"ERASER" - musical analysis (Nine Inch Nails // The Downward Spiral)
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- Опубликовано: 5 сен 2024
- KEY: F
BPM: 130
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Ixi, I hope you realize that what you're doing now is a great contribution to the NIN community and will certainly be cited and appreciated by fans for years to come. Your in depth approach to breaking down the tracks and it's components puts you miles above others. With how much care, preparation and research you put into each song, it's a wonder you're able to turn them out as quickly as you do. Just know that we are grateful, and what you're doing now will be appreciated for a very long time.
Agreed. 100%
Damn right.
And I hope one day you get some time on the piano with Trent 👍👍
To me, "Eraser" sounds like a symphony of flies, which is surprisingly not a bad thing.
It sounds like a bunch of little bumblebees standing upright on their back legs with little bumblebee trumpets (the straight ones-not the curled ones). I always think of the same thing when I hear the triumphant part of “pilgrimage” - which always makes me think of some dictatorial imperial march
Symphony Of Flies sounds like it should be the name of a NIN song.
“Babe, wake up, ixi’s Eraser video just dropped.”
Haha ☺️
@@iximusic maybe i'm ignorant but nothing on The Background World? seems a heavy vein to mine with insight with The Caretaker "at the end of time"
I do the same to my wife lol
@@jiggystardust i also suggested the background world back when she was polling the viewers
My new favorite quote of all time, “I can hear all the spit .”
💦
same
After listening to the track for 25 years I knew spit was the only thing that could have been making that noise. I thought it might have been straws or bamboo tubes as those are used in other kinds of breath music. But it's nice to know it was probably just a sax or woodwind tube. 🐒
My wife has a phobia of spit. Can't wait to show her this track lol
Someone once said they thought they heard "help me" when the screaming becomes distorted towards the end of the song. And now I can't unhear it every time I listen to it.
And it makes totally sense considering what the context of this line in Closer is and what the following song Reptile is about.
I'm pretty sure it actually does. I've always heard it that way.
It sounds like the human side of him trying to resurface and be heard but mr self-destruct completely stifles and suppresses him. Haunting.
I've studied the stem files for every song on TDS, and I can assure you, as cool as it would be, there is no "help me". Just an auditory hallucination of sorts, I guess.
Yall wanna see my impression of Trent reading this comment?
"Awww shit. That would have been awesome"
When the reverb on that guitar melody hits, it genuinely feels like falling into an existential abyss
Blowing through a mouthpiece is genius. It's such a foreign sound but organic at the same time. Never would have guessed that's what it was.
and this is why i love this video. you learn something new and wow... that is genius.
I thought it was a straw 😅
I thought it was a hihat/foley through some weird fx.
I thought he was blowing through a kazoo and the sound was generated from the plastic piece moving. (Cuz if you blow through a kazoo instead of hum it doesn't buss)
Yea I always wondered what it was
When he's screaming "kill me" near the end as the noise swallows him whole I swear he's saying "help me"
This whole song makes me picture a zombie coming back to life, slowly collecting his thoughts before descending into a blind fury.
It's terrifying imagining zombies have some form of self awareness but can't help themselves
26:29 YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT REPTILE!!! With a sound designer on board to help, no less. Omg. I seriously can. Not. Wait. For. This.
One of the best Nine Inch Nails song’s ever (IMO), especially with that guitar melody.
The fuzzed out “k!ii me” always sounded like a pivot to “Help me”
When Ixi says she’ll show you her drumming to Eraser : 😁
🖤🖤🖤
Eraser = greatest NIN ever. All of NIN in one hurtful, vengeful, dissonant, fucking angry song. SUCH a great job.
Yeah, it's perfect 🙌
I always thought the beginning sound was trying mimic the sound of a eraser dragging on paper removing marks from paper...
That's pretty cool.
I have to agree
I’m pretty sure that’s what it is and the sounds that would make it sound like a mouth instrument are coming from the other instrument
I'll buy into that, if for no other reason than i hate the idea of him saying "let's make a bunch of short blowy noises for no reason"
I was thinking more like a chalk board eraser lol
Not sure if this was mentioned here, but the “sickly” guitar part In the beginning is due to a ring modulator effect. Same thing they used for the Dalek voice in Dr. Who. :)
Daleks still scare the shit outta me
The bending sickly melody part does not sound like it has a ring modulator, but there is a layer that comes in behind it that is more a rhythm part that has a ring modulator on it.
