http://www.jayfarrar.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=3513&sid=25b71009a7e6d1dd533c312564da47f0:
PostPosted: Mon Aug 29, 2005 8:11 pm Post subject: OT: Wilco/Bennett Synth Sounds Reply with quote
“I’ve been googling for this all night – does anyone know what instrument is being played on the intro to “I’m always in love” – I figure it’s some kind of analog synth but can anyone confirm this?
Dumb question, I know… I’m in a really experimental mode these days…”
“Hey Twitch, It’s a Moog-type synth or a copy of what a Moog does. (I believe in the studio he probably used a real minimoog, but on the documentary he used some other synth) The Moog has an option on it that allows a slide-sound between notes. So that’s what you hear in “I’m alway in love”. You know, that errrrr—-wheeeen. The first note is B and then play the octave B. With a minimoog the sound will slide from the first B to the octave B.”
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I have a couple favorite musical instruments. It seems dumb, but sometimes just a certain sound can totally captivate, a la the oboe in Radiohead’s “The National Anthem,” or the harpsichord in the great Baroque recordings of Johann Sebastian Bach or Francois Couperin.
One thing I’ve noticed about all these synth songs is that there seems to be a western bent to it (in geography, as well as obviously in motif, with “Black River Killer.”) Maybe we people back east are just too uptight: we’re part theoretical, we lack a certain musical freedom. Dr. Dre’s even included on this list, along with fellow Californians Cake. Given some genre amalgamation, though, the Pacific Northwest emerges as peerless on this list, furnishing the top three songs, each in rock.
Well, enough lead-in, here they are:
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10 Wire – “Another the Letter”
This song mainly works well as part of the album, Chairs Missing, which is a raucous mind-bender as a whole, featuring the classic and catchy “I am the Fly” and “From the Nursery,” among the larger sonic maelstrom.
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9 Interpol – “PDA”
This is a good song for in a group, early in the night… whereas on those solitary nights watching football or whatever, “NYC” stands out as the endlessly playable classic, a sonic masterpiece in its own right, governing in with a pristine guitar sound followed by some unforgettable shredding in the solo.
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8 Dr. Dre – “Nothin’ but a ‘G’ Thang”
You know, I can’t actually say I’ve ever willingly listened to this song. Compton sounds great, though, from what I’ve heard, that Anderson Paak dude even tore Eminem a new one on it.
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7 Wilco – “I’m Always in Love”
I was just making a list of all the bands that are better on live albums than they are on studio (which is a pretty short list, really): Jimi Hendrix Experience, The Who (The Grateful Dead, which goes without saying), The Pretenders, Rush… oop, forgot Wilco! This song only appears on Summerteeth though, which is playable if not necessarily classic.
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6 Ikonika – “Sahara Michael”
The only electronica cut on the list, ironically… and the low ranking belies how sublime and soothing Sara Abdel-Hamid’s sounds are.
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5 Cake – “Cool Blue Reason”
I could go on and on about Cake. They are a “walking contradiction,” to use a term of their fellow Californians Green Day. They’re smart guys who write dumb songs. Brian McCrae is a cool dude who also seems weird. And California, California, is a fun place that’s inexpressibly dark. Getting through the album helps with this one, which isn’t that hard of a feat, really.
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4 Radiohead – “All I Need”
Co-favorite from In Rainbows along with “Reckoner.”
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3 The New Pornographers – “Marching Orders”
Though to be true, the Pornos’ real special du jour is their guitar sound, thick and filling up the room on the titled track to this album. Great album, ranked on last year’s Dolby’s best-of year-end list.
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2 Built to Spill – “Made up Dreams”
Thankfully, listening to this song takes less time than eternity does, although that wouldn’t be really THAT bad either. Well, it depends what your definition of perfection is.
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1 Blitzen Trapper – “Black River Killer”
Quid. Pro. Quo.