Here's where you can ask how to pronounce exotic band names

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Brown & Boothe themselves pronounce it "Aw-TEK-er," but it does sound a bit clumsy.

Mark, Monday, 21 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

The exotic Ms. Sarah DOW-er? DOE-er?DOFF-er?

Curt, Monday, 21 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

My dorky Olympia friends say Sarah DOO-ger. Make of that what you will.

adam, Monday, 21 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

ayy-ler or eye-ler? albert, that is.

ennui, Monday, 21 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

kai-us

Kris, Monday, 21 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

I've never even tried to pronounce Einsturzende Neubauten.

Dave225, Monday, 21 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

ein-SHTUR-tsen-deh NOI-bow-ten

Josh, Monday, 21 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

beulah = bew la

authchere = ort cha

siguor ros?

jel, Monday, 21 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

ein-SHTUR-tsen-deh NOI-bow-ten
Holy fucking yanni - what's the point?

authchere = ort cha = Horchata

Dave225, Monday, 21 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Donnacha Costello?

Keiko, Monday, 21 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

"Ort cha"? um... well, how about Gastr Del Sol? Is it "Gaster" or something else?

Dan I., Monday, 21 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

I know how to pronounce OOIOO (it's just "oh oh eye oh oh") but I hope I never have to. Same goes for !!!

Anybody want to take a stab at Schlammpeitziger? How about his albums Erdrauchharnschleck and Spacerockmountainrutschquatier (which are both great, by the way.)

Mark, Monday, 21 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

sig your ross

tyler, Monday, 21 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

labradford?

on what syllable is the emphasis?

cybele, Monday, 21 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Raczynski is pronounced Rachinski.Schlammpeitziger = ShlamPIGHTsigger.

Damian, Monday, 21 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

How do you pronounce The Strokes?

Oliver Kneale, Monday, 21 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

R-e-l-i-e-f.

Oh wait, that would be how do you SPELL The Strokes.

Damn.

And no, I wasn't being serious.

Mickey Black Eyes, Monday, 21 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

"ein-SHTUR-tsen-deh NOI-bow-ten"
Bugger it, my dad was right.

DG, Monday, 21 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

brecht .

anthony, Monday, 21 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

OOIOO isn't a word, it's O-O-I-O-O (so, phonetically oh--oh-eye-oh- oh).

david, Monday, 21 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

the 'au' in autechre and auteurs is surely pronounced 'oh'.

david, Monday, 21 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Oh?

Sean Carruthers, Monday, 21 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Spdfgh (early 90s Sydney all-girl group)

I used to call them Spudfucker but I'm sure that's not how it was meant to be pronounced

electric sound of jim, Monday, 21 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

!!! call themselves chick chick chick.

Kris, Monday, 21 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Oops; i see you knew that.

Kris, Monday, 21 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

They're hardly exotic, but I used to refer to Mojave 3 as Moh-Jayve for a loooong time. Rather embarrassing.

electric sound of jim, Monday, 21 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

anton. brecht = brekt.

me'shell ndegeocello

Tracer Hand, Monday, 21 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Melbourne 80s post-punkers always intrigued me. Pronounced "Tsk-tsk-tsk" apparently.

electric sound of jim, Monday, 21 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

that soooo didn't work. that should have been three arrows going right - up - right

electric sound of jim, Monday, 21 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

http://www.corduroy.com.au/chapter/tchtlogogrey.jpg

electric sound of jim, Monday, 21 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Fritz, Caetano Veloso is pronounced as follows: 'kaiTAHnu' with the 'ai' pronounced as in eye; Veloso is 'veLAWzu'. Autechre was the one I had most probs with before this brilliant thread.

Daniel, Monday, 21 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

I'm not sure about these

Fennesz
Jan Jelinek
Luomo
Hakan Libdo

Honda, Monday, 21 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Fennesz = fhen-ez?
Jan Jelinek = yan yhel-i-nehck?
Luomo = loo-o-mow?
Hakan Libdo = hah-kahn lib-doh?

jess, Monday, 21 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Umm, it's pretty bad, but I have a real problem with Plaid. I want them to release a box set called Plaid In Full, but I think maybe it should be Plaidyshack?

