Songs Of Discomposure: Quietus Writers Pick Their Most Disturbing Pieces Of Music

@ scott yes that is a disturbing album, mostly for me for the recurring "comic relief" pseudo-klezmer moments that keep coming back and just make me feel like I'm having an episode

@ CaAL can't tell you what texts "Chained To The Rhythm" is co-opting but yes yes the adoption of anti-bourgeois sentiment turned into a generalized railing against "dance music spaces" (?) I guess (?) availability of living spaces (?) I guess (?) for the purposes of capital accumulation of Katy Perry Inc. is inherently dangerous, absolutely dangerous, deeply cynical, are you joking? I hear Diamanda Galas screaming Hebrews and I feel like "this woman has my back". Katy Perry would eat me for dinner

I totally forget what it sounds like, but there was an album called "Kaddish" by a group called Towering Inferno that Eno branded "the most frightening record I have ever heard."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaddish_(Towering_Inferno_album)

third ear band. had a reaction similar to whoever did the write-up

100% I think the work of modernist/micropolyphonicists like Ligeti and Penderecki is meant to be religious, that is, comfort music, I'm always amazed at when like Lynch uses this music as a signifier for "DISTURBING!" because the collection of pure acoustic pitches and sound walls just feels to me like gazing into a telescope or reading about Calvinism

Really enjoying this take (although, heh, the piece was called Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima tbf). I tried to say something similar about guitar noise in indie rock in a pop music class at York (and was only being semi-challopsy) and the prof had everyone explain to me how I was deluding myself.

Third Ear Band album just makes me think of Keith Chegwin.

I still have that Towering Inferno record, it's pretty great but I wouldn't call it frightening exactly. The multimedia show that went with it was incredible.

xps

Fgti bringing the heat to this thread.

@ Sund4r, can't back this up but I was told by my comp prof that Penderecki rather cynically admitted to simply tacking on that title!

And yeah, I had similar discussions w my profs about noise and its function. Interestingly I think the ear's relationship to dissonance changes over time. I may have said this elsewhere, but at age 18 I found Stockhausen impenetrable. Now, it's my comfort music. The only thing I've ever heard which was so dissonant that I had to turn it off (and I've never actually got through it) is Ventolin

Fwiw, it's true that the original title was 8'37", which Penderecki changed after the piece had already been performed. I wonder if it was a legend among composition profs of a certain generation that Penderecki admitted to tacking on the title as some sort of cynical marketing/promotional move. I heard it from my undergrad prof too but I haven't found a convincing source for it. In The Rest Is Noise, Ross did write that [Communist Polish] "officialdom only took a favourable view" of the piece after someone suggested the new title, though he makes no suggestion that Penderecki intentionally did this to curry favour with the authorities. Auner just writes that it reflected Penderecki's ongoing interest in connecting his music to political and social issues.

the third ear band is interesting because i don't listen to the macbeth soundtrack that much - i listen to their first album and "the magus", which are very different albums and excellent albums but neither of which i would term "disturbing". i just think of them as the best raga-rock band. but that title track is indeed pretty disturbing; should probably give the whole thing a listen.

i have a copy of "kaddish" somewhere. it mainly came off as "arty british record about the holocaust". which is fine and all but i don't know what precisely it adds to our collective understanding of that event.

"The boiler" lyrically
Either Residents or V/VM musically.

@ CaAL can't tell you what texts "Chained To The Rhythm" is co-opting but yes yes the adoption of anti-bourgeois sentiment turned into a generalized railing against "dance music spaces" (?) I guess (?) availability of living spaces (?) I guess (?) for the purposes of capital accumulation of Katy Perry Inc. is inherently dangerous, absolutely dangerous, deeply cynical, are you joking? I hear Diamanda Galas screaming Hebrews and I feel like "this woman has my back". Katy Perry would eat me for dinner

Not in here because it's in Spanish but one of the most disturbing songs I heard growing up was "Alarmala de Tos" by Cafe Tacuba a cover of Botellita de Jerez.

The song's lyrics are so perverse but that was Botellita de Jerez schtick they were setting on to be one of the most hated bands in latinamerica. I don't know which version is more disturbing the original one is very chirpy like a 50's 60's rock song hiding hideous lyrics, cafe tacuba takes the lyrics at face value and pairs it with much more sinister ambience.

I'll try to translate it for you in a bit.

Not in here because it's in Spanish but one of the most disturbing songs I heard growing up was "Alarmala de Tos" by Cafe Tacuba a cover of Botellita de Jerez.

The song's lyrics are so perverse but that was Botellita de Jerez schtick they were setting on to be one of the most hated bands in latinamerica. I don't know which version is more disturbing the original one is very chirpy like a 50's 60's rock song hiding hideous lyrics, cafe tacuba takes the lyrics at face value and pairs it with much more sinister ambience.

I'll try to translate it for you in a bit.

