Instruments of Overkill
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Is it not enough that a kid shows up with a guitar and songs written from the heart? Sadly, not if the other kid shows up with a bouzouki, woodblocks, and The Polyphonic Spree in full orchestral force. If musicians taught us anything, it's that songs start out simple so they can end up complicated.
For better or worse, here are beyond-basic musical instruments used to great effect or affectation in popular music.
The cowbell and melodica are listed in the same hipster dictionary as found sounds and toy phaser guns. Skinny Puppy's Dig It and RATM's Killing in the Name put the cowbell in rebellious, and here's who else: the SNL-approved QOTSA, Apples in Stereo, and DFA artists -most memorably, putting the cowbell in unstoppable, The Rapture [video].
You can't miss the melodica. It's in New Order's Love Vigilantes (intro), Depeche Mode's Everything Counts (bridge), The Go! Team's Huddle Formation (throughout). It's all over reggae. It's the only organ blown by mouth, by anyone whose mouth is probably important: Bauhaus' Peter Murphy, Clinic, and Decemberist Jenny Conlee.
Effect meter: on the radar to past curfew
Nothing says foreigner like educated prodigies handling an accordion or harpsichord. The international bright young things: Owen Pallett a.k.a. Final Fantasy, Régine Chassagne, Belle & Sebastian. Just to check the uppity, I'm adding Gogol Bordello in.
Tori Amos broke a harpsichord to create Boys for Pele's disjointed sound. Most exotic, the accordion's bellowing was invoked for MF Doom and Madlib's mad villainy [video], The Magnetic Fields' "no-synth trilogy" of noise-pop, Zach Condon a.k.a. Beirut meshing Balkan folk with "classical pop".
Also in this mix should be the glockenspiel, which lead vocalist Gareth Campesinos! put back on the world map singlehandedly.
Effect meter: out of town to illegal alien
Folks, the evolution of the banjo, mandolin, ukulele. As a trusty companion to the pasture: The Mountain Goats, Blind Pilot, Noah and the Whale. As famous people's surprise talent: Isaac Brock and Buckethead play the banjo; Win Butler and Johnny Marr play the mandolin; Zooey Deschanel and William H. Macy play the ukulele.
As the requisite multi-instrumentalist skill set: Patrick Wolf, Beirut, DCFC's Chris Walla. Lastly, for what lies beyond God's green earth: Deerhoof, Margot and the Nuclear So and So's, and whoever killed Amanda Palmer and sent her ukuleleing to the underworld [video].
Effect meter: mountain high to six feet under
The viola and harmonium give meaning to mood music with no hot date involved. John Cale ran the mellow-toned viola to the ground for Heroin, Venus in Furs, and The Stooges' We Will Fall. And then he left it there to be scavenged by The Roots, Negativland, Flobots, and The Airborne Toxic Event full-time.
Still on The Velvet Underground, Nico's venture into the unknown and Sigur Rós' speaking in tongues [video] worked a harmonium to the bone, but none harder than cinema. Case in point: Music for a Found Harmonium. You can tell by the way Silver Mt. Zion and Xiu Xiu use said filmic qualities to make movie scores without the movies.
(Massive Attack's Teardrop supposedly uses a harmonium loop.)
Effect meter: indie to indecipherable
Watch out for other increasingly conspicuous contraptions: the clavichord, dulcimer, euphonium, flugelhorn, theremin.
Comments (37)
And now it is our poe entering thr realm of the epic....and funny too. Loved your long form.
What a great way to Start my work week! Poebegone...Winner & stll champion!
MORE COWBELL!!!
Um ... needless to say, seeing "House of the Jealous Lovers" gave my morning a bit of a goose in the shorts. Whee!
Amanda Palmer doing Radiohead on uke...AWESOME FIND!! Thanks for starting my week right, Poe :-)
I love all the instruments you masterfully examine here, ukulele aside (its sound always annoyed me, for some reason). Musical saws also make a wonderful sound.
Your effect meters are oh so funny, my darkling!
I do enjoy a little something something extra in my rock music... and you wrapped everything up in one excellent post!
No mention of "The Hooters" who used the Melodica as a crutch in every song... and I LIKED IT.
Or Bruce Hornesby's Mandolin Rain?
And ohhh... Anna, I need but give you one song to make you fall in love with the Ukulele. Unfortunately I am at work and am unable to link the video or music for it. So instead i will give you the story.
