Music I LIke – Unusual Instrumentation

I admit I spent many years in the thrall of rockism. Music was supposed to be five guys (it was always guys, too, wasn’t it) on drums, bass, two guitars and vocals. Or else like, a string quartet, or full orchestra. But eventually I came around to industrial and electronic music. Now nothing grabs my attention like an unexpected instrument thrown into the mix. There’s always a risk of being gimmicky, but done right, unusual instrumentation is music I like.

Ami Dang

I love me some sitar. But “remix culture” in electronica can get dangerously close to cultural appropriation. Ami Dang however, is a sitar player, not a sitar sampler. Her album Parted Plains puts the sitar front and center, and fills out the songwriting with electronic elements. Although she builds on traditional Sikh and Punjabi melodies, the end result is otherworldly.

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BaBa ZuLa

To me, this experimental Turkish rock band’s album Derin Derin sounds very desert blues-adjacent. But BaBa ZuLa credit psychedelia and dub as major influences. Rooted in Turkish folk music, and expressing subtle social commentary, Derin Derin uses the band’s signature mix of electric saz and electric oud to give their music that “Eastern” sound. But these instruments are actually from different cultures. The oud is Middle Eastern and classical while the saz is a Turkish folk instrument – and both are usually acoustic. It’s a unique combination, but it works.

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Zhaoze

Zhaoze from Guangdong, China centers an electrified guqin in the 40 minute track that makes up Birds Contending. Added to the traditional zither and flute (xiao) are guitar, bass, and drums. The result is a post-rock, post-folk triumph that alternates between peaceful beauty and psychedelic jam.

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Frucht-Schleifen

I discovered this eery ambient album in the same Bandcamp Navigator post as Zhaoze. But rather than modernizing folk instruments, Frucht-Schleifen is utilizing folk myths – after a fashion. “The music of the spheres” was a classical theory that, like many early scientific theories, was completely wrong. Sound cannot travel in space. But according to the Navigator, planets give off electromagnetic vibrations. These are captured as sound by scientists, which this German synth artist turns to music

By leavening the flowing sounds captured from our solar system’s largest planet with minimal, modernist electronics reminiscent of the Berlin School,

Well, I trust Bandcamp’s knowledge of music more than their knowledge of physics. Personally, I think it’s what you call “humbug.” But if satellite recordings are in fact the origin of Jupiter, that would be the most unique instrumentation I’ve heard to date. And anyway, I love a good backstory, even when it’s not completely true.

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Exulansis

I discovered Exulansis in a No Clean Singing Post in which Islander claimed the title track of their album Sequestered Sympathy brought tears to his eyes. I was not quite so emotionally affected. But I was really drawn to the music, which is simultaneously exquisitely beautiful and razor sharp. Much of the affect is due to the presence of an electric violin, which is paired with electric/acoustic guitars. Their antifascist stance, together with truly elegant compositions that combine blast beats with chamber music earn Exulansis a place among the best Cascadian black metal. They can hold their heads high among neoclassicists, too.

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Dakha Brakha

Pickathon is streaming a set a day during the pandemic. One of the sets they streamed was Dakha Brakha‘s 2018 mainstage performance. That set was a surprise favorite of the festival for both me and my teen. Reliving it through the broadcast was particularly interesting. The cameras were so much closer to the stage than I was that I actually saw more the second time.

Dakha Brakha is best known for their traditional Ukrainian singing styles, but they also rap and make bird calls (which I thought were sampled until I saw the video). As for instrumentation, over the course of a set they used: rock drums, bongo drums, cello, piano, mouth harp, accordians, and some instruments I couldn’t identify. People use the term experimental pretty loosely. But Dakha Brakha is really just making shit up without regard for rules or traditions. What’s amazing is how good it sounds.

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