Odd, weird, disturbing, or downright \

[Jay]

I just listened to a recording called "Past Present and Future" by The Shangri La's, and was inspired to make this thread. I guess this could work in the same way that the Psychadelic thread works. I thought we could all name songs(or give YouTube links to) certain songs that we have always thought were a little odd, or strange. Or downright forboding and disturbing or "freaky". It doesn't even necissarily have to be a song that's meant to be weird. It could just be any song or recording that sticks out to you. Something that makes you think "something isn't right here...". A good example is "Past Present and Future", which I mentioned above. Here is a link to it:http: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3hCZiTNric

Or to give an example of an odd recording that might not have been intended to be that way would be a song called The Big Hurt by Toni Fisher. Something about it just creeps me out. Here's a link to it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWDT7TB6YpY

[JMZ]

I didn't knew the Shagri-Las one ... It's really, really great and impressive. 

The Tony Fisher I knew because of the famous flanging sound at the begining. It's commonly regarded as the first flanging effect ever recorded.

[guitarfool2002]

I didn't knew the Shagri-Las one ... It's really, really great and impressive. 

The Tony Fisher I knew because of the famous flanging sound at the begining. It's commonly regarded as the first flanging effect ever recorded.

Yes! That was done at Gold Star by Stan Ross and Larry Levine, and is credited as the first use of tape phasing when they linked two machines together. I'd argue I hear some of the same effect on Les Paul's first breakthrough "new sound" record "Lover".

Here is an original 78 of Lover, so the sound quality isn't up to par but still:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LYmchIReOM&feature=fvwrel

Listen at 1:34 and 2:20 on this clip and you'll hear phasing, and this song was a pretty big hit in the late 40's. Disclaimer: If I remember, Les was using all discs to make these overdubs rather than tape so the Toni Fisher stands as tape phasing and Les' is slightly different in how he got it but the same effect. Les said he was trying to capture the sound of a shortwave or distant AM radio broadcast going in and out of tune as you listen, and that's where his phasing/flanging sounds were born.

Lover is a bizarre record - it sounds like the late 40's jet age to me.

[Jason]

eden ahbez: The Wanderer (USA, 1960) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fh0CTuJ3x9w
Caldera: The Mother Stood (USA/UK, 1970) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2jKzOui_F0
Charles Manson: Look At Your Game, Girl (USA, 1968) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qMFBqCeAc8
Chrome: Chromosome Damage (USA, 1978) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdBQFlDOv0s
Cromagnon: Caledonia (USA, 1969) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPiO_G-DEHs
David Tukhmanov: Я мысленно вхожу в ваш кабинет (USSR, 1975) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDhUnjqDgug
Dzeltenie Pastnieki: Triisi, Triisi Sikspaarniiti (USSR, 1983) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXrV5YuVAOU
Gnags: Go'dag Go'dag (Denmark, 1973) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yI_R8n5_3_I
Guruh Gipsy: Indonesian Mahamaddeka (Indonesia, 1977) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXFgtZF_XGA
Kim Jung Mi: 官恩 (South Korea, 1973) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FC4EsO0AhaU
Lucia Pamela: Walking On The Moon (USA, 1969) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qACGIfJIirA
Oronzo De Filippi: Architettura Industriale (Italy, 1967) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vh-KLW2VEc
Popera Cosmic: LSD (France, 1969) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BNYKnngV7g
T.O.N.T.O.'s Expanding Head Band: Cybernaut (USA/UK, 1972) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJCa7dIWwvk
Manos Hadjidakis/Ann Lonnberg: Is There Life On The Earth? (Greece/West Germany/Yugoslavia, 1974) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3gaQv4nRV0
Voltaire: Cantina (USA, 2007) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Seh8cNirlU8

[hypehat]

I wish I had better answers for this thread. Apart from the 'Man With Harmonica' theme from Once Upon A Time In The West

[Jason]

If you folks are looking for potentially odd, weird, disturbing, or downright messed up sounds similar to those in this thread, check out the Mutant Sounds blog. All kinds of rare and obscure stuff; underground psych, lo-fi folk, noise, hard rock, lounge, fusion, progressive rock, ambient, disco, chanson, tropicalia, you name it. Stuff from all over the world, too. Lots of Eastern European and Asian stuff.

http://mutant-sounds.blogspot.com

[Jay]

Thanks for all those links, Real Beach Boy.  I wasn't quite sure how to describe what I'm looking for. I think "Past, Present and Future" by The Shangri Las might sum it up the best. I'm looking for songs that you listen to and think "Hmm, something sounds very wrong here". When you listen to "Past Present and Future", the lyrics don't come right out and say it, but the listener is left with a distinct feeling that somebody was raped. DOA by Bloodrock is another example.

The Mother Stood was weird as hell. I swear those moogs were talking to me. 

[Aum Bop Diddit]

Not sure if this is what you are looking for, but the one, the only Shaggs....


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yN9UT2zF8c8

[Jay]

Frankie Teardrop by Suicide is another who that leaves me with a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. The first time I heard that "song", I was on the computer late at night, by myself and with the lights off. Not one of the smarter ideas I've had. 

