More like the Velvet Underground, please
December 20, 2010 3:31 PM Subscribe
Songs like the Velvet Underground's "What Goes On." Looking for that same droning, jangling, sensation of rhythmic movement. Maybe there's an organ in the background.
Could be classic, could be recent. Just want that feeling of ... movement. A modern example would be the Silversun Pickups' "Lazy Eye."
Could be classic, could be recent. Just want that feeling of ... movement. A modern example would be the Silversun Pickups' "Lazy Eye."
Off the top of my head, I think you should check out The Modern Lovers, The Feelies, and The Clean.
posted by TrialByMedia at 3:43 PM on December 20, 2010 [3 favorites]
posted by TrialByMedia at 3:43 PM on December 20, 2010 [3 favorites]
You want anything by The Feelies. In fact, here they are covering What Goes On.
posted by dobbs at 3:44 PM on December 20, 2010 [3 favorites]
posted by dobbs at 3:44 PM on December 20, 2010 [3 favorites]
If you want to head in a more progish direction, there's always Neu!.
posted by TrialByMedia at 3:47 PM on December 20, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by TrialByMedia at 3:47 PM on December 20, 2010 [1 favorite]
Sorry to keep posting rapid-fire replies, but this particular sound has been an obsession of mine over the years. You definitely want to look into early Stereolab, particularly this record.
posted by TrialByMedia at 4:00 PM on December 20, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by TrialByMedia at 4:00 PM on December 20, 2010 [1 favorite]
TrialByMedia said what I was going to say: early Stereolab sometimes had that drone-organ workout thing happening.
posted by ovvl at 4:37 PM on December 20, 2010
posted by ovvl at 4:37 PM on December 20, 2010
A while back I happened to catch The Feelies opening for Lou Reed and at the end of their show they covered What Goes On, and of course, invited Lou Reed to play along. But the funny thing was, The Feelies were much younger than Lou Reed and played his song much faster than he ever did -- faster even than that youtube of it linked above -- when he was their age, and while he kept up with the guys on the stage, his face definitely said, "WTF? No, I mean it, WTF? are you kids doing to my song?"
This woulda been 1989 or 90; WTF? wouldn't be invented for another ten years.
If you search last.fm or similar with the "dreampop" tag you may find a few things that are droney and sweet.
posted by notyou at 5:04 PM on December 20, 2010
This woulda been 1989 or 90; WTF? wouldn't be invented for another ten years.
If you search last.fm or similar with the "dreampop" tag you may find a few things that are droney and sweet.
posted by notyou at 5:04 PM on December 20, 2010
You might like some of the tracks on Danielle Luppi's album, An Italian Story. Inspired by Enrico Morricone's work for Italian cinema in the 1960's (and featuring some of the same musicians.)
posted by usonian at 5:09 PM on December 20, 2010
posted by usonian at 5:09 PM on December 20, 2010
Oh! movement!
Then it's Neu! you're looking for: HalloGallo.
posted by notyou at 5:12 PM on December 20, 2010 [1 favorite]
Then it's Neu! you're looking for: HalloGallo.
posted by notyou at 5:12 PM on December 20, 2010 [1 favorite]
Brian Jonestown Massacre
(the first one is an exceptionally good amateur video btw - that song just came up on my random shuffle while I was driving just now, inspiring me to answer this question)
posted by Flashman at 5:23 PM on December 20, 2010 [1 favorite]
(the first one is an exceptionally good amateur video btw - that song just came up on my random shuffle while I was driving just now, inspiring me to answer this question)
posted by Flashman at 5:23 PM on December 20, 2010 [1 favorite]
The Minders
Build
Big Machine
Now I Can Smile
Paper Plane
(These are all from the collection-CD "Cul-de-sacs & Dead Ends"; "Hooray For Tuesday" is another good album.)
posted by carsonb at 5:31 PM on December 20, 2010
Build
Big Machine
Now I Can Smile
Paper Plane
(These are all from the collection-CD "Cul-de-sacs & Dead Ends"; "Hooray For Tuesday" is another good album.)
posted by carsonb at 5:31 PM on December 20, 2010
Since TrialByMedia and I apparently have the same record collection, I'll just 2nd those answers and add Spiritualized and Luna.
posted by otters walk among us at 5:36 PM on December 20, 2010
posted by otters walk among us at 5:36 PM on December 20, 2010
Searching google or youtube for "motorik" will bring up Neu!, La Dusseldorf, Harmonia and the related german prog bands that distilled this musical feeling. Here's my favorite: Harmonia, Watussi.
