I'm looking for chant-like, repetitive pop music.

January 29, 2006 11:35 PM

I'm looking for repetitive/chant-like pop music.

Specifically, songs in the same vein as Beta Band's "Push It Out", Low's "Don't Carry it All", and the title track of Spiritualized's "Ladies and Gentlemen, We Are Floating in Space."

The lyrics are simple and repeated over and over, while the music grows beneath it.

What else fits this "genre"?

posted by eschewed to Media & Arts (42 answers total)

Because my post is first, I get to give the obvious, easy response.

Fatboy Slim - "The Rockafeller Skank". It endlessly repeats "Right about now. The funk Soul Brother."

The rest of you suckers will have to come up with more obscure stuff:
posted by Clay201 at 11:47 PM on January 29, 2006

Philip Glass: Koyaanisqatsi
posted by vacapinta at 11:49 PM on January 29, 2006

The modern incarnation of Algerian raï fits your description perfectly (though the degree of layering added as the song progresses depends a lot on the artist).

Three of the bigger names in the genre are Cheb Khaled, Cheb Mami, and Rachid Taha. They've all been around a while, and their music has progressed with respect to outside influences over the years, sometimes straying rather drastically from its roots.

I'm partial to Mami's Prince of Rai, if you want a specific title to hunt for.
posted by hototogisu at 12:03 AM on January 30, 2006

Try Blur - Tender, from their album 13. Seems like it might fit the bill.
posted by cathodeheart at 12:18 AM on January 30, 2006

Tusk, of course. Didn't Fleetwood Mac invent the genre?
posted by Zendogg at 12:20 AM on January 30, 2006

Stereolab has some great repetitive vocal pop, esp. some beautiful early stuff like 'Transona Five' and 'Doubt.' The a cappella group Sweet Honey in the Rock has also recorded some amazing chant-like vocal songs, including the gorgeous bird-like 'Fulani Chant' from 1992's "In This Land."
posted by mediareport at 12:20 AM on January 30, 2006

Gavin Bryars - Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet repeats a tramp's warbling and off-key rendition of this hymn for an hour with a gradual swelling of the background music. Tom Waits comes in and duets for awhile as well I think.
posted by Falconetti at 12:21 AM on January 30, 2006

"Anthems for a Seventeen Year-Old Girl" by Broken Social Scene is a fantastic song. Oh, and it fits your criteria.

There is probably some Moby that would fit as well, but I can't be arsed to find any specific songs.
posted by kyleg at 12:30 AM on January 30, 2006

boom bip - do's and dont's
posted by advil at 12:35 AM on January 30, 2006

There's the DNA "remix" of Suzanne Vega which basically repeats the original acapella song's wordless vocal outro over and over.
posted by ori at 2:11 AM on January 30, 2006

Lil' Beethoven by Sparks fits your requirements wonderfully.
posted by coach_mcguirk at 2:55 AM on January 30, 2006

Teenage Fanclub - "What you do to me"

Another vote for anthems of a 17 year old, a current fav.

Not much vocals (apart from a girl counting the bars) but 200 bars by Spiritualized is good.
posted by twistedonion at 4:37 AM on January 30, 2006

The song Dirge by Death in Vegas doesn't have lyrics as such, but has a la-la-la repeated over & over as the music builds. And Evan Dando’s song In the Grass all Wine-Colored used a single repeated lyric to fine effect, although there’s no musical crescendo in it.
posted by misteraitch at 4:56 AM on January 30, 2006

I could be mistaken, but Sigur Rós' () is pretty much the same lyric for the entirety of the album.
posted by Remy at 5:19 AM on January 30, 2006

try:

Oh How I Miss You by Broadcast

Crazy For You by Slowdive

Soleil Radieux [iTunes] by Mahogany

Sept [iTunes] by Sweet Trip

Run Into Flowers [Real Video] by M83

they are all ambient songs that have the same line/melody repeated over and over again.
oh and if you haven't already you should prolly check out your basic drone/spacerock staple acts: Windy and Carl, Flying Saucer Attack, Main, that first Verve album, Movietone, oh yeah and Spacemen 3 etc..
posted by sammich at 5:35 AM on January 30, 2006

Perhaps "Babylon" by Don McLean (hey, you didn't say it had to be current pop music). I think technically this has a fugue structure.
posted by adamrice at 5:49 AM on January 30, 2006

The Pixies’ Stormy Weather, too.
posted by misteraitch at 6:06 AM on January 30, 2006

The Monkees "Zilch" was the four of them repeating nonsense sentences until they all lose their places and the songs ends with the word "Zilch".

I think it those days it was really really heavy.