I had this problem with the word before the band was even around, but I never bothered to check. Actually, don't correct me, I like saying both, just like I like saying Georgy Borges just cos I'll never be able to pronounce it properly...

I can't say Baccaruda.

emil.y, Monday, 21 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

labradford...i ask again--on what syllable is the empasis placed on?

cybele, Monday, 21 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

I remember a college basketball player called luh-BRAD-ferd Smith, only it was spelled LeBradford, IIRC. Maybe the band is named after him, like Lucius/Luscious Jackson. Anyway, how else would you say it? LUH-brad-ferd? luh-brad-FORD? Try them out at the record shop and see if they don't laugh hysterically.

Curt, Monday, 21 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

I used to pronounce it LAB-rad-ford, but realised pretty quickly that was wrong. I think La-BRAD-ford is correct.

electric sound of jim, Monday, 21 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Sigur Ros.

bnw, Monday, 21 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

NO-twist or NOT-wist?

And has anybody heard their new album yet?

Curt, Monday, 21 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Fennesz = FENN-ezz
Jan Jelinek = yahn YELL-in-eck Does anyone know about Jetone? How about Cylob? Monolake?

Clarke B., Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

cibo matto? syd barrett (is it barrett as in beret?) moog (does it rhyme with vogue?)

A Nairn, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

I always thought Einsturzende Neubauten was: ein-SHTUR- tsend NEW-baw-ten (neu like in Neu!) and with a long 'a' not long 'o' in bau. Am I wrong?

A Nairn, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

see bo ma t to

anthony, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Loren Mazzacane Connors? Lamonte Young?

dave q, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Neu is pronounced Noy. Though its rare for anybody to pronounce Kraftwerk in german (...verk) so maybe you get to be free and easy with it.

(and nearly tying up two parts of this thread!)

I always pronounce Labradford 'La Bradford' like the band "La Dusseldorf" except moved to just north of Leeds.

Alexander Blair, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Funny, I've always pronounced Autechre "AW-tek-rah'

Dare, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

ow do u prononce catatonia. dunno wot happen to them decent band has she topped herself yet?

XStatic Peace, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

I think Notwist are pronounced No-Twist. What I have heard of their album on German radio is very very good. The album took them 15 months in the studio. They are already spoken of as one of the best rock albums in 2002!

alex in mainhattan, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

anton. and tracer hand: Brecht <> Brekt. "ch" does not sound as a hard k at all. It is soft. I think it exists also in Greek. The German "Milch" does not sound like "milk" either. It sounds like a "sch" (which sounds like "sh") without the "s". ;-)

alex in mainhattan, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

cibo matto? syd barrett (is it barrett as in beret?) moog (does it rhyme with vogue?)

I thought it was CHEEbo Matta
Barrett = barrett, like ferret or parrot
Moog => vogue, yeah.

I thought Labradford was like Labrador (but never really cared.)

Dave225, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Terre Thaemlitz is pronounced like "Terry Temlits"

beavis, Saturday, 12 September 2009 16:31 (fourteen years ago) link

Sunn o))

I read once it was pronounced "sun" just like that big ball of fire in the sky, and the last part was just a visual.
Anybody else hear anything?

― steampig67, Thursday, October 23, 2008 1:36 AM (10 months ago) Bookmark

Yup, named after the amps they use:
http://www.orcoastmusic.com/amplifiers/sunn-sceptre.jpg

oing oing oing (╓abies), Saturday, 12 September 2009 16:36 (fourteen years ago) link

Prince is such a turd. I was so devastated when, after going through all the trouble of "coming out" by legally changing his name to the bisexual symbol, he then insisted it be "unspeakable" (starting that whole "artist formerly known as..." idiocity).... "Ok," I thought, "the unspeakability could be a critique on the invisibility/silence around pansexuality within dominant and queer cultures, or something profound..." *BUT* then he marches out on the Tonight Show with his new bride, who was one of those lingerie queens he keeps around, and she was totally silent like an accessory the whole interview while he was being a total macho prick - totally offensive to any critical notion of gender. I mean, that kind of macho super-hetero performance combined with silence about his name (totally refusing to answer questions about why or how to pronounce it, etc.) just showed how un-profound the whole thing was. It was that same month that Michael Jackson married Elvis' daughter... I was like, "The closet has gotten a lot more complicated."

beavis, Saturday, 12 September 2009 16:38 (fourteen years ago) link

It dawns on me that I say "Royal Trucks" slightly differently than I say "Royal Trux." The second Trux comes out white-trashier or something. Does the band make a distinction?

dlp9001, Saturday, 12 September 2009 16:46 (fourteen years ago) link

T'Pau?