@@ryangunwitch-black Same!! Grew up watching Tom Baker's Dr with my Da...scared the s*** out of me 🤣
That intro - I never took the time to analyze exactly what I was hearing, but what a fucking mad musical genius. I mean, seriously, who tf comes up with the idea of blowing into a sax mouthpiece to create all those various sounds? For the intro to a song like this?? Trent. And ONLY Trent.
Reminds me of that quote about inescts and decay being a running theme throughout the album.
Oh yeah!
The whole album is ripe with decay
The "castanets" sound honestly made me think of the creepy monkey-with-cymbals toy.
Great video! I really love sitting and just enjoying these deep dives and practicing listening closer to music I already love. Thank you for these.
Yeah, my vote is for clapping cymbal monkey.
I hear the ticking of an alarm clock ⏰
Does anyone else remember Trent saying in an interview somewhere that they used some sort of horse riding equipment, or was that a figment of my imagination?
To me, they sound like chains clanking. Back to the slavery theme?
They sound like belly dancing Zils without the ring
Obviously by the time Eraser plays, the protagonist is at the end of his rope
John David Washington? Lol
Literally and figuratively
@@dan.j.boydzkreationz Who?
@@dan.j.boydzkreationz yes, yes indeed. what do you think about mutations? in particular grotesque and hideous ?
BTW, that eerie Eb sound at around 4:45 is EXACTLY the sound of the Paris metro alarm in the 1990s before the doors closed. Once you heard that, it stays with you and haunts you all your life. It's the stuff that nightmares are made of.
You’re bringing a sound expert on for Reptile? The industrial side of NIN is about to be blown wide open!
Can you get him to decipher the dialogue at the start of A Warm Place?
"The best thing about life is knowing you put it together"
It seems that a part of Trent's genius, and maybe more than a small part of his universe, is taking relatively comfortable constants, e.g. the blues scale, the flat 7 that is used heavily in rock music, and twisting them in a way to show the listener a different world, but with the underlying harmonic satisfaction of blues intervals. It's simultaneously something unfamiliar, yet satisfying to us in a slightly different dimension.
I also love that Trent's "resolution" is actually in suspension. He uses the consonance as a leading tone into the suspension. It's remarkable. I can't think of a single artist in Classical or Rock that has ever done that. I can't really speak for Jazz, I'm not well versed enough.
Thank you so much for bringing this to attention. This was always kind of a flyover song for me until the proto-djent (chugging) bit at the end (the 4/4 section). This gives me another reason to listen to this album another 25 times.
I always thought of the moans as bees. They start off sounding random and doing their own thing. And it was always so magical to me when the drums kicked in and the swarm just syncs up under Trent's influence. It makes me shudder.
Eraser is probably my favourite track on TDS, which is tough. The whole album is just such a masterpiece.
Ixi on drums?!? Be still my heart. How did I miss that the first time?
The woodwind reed...what a revelation!
easily my favorite track on the downward spiral. the jarringly loud drums in the beginning sound like the gates of hell opening and slamming shut over and over again to my brain, and it only gets worse and worse from there. trent screaming out "KILL ME" behind that huge wall of noise never ceases to completely captivate me and freak me out at the same time. wonderful analysis
The great thing about these videos? Everything carries over to Further Down the Spiral.
The sound of human breath is intoxicating. That deep *fwoooo* when blowing into a balloon with puffed cheeks. The gentlest of whispers when uttering a lyric with the most intimate of intentions. Lungs, throat and lips make me uneasy in the best possible way. Breath is sacred.
I've always adored the buzzy, droney insect sonic aesthetics in this song. It's so darn visceral. It almost feels like it's physically tangible. And that's just one NIN song. We know Trent produces such genius even in his sleep, lol.
This song is my self-hatred at its peak. When I'm having bouts of anxiety or overthinking trivial shit that happened in the past or whenever I feel like the world is too much. From the perspective of the protagonist on the album, I think this is where he just gives up. Denial turns into acceptance though it doesn't really save him but just pulls him even deeper.
Even Deeper...