La Lola, paciente mendigaba,
Sufría, su jefe la obligaba
Con ella, sacaba buena lana
La pobre era jorobada
Su madre, le metía al talón,
Era perversa, y de mal corazón
Su hermano, vivía en el reventon
El era el filo, amante de un pasión
Ese día, pasaba normalmente,
Cuando su padre, atacola de repente,
Violola, con un deseo demente,
Y ella quiso, morirse en ese instante,
Mato a su padre, cuando este la seguía
Mientras su hermano, con su madre le ponía,
Pensó que ayuda, jamas encontraría,
Hasta que al fin, hallo un policía
Alarma, Alarmala de tos,
Uno, dos, tres,
Patada y cos,
La Lola, su historia lloro,
Y auxilio al "tira" imploro
El azul, sonriendo la miro
Que creen que fue lo que paso
Que paso?
Siguiola, atacola, golpeola, violola y matola con una pistola
Alarma, Alarmala de tos,
Uno, dos, tres,
Patada y cos,
Alarma

Hard song to translate as there's too much wordplay and some invented words like 'ALARMALA' and "COS". There's no easy way to translate the title and chorus to english 'alarmala de tos' is a word play on alarma (alarm) and 'armala de tos" which google would translate as "make a cough" as that is the literal translation but it's a phrase that would actually translate as 'create a problem'... like say if you're mad at someone and you would look to pick up a fight him that's what 'armarla de tos' means roughly.

Anyways here it goes:

Lola was a patient beggar
she suffered, his father forced her
with her she made some good money
the poor girl was humped.
Her mother would make her trip when walking
She was perverse, with a bad hear.
Her brother was always partying
he was 'el filo' (no idea what this means), lover of a fat man.
That day felt like a normal day for her
Until his father started attacking her
He raped her with an insane desire
and she felt like dying at that moment
She killed her father while he was following her
while in the other room her brother and mother were fucking
She thought she would never find any help
but then she found a policeman

Alarm, Alarmala de tos
one two three, a kick and cos

Lola cried her story to him
and 'help' to the 'tira' she implored (tira is slang for police)
the blue man, smiling looked at her.
What do you think happened next?
He followed her, he attacked her, he hitted her, he raped her and he killed her.
With his gun.

Alarm, Alarmala de tos
one two three, a kick and cos

Her mother would make her trip when walking
She was perverse, with a bad heart.

not sure about the translation to this one actually. In spanish it literally says 'She put her heel in her' but we say 'le metio el pie / put the feet" when you make someone trip... odd thing is you always use 'feet' not 'heel' when using this phrase... I dunno considering how perverse the rest of the song is it might be something sexual.

The only thing I've ever heard which was so dissonant that I had to turn it off (and I've never actually got through it) is Ventolin

:) i went thru a phase of cranking "Ventolin" thru headphones cos it felt beautifully cathartic/calming

The weird thing about this song is that it's lyrics are horrid but it would play on the radio. It was fairly popular back in the 90's when cafe tacuba covered it.

The only thing I've ever heard which was so dissonant that I had to turn it off (and I've never actually got through it) is Ventolin

:) i went thru a phase of cranking "Ventolin" thru headphones cos it felt beautifully cathartic/calming

― be the cringe you want to see in the world (Noodle Vague), Sunday, September 24, 2017 6:06 PM (twenty-one minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I'll happily listen to that song through speakers but usually skip it if I'm listening on earphones, always feels like a recipe for instant tinnitus.

Thinking of that album I also remember jumping out my skin at the "ALRIGHT?!" at the beginning of 'Cow Cud Is a Twin' the first time I heard it.

That seems like a strong candidate, Moka.

Do you have a Spotify/YouTube link Moka?

Sure. This is the original Botellita de Jerez one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2BJD2qLNxI

And this is the more popular Cafe Tacuba cover:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zl3oooLM9R8

They sound like two very different songs.

This has turned into quite a fascinating discussion.

After reading this thread, some approach the topic from an aural angle; e.g., sounds and tones that sound disturbing. Others come at it from a narrative or lyrical content perspective (no doubt fed by one's culture), regardless of the tones used. In the latter, there is much more discussion to be had, of course, and I would thus add an array of examples such as Wagner for its appropriation by Nazi supporters, Charles Manson, and one which gives me a bit of a chuckle that has not even been hinted at: performative metal (such as black, doom, etc.). It appears as though the post-modern tick of "death of the author" (bless Barthes) has bitten a few, so authorial intent gets thrown out the window. It's definitely not a bad thing. Constructing an argument for disturbing vs non-disturbing songs makes for a far more interesting read. My apologies for this meta-analysis on the ways different users in a community or ILXOR.com interpret the topic at hand.

I much prefer the Cafe Tacuba one and the video is good. So before watching let me put some context behind this song which makes it kind of a parody song... the lyrics on their own are disturbing but it is because they are poking at a very specific kind of tabloids we have in Mexico. We called them 'Amarillistas' which stands for Yellow Press or Yellow Journalism. The Cafe Tacuba video is even based on this sort of yellow press where the exaggerate and create a very morbid scenario when writing news... it's usually very disrespectful to the victims as they even include very explicit pictures of the corpses and the crime scenes.