Pullman/Paxton Revolving Bills (Pillbox), Saturday, 12 September 2009 17:10 (fourteen years ago) link

teh pow?

Pullman/Paxton Revolving Bills (Pillbox), Saturday, 12 September 2009 17:11 (fourteen years ago) link

teh POW!!!

Pullman/Paxton Revolving Bills (Pillbox), Saturday, 12 September 2009 17:11 (fourteen years ago) link

Whenever I see Sunn o)), my brain says "suNNNN-ohhh"

bendy, Saturday, 12 September 2009 19:14 (fourteen years ago) link

I'm aware that one is supposed to say "Sunn". But I often call them "Sunn - Oh" when speaking about them.

Duke, Saturday, 12 September 2009 19:29 (fourteen years ago) link

i call them 'sun' and then cackle inwardly at my own amazingness

alien vs the smiths (country matters), Saturday, 12 September 2009 19:34 (fourteen years ago) link

Prince is such a turd. I was so devastated when, after going through all the trouble of "coming out" by legally changing his name to the bisexual symbol, he then insisted it be "unspeakable" (starting that whole "artist formerly known as..." idiocity).... "Ok," I thought, "the unspeakability could be a critique on the invisibility/silence around pansexuality within dominant and queer cultures, or something profound..." *BUT* then he marches out on the Tonight Show with his new bride, who was one of those lingerie queens he keeps around, and she was totally silent like an accessory the whole interview while he was being a total macho prick - totally offensive to any critical notion of gender. I mean, that kind of macho super-hetero performance combined with silence about his name (totally refusing to answer questions about why or how to pronounce it, etc.) just showed how un-profound the whole thing was. It was that same month that Michael Jackson married Elvis' daughter... I was like, "The closet has gotten a lot more complicated."

― beavis, Sunday, September 13, 2009 4:38 AM (3 hours ago) Bookmark

Prolly the first mistakes a guy can make when Prince is doing something crazy is to think about it. Or if you really wanna analyze it, your conclusions need to be relegated from approval/disapproval on over to o_O. Prince is like legit crazy. What's that story of him calling Kevin Smith because he required a camel at 3 in the morning? Dude's a crazypants.

oing oing oing (╓abies), Saturday, 12 September 2009 19:57 (fourteen years ago) link

re: prince
:) point taken! *phew* i feel better already.

now, what to do with those people blogging about michael jackson, saying twisted stuff like "i pray your children turn out to be just like you" ...scary

beavis, Monday, 14 September 2009 16:06 (fourteen years ago) link

two months pass...

An Horse?

Nuyorican oatmeal (jaymc), Friday, 4 December 2009 18:20 (fourteen years ago) link

Prince is such a turd. /.../
― beavis

Ay, you puzzled me there, beavis. The pronunciation of Prince is "such a turd"? Where's the accent then?

t**t, Friday, 4 December 2009 18:44 (fourteen years ago) link

eight months pass...

SUNN O)))
― W i l l (common_person), Thursday, October 7, 2004 2:34 PM (5 years ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I always think of it as "Sunnnn WHOAAAA!!!!"

Mark G, Friday, 13 August 2010 10:58 (thirteen years ago) link

Sun O Bracket Bracket Bracket

tom d: he did what he had to do now he is dead (Tom D.), Friday, 13 August 2010 11:01 (thirteen years ago) link

XIU XIU anyone? I used to pronounce it as 'kseeu kseeu' but I've heard some people pronounce it as 'shoe shoe'.

Moka, Friday, 13 August 2010 17:26 (thirteen years ago) link

xpost I think the band once explained it's only pronounced 'sun'.

Moka, Friday, 13 August 2010 17:31 (thirteen years ago) link

yeah i always thought it was "shu shu."

i don't get that band.