From Jack Boulware at the SanFrancisco Chronicle 2005
Honolulu, two a.m. Music producer Jon de Mello is sleeping when the phone rings. It's Israel, one of the artists he represents for his Mountain Apple record label. And Israel is wide awake. He often has problems at night because his weight upwards of 700 pounds forces him to sleep while hooked up to an oxygen tank. He tells de Mello he wants to record, right now. "You got transportation?" asks de Mello.
It's difficult for Israel to move around, he needs a few people to help him get dressed, get in and out of places. The studio is about 15 minutes away. "Yeah," says Israel. "My guys are here." "Get in the car," says de Mello. "I'll meet you over there." In the car, de Mello wonders what he wants to record. They've been discussing a bunch of possibles from a songbook. But it's Israel, you never really know for sure what he's going to do. A traditional Hawai'ian hula. A John Denver song. A theme from a TV show. Could be anything.
A young engineer named Milan Bertosa sits in his recording studio, waiting. He was planning to go home, until some Hawai'ian guy with a lot of letters in his name called up and wanted to record something right away. It's late, Bertosa is tired, but the voice was insistent, saying he only needed half an hour.
A knock at the door, and there stands an unimaginable sight. De Mello, whom Bertosa recognizes, stands about five foot two and 100 pounds. Next to him, the largest man he's ever seen, a gargantuan six-foot-six Hawai'ian carrying a ukulele. De Mello introduces the two, they get Israel situated in a chair, and Bertosa starts rolling tape. Israel leans into the microphone, says: "Kay, this one's for Gabby," and begins gently strumming the uke. His beautiful voice comes in, a lilting "Oooooo," then slips into the opening words of "Over the Rainbow," from "The Wizard of Oz." Bertosa listens behind the glass, and within the first few bars knows it's something very special.
He spends most of his time recording lousy dance music. This is otherworldly. An incredibly fat man, elegantly caressing a Hollywood show tune, breaking it down to its roots, so sad and poignant, yet full of hope and possibility. Halfway through the tune, Israel spirals off into "What a Wonderful World," the George David Weiss/Bob Thiele hit made famous by Louis Armstrong, then melts back into "Over the Rainbow." He flubs a lyric, and tosses in a new chord change, but it doesn't matter. It feels seamless, chilling. Israel plays five songs in a row, then turns to de Mello and says, "I'm tired and I'm going home." "Gets up and walks out," says de Mello. "Ukulele and a vocal, one take. Over." Israel never played the song again.
When Israel and de Mello began piecing together his 1993 album Facing Future, they added the demo tape of "Over the Rainbow." Upon release the song took on a life of its own. The familiar melody played in hotels and on rental car radios, in restaurants and bars. Many were moved to tears. If it didn't give you "chicken skin," you were legally dead. The song resonated even more for locals. Some heard its kaona, or hidden subtext, to reflect the sadness Hawai'i felt about having its lands illegally annexed by the United States in 1898.
Those who had seen him in concert knew he ended each show with the words, "My name is Israel Kamakawiwo'ole, I am Hawai'ian." Israel was one of only 1, 500 full-blooded Hawai'ians left in the world. He was pure, and so was the recording. It bounced around the islands for the next three years. And then one afternoon, Santa Monica KCRW radio host Chris Douridas cued up "Over the Rainbow" as part of his program "Morning Becomes Eclectic," to cheer up listeners on a rainy day. After it faded out, Douridas announced the 800 phone number on the back of the Facing Future CD.
In two days, Mountain Apple received over 2,000 calls from southern California, people crying and asking about the music, many of them stuck on the freeway when they heard it. Movie producer Martin Brest bought the rights for use in his film, "Meet Joe Black." As the end credits rolled, movie audiences stayed in their seats to listen to "Over the Rainbow."
One of America's most recognizable melodies, first made popular by Judy Garland, the tune had always embodied optimism, depicting a world where dreams really do come true. Israel's version was something else entirely: haunting and delicate, stripped down to a lone voice and a ukulele, an unexpected minor chord contrasting, almost unconsciously, against the happy lyrics of wishing upon a star. After the film's premiere in Hawai'i, people were sobbing in the theater. Producers bought the very same song for "Finding Forrester," "Made," "The Big Bounce," and "50 First Dates," for episodes of "ER," "Providence," "Charmed," and "Party of Five." It aired in an eToys ad during the Super Bowl, and then commercials throughout Japan, Europe, Australia, New Zealand.
