Lunatic Cartoon Crazy-making Music
August 23, 2015 7:19 PM Subscribe
I’m looking to assemble a compilation or reference list for a type of music that I’ve always been drawn to, which is stuff that sounds simultaneously cartoony and loose, maybe a little clangy, almost a bit sinister, like the music has a hold over you and that infects you with this primal energy makes you feel out of control, like you’re going to morph into Animal from the Muppets.
I’m not really thinking of anything along hardcore/metal lines, I’m looking for stuff that’s light and silly on the surface but that resonates with a contained chaos. Maybe I’ll admit some punk stuff, but I feel like Warner Bros, Ren and Stimpy, Don Hertzfeld and some Miyazaki cartoons exemplifies this sensation of impending anarchy- like, I picture eyes starting to bulge and wavy lines signifying a dark shift happening, and I can swear I’ve seen other cartoons and movies from around the world that express this menacing id cued by music but I can’t think of them. I'm just fascinated by things that hover at the edge of madness.
Stuff I have already, across styles and eras:
Banjoreno – Dixieland Jug Blowers
Banjo Buster – Arthur Smith
Sabre Dance – Aram Khachaturian
Bissau – Francis Bebey
Powerhouse – Raymond Scott
Triplets of Belleville soundtrack
The Ghost of Stephen Foster – Squirrel Nut Zippers
Rock Lobster – The B-52s
Yakety Sax
All of Spike Jones
Does this make sense? Anyone feel what I’m feeling? It doesn’t have to be cartoon music necessarily; I’d love to get some suggestions about what else exists sonically and visually that embodies and can channel me into a wild Looney Toon mood.
And if you have ideas about other descriptors or can explain what's going on musically that causes these feelings, I think that's what I'm really trying to understand but don't know how to explain or justify my reaction. Thanks!
I’m not really thinking of anything along hardcore/metal lines, I’m looking for stuff that’s light and silly on the surface but that resonates with a contained chaos. Maybe I’ll admit some punk stuff, but I feel like Warner Bros, Ren and Stimpy, Don Hertzfeld and some Miyazaki cartoons exemplifies this sensation of impending anarchy- like, I picture eyes starting to bulge and wavy lines signifying a dark shift happening, and I can swear I’ve seen other cartoons and movies from around the world that express this menacing id cued by music but I can’t think of them. I'm just fascinated by things that hover at the edge of madness.
Stuff I have already, across styles and eras:
Banjoreno – Dixieland Jug Blowers
Banjo Buster – Arthur Smith
Sabre Dance – Aram Khachaturian
Bissau – Francis Bebey
Powerhouse – Raymond Scott
Triplets of Belleville soundtrack
The Ghost of Stephen Foster – Squirrel Nut Zippers
Rock Lobster – The B-52s
Yakety Sax
All of Spike Jones
Does this make sense? Anyone feel what I’m feeling? It doesn’t have to be cartoon music necessarily; I’d love to get some suggestions about what else exists sonically and visually that embodies and can channel me into a wild Looney Toon mood.
And if you have ideas about other descriptors or can explain what's going on musically that causes these feelings, I think that's what I'm really trying to understand but don't know how to explain or justify my reaction. Thanks!
Perhaps not light and silly, but certainly with a nod to Carl Stalling: Naked City.
Certainly light and silly, with a nod to Raymond Scott: Space Ponch.
posted by eschatfische at 7:29 PM on August 23, 2015 [1 favorite]
Certainly light and silly, with a nod to Raymond Scott: Space Ponch.
posted by eschatfische at 7:29 PM on August 23, 2015 [1 favorite]
Oh dude, you need Herb Alpert.
Yes, yes, yes, yes.
Maybe some Phil Harris. But definitely Herb Alpert.
posted by phunniemee at 7:29 PM on August 23, 2015 [1 favorite]
Yes, yes, yes, yes.
Maybe some Phil Harris. But definitely Herb Alpert.
posted by phunniemee at 7:29 PM on August 23, 2015 [1 favorite]
Clash — Caravan Palace (also other stuff by them)
posted by brentajones at 7:41 PM on August 23, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by brentajones at 7:41 PM on August 23, 2015 [1 favorite]
I grew up on old cartoons, so I have lots of recommendations, but we should likely trade mix tapes, too ;)
You want everything Caravan Palace has ever done as well as Parov Stelar.
You'll feel like you're in an old-timey cartoon about to bug out.
For older jams, of course, Cab Calloway's music inspired a lot of the madness of cartoons and almost everyone cited is referencing Django Rheinhart.
posted by Gucky at 7:46 PM on August 23, 2015 [3 favorites]
You want everything Caravan Palace has ever done as well as Parov Stelar.
You'll feel like you're in an old-timey cartoon about to bug out.
For older jams, of course, Cab Calloway's music inspired a lot of the madness of cartoons and almost everyone cited is referencing Django Rheinhart.
posted by Gucky at 7:46 PM on August 23, 2015 [3 favorites]
Big Blue Umbrella by Mark De Gli Antoni (sorry, only a sample is available on Amazon)
It's more of a stretch, but maybe Wham City or Crystal Cat by Dan Deacon.
posted by unknowncommand at 8:09 PM on August 23, 2015
It's more of a stretch, but maybe Wham City or Crystal Cat by Dan Deacon.
posted by unknowncommand at 8:09 PM on August 23, 2015
primus wanda
butthole amer woman
du hast
posted by maggieb at 8:30 PM on August 23, 2015 [2 favorites]
butthole amer woman
du hast
posted by maggieb at 8:30 PM on August 23, 2015 [2 favorites]
A Hawk and a Hacksaw's first album.