Daniel, Esq., Friday, 13 August 2010 17:40 (thirteen years ago) link

a guy once told me King's X is pronounced "King's Cross". Is this true?

if I'm American do I have to say "CLEE-en-tell"?

CharlieS, Friday, 13 August 2010 17:44 (thirteen years ago) link

always guessed it was pronounced "zhu zhu"

gnarly sceptre, Friday, 13 August 2010 17:45 (thirteen years ago) link

“That’s how we pronounce it,” says Xiu Xiu frontman and songwriter Jamie Stewart approvingly after I fluke out and correctly identify the band as “shoe shoe.” “But we’ve been told by, like, nine million people that we pronounce it wrong, and those nine million people have told us nine million different ways to say it.”

jaymc, Friday, 13 August 2010 17:52 (thirteen years ago) link

Stewart points out that he’s never found the inevitable mangling of his band’s name all that troubling, although he admits that one variation is a bit contentious. “I think the only pronunciation that we actually object to is ‘zoo zoo,’” he says, “just because it sounds like a bad hair-metal band.”

jaymc, Friday, 13 August 2010 17:53 (thirteen years ago) link

the X sound in mandarin is more of a "sy-" then "sh-" sound imo.

_▂▅▇█▓▒░◕‿‿◕░▒▓█▇▅▂_ (Steve Shasta), Friday, 13 August 2010 18:08 (thirteen years ago) link

shiu-shiu wd be closest I'd think?

Chanté Ackerman (Stevie D), Friday, 13 August 2010 18:29 (thirteen years ago) link

the X sound in mandarin is more of a "sy-" then "sh-" sound imo.

I feel like there's still a hint of a "sh" after the initial "sy."

jaymc, Friday, 13 August 2010 18:35 (thirteen years ago) link

But that's immaterial, since it's Jamie Stewart's band, and he sez "shu shu."

jaymc, Friday, 13 August 2010 18:39 (thirteen years ago) link

except he named them after the Joan Chen film in which they pronounce the lead girl's name correctly lol.

_▂▅▇█▓▒░◕‿‿◕░▒▓█▇▅▂_ (Steve Shasta), Friday, 13 August 2010 19:38 (thirteen years ago) link

sh sound in mandarin = "sh-"
x sound in mandarin = "sy-"

imo

_▂▅▇█▓▒░◕‿‿◕░▒▓█▇▅▂_ (Steve Shasta), Friday, 13 August 2010 19:50 (thirteen years ago) link

here are several ways of interpreting 秀秀 in roman letters approximating the mandarin pronunciation using all the most common romanization methods:

xiu xiu
hsiu hsiu
shiou shiou
shyou shyou
sheou sheou
shiow shiow

_▂▅▇█▓▒░◕‿‿◕░▒▓█▇▅▂_ (Steve Shasta), Friday, 13 August 2010 19:58 (thirteen years ago) link

I was in china for a week before I learned how pronounce thank you correctly (xie xie). the xi sound is tough because it doesn't occur in english and the regional dialects will compound yr confusion. I kept mispronouncing it "water" so at restaurants I ended up getting another glass of water every time a dish was brought to the table.

(e_3) (Edward III), Friday, 13 August 2010 20:15 (thirteen years ago) link

also, ewa demarczyk

avuh de mar check?

my polish ancestors weep

(e_3) (Edward III), Friday, 13 August 2010 20:18 (thirteen years ago) link

nine years pass...

Neither exotic nor a band but is it Phill NIH-block or Phill NYE-block? ("is" sound or "eye" sound?)

Paul Ponzi, Thursday, 19 December 2019 22:09 (four years ago) link

https://youtu.be/jL4Jt4Tc_i4?t=9

visiting, Thursday, 19 December 2019 22:15 (four years ago) link

Remember kids, Dokken rhymes with Rockin'!

Loud guitars shit all over "Bette Davis Eyes" (NYCNative), Thursday, 19 December 2019 22:16 (four years ago) link

xp That settles that! Thanks. That's what I've always said but today for whatever reason it occurred to me that it might be 'nye-block'

Paul Ponzi, Thursday, 19 December 2019 22:17 (four years ago) link


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