Robot Composers & Horror Music
Strong Songs
Compositional Tricks for Horror Composers
John Williams's Jaws theme is a great example of using musical stylistic techniques to convey something scary. There are other compositional tricks you can use as well to convey feelings of disorientation or fear. In Virtua Mima there's this really weird loop going on in the vocals where the vocals start and then stop and then start again. Sometimes music can have tamboral elements that are shared with things in the natural world that were sort of evolutionarily tuned to be afraid of like non-linear sounds or primal screams from animals.
Ever wonder what makes some music sound scarier than other music? Same.
Kirk answers listener questions about music in horror movies, Tune-Yards horn arrangements, funky drum sounds in Biggie and Paul Simon tunes, randomly generated music, and why musicians are their own worst critics. He also revisits the intro to Guns 'n Roses' "Welcome To The Jungle," and shares some listener emails about being a left-handed musician.
FEATURED/DISCUSSED:
- “Welcome to the Jungle” by Guns ’n Roses from Appetite for Destruction, 1987
- “Redneck” by Lamb of God from Sacrament, 2006
- Melissa Cross demonstrating different types of screaming on YouTube
- “Hold Yourself” by Tune-Yards from sketchy., 2021
- “Cissy Strut” and “Pungee” by The Meters, 1967 and 1969
- “Virtua Mima” by Masahiro Ikumi n from the Perfect Blue soundtrack
- “Pink Soldiers” by Jung Jae-il from Squid Game, 2021
- “Submarine” by Bjork from Medulla, 2004
- “Theme from Jaws” by John Williams, 1975
- "Money for Nothing" by Dire Straits from Brothers in Arms, 1985
- “Purple Haze” by Jimmi Hendrix from Are You Experienced, 1967
- “Born Under a Bad Sign” by Albert King, 1967
- “Hypnotize” by Notorious B.I.G. from Life After Death, 1997
- Shawn Rivera demonstrates a Conga delizado or “Moose Call”:
- “Me and Julio Down By The Schoolyard” by Paul Simon from Paul Simon, 1972
- An explanation of the Cuica on YouTube
- “Diamond Girl” by Seals & Crofts from Seals & Crofts, 1973
- “So What” by Miles Davis from Kind of Blue, 1957 and the Strong Songs episode about it
- Various compositions by @MelodyBot3456
- “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” by U2 from Joshua Tree, 1987
OUTRO SOLOIST
This episode's outro soloist is the wonderful Bay Area pianist/accordionist Rob Reich. He's got a bunch of albums you can check out and contributes to an array of interesting projects and experiments. Find more at his website, http://www.robreich.com/.
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