
posted by le morte de bea arthur at 2:57 AM on July 28, 2010


Best answer: The first time I heard Henry Mancini's Experiment in Terror, I did a double take because for a minute I thought it was The Pink Room. I can't help but think that the latter was inspired by/homage to the former.

Not quite as slow and dreamy, but Mancini's A Shot In The Dark has a similar feel.
posted by usonian at 4:44 AM on July 28, 2010


Yeah, check out some Birthday Party/Nick Cave as well as Calexico.
posted by brand-gnu at 6:14 AM on July 28, 2010


Okay, seeing as how I actually have mixes marked "Slightly Ominous" and "Menacing," I will check the track lists; I know I have at least one instrumental on them. And this gives me an excuse to look for the unlisted track on Blacklisted for instrumentals.

Am I correctly guessing that cellos add to the heavy thrum?
posted by adipocere at 7:39 AM on July 28, 2010


Murder by Death
Vocals are in most of their songs.

Video

another



Also, another suggestion is to use lastfm.com or something similiar. If you look up a band it recommends other artists. Lastfm is the one I find to work the best. I've discovered a lot of music that way.
posted by KogeLiz at 7:40 AM on July 28, 2010


Best answer: When I think of slow, sleepy instrumental music, I think of The Dirty Three, however they feature violin, which you may not like. It's Warren Ellis, known lately as "Nick Cave's violinist".

The D3 guitarist is Mick Turner, who has multiple instrumental albums released under Tren, Tren Brothers, and Tren Phantasm, some of them with Jim White (my favorite drummer). Their songs are very slow and sleepy and instrumental, but not, I don't think what you're looking for. If you like this kind of music, their entire albums sound exactly in this vein. Same with Dirty Three though they have some very slow numbers.

You might also like Two Dollar Guitar's Train Songs album. Try tracks 2, 3, 6, 9 as examples of what the album sounds like on a whole (though there are a couple tracks that standout as odd, like 8).
posted by dobbs at 8:12 AM on July 28, 2010


Black Heart Procession - Blue Tears
posted by jtron at 8:54 AM on July 28, 2010


Response by poster: I've marked some best answers based on the snippets I've heard - I expect to go on a purchasing frenzy tomorrow night when I get a chance to sit still for a few minutes.

transient, the more I listen to that track by Friends of Dean Martinez the more I like it. Thanks. I hope to check out more of their stuff.

hydrophonic: I'm not sure the Calexico fits exactly with what I want, but it is a great song.

phunniemee: damn, but you have some enthusiasm. I don't think any of those actually are what I'm looking for (unless I missed one they all had vocals) but several of them are songs that are in my subconscious but I never knew the names of, so for that I'm very grateful. There are a few in there I'll end up buying, just not for this particular playlist.

cazoo: bullseye.

K.P.: thanks for the suggestion, but not quite my style.

le morte de bea arthur: Doesn't fit the playlist (too fast, vocals) but I'll be giving them a longer listen soon. Sounds like good stuff.

usonian: bullseye on the Experiment in Terror. Thanks.

brand-gnu (and K.P.): I want so badly to like Nick Cave's voice but I just can't do it.

adipocere: I look forward to seeing what you can come up with.

KogeLiz: I'll give last.fm a try. Typically things like that and Pandora drive me nuts, but maybe I'm in the mood today.

dobbs: Looks like Ouiseau Bleu off of Train Songs is a hit.

jtron: might be something I'd listen to. It's like some alternate universe Tom Waits song.

Thanks so much, everyone, for taking the time to contribute so far. I appreciate it.
posted by komara at 9:04 AM on July 28, 2010


This made me think of the awesom, but not instrumental Tito & Tarantula - After Dark from Dusk Till Dawn (the Salma Hayek snake dance song).
posted by rocket88 at 9:31 AM on July 28, 2010


It's also awesome.
posted by rocket88 at 9:31 AM on July 28, 2010


Fully half of the songs I listed have no vocals at all. Just sayin'.
posted by phunniemee at 10:18 AM on July 28, 2010


Response by poster: phunnimee: My apologies, my mind is all over the place today. You are absolutely correct.
posted by komara at 11:16 AM on July 28, 2010


perhaps you would like a little garage à trois? on the frentetic/jazzy side, but it is all instrumental, has those crunchy weird noises and dissonant progressions, and an aura of danger and chaos.

'Blackhole Dub' by Painkiller.
posted by Rube R. Nekker at 10:22 PM on July 28, 2010


Response by poster: As of now, the mix is:

1.) Morphine - Dawna
2.) The Pink Room - Angelo Badalamenti (Twin Peaks FWWM)
3.) A #1 - The Sadies
4.) Lost Horizon - Friends of Dean Martinez
5.) Rumble - Link Wray
6.) Reel Ten - The Plugz
7.) Blue Frank - Angelo Badalamenti
8.) Experiment in Terror - Henry Mancini
9.) Oiseau Bleu - Two Dollar Guitar

in the rest of all that, the Link Wray sounds too positively upbeat and may end up coming out. Kind of sad, but he just doesn't fit.

Thanks again to everyone that has played along so far. I really appreciate all your help. transient, I ended up buying that entire Friends of Dean Martinez album. phunniemee, a few of your songs ended up on my "to buy when I haven't just spent money buying a few albums" list.
posted by komara at 5:29 PM on July 29, 2010


Response by poster: Sorry, first line should say 1.) Dawna - Morphine - kinda got mixed up there.
posted by komara at 5:30 PM on July 29, 2010


I'm just now listening to Medeski Martin & Wood's Radiolarians III for the first time, and the track Broken Mirror caused me to do yet another double-take; it riffs on the bassline from 'Experiment in Terror', and has the same sort of feel.
posted by usonian at 6:52 PM on August 21, 2010


« Older Vet Misdiagnosis - Refund?   |   Ew. Contagious eye boogers. Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.