Although most listeners couldn't remember the name of the artist, it didn't matter. The music was most important, that raw, perfect-pitch voice that hit people right in the heart, touched their emotional core, reminded them how fragile life can be. You heard it once, you never forgot it. "Rainbow" came to personify Hawai'i to the outside world. Celebrities publicly announced their love of Israel's music: novelists, actors, directors, baseball players, sumo wrestlers. Bruddah IZ was the state's first artist in history to have an album certified gold.
Posters and calendars of his face decorated record stores around the world. "Over the Rainbow" became the No. 1 bestselling song downloaded from the World Music section of iTunes. Israel had produced the most recognizable and beloved Hawai'ian song in 50 years. And he didn't live to see any of it.
Sorry for the Hijack
Let's not forget the cuica -- used by the Beastie Boys, Beck, Paul Simon, Nick Cave, Stevie Wonder, etc.
Described as such: "The sound similar to a straw being pulled through a soft drink lid is an African percussian instrument known asa "cuica" (kwee-kuh). The instrument was originally used in Africa for lion hunting because the sound produced is very similar to a female lion's roar, thus attracting the male. The cuica's sound is produced by pulling and pushing a wet cloth on the bamboo stick."
well, if this isn't just the most entertaining earfest. I thought it was raining tears from all the melodrama, turned out to be the plinkety-plunk from all the name dropping (and, agreed, those metrics are stone-carving fodder)
If you still don't have enough cowbell, try adding your own at
http://www.morecowbell.dj/
the joke's been milked to death, but we can still make cheeze...
Love the post and just need to mention, there's a Seattle band called "Awesome", complete with quotes (and they are, awesome, that is) who utilizes a theremin in their music, as well as a bull horn and an old fashioned type writer.
Take that, Decemberists!
My. Goodness. Impressive list here. Gonna take me a while to get through this list, but great idea. I might have to follow up when I have the time. Great post.
Um, thanks for dropping by and weighing in, peeps. Much appreciated.
So these were in my overly long original post but I wanted to cut length...
- Marlene Dietrich entertained troops by playing a musical saw, and started a new trend of strange: Mercury Rev, Amiina, Neutral Milk Hotel's Julian Koster, The Real Tuesday Welds.
- This isn't to mention that the Hammond B-3 & C-3, Wurlitzer, Kurzweil, Korg, and Yamaha Electone maintain their own cult following.
Cody, you might even like the epicker original long form. As in above comment, it included the Hammond. And I realized while doing the post that John Medeski plays, like, everything. Hah!
Jeff, speaking of which, I found out Levon Helm also plays everything, in the banjo, et.al. set, anyway. I am glad for this post! I learned much, I remembered much, and I video-surfed much.
Dale, between you and me, thank you and wink wink! I genuinely decided after much deliberation that The Rapture are the most unstoppably cowbell-using hipsters on earth. Bull's eye!
GR, you know it! The ukulele vid is so bizarre it gives a whole other meaning to "creep". Like Texas Chainsaw Massacre and all those gore flicks with some nowhereland killer. Yikes!
Anna, dead on! Yes, darkling, the musical saw should be listed, and now I feel bad for taking it out. Shame on me! I was also going to have "of legal drinking age" in the effect meter, muahahahah.
Well, it's good to be in that company!
I chose to cut my version of Dr. John's "Such a Night" with a uke instead of a piano (with a harp on it as well), and used a sarod (kind of like a sitar) on my version of the Damned's "Video Nasty" under Lisa Loeb's vocals. it felt great! on the middle of my song "Yell", you hear drums that were actually part of a cheap casio keyboard thanks to Brian LeBarton (Beck's dude), and on my version of Bill Withers' "Use Me", Kinky's drummer was banging boxes in the livingroom. i also had Sterling Campbell (Bowie) drum with brushes on a copy of the LA Times. my goal in doing things like that was to NOT draw attention to them, but rather to fit my vision for the song. in many cases, you just get the sounds you envision in weird ways. last week i got to cut a mouth harp track for the first time. you may not hear it, but you'll definitely feel what it adds.
as far as a dulcimer, when i toured with Cyndi Lauper she used it nightly and Geggy Tah (producer Greg Kurstin's old band) used a theramin quite regularly.
oh, and Ghost. thanks for giving Chris props via your article.