I feel that you're spot on here.. this album in particular has a way of invoking very specific and relatable feelings and anxieties. In the narrative of the album too the turning point of acceptance here is the madness right before the "need you dream you" part. In terms of drug addiction i think the first four lines of those lyrics are the protagonist addressing the perfect drug(we're still doing the play on song titles bit..) and then the next four lines could be seen as the drug addressing the protagonist, in terms of long term physical/mental effects of drug addiction or even a toxic relationship perchance. "Fuck you, use you, scar you, break you"
I picture the narrative alone with no choice left but to keep continuing the downward cyclical repetition of their actions even though he's lost himself, smashed himself to pieces and completely erased the person he once was, they have lost the strength to abstain from sex or drugs however it is perceived
very dark deepness and pain
I’ve been a NIN fan since TDS. Over time I’ve come to consider Trent to be the most talented musician alive. His music has always enchanted me. It was pretty much all I listened to throughout high school. Your videos give me even more appreciation for his talent. Thank you so much for making them!
I'm in a similar boat. I was in Jr. High and 14 when TDS came out and for as tough as I thought I was there were songs on that album the spooked me and I avoided. Those are now my favorite sounds. They were a little too adult for me to appreciate or understand at the time. But don't tell younger me that, younger me will tell you to fuck off and you're full of shit-- you don't know me. Yeah, well...
2:25 in, you just blew my mind 30 years ago. This is good! I remember seeing this live in 1994 San Diego. Greatest show I've ever seen. The sound system definitely injured people for life 🤘
I’ve always heard the ”castanets” as Zippo lighters being opened and closed... and the mouth piece as sucking through a straw.
Great video! Eraser has always been a favorite of mine.
Two sound-design comments: It’s been noted that the “castanets” sound like chant sticks, which I agree with, although I also get where castanets seem possible, like castanets just being almost scraped against each other. I could also see clock parts. The “VHS” quality sounds like decreased bit depth (down to 8 bits or lower from 16 would be my guess), which creates the almost ring mod like aliasing effect we hear. This could have been done on a hardware sampler, or in a DAW like Pro Tools, an early version of which NIN was using on TDS. The final noise wall that sounds like it could be “kill me” likely is just that, but using either a vocoder producing only noise, or a gate on a noise generator, keyed to the “kill me” vocal, bit reduced to maybe 2.
These songs and these breakdowns always make me, in the best way, go back to my own music and say ok, this can be and needs to be better. It's got to be good enough that someone won't be thinking "I should just listen to the Downward Spiral instead."
Trent is the reason I gave up making industrial music. TDS just outclasses anything ever else made in this genre.
Especially when mixing and mastering your own stuff, it's easy to feel like you'll never be as good as someone like Trent.
💯 it’s like a refresher
@UCIe63QNWjb0VLrUd19dzLfQ Absolutely and that’s a common misconception about NIN. Although he writes all of it (basically) it’s not quite the one man show everyone thinks.
19:16 My favourite part of the song. I've seen NIN on every tour they've done since 1991 and only once have they used this as the main section rather than in the background. Absolutely epic. Just discovered your channel and Iove it.
35:58 those falling tom-toms really jump out. They just hit differently - pun intended - that one time. And when it comes back in and leads us to that final beat... that is what makes the ending for me.
Oooh yeah!
I hope the dude that told me I was wrong about nin being bluesy is watching your videos, and that he remembers our conversation.
The lo fi character of the castanet sound that you're hearing is the result of bit crushing, which is a unique type of digital distortion that uses audio bit reduction
i had every cd from NIN and tragicly lost them all over the years. But Eraser is the best song
Netflix needs to pick you up for music analysis
I always get a visual in my head of a werewolf transformation. A man staring at the moon with mirrored eye's. He knows his humanity is slowly slipping as the clouds pass over the moon. Bones cracking, hair growing and teeth ripping through the gums. He knows the terrible thing he will become. His human self being erased. Kill me!! Kill me!! I would totally use this as a score for a cinematic metamorphosis.
And then it goes full circle with Hesitation Marks where you actually hear a full-on saxophone 😁
It’s also interesting that that swarm sound would continue to be a kind of signature sound, especially when he got the Swarmatron and used it for The Social Network (and various other things).
I like all kinds of drum sounds. But there is something about drums recorded in a live room and the emphasis being on the room. This is why I like Steve Albini’s recordings as he favours live room drums (Nirvana’s In Utero and Bush’s Razorblade Suitcase).
I’ve kind of thought of duple metres as being more mechanistic whereas triple/compound ones are more natural.
I like how you keep bringing up various recurring motifs. This definitely serves as a precursor ( 😉 ) to his work as a film score composer. But it definitely confirms how the NIN albums have created its own self-contained universe.