Mr. Dobolina, Mr. Bob Dobolina
Mr. Dobolina, Mr. Bob Dobolina
Mr. Dobolina, Mr. Bob Dobolina
Mr. Dobolina, Mr. Bob Dobolina
posted by Makebusy7 at 6:12 AM on January 30, 2006

"Anthems for a Seventeen Year-Old Girl" by Broken Social Scene is a fantastic song. Oh, and it fits your criteria.

Yeah, that's what I came here to say.
posted by ludwig_van at 6:30 AM on January 30, 2006

I just can't beleive someone actually beat me to mentioning Gavin Bryars.

Try an Elbow record, they all fit this bill, but particularly the second, Cast of Thousands. Lot of repetitive musical themes that slowy morph and swell under simplistic liyrical ideas. Give "Grace Under Pressure" a listen. Great stuff.
posted by Heminator at 6:33 AM on January 30, 2006

First thing I thought of was The Beatles' Hey Jude. The 5 minute "Na na na na na na na"s get into your head and don't leave for 3 years after you hear it.
posted by thanotopsis at 6:47 AM on January 30, 2006

Ani DiFranco - Pulse
posted by martinrebas at 6:48 AM on January 30, 2006

Not exactly recent: Song to the Siren, This Mortal Coil.

More recent: Hide and Seek, Imogen Heap

Obscure: Grow, Bourbon Tabernacle Choir
posted by mikel at 7:34 AM on January 30, 2006

In the states there is a small Kirtan movement which is acutal sanskrit chanting, often with a more western influenced beat, even if they are using indian instruments. Krishna Das's album Pilgram Heart is fast, fun and accessable. Wah! has a great slow album Savasana. Deva Permal is nice too.

If you like your sanskrit straight you should check out Vyass Huston's recordings from his American Sanskrit Institute
posted by shothotbot at 8:02 AM on January 30, 2006

my bloody valentine - loveless
cocteau twins - victorialand
anything by can but especially tago mago
posted by brilliantmistake at 8:19 AM on January 30, 2006

Oh, yeah, Can. "Yoo Do Right" is perfect; it's on the 1969 Monster Movie lp - simple repetitive vocals over an amazing bass groove that just builds and builds.
posted by mediareport at 8:39 AM on January 30, 2006

I came to say Anthems for a Seventeen Year-Old Girl by Broken Social Scene, as well.
posted by charmston at 8:49 AM on January 30, 2006

art of noise - moments in love.
posted by subtle-t at 8:54 AM on January 30, 2006

I'm reminded of is that first Enigma record, MCMXC, which incorporated gregorian chant into pop-rock. But maybe that's not quite what you're describing.

Obscure: one whole side of the first Steve Miller record (or at least the final track) may be what you're looking for: Children of the Future.
posted by Rash at 9:11 AM on January 30, 2006

is
posted by Rash at 9:16 AM on January 30, 2006

"Tout Le Monde" by The Reindeer Section.
posted by ltdan at 9:29 AM on January 30, 2006

Coconut?
posted by teleskiving at 9:44 AM on January 30, 2006

I just can't beleive someone actually beat me to mentioning Gavin Bryars.

I can't believe you beat me to Elbow. A perfect suggestion for this question though... a personal favorite too.
posted by Witty at 10:17 AM on January 30, 2006

"Prelude to 110 or 220/Women of the World" covered by Jim O'Rourke off the album Eureka. Original version by Ivor Cutler
posted by rabbitsnake at 10:18 AM on January 30, 2006

Not a big fan, but Enya's Orinoco Flow seems to fit the bill.
posted by grateful at 10:35 AM on January 30, 2006

Birth, School, Work, Death by the Godfathers
No new tale to tell by Love and rockets
posted by any major dude at 12:41 PM on January 30, 2006

"Witchi-Tai-To" -- there are a lot of versions out there, but the one that does the best job of starting a chant softly and building to crescendo is by Brewer & Shipley. It's exactly what you describe.
posted by forrest at 1:04 PM on January 30, 2006

Radiohead, Sit Down Stand Up.
posted by abcde at 2:37 PM on January 30, 2006

"Let's All Chant" - Michael Zager
posted by SisterHavana at 8:16 PM on January 30, 2006

Not current at all, but the Stooges' "We Will Fall" certainly fits the "repetitive vocals" requirement. It's been ages since I heard it, though - I can't remember if the arrangement does much building or swelling.
posted by anthom at 8:37 AM on January 31, 2006

Can't forget "Hollaback Girl" by Gwen Stefani.
posted by SisterHavana at 10:03 AM on January 31, 2006

Faust's "Mamie Is Blue" fits the description perfectly.
posted by btocher at 10:14 AM on January 31, 2006