Items17The creator’s order
- 1
Good VibrationsWait until the chorus for the high tone that glides over the voices. Paul Tanner played it on the Electro-Theremin, an instrument he helped devise. The clean slides let the chorus keep rising in little surges while the cello underneath keeps pulsing in short strokes.0 - 2
Spud InfinityNoah Lenker’s jaw harp sounds like a spring being released between the other instruments. Listen for the small twangs under Adrianne Lenker’s long, conversational lines. That regular bounce makes room for her to drift across the beat, and it sounds right alongside the fiddle when everyone gets…0 - 3
The NurseJack White wrote this on a concert marimba and plays it on the record. The rounded notes almost make a bedside lullaby. Then the drums and electric guitar interrupt in short bursts. The harder sounds have somewhere to disappear after every outburst because the quiet marimba figure is still there.0 - 4
Sure ShotA loop of Jeremy Steig’s jazz flute from “Howlin’ for Judy” keeps lifting through the beat. The short phrase leaves room for the rappers to pass lines between them, then gives the ear a familiar point of return. You can follow it as a second voice when the verses get crowded.0 - 5
CareyMitchell’s fretted dulcimer keeps a low note humming as she brushes across the upper strings. Listen for the delicate rasp underneath the stronger bass and voices. It keeps a little forward motion going through her longer sung phrases and makes the chorus feel like something a roomful of people…0 - 6
The Sensual WorldDavy Spillane plays a winding melody on uilleann pipes that Bush identified as a Macedonian air. Follow the way the notes bend and linger when her vocal steps back. The pipes carry the melody through that space and keep the song’s lilting movement going without adding another voice.0 - 7
Clint EastwoodDamon Albarn demonstrated the Suzuki Omnichord preset behind the song. Listen to the slightly lopsided keyboard figure against the repeating beat as the vocal gives way to Del’s rapping. The instrumental pattern hardly needs to change to make room for two very different deliveries.0 - 8
Strawberry Fields ForeverPaul McCartney opens with the Mellotron’s flute sound. The notes have a soft edge and faint wobble, which gives John Lennon’s first line an unsettled place to land. Listen for how different that small opening feels from the later brass and drums as the song gets stranger.0 - 9
SledgehammerGabriel opens on a shakuhachi flute sound played from a Fairlight sampler. The breathy phrase slips up into the air before the horn section and bass arrive, which makes their entrance sound even more solid. That little pause at the beginning is worth hearing on the full album recording.0 - 10
Professional WidowAmos digs into the harpsichord until its plucked notes sound almost like a second set of drums. Hear how the sharp attack cuts across the moving bass when the chorus opens up. A softer keyboard sound would lose much of the friction she gets from pressing those notes into an already forceful rhythm.0