I actually think God Break Down the Door is an even more similar example. Some parts on that song are almost identical sound-wise to the intro of Eraser
Purest Feeling is super saxy.
I always felt the "castanets" sounded to me like scissors or shears, you know those bad all-metal ones you had back in art class that would always scrape loudly against themselves when you used them.
Whoa you are right! I think you nailed it!
27 years of picturing Trent Reznor standing at a microphone blowing through a McDonalds straw...
I'm sorry to have crushed your dreams. :: Do do do dodooooo 🎶 ::
The "horse hoof" sample always sounded like it was augmented by a tambourine and maybe a shaker
It feels machine-like and organic all at the same time
The perplexing genius of Trent strikes again! 😆
Agreed, and then bit-crunched to hell. it sounds a lot like it was reduced in bitrate/bit-depth for that oversampled-sounding effect.
The unknown sound always sounded like the guitar strings between the tail piece and the bridge of a Les Paul with some sort of ring mod or a similar effect. Similar to the intro clicking sounds in “Eulogy” by Tool, which uses that technique.
Which unknown sound?
@@iximusic the castanet-esque sound :D
That’s what I’ve always pictured too.
I played the saxophone as a child and can’t believe I never put this together. Thank you for finally solving this!!!!!
I hope this inspires a lot of people to make some really great music.
I had no idea that intro sound was a wood wind mouthpiece, it makes a lot of sense! I always pictured it as being an actual eraser in a way (though it doesn't exactly sound like one), I pictured a big rubber eraser scratching back and forth on some kind of thick paper, really aggressively. I also pictured the other sound as insects too, which felt appropriate. This song is also one of my favorites on the album because it starts so chill and builds so wonderfully.
The drums always reminded me of the drums in scentless apprentice by nirvana. It may be because they were produced by Steve Albini, and he knows how to record giant monster drums, and plus they were played by dave fucking grohl who is an animal in the drums
one thing i piked up on was kill me eventually almost sounded like help me and i also heard a baby crying in the rhythm he sets up with the screams
It’s the song where he the person in the song is dead and flies and bugs eat away , whatever he is the spirit coming down to a place , the end credits
I feel sad that this series is almost coming to an end.
The section with the “castanets” has always had a very specific feeling for me. The drum pattern sounds like someone who’s broken physically and mentally, trying desperately to hobble away from a threat that’s stalking them at a creepily leisure pace, which would be the “castanets.”
I think that the super distorted "kill me" part at the end sounds like they either ran the vocal through a guitar amp, or he's actually screaming "kill me" into the pickups of a highly distorted guitar
Now listen to it again but this time imagine the distortion is him saying " help me"
Sounds more like that to me
And this one is long, I'm excited.
I'm so happy that I have supporters who want the videos as long as they can get!
Omg you’re bringing a sound designer onto reptile. This is everything hahaha. Thank you!
Just Like You Imagined is The Fragile's Eraser, both among my favourite NIN tracks.
When she played the song on her piano, it sounded a little bit like the ending of “Where Is Everybody?”
I remember back in high school when my friend's and I were jamming out and making crazy industrial soundscapes and I was playing sax. At one point I decided to pull the mouthpiece off and I realized that I was making the exact sounds from the beginning of this track.
the fucked up kazoo sound always reminded me of flies and is reminiscent of decay or otherwise something off and altogether disturbed and deranged.
This is my favorite song on the album. Cause it's long and filled with cool sounds and has dramatic changes, hahaha. My friend once described the intro as "Old women sitting on the bench in front of the house spitting sunflower seeds and chatting". And it's kinda accurate, so i can't stop imagining this scene when hearing this song... And now you are cursed too
30:58 awww. I was surprised at the amount of guitar in this song.
So excited to see this in my inbox! Glad we get to see someone so charismatic, and in love with the source material cover it so in depth.
These videos never feel like they're full of jargon and buzzwords flying over your head. It feels like someone really excitedly teaching you something they care a lot about! Fantastic videos! Thank you ixi!
