METAL MACHINE MUSIC POLL

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kX9N_MuQ-TiiCOIhVnSNsiagvy16FS_r8

all the crazy high pitched overtone melody stuff in this always makes me think of angels talking

all the crazy high pitched overtone melody stuff in this always makes me think of angels talking

There are these little shrieks at the beginning of Part Two that sound like a puppy yelping.

Anybody else heard the orchestral version by Zeitkratzer? It's pretty brilliant:

https://zeitkratzer.bandcamp.com/album/metal-machine-music

Technically, they're A-B-C-D, right? I voted for THREE/C.

true (I looked up my 2LP copy to be sure, and was reminded that on the poly outer bag it has "FUCK YOU" written in sharpie by whoever was selling it/I bought it from)

3/C, for the first minute.

Just saw the episode of Scooby Doo with Butch Firbanks. All he wanted to do was play polka music but Randy Warsaw changed everything about him. Scooby in a wig as Nico.

Best Side of Metal Machine Music

2007 poll ends in a couple of weeks!

lol

sleeve unsubtly stealing NV's thunder.

Lou Reed "Metal Machine Music", the most important music poll ever on ILM

bahahaha I had no idea, I swear

I probably even posted on one or both of those threads

btw the answer is 4/D

There's quite a bit more of it on the vinyl isn't there. Everything else is 16 minutes and a bit long and that's infinite.like.

I had a 80s repress on rca, side 4 did not have the catchgroove

One time I put it on but it sounded wrong. Then I found I had put side three on by mistake. So I put side one on, and that was much better.

And now I see I told the same story on that other thread, 13 years ago. Must be true then...

I once nearly sat through the whole thing in succession but got called for dinner before I could finish . Ho hum.
Somehow never got through it again. Not on vinyl anyway.
& not sure teh cd was quite the same experience

I’ve never heard this album. Is it really all just constant static noise, or are there subtle differences between the four songs?

Is it really all just constant static noise

Yes.

or are there subtle differences between the four songs?

Yes.

I’ve listened to it straight and I’ve listened to it high as a kite, and it made no difference to me, and I’m certainly not going to relisten to discern the differences between the sides. Bring on the noise doodz to argue with me.

first time listening

sounds kinda...good?

this album's very good

this record is certainly more melodic than later period Merzbow, IMO, take that as you will

Maybe you could describe it as "static" in the sense that there isn't much in the way of linear formal development but it is definitely not "static" in the sense of white noise/static interference. He described his process:

Metal Machine Music thus has a claim to be the purest ‘guitar album’ ever made, since no other sound sources were involved at all. “What I did is I had a bunch of 4x12 amplifiers, and I would set them up with various repeat and tremolo units, and then I would tune all the strings to a certain note, and then I would figure out a good distance to have the guitar in proximity to the cabinet, and then it would start feeding back naturally. And then I would have another guitar doing the same thing from another 4x12. And then these harmonics would hit one another, causing a third one. And I would be playing another guitar over those, while I was recording it.

“I had a three–speed reel–to–reel. Sometimes while I was recording it I would overload the reverb, or sometimes I would change the speed of the tape.

(from https://www.soundonsound.com/people/lou-reed-zeitkratzer)

Because of the tuning, there's a pretty audible tonal centre or drone throughout, for the most part, and the ringing harmonics mean that you get a lot of consonant harmonic intervals.

Yeah, just listened and the strings must have been tuned to B, I think? A lot of Bs and F#s. I'm listening to the Zeitkrazer version now, which I hadn't heard before, and this sounds amazing!

I actually always found the record pretty-sounding from the first time I ever put it on 20-odd years ago.

it hits very pleasing tones! i like to fall asleep to it. my cats seem to love this record too lol

it's a good record, i used to doze off to it in college.
orchestral version is great too.

this record is certainly more melodic than later period Merzbow, IMO, take that as you will

Yeah, I mean, a lot of Merzbow is layers of roaring static and digital crunching sounds and the occasional piercing sine wave tone, or something. MMM is layers upon layers of feedback, but it's constantly changing. It shimmers. It's intended to be beautiful, and it is.

I just sang the B and F# to point them out to my wife and now I want to hear a vocal version. If I get drunk enough one day, I may attempt it.

I'll hold you to it.

!

DJP's Metal Machine Music Chorale

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjHeXnDiFWw

There's a 1 minute, 32 seconds long chunk on the anthology/box set Between Thought And Expression but god knows which side it's from. Be interesting to know which one minute and a half from the whole hour-or-so Lou felt best summed it all up!

this record is so beautiful

Wonder if anybody could just listen to the chunk and pinpoint it exactly on first listen. Or do you need the edges filled in first.

MMM is layers upon layers of feedback

Is it though? A lot of it sounds like sped up guitar parts, not necessarily feedbacking.

He did say "I would be playing a third guitar over [the two that were feeding back]" so he might have meant that he was actually playing it in the regular way. It doesn't sound like he was doing a lot in terms of harmonies or melodic lines but there are sometimes some little motifs that could have very well been his playing and even sound a bit like his style.

Be interesting to know which one minute and a half from the whole hour-or-so Lou felt best summed it all up!