Lots of newer bands have built on this influence, Stereolab being the most noted. But there's also Fujiya and Miyagi and American Analog Set. Engineers have done a very nice reimagining of Watussi, with some pleasantly droney vocals.
posted by ferdydurke at 5:36 PM on December 20, 2010 [2 favorites]
Lots of newer bands have built on this influence, Stereolab being the most noted. But there's also Fujiya and Miyagi and American Analog Set. Engineers have done a very nice reimagining of Watussi, with some pleasantly droney vocals.
posted by ferdydurke at 5:36 PM on December 20, 2010 [2 favorites]
Opal had one studio album (still in print I think) that sounds a lot like this and an OOP record of Early Recordings that is more like this.
There's also Galaxie 500, but most of their better songs/videos keep getting removed from YouTube (here's one that has the sound but isn't their best song).
The 'early records' link has a link for downloading towards the bottom.
posted by K.P. at 5:54 PM on December 20, 2010
There's also Galaxie 500, but most of their better songs/videos keep getting removed from YouTube (here's one that has the sound but isn't their best song).
The 'early records' link has a link for downloading towards the bottom.
posted by K.P. at 5:54 PM on December 20, 2010
If you haven't already, get VU's "Bootleg Series, Vol. 1: The Quine Tapes". Sound quality is not stellar but long, droney, jangly, jammy versions of some of their finest material more than make up for it. Nothing really hits the spot like the real thing....
I'm assuming you already have VU Live 1969?
posted by lukievan at 6:29 PM on December 20, 2010 [1 favorite]
I'm assuming you already have VU Live 1969?
posted by lukievan at 6:29 PM on December 20, 2010 [1 favorite]
You really might be looking for Luna, especially "23 Minutes in Brussels." (The studio version might be closer to what you want than the live one here.) Or Galaxie 500, or Spacemen 3, or Spiritualized, though I'm not quite sure what tracks to recommend. All these bands share with "What Goes On" (and a lot of other stuff in the VU catalog) the spirit of slow building through repetition -- "the fiftieth time you hear this sequence of three chords, it's going to start sounding slightly different to you. The hundredth time, you will freak out with joy."
Some will disagree, but "Brimful of Asha" (Cornershop's version, not Fatboy Slim remix) always reminded me of this aspect of Velvet Underground.
posted by escabeche at 6:41 PM on December 20, 2010 [1 favorite]
Some will disagree, but "Brimful of Asha" (Cornershop's version, not Fatboy Slim remix) always reminded me of this aspect of Velvet Underground.
posted by escabeche at 6:41 PM on December 20, 2010 [1 favorite]
The last Unrest album, Perfect Teeth, is this all over. Even more so, the Cath Carroll EP released around the same time -- "Hydro" is 33 minutes of it! Audio here.
posted by xil at 6:42 PM on December 20, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by xil at 6:42 PM on December 20, 2010 [1 favorite]
Orange Juice. Probably the first band from the British Isles to work with that sound.
And I agree on Brimful of Asha, I was gonna mention it, in fact.
posted by Kattullus at 6:46 PM on December 20, 2010
And I agree on Brimful of Asha, I was gonna mention it, in fact.
posted by Kattullus at 6:46 PM on December 20, 2010
You really want to listen to the Feelies, specifically their second album The Good Earth.
posted by kuujjuarapik at 7:08 PM on December 20, 2010
posted by kuujjuarapik at 7:08 PM on December 20, 2010
This was the bread and butter of the genre that was called "college rock" during the '80s and '90s, and is the question most likely to provoke in-pants orgasm at record stores. (Seriously, go to one near you. This is what they're for.)
I'd like to big ups the suggestions prior, especially Modern Lovers/Jonathan Richman, The Feelies and omg Yo La Tengo.
Currently, bands like Wooden Shjips, Moon Duo, The Oh Sees, and what the hell, I had this tab open anyway: Woodsist Records is full of it.
Others to look at The Verlaines, Josef K, Swell Maps, Red Krayola, Blur, The Boo Radleys…
If I might digress here for a moment, it's worth noting that what's going on is mixing the sloppy garage rock of folks aping the British Invasion (you can find plenty of propulsive organ with The Seeds) along with solid jingle-writer melody, and not a lot of feedback. The Velvet Underground was where a tremendous number of people first heard this coalescence, including (as the cliché goes) pretty much everyone in a band since the mid-'60s.