One side of my earphones died this week and my biggest concern was "will I be able to get a new one in time of Ixi's Eraser video??? Because I can't watch that with just one side!" Now I just got my new earphones and noticed you had uploaded an hour ago Hahahah perfect timing, perfect video, thank you! Already looking forward to the next one! 🦎
Thank the gods! 🎧
@@iximusic God is dead, and no one cares. 🤓
The "castenets" to me always sounded like loading a revolver and clicking it into place. To me, it sounds like the protagonist is loading all of his hatred into a gun in the form of bullets, which gives Big Man with a Gun a dual meaning. I may be reading too deep into it, but that's my interpretation. Just found this channel and I'll just say this: Where has this channel been all my life?! This is amazing! U just earned a new subscriber. Great job ixi!
I always thought that the guitar sound symbolizes the suicide idea that grows in the protagonists mind since it becomes louder and louder the more we progress through the song
That guitar part.
Also, it's fascinating that the sounds in the beginning are from a saxophone mouthpiece. I love it when musicians play around with sounds.
I remember that kind of sickly sounds in the early albums of Marilyn Manson, back when Trent was his producer
Lol.. is that why mechanical animals was so different??..
@James Livingston I beleive after antichrist superstar MM went to a different label.
This song forever changed how I viewed music...with my ears. Lol. Great job as always!
I am probably one of the biggest sound dorks looking at your channel right now, you just explain some things to me that I didn't ever know about the song. And I've known this song for like 10 years
I'm not really a big fan of weird time signatures for weird time signatures' sake but Trent manages to make them easily palatable. Some bands do all of this angular time stuff and it just leaves me cold. I can't find my way into a lot of it. Like, I'm glad Dillinger has a lot of success but I don't get it. Part of Trent's genius is making it all work together so seamlessly.
I know what you mean, weird time sigs just cuz. I mean, I've done that in my own music and I feel like there one or two NIN tracks that do too but I'd agree for the most part it feels very organic and exactly what the song needed, and that garners my respect and admiration.
It's interesting that triple meter used to be used to indicate the theological perfection of the Trinity, where duple was always viewed as "less than". There's a juxtaposition here at 16:54 that I don't necessarily think was intentional but is interesting regardless where the beat is felt duple, but in compound meter so there's still an element of three in there, and that combined with the extreme instability of the melody sort of reflects the juxtaposition of the protagonist, where he, imperfect as ever and having admitted it, has overthrown God and installed himself in God's place, the last place he should be, with the mocking hint of three in the overall duple 6/8, and the instability of the melody driving home that it's not working out very well at all.
Very interesting, thank you! I love comments like this :)
The “castanets” really remind me of something spinning, and what comes to mind most easily is some distorted or low quality audio of spurs spinning or horse tack jingling as the horse moves
I hear spurs, but I think it's a slowed tambourine. Don't have the ability to prove it yet.
@@andrewrousseau6580 yeah! i can definitely imagine that
The blowing sound through the mouthpiece that you fist hear on this track, I always interpreted as a pencil eraser running across paper. I figured that's what we were intended tyo take it as. I bought this album the day it came out when I was 13, & probably no other record as as much a part of me. I wore out 2 CDs (or at least scratched them up enough to replace from carrying them around & such). Iconic album, one of the best of all yime.
I'm enthralled by this series & have been watching each song breakdown in order. I love your descriptions of the sounds & feelings throughout, & I agree with pretty much everything you've said so far. I've definitely subscribed! Can't wait to hear the final three song breakdowns! Thanks for this!
Having had the pleasure of experiencing this song live; yes it is one of my all-time favorites. It is brutal, fragile, tender and an all-out attack on the senses in 1 epic song. Your review just makes me appreciate and understand it all even more :) Thank you!
you tickle my NIN OCD, great work and effort . I am glad someone is going where you are with the music ...
Those "castanets' ... I'd put money on them being someone opening and closing the lid of zippo lighter. Either in the studio or, as you suggested taken off a movie. That's a sound that permeates my teen years and I'm sure was all around in the studio when they were working on this.
Trent’s first use of the Sax.
Predating bad witch.
Also, the “polite” remix of Eraser is so good.
Ps. Love you going full “Trent Reznor” on your keyboard,
Full Reznor! Haha
“Now it’s become a swarm you can’t escape” would be a good lyric.
Probably a swarm of guilt, shame, regret. I don’t like the end where he is all “kill me!!” Getting too emo and self-consumed.