[Jason]

Honestly, just about everything on Suicide's first album would count in this thread. There's definitely a pop sensibility to their stuff, but the idling engine-like sounds of the drum machine and the distorted organs seem to mask that. They lost that sound on the four albums that followed, opting for a cleaner production; it's also of note that Martin Rev came into newer keyboards and left the Farfisa organ of the first album behind, although he'd still play it in concert as late as 1980.

Essentially, Suicide is rockabilly with a completely atypical sound. If you transcribe some of the keyboard lines to guitar, you basically have rockabilly rhythms and beats.

[Mike's Beard]

Something about the title track on The Cure's "Pornography" creeps me out everytime I listen to it.

[hypehat]

Honestly, just about everything on Suicide's first album would count in this thread. There's definitely a pop sensibility to their stuff, but the idling engine-like sounds of the drum machine and the distorted organs seem to mask that. They lost that sound on the four albums that followed, opting for a cleaner production; it's also of note that Martin Rev came into newer keyboards and left the Farfisa organ of the first album behind, although he'd still play it in concert as late as 1980.

Essentially, Suicide is rockabilly with a completely atypical sound. If you transcribe some of the keyboard lines to guitar, you basically have rockabilly rhythms and beats.

Not to mention Vega's Elvis-like delivery.

I still get chills when I listen to Suicide, unlike some other creepy stuff. The last creepy thing I heard lately is Randy Newman's Same Girl http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdnL8Q32crI

[Jay]

One of the more disturbing "songs" I've heard is called "Hamburger Lady". I can't for the life of me remember who did it. It was about a women who was very severely burned. Supposedly the lyrics came straight from the women's medical records.

[All Golden 74]

That is by Throbbing Gristle.

[Jay]

Another one is Murder In The Red Barn by Tom Waits.

[All Golden 74]

I remember hearing a John Lee Hooker song about how he shot his girlfriend/woman with a shotgun - it was on a Blues at noon radio show on the local college radio.  This was followed by a panel discussion about sexism in the modern-day workplace.  The song was disturbing - the programming was odd.

[Jason]

Throbbing Gristle...oh man. They are definitely one of those groups that "separate the men from the boys", for lack of a better phrase. But there is so much to their music once you get past the initial "WHAT THE FODA IS THIS NOISE?!?" period. Some of their stuff could very well be considered dark ambient music, a good five years before Lustmord was releasing records. Then on the other hand you have much of the stuff on 20 Jazz Funk Greats, which sounds like very early techno. There was a method to their madness. Psychic TV, Coil, and Chris and Cosey were nowhere near as daring as TG ever were.

[All Golden 74]

Genesis P (or was it Psychic TV?) did a pretty-straight version of Good Vibrations - that was pretty odd!

[OBLiO]

One of the more disturbing "songs" I've heard is called "Hamburger Lady". I can't for the life of me remember who did it. It was about a women who was very severely burned. Supposedly the lyrics came straight from the women's medical records.

I was going to suggest that you don't listen to that one... too late. I remember Throbbing Gristle and Genesis P and Psychic TV. Psychic TV did a cover of Good Vibrations. I think the keyboardist designed his own keyboards and that's how they made the unique synth sounds.

[Jay]

There are three recordings I wish I had never listened to. Hamburger Lady, Frankie Teardrop, and the complete 45 minute Jim Jones "death tape".

[louielouie]

Not sure if this is what you are looking for, but the one, the only Shaggs....


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yN9UT2zF8c8

The Shaggs fit so well in this topic, they were natural inhabitants of the weirdest musical worlds.

A personal choice of this kind of odd music would be Os Mutantes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LYmchIReOM&feature=fvwrel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSe2Dn960mo&feature=related

And another one that maybe is pretty obvious, Frank Zappa:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b09aSqfvelM

[Jason]

the complete 45 minute Jim Jones "death tape".

OH. MY. GOD.

Just heard it. Bar none THE most fodido up thing I've ever heard in my life. This and the R. Budd Dwyer live suicide footage (also online if you're that desperate to see it) would make any fan of the macabre very happy.

[Jay]

the complete 45 minute Jim Jones "death tape".

OH. MY. GOD.

Just heard it. Bar none THE most fodido up thing I've ever heard in my life. This and the R. Budd Dwyer live suicide footage (also online if you're that desperate to see it) would make any fan of the macabre very happy.

The worst part is the last minute or two. Knowing all those innocent people were dying is one thing, but the fact that they were hearing weird, slowed down and reversed music as they were actually dying makes it even more demented.

[bgas]

yes. that( Budd Dwyer) was pretty weird.  Never seen, or heard of, that before. Dude was messed up! 
The Jones folks, screwy folks got what they deserved. the world's a better place with them not in it. They made their choice to be there. 

[Jay]

The weird thing about the Budd Dwyer footage is how calmly he pulls out the gun. He even warns people not to get to close because somebody could get hurt. Another very messed video is the clip of Vic Marrow and the two kids getting killed when a helecopter fell on them. It was during a scene for the Twighlight Zone movie. Obviously, the scene didn't make the cut.

Maybe I should make a weird video thread?