Musical Fetishes

the fucks that ?!

hi-hats in trap music

FLUTES, (or flutes that are highly distorted like in this track):

  On 7/12/2013 at 6:44 PM, joshuatx said:

Fetishes:

 

Trainspotting samples - there's a trill in hearing an obscure sample source of a song you love without by complete chance that's like nothing else. This has occurred a lot when I'm listening to older music on local radio stations.

Simple but perfect sample flips: very much a "Golden Age" of hip-hop trait but also common with producers like Madlib, Dilla, Doom, and DJ Premier (I know there are others too, just naming my favorites off the top of my head) - good example is Geto Boys' "Mind Playing Tricks On Me"

Waves and waves of distortion, delay, and noise in rock, regardless of genre - Boris "Farewell" sums that up for me. But for me that can apply to Neil Young and Crazy Horse, My Bloody Valentine, Acid Mothers Temple, Jimi Hendrix, etc. I just love when sound is unpredictable and raw and "warm."

Surf Guitar - but usually not in surf music or classic garage rock: the riff in Dead Kennedys' "Holiday In Cambodia" or B-52s' "Rock Lobster" Best Coast's "Boyfriend"

Lyrics that are memorable and but don't make much sense or are over-simplistic but aren't pretentious either - I dunno, I really just blame liking R.E.M. as a kid for this. But I also like Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson...I just like stuff that isn't predictable or strict to rhyming.

Knowledgeable DJ mixing - basically when you hear a mix that features mixing of songs that tonally sound very similar or compliment each other well but are from completely different artists or even genres.

Really solid guitar riffs - you know a riff is excellent when the climax of a song is really just them playing the riff by itself in all of it's glory - it's actually every evident in more "mainstream" tracks like System of A Down's "Aerials" ot the Toadies' "Tyler"

Dub - classic late 70s/early 80s stuff made with tape delays, spring reverb, and a whole lot weed and mixing talent. Scientist, Mad Professor, Tubby, Scratch Perry, etc.

Black, Sludge, and Doom Metal - raw, more lo-fi or "live" stuff. Stuff that just hits you and doesn't sound overproduced. Part of the reason I really like Darkthrone, even though they changed style and aren't as lo-fi their recordings are still very raw imo.

Delayed climaxes: Weezer's "Only In Dreams," Mono's "Halcyon (Beautiful Days)" or Aphex Twin's "Girl/Boy Song" - you know it's coming and right before you think it will hit they stretch out the song just a little more...then BAM

Distinct musical climaxes or breakdowns - often the difference between good versus great songs. I don't mean just solos or instrumental bridges either, I mean like moments where the song really expands or shifts. It can be very subtle too, for example, Foo Fighter's "Everlong" @ 3:05 - that quiet part makes the fucking song. You don't hear that often in pop songs now especially, even acoustic or low-key ones. It's shame dynamics were thrown at the window over the last couple of decades.

Tape aesthetics - It has to be done in a clever manner, often mixed with digital methods, but basically I really like the tape aesthetic a lot lately - washed out synth pad and distorted beats. Whether it's VHS Head or Matthewdavid or 1991 or a number of others- I just like when unique sounds are achieved with tape.

True "Found Sound" or obscure and musically "rich" samples - basically anything that isn't classic "popular" sampling but instead things like field recordings, lounge and exotica LPs, orchestral works on vinyl, unique percussion, world pop and indigenous music, etc. I also like when stuff is very much manipulated to the point of where it's a new timbre altogether. I think the Avalanches hit on this, Gas especially, and even Clams Casino has achieved the sound to some degree. Personally I've liked L. Pierre a lot lately:

"Mistakes" - Hardest to explain, but basically when you hear something in a recording that most people would of "fixed" through editing (or another take on a track if it's pre-digital) but they left it in because it gives it character...or simply don't care. Burzum's cough in the middle of his yells on "War" (0:55), the sound of someone moving around at 3:45 in Mono's song "Halcyon" the Flaming Lips literally fucking up on "Jesus Shootin' Heroin" from 5:40 to 6:15 or so. I think I've even heard happy accidents and mistakes in certain electronic tracks but I can't think of any right now.

 

Guilty Pleasures:

 

Unabashed 303 acid

808 bass - especially used for tones, not as bass drum

Overused Breakbeats

Cliche electro beats (808 handclap and cowbell)

Dub sirens

Dancehall and ragga vocals

Good mash-ups, especially early 2000s pre-Girl Talk and pre-mainstream youtube shit - I mean like really good chord matches and ones that need very little editing - guys like 2 Many DJs and Freelance Hellraiser

 

Certain overused samples being deliberately referenced - especially in turntablism and hip-hop ("this is a journey into sound...") - for instance in the UNKLE main title theme I hear that d'n'b staple Blade Runner Sample or when Addison Groove put that hit from "Rapper's Delight" in "Footcrab" - when it's done in a very musique concrete fashion not just laziness, I think it's brilliant.

Thank you for the thoughtful description!!!

Yeah nice post Joshua

One thing I really love is when someone does a quick downward slide on a really distorted guitar at the end of a solo, when it makes a sort of 'powering down' sound. It's like the musical code for 'BOOM, done!'. Pretty sure there's a good example at the end of Go Your Own Way, can't bring any other examples to mind off the top of my head.

i love it when sub bass

Can't really say it any better than joshuatx has, epic post.