That means that you can take this song and spin off into Can and Neu, who are Krautrock, and end up going through them to bands like Amon Duul and Magma and Hawkwind and Kraftwerk… Or you can go through the garage rock vein and end up with bands like The Soft Boys and The Fleshtones and The Mono Men… Or go outward, and hit the 13th Floor Elevators or The Seeds or Electric Prunes or ? and the Mysterions… The Dirtbombs, the White Stripes, all of them hit on that driving pulse again and again.
posted by klangklangston at 11:20 PM on December 20, 2010 [4 favorites]
I'd like to big ups the suggestions prior, especially Modern Lovers/Jonathan Richman, The Feelies and omg Yo La Tengo.
Currently, bands like Wooden Shjips, Moon Duo, The Oh Sees, and what the hell, I had this tab open anyway: Woodsist Records is full of it.
Others to look at The Verlaines, Josef K, Swell Maps, Red Krayola, Blur, The Boo Radleys…
If I might digress here for a moment, it's worth noting that what's going on is mixing the sloppy garage rock of folks aping the British Invasion (you can find plenty of propulsive organ with The Seeds) along with solid jingle-writer melody, and not a lot of feedback. The Velvet Underground was where a tremendous number of people first heard this coalescence, including (as the cliché goes) pretty much everyone in a band since the mid-'60s.
That means that you can take this song and spin off into Can and Neu, who are Krautrock, and end up going through them to bands like Amon Duul and Magma and Hawkwind and Kraftwerk… Or you can go through the garage rock vein and end up with bands like The Soft Boys and The Fleshtones and The Mono Men… Or go outward, and hit the 13th Floor Elevators or The Seeds or Electric Prunes or ? and the Mysterions… The Dirtbombs, the White Stripes, all of them hit on that driving pulse again and again.
posted by klangklangston at 11:20 PM on December 20, 2010 [4 favorites]
I'm not entirely sure of the sound you are looking for, but I'll give it a shot.
The Beta Band - Dry the Rain
Rural Alberta Advantage - Don't Haunt This Place
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Cheated Hearts
The Mountain Goats - Palmcorder Yajna
Spoon - Metal Detektor, No You're Not, and basically the entire the Series of Sneaks album. This album is Spoon doing their best impression of the carefree licks put out by the Modern Lovers.
posted by clearly at 12:16 AM on December 21, 2010
The Beta Band - Dry the Rain
Rural Alberta Advantage - Don't Haunt This Place
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Cheated Hearts
The Mountain Goats - Palmcorder Yajna
Spoon - Metal Detektor, No You're Not, and basically the entire the Series of Sneaks album. This album is Spoon doing their best impression of the carefree licks put out by the Modern Lovers.
posted by clearly at 12:16 AM on December 21, 2010
The Clean - Point That Thing Somewhere Else
posted by dydecker at 1:17 AM on December 21, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by dydecker at 1:17 AM on December 21, 2010 [1 favorite]
Seconding Spacemen 3 and The Clean. Another obvious one would be the Dandy Warhols' Come Down album, which is all over this sound.
posted by Sonny Jim at 5:46 AM on December 21, 2010
posted by Sonny Jim at 5:46 AM on December 21, 2010
Early Sonic Youth. The whole of their first album, Confusion is Sex, sounds like this. Daydream Nation also dips into this sound.
Here is a terrible recording of them playing the first song from Confusion is Sex live: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5S7kTcbjLc
Also, Women basically embody the sound you're talking about: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUL-xUSc7Ng
posted by maryrosecook at 8:10 AM on December 21, 2010
Here is a terrible recording of them playing the first song from Confusion is Sex live: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5S7kTcbjLc
Also, Women basically embody the sound you're talking about: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUL-xUSc7Ng
posted by maryrosecook at 8:10 AM on December 21, 2010
2nd'ing escabeche's Luna "23 Minutes in Brussels," and adding:
Dean & Britta's "13 Most Beautiful... Songs for Andy Warhol's Screen Test":
Silver Factory Theme
Not a Young Man Anymore (A Velvet cover!)
Herringbone Tweed
Incandescent Innocent
Television:
Marquee Moon
posted by 0x88 at 10:47 AM on December 21, 2010
Dean & Britta's "13 Most Beautiful... Songs for Andy Warhol's Screen Test":
Television:
posted by 0x88 at 10:47 AM on December 21, 2010
There's a lot of movement in this song, no organ, but that kick drum keeps me jerking funky:
Jookabox - You Cried Me
posted by carsonb at 10:54 AM on December 21, 2010
Jookabox - You Cried Me
posted by carsonb at 10:54 AM on December 21, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by neroli at 3:42 PM on December 20, 2010 [2 favorites]