Ghost, The Hooters was in my shortlist. I was particularly sorry to have to skip mentioning The Mekons' use of an accordion taking post-punk to whole other levels.
In terms of movie use, Israel's Over the Rainbow is most memorable in Finding Forrester, to me personally. Nice 'un!
tjay, I have a whole other mental list of more unusual instruments -like the chapei, cymbalom, gamelan, keytar, oud, saz- but I'll have to say I did forget the cuica. Thanks, good call!
Scott, ahahah, I would disappoint my fellow self-mockers if I couldn't push it to uber-dramatic levels. Who wouldn't want there to be more cowbell and more cheeze? Let it rain, let it rain!
Amber, well then, thanks for yet another reco from a sistah. Let me mention that no good band was killed in the making of this post, especially not our beloved Decemberists!
Tyler, please do! I know I only scratched the surface with this post and there's a host of other instruments waiting to be Mogged. I love your "rebuttals", keep 'em coming. (:
Robin, oh, of course, Geggy Tah and the theremin! I'm so glad you dropped in, you would know this stuff a gazillion times better. I actually shortlisted the harp as well but came up with far fewer examples. And by gosh, now I have to go check out the sarod...
I know nuffin of music instruments but I do recognize an epic post when I read/listen/stroke chin over one - superb stuff, Ilay.
Hey awesome post - but don't forget about Katzenjammer!
Great post, poe. You know, as usual.
I'd like to throw my good friend the mellotron into the mix. At first glance it looks like just a normal keybaord-type thing, but the sounds themselves were recorded and played back on tape loops, giving it quite the eerie sound. Anyone who knows King Crimson knows this instrument well. Music trivia for you: as far as I know, the first mellotron used on a "rock" album was the beginning of "Strawberry Fields Forever." This is not that song, but rather video for your education and edification.
lovely post.. a note to groon that Mike Pinder of the Moody Blues was the one that introduced the mellotron to the Beatles and was the vanguard force in the creation of subsequent models because he worked at the factory where they were made around 1967.
I did not know that!
Can I add the rain stick to the mix? Used on several Peter Gabriel tunes in the 80s and no doubt anywhere else someone was trying to add 'atmosphere'.
The oboe in rock and roll - that would be Roxy Music.
And while John Entwistle is known for his taciturn stance and extraordinary bass playing, he was - I think - alone in ading French Horn to songs powered by big amps.
Nightswimming by R.E.M. Uses a Uke as well, and is my favortie song by them by far. They have used it quite a bit over the years on alot of their music.
The Avett Brothers appear to use a Spatula and a Cardboard box while sitting on a toilet in the bathroom next to the studio on one track...
I Like spatulas, wish I had one now... with a big thick juicy cheesburger sitting on it.................
im hungry
Speakin gof boxes, there's an empty flightcase being hit by a big metal bar on "Beat It".
Oboes in rock? I can't speak to that, but the Icelandic group Hinn Islenski Thursaflokkur used a bassoon quite regularly.
And according to legend, Pink Floyd once set about recording an entire album where all the instruments were kitchen utensils and appliances. They apparantly stopped a couple of songs into it, though, once they realized that everything sounded the same.
On one of the videos for the Avett Brothers it shows the guy in the bathroom trying to get in rythm with the rest of the band in their studio.. its pretty funny.
HAH! (ok, probably not that kewl of a find, nor news to anyone who is a "Cure" fan).
Doing some reading today and ran across:
The Cure and this niblett: An ARP String Ensemble keyboard thingy....
The Beach Boys and this niblett: And.. well box with a metal thingy
Plus Blue Man Group... STOMP!..
This website is kinda neat if you really want to go digging into people out there who are working on the fringes of all genres.
"A spatula and a cardboard box while sitting on a toilet"? "Empty flightcase being hit by a big metal bar"? "Kitchen utensils and appliances"?
...Okay, I got nothing. ;D I seem to remember Cocorosie doing something along those lines, and another 2k's band using, like, a tissue (cardboard) box.