I always assumed that someone from RCA just picked that snippet, but maybe Lou was involved?

e.g. some of what's going on in the left channel between 0:15 and 0:50 does seem like it's unlikely to just be feedback (a lot more distinct pitch content and movement between distinct pitches than would be likely, esp if you compare to e.g. Sonic Youth's Silver Session). It could have been done with tape speed manipulation or possibly just from the pedals he was using on the feedback on the drone-tuned guitars but also quite possibly material that was actually played.

although in that case, idk why this would have been the "purest guitar record" vs any other solo instrumental guitar record.

I saw a Youtube comment where someone compared it to bagpipes - I always heard that too.

Yeah that's an apt comparison.

this album is ok and probably his best work

is it actually being reevaluted as a classic anywhere but here?

the webzine I wrote for had a dude who was fawning over it. i think it has a solid base

Despite its unfortunate billing as a rock album, Metal Machine Music would go on to win many admirers in avant–garde classical circles, particularly among fans of the so–called New Music pioneered by Pierre Boulez, John Cage and other post–war composers. “The same thing that interests me in rock, industrial music, No Wave and noise music, is what interests me in New Music: sound, soundscapes and structure, which are the large–scale format of rhythm,” explains Zeitkratzer’s Ulrich Krieger. “For me, these are the essentials of music — not harmony, not melody. So music is coming full circle today. Archaic ritual music consists mostly of these two parameters, sound and rhythm — and long durations — and so does a lot of contemporary music of any style, even dance music like techno.

“And I found all of this in Metal Machine Music: intricate, beautiful, complex and daring sound–colours like in New Music, the rough, sheer force of real rock music, and ritual, archaic, long–duration intensity. So Lou brought this together from the rock guitar side of things, and I wanted to emphasise the orchestral side of it and the human touch and group experience by having it performed live.”

8.7 in Pitchfork: https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/lou-reed-metal-machine-music/

I saw a Youtube comment where someone compared it to bagpipes - I always heard that too.

Isn't that how Sterling Morrison first became aware of Lou Reed's presence on campus at Syracuse University - "ear splitting bagpipe music" coming from a window?

Yeah the reason i think maybe he was involved is that his authorised, annotated lyric book has the same title as the anthology. Dunno though!

Side Three

I'm much less convinced by it, as a piece of music, than I used to be. As a thing it's great though.

otm

tbh I've always wondered how much thought or intentionality Reed put into the recording/composing and never really settled on a satisfying answer. He always went back and forth between representing it as a carefully considered piece of New Music vs saying it was a joke or kissoff to RCA that he didnt give a shit about. I guess both could be true. Sometimes the fact that he never really explored this kind of thing again (on record anyway) has made me suspicious, but on the other hand, once youve done MMM, how much farther can you go?

Lulu, obv ;)

Didn’t Lee Ranaldo identify quickly some random portion of this record in an Invisible Jukebox?

to be fair, that's pretty easy to do! the overall palette is fairly consistent

Pretty cool that these fundamental questions about the album still persist after this many years.

well its more can you go oh yeah that's about 1/3 through side 2 not oh yeah that's from MMM innit

Pretty cool that these fundamental questions about the album still persist after this many years.

Trolling Is Art

I think Lou had a genuine appreciation for the sounds he heard coming out of his amplifiers, and also an appreciation for the absurdity of putting a double album of it out on RCA records in 1975. He was also having management difficulties with Dennis Katz, and probably enjoyed the taste of career suicide that the record release brought.

Hudson River Meditations, although I haven't heard the whole thing, is kind of a sequel to this record.

I'll decide which side is the best after listening to one per night, in a state of relaxed concentration, the same way it was created.

Reed v. Bangs was the Fischer v. Spassky of the rock press’ golden era, two masters in their respective fields matching each other move-for-move.

well its more can you go oh yeah that's about 1/3 through side 2 not oh yeah that's from MMM innit

― Stevolende

if that's what Ranaldo did, then \m/ respect

He did!

we should get him to tell us what part was used for the anthology!

Fuck Lester Bangs.

Why? I think those Lou pieces are great.

When Lou died I played MMM straight through about 3 times, it was a beautiful transcendence.

Lester was Lou's Loyal Opposition.

Lester was vile about Rachel and Lou never forgave him for it.

Oh, forgot about that.

Or as Lou put it, "He's fat, he has a moustache and I wouldn't shit in his nose".

I don’t recall what he wrote about Rachel, either; but I can imagine it being uncool.

it was

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Side C, for the bit where it sounds like a piano, over Side D's bit where it sounds like trumpets.

The extreme stereo separation made me think of Warhol's Chelsea Girls, where you have two different screens at either end of the room, showing different scenes. The total psychological effect also reminded me of Burroughs' cut-up books, where pushing though the experience changes the way your brain is working.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

THREE FOUR ONE TWO!

Thank god, I always skip side 2

It's the "incidental detail" of the set.

It leaves you with the "rule of three" anyway.

One time I listened to this at half speed and reversed, which seemed to reveal that at least some of the material recorded had been sped up and reversed for the album. And also it sounded like an Eno ambient album. Recommended.

Oh dude, of course someone has posted a video of exactly this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5at9lvXQ8jI

Doesn't sound quite as much like an Eno ambient album as I remembered, lol.