The broken waltz feeling in the opening has always made me love this song
Amazing work, first video I've seen and defo subbing
I feel like the reed blowing noise at the start plays into the theme of becoming a machine. Just the wet organic sound contrast with the pistoning sound
Thank you, that was great. Now I wish you did "Ripe (with decay)"
I hear the horse hooves as a muted tambourine, like a tambourine lightly wrapped up in tape or something. Oddly enough, I’ve actually always thought of cowboy boot spurs when I heard that sound. Horse hooves, cowboy boots, and tambourines... the answer is in there somewhere 😂
It's so nice to watch your videos, I truly share your admiration for Trent Reznor's work. Thank you, you help immerse yourself in music even more deeply. For some reason, this kind of music is very close to me. I see a deep philosophical meaning in his texts. As we say: "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder." I would only clarify - in the ears of the listener. :) You have a great ear. /Так приємно дивитися ваші відео, я щиро поділяю ваше захоплення творчістю Трента Резнора. Дякую вам, ви допомогаєте погружатися в музику ще глибше. Мені чомусь дуже близька така музика. Я бачу глибокий філософський зміст в його текстах. Як кажуть у нас: "Краса в очах того, хто дивиться". Я би тільки уточнив - у вухах слухаючого. :) Ви маєте чудовий слух.
Id put money on the "castanets" being a looped sample of a zippo lighter being opened/closed. Thats whats ive thought since i first heard the song anyway. Another great video!
You are such a beautiful human. It amazes me that you love NIN the way you do....the way I do...
Keep up the good work IXI!
My favorite Nine Inch Nails song ever !!! Thank you so much for this !!!
Eraser??!?? Are you kidding me? Wow, Ixi, you're doing great stuff here! For almost 30 years I had wondered how Trent had made all these sounds and effects work in his music. Being a musician myself, it was quite clear to me even early on, he was doing things that were MILES ahead of anyone else at that time in terms of arrangements and production. But, like I was saying, it's VERY cool how you're able to pull the layers back and really examine how all this was achieved. Very cool!! Trent's music really got me through a lot of teenage angst. If 17 year old Sean could see this, i think he would be losing his mind!!! I cant give praise enough for this, seriously. Keep up the great work here!!
I use to own the same Gretch shell pack you were playing. I miss that set.
I had a mental breakdown to this song....
Never wanna be in that place ever again tbh
I always thought the sounds at 25:50 were someone opening, and closing a Zippo lighter, but it sounds different when it's isolated
I think it's a solid theory.
Yeeeeeeeeeeessssssss!!...... This is one of my favorite songs ever. Not just from this album, but by any band ever.
I stopped to watch the last unicorn scene of the skeleton and the clock. I had a friend who loved that scene and I got her stills from a vhs tape for a tattoo before advanced technological techniques
This is me going on memory again but I could swear I read the "reed" noise was simply a drinking straw that he blew through and closed his finger over the hole at the end in time with the music. You do however present a good case which has me scratching my head, so I think it's either or.
That metallic noise to me sounds like a Flint lighter for a Bunson Burner I could have that association because at the time in my life when i was first listening to this song. I was in high school and also regularly using this tool in science class. But it really does sound the same . Ther is an unmistakable scraping/clicking sound . I do know it's an unlikely object to use in a song but I'm pretty sure that if that's not what it is. Then it's something mechanically similar. I suppose. The only way to know 100% is to ask someone who worked on the album
The blowing in the beginning used to always make me feel extremely uncomfortable. Now I find it super satisfying. Was that just me or anyone else?
Yes...
What...
In the song? Oh...
Yes.
I love the end strings and how they go into Reptile. I think it also adds variation to all the abrupt endings. The mouthpiece sounds at the beginning just blew my mind forever, and I wonder how I'll feel about knowing that going forward. I never spent a lot of analysis time on his work because I love just letting my mind interpret it the way it wants to. But I realize watching these was a risky choice on that. I do enjoy them, especially as I continue creating my own tracks. Cheers, looking forward to Repitle.
Love the explanation of the reed sound. I ALWAYS thought that was actual industrial noise like a sprinkler sound or something. I also thought the drone was a keyboard, especially with the little swell that sounds a lot like the vocoder/talkbox sound used in the Ghostbusters sound track. I always took the 'castanets"' as the sound of scissors. Maybe large lawn scissors. Apparently my teenage self thought this song was mainly about gardening. [It's so interesting how so many sounds I thought were homegrown turned out to be samples and how many sounds I thought were synth turned out to be very organic/lowfi]
😆
OMG it’s a saxophone mouthpiece!? Wow. I had always thought straw. It makes total sense now. I played sax.