Colin, pshaw! In fact, anyone who takes the time to read between the lines in the post will be surprised to discover I tucked the Iliad and Beowulf in there. (8
Gracefulfire Girl, yeah, Katzenjammer! I am about to have a potentially bad one on Saturday morning, better check my water supply at home. (:
Chuck, I can't believe it but I completely forgot the mellotron. Argh! I associate this instrument most with OMD, and Hooverphonic are also fans. So glad you checked in!
Ooh, Strawberry Fields Forever also used a cello, as did Eleanor Rigby.
CP, hey, wow, neither did I know that little story about Mike Pinder working at the mellotron factory. So cool. I am a sucker for all these nerdy information you guys have so kindly been bringing in.
Crossing over to Dale's 2000 albums post ... The Great Eastern and Broken by Whispers ... I love those as well.
Jonh, excellent contributions! I can honestly say I have nothing to add in the atmospheric rain stick department. Note to self: investigate.
The oboe and French horn are all good ...Chuck, Broken Social Scene uses both as well as a bassoon. I especially encounter the latter a lot these days (GSYBE, Belle Orchestre ... French horn fans); granted, not in combination with big amps.
Ghost, more great additions! REM's also big on the mandolin. Thanks for all the linkage. Mogger Oatmeal is an avid ARP poster 'round here. And I especially want to point out that I, too, like the spatula. (;
Wow, epic post ilay! Very late to this party, it's over now. I can't help it. These types of large posts w/many links & vids just overwhelms me & I tell myself I must come back later when I can fully absorb it. I then get sidetracked & end up getting back far later than I intended. C'est la vie, eh?
I really enjoyed the Amanda vid. It was truly mesmerizing more for her qoquetish behavior in it than the ukelele playing. And The Rapture seemed to have told a joke that no one else got since their facial expressions/body language appeared to be on the verge of lol. It did seem pretty ludicrous to me their performance w/the disjointed(you call THAT dancing?) percussionist/cowbell beater & screechy lead singer/guitar player. Thank goddess the drummer & bass player still had some wits about them.
And get the far less than discreet, tell tale laughing from Dave as he goes to meet them.
I've always enjoyed the use of little known/odd instruments in music & this post you researched very impressively.Btw, I don't think anyone mentioned the didgeridoo, used by Jamiroquoi.
SCOTT, that More Cowbell site has gotta be the best one I've seen in a very long time. Loving it, thx for the link. Bookmarked!
Of course, at what point does the music go so far out that it doesn't count as an "odd rock instrument" but instead just becomes "odd"? Take these guys. I've posted on them before, but I have a feeling I'll be doing a proper post again on them with this vid. Univers Zero plays what I call "chamber rock" and I think with this song it's easy to see why. They are still classified as rock, though (although if you were awake during my prog lectures they most neatly fit into the RIO school of progressive rock).
I am not wise to the ways of Prog Rock (outside of your typical radio listener laymen), Chamber Rock or the Rio school of Prog Rock.
But at some point, when you take away Beer, Bourbon, Pot, hair, tatoos, guitar riffs, 4/4 counts, lyrics about heart ache, anger, social rebellion...... and replace it with PHD's in Music, Violens, Bassoons, Oboes and highly orchestrated pieces...
and the only thing bridging the gap is a smoke machine, some fancy fresnels and a drumkit...
I am more apt to call it experimental or even Jazz before I would dare to use the word "Rock".
But the fact that someone is out there thinking this stuff up (Besides Trans Siberian Orchestra) and playing it is cool enough for me.
So in the true definition or rock = rebellion, then yes, compared to chamber musicians or orchestra employees, these guys are... rebels.
But it aint rock in my book.
wow. no mention of digideroo yet. i've used it a couple of times and it's awesome. and speaking of Peter Gabriel, he came over to our rehearsal one day when I was working with Laurie Anderson to check out our "talking sticks". there were only a couple and we had 'em. Laurie would dance and "play" them. the tracks were pretty free-form.
Yo! The conversations are still ongoing. Thanks are in order. If only I had more time to participate ... I'll get back to ya soon.
BEER BOTTLES!
ghost . . . as far as whether it's rock or not, I tend to agree with you believe it or not. Univers Zero has done some other stuff that's a little more in keeping with traditional rock sounds than this, but I was using it as an example, more than anything else. For me, I consider it rock in the attitude, if not the music (same reason a friend of mine tells me that Nomeansno is punk, even though they sound absolutely nothing like The Sex Pistols or other more heard-of punk outfits).