Someone, somewhere, once put together all of the Ren & Stimpy incidental music. It hurts the head, but may still be out there.
Then, of course, Doop. Which you thought that 21 years would have erased its memory, but no.
Slightly less demented, anything by R. Crumb & His Cheap Suit Serenaders, or the first two Holy Modal Rounders albums.
posted by scruss at 8:34 PM on August 23, 2015 [1 favorite]
Someone, somewhere, once put together all of the Ren & Stimpy incidental music. It hurts the head, but may still be out there.
Then, of course, Doop. Which you thought that 21 years would have erased its memory, but no.
Slightly less demented, anything by R. Crumb & His Cheap Suit Serenaders, or the first two Holy Modal Rounders albums.
posted by scruss at 8:34 PM on August 23, 2015 [1 favorite]
Soul Coughing. It's the band Mark De Gli Antoni was in in the 90's. Lots of cartoony samples with great danceable beats.
posted by irisclara at 9:00 PM on August 23, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by irisclara at 9:00 PM on August 23, 2015 [3 favorites]
The Avalanches - Frontier Psychiatrist
posted by moonmilk at 9:10 PM on August 23, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by moonmilk at 9:10 PM on August 23, 2015 [5 favorites]
Don't know if we're on the same wavelength at all, but...
Collide, Beats Antique (and maybe some of their other stuff)
Final Fantasy X Moogle Theme
Cat's Delicacy, Escaflowne
Parade (instrumental), Paprika
Conversation of a Mystery, Halcali
Festivo, Zatoichi
posted by wintersweet at 9:17 PM on August 23, 2015 [1 favorite]
Collide, Beats Antique (and maybe some of their other stuff)
Final Fantasy X Moogle Theme
Cat's Delicacy, Escaflowne
Parade (instrumental), Paprika
Conversation of a Mystery, Halcali
Festivo, Zatoichi
posted by wintersweet at 9:17 PM on August 23, 2015 [1 favorite]
Venetian Snares: Kakenrooken Stivlobits
Mike Patton's "Adult Themes for Voice" can definitely scratch this itch.
posted by a box and a stick and a string and a bear at 9:42 PM on August 23, 2015
Mike Patton's "Adult Themes for Voice" can definitely scratch this itch.
posted by a box and a stick and a string and a bear at 9:42 PM on August 23, 2015
Maybe try Short Ride in a Fast Machine by John Adams and Michael Daugherty's Metropolis Symphony.
posted by under_petticoat_rule at 10:31 PM on August 23, 2015
posted by under_petticoat_rule at 10:31 PM on August 23, 2015
Scott Bradley - Tom & Jerry Soundtrack Suite
Hank C. Burnette - Spinning Rock Boogie
Frank Black & The Catholics - The Black Rider
Alfred Schnittke - Music For an Imaginary Play
Polysics - e.g. I Me My Mine
The Banana Splits - The Banana Splits
posted by misteraitch at 5:46 AM on August 24, 2015
Hank C. Burnette - Spinning Rock Boogie
Frank Black & The Catholics - The Black Rider
Alfred Schnittke - Music For an Imaginary Play
Polysics - e.g. I Me My Mine
The Banana Splits - The Banana Splits
posted by misteraitch at 5:46 AM on August 24, 2015
You mentioned Warner Bros., so you're probably well aware of The Animaniacs.
posted by JimN2TAW at 8:52 AM on August 24, 2015
posted by JimN2TAW at 8:52 AM on August 24, 2015
I think pretty much everything by Parov Stelar might work for you.
posted by cmoj at 9:34 AM on August 24, 2015
posted by cmoj at 9:34 AM on August 24, 2015
A lot of the incidental music from the classic Laurel & Hardy shorts fits your criteria, but particularly the cartoonish and sinister Dance of the Cuckoos.
posted by scarylarry at 12:27 PM on August 24, 2015
posted by scarylarry at 12:27 PM on August 24, 2015
Mrs Pumpkinの滑稽な夢 (give it a minute to warm up).
I love "The Ghost of Stephen Foster," but (and?) it makes me want to run around and smash stuff.
posted by wintersweet at 1:13 PM on August 24, 2015
I love "The Ghost of Stephen Foster," but (and?) it makes me want to run around and smash stuff.
posted by wintersweet at 1:13 PM on August 24, 2015
Somewhat less frenetic, but still pretty off-kilter and wonky: early Splitz Enz around 'Mental Notes/Second Thoughts', before their new wave phase.
posted by ovvl at 1:36 PM on August 24, 2015
posted by ovvl at 1:36 PM on August 24, 2015
Parov Stelar and Caravan Palace are both from the genre of electro-swing. You might find more stuff you like there.
posted by glass origami robot at 12:09 AM on August 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by glass origami robot at 12:09 AM on August 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
Mister Bungle!
posted by sarahsynonymous at 7:30 PM on August 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by sarahsynonymous at 7:30 PM on August 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Exchequer at 7:23 PM on August 23, 2015 [3 favorites]