By John Cost
Image from Wikimedia Commons
The first time I distinctly remember finding music that made me go, “Oooh, weird, I like it” was in ninth grade, sitting in history class, zoning out behind my too-long hair, with my headphones on. I had just discovered a hidden gem of the internet — Rate Your Music — where I stumbled across R. Stevie Moore’s “Pink Litmus Paper Shirt.” It was bizarre, and fresh, and mentioned a Middle Eastern conflict. It was unlike anything I’d ever heard. That moment, and others like it, became increasingly rare as I dug deeper down the music rabbit hole, but they are the moments I treasure most.
So today my goal is to give you, Tartan readers, a selection of my most eclectic auditory discoveries. These are some of the key rare treasures that I’ve found on my listening journey. My hopes are that you 1. try listening to some of them, 2. maybe find a song (or even a whole album? is that crazy?) that you like, 3. maybe open yourself up to some new music. Freshen up your rotation! Without further ado:
Electronic
“Bomberman Hero Soundtrack” by Jun Chikuma
To me, a non-listener of soundtracks generally, Chikuma’s “Bomberman Hero” stands out as an anomaly of proto-jungle, drum and bass, hardcore breaks, IDM. “Bomberman Hero” oozes semi-retro electronic in the most positive way possible. Released in the late 1990s (1998), this album seems to have been latently affecting a subculture of individuals exposed to it young like a virus. These individuals grew up and started bands like Machine Girl. No OST should hit this hard. “Bomberman Hero” holds up to this day. 10/10, very fun to listen to. Thank you, Jun Chikuma. It seems to be available exclusively on YouTube.
Highlights: You could easily listen to this album front to back, but if you don’t want to spend 48
minutes in proto-jungle heaven (I do blame you), then maybe just check out: “Tripod,” “Zip,” “Redial,” and “Fatidics.”
Gamelan
“Degung-Sabilulungan: Sundanese Music of West Java, Vol. 2”
Welcome to the world of gamelan. Gamelan is an Indonesian musical genre composed almost entirely of chimes, gongs, and flutes — mostly gongs. I don’t really know anything about actually making music (so I don’t know the technical language to describe this), but I love how this sounds, and I’m confident you will too. It sounds like a thousand xylophones and flutes. With this genre, I’ve found that it is difficult to find pleasing masterings and performances. This album contains my favorite.
Beyond this album, which is available on Spotify and YouTube, there are many very impressive live performances on YouTube (especially of the Balinese variety of the genre). This particular selected album features the Sundanese flavor of gamelan, which is less energetic than its Balinese counterpart. While the more frenetic performance of Balinese gamelan is very entertaining, my preferred form of art is this slower and more melodic Javanese style, which makes for great study or sleep music.
Highlights: I really enjoy the song “Sabilungan” from the selected album, though here are some
other pieces that I really like as well.
“Gendhing Lung Gadhung”
“Sacred Music: Manuk Angutji”
“Sound Tracker – Gamelan (Indonesia)”
Experimental Pipe Organ
“All Thoughts Fly” by Anna von Hausswolff
Guys, even if you have no interest in God, go listen to an organ played live at a church. Pipe organs are just incredible instruments. There’s nothing like listening in person — it’s literally otherworldly, right? Meant to evoke “creator of the universe and decider of absolute morality” type feelings. Here’s a lifehack right now. You can go every Sunday to any one of a selection of actually incredible musical performances TOTALLY FOR FREE! There are so many incredible pipe organs in the immediate vicinity of CMU — I highly recommend this, regardless of your thoughts on religion. Hausswolff’s “All Thoughts Fly” is another way to enjoy the pipe organ. It is an experimental album consisting of songs made using only that single instrument (though heavily layered and manipulated) — the pipe organ.
The pipe organ allegedly has the highest potential range of any instrument in existence, and Hausswolff takes full advantage of this. The album is, I would say, not really a fun listen, but an interesting one. There are certainly dark void-like themes. You can feel and see in your mind the yards and yards of air passing through the endless maze of pipes, bellowing these massive sounds. The organ is an incredible instrument, and this is a cool album.
Highlights: “Sacro Bosco,” “All Thoughts Fly,” and “Theatre of Nature”
Plunderphonics
“Sludgefest” by Chipmunks on 16 Speed
Here we have “Sludgefest,” a plunderphonics marvel created by slowing down Alvin and the Chipmunks to a gooey crawl. The result is a morphing of those high-pitched chipmunk voices into a truly (the title of the work is so accurate) sludgy metal opus. This weird made-up album sounds actually disgusting. It’s “Slowed + Reverb” before it was cool (it was always cool). But it’s so fun and so dark, and thus I’m recommending it here. Also, I didn’t make the rules (SCS students did), but if you feed your YouTube algorithm enough of this type of stuff, then it begins to consistently reciprocate with actual sonic gold.
Lowlights: “Call Me”
David Lynch Dream Album
“Floating Into the Night” by Julee Cruise
This is truly an ethereal album. People love to overuse that word, but this album deserves it. I feel like I’m the baby in Eraserhead. I feel like I’m the velvet in Blue Velvet. This is a nice chaser to the “Radiator Song (In Heaven).” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIdONLv3qJw. During the pandemic, I was obsessed with music to daydream to after my long runs, and “Floating Into the Night” was one of my go-to’s. Context: this is an album by the people responsible for the sounds of “Twin Peaks.” The album sounds like David Lynch (like his mindscape, not his actual surprisingly-very-high-pitched real voice). Second, ice-cold take: I don’t know how to describe it, but Julee Cruise has such a beautiful whine — so frail, so gossamer. Another pro recommendation: spend the next week listening to this type of stuff right now to pregame a huge October horror binge.
Highlights: “Floating,” “Into the Night,” “Nightingale,” and “The World Spins”
Cambodian Pop
“Flower Blooms in the Sky” by Ros Sereysothea
This recommendation is less about this specific song or artist, but more about the insane, seemingly endless wellspring of epic Cambodian psychedelic pop available on YouTube. Please, please look up Ros Sereysothea on YouTube. It’s insane. You will be impressed, and it’s all fun and great to listen to. “Flower Blooms in the Sky” is a cool tune.
Appalachian Folk
“Bowling Green” by Kossoy Sisters
Are we in Appalachia? I think so. Here, check out this Appalachian music. Warning: it’s grim. I love this album though, and sometimes music like this is really what I crave. After being totally debased by electronic music (and programming homework), sometimes you need to reset to this sort of stuff. Sometimes you want to feel like someone from the good old days when most people died in childbirth and you had to stare at the wall instead of Instagram Reels as you consumed dinner.
Music is a never-ending adventure, and while moments of discovery may come less often, I hope that they’re all the more valued when they do. I hope these recommendations help spark a few “ooh interesting, I like it” moments of your own. Happy listening!