I'm not from Mexico City but I think one of the most popular yellow tabloids was called 'ALARMA' so Botellita de Jerez were criticizing their news format with this song.

Yes, I just doublechecked... it was called 'Alarma' magazine and it was fucking horrific. Take a look at the google search but beware it is very NSFW / NSFL so only click if you don't mind looking at dead people:

https://www.google.com.mx/search?biw=1453&bih=843&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=alarma+revista&oq=alarma+revista&gs_l=psy-ab.3..0i67k1j0l3.3275.3560.0.3784.3.3.0.0.0.0.158.305.0j2.2.0....0...1.1.64.psy-ab..1.2.304...0i13k1j0i8i7i30k1.0.fMlLriaM3Sw

Oh looking at the Cafe Tacuba video I now understand this part:

Her brother was always partying
he was 'el filo' (no idea what this means), lover of a fat man.

It's actually:

Her brother was always partying
They nicknamed him 'Lilo' and he was the lover of a fat man.

Lilo in spanish is a usual nickname for Liliane a girl's name.

Oh btw it seems 'coz' is not actually an invented word sorry it's spanish for the backwards kick horses do with their two legs... is there an english translation for it? Is it just called horsekick?

Good share Moka

Feral House published a book some years ago that included a lot of photos from ¡Alarma! and other Mexican tabloids, as part of a larger study of death in Mexican pop culture.

voted Boiler, I can handle fully whacked destructo sound terror and enjoy it, but I cannot listen to that narration any more

“Purposeful Lady Slow Afternoon,” Robert Ashley

It's been a long time since I heard The Boiler and went to check it out again. I didn't realise it has a music video. Obviously the heaviest of trigger warnings apply to this, got to the end but not listening again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Va5Rdg3ibBI

I reckon this + a good Channel 4 drama I watched = possibly the reasons I never had the rape humour phase which seemed to afflict so many of my fellow sixth formers.

The second most disturbing Scott Walker track for me is 'Cue'. The idea of the 'flugelman' (in my mind some sort of grotesque man/horn hybrid) stalking through hospital wards, was enough to keep me up til the early hours after a late-night Drift listen. 'The Escape' has the jump-cut but the imagery in 'Cue' freaks me out almost as much. 'Clara' might be about a hanging but I think of it as a moment of respite on an album full of incredibly tense moments.

for entries in the list its 'the boiler'.

for non-list suggestions, it has to be 'Requiem: The Holocaust' by David Axelrod.

“Purposeful Lady Slow Afternoon,” Robert Ashley

Oh yes, this shook me up a bit the first time I heard it.

Having listened to a few of these...well, it's Diamanda, isn't it, always was going to be

opened this thread solely to see if the lisa germano album was mentioned

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

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

This series from The Caretaker, constructing a musical narrative around progressive dementia using jazz-age source material, is seriously unsettling/depressing to me, to the point that I'm dreading the release of the last three parts of the series:

https://thecaretaker.bandcamp.com/album/everywhere-at-the-end-of-time

Stage 1 - September 2016 (A+B)
Here we experience the first signs of memory loss.
This stage is most like a beautiful daydream.
The glory of old age and recollection.
The last of the great days.

Stage 2 - April 2017 (C+D)
The second stage is the self realisation and awareness that something is wrong with a refusal to accept that. More effort is made to remember so memories can be more long form with a little more deterioration in quality. The overall personal mood is generally lower than the first stage and at a point before confusion starts setting in.

Stage 3 - Released in September 2017 (E+F)
Here we are presented with some of the last coherent memories before confusion fully rolls in and the grey mists form and fade away. Finest moments have been remembered, the musical flow in places is more confused and tangled. As we progress some singular memories become more disturbed, isolated, broken and distant. These are the last embers of awareness before we enter the post awareness stages.

Stage 4 - Released in March 2018
Post awareness stage 4 will be without description.

Stage 5 - Released in September 2018
Post awareness stage 5 will be without description.

Stage 6 - Released in March 2019
Post awareness stage 6 will be without description.

i've found the first volume of matana roberts' coin coin project particularly disquieting, given all the things i listen to that would disquiet most people

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOu0Y52BqEY

... to the point where i don't really seek it out to listen to, even though i think it's great. i never feel up to it.

crut - stage 3 gets seriously rough.

Good call on Matana. The primal scream stuff on pov piti is devestating.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKVq4_lBgzY

Just heard this one today, humoristic yet so so sickening and wrong

Alice Donut - Bucketfulls of Sickness and Horror in an Otherwise Meaningless Life (1989)

https://youtu.be/092DUlx2hX0

Sorry, song is called Lisa’s Father.

the escape song is weird because Donald Duck is saying something Bugs Bunny says, accompanied by wrangled slide FX that sound imported from Looney Tunes

― Week of Wonders (Ross), Friday, September 22, 2017 11:10 PM (one year ago) bookmarkflaglink

I've been thinking about this recently. There's something eerie about, like, when I see fairground rides with cartoon characters that have been badly painted on the side of Mickey Mouse and also Tweetie Pie and Bart Simpson (etc) and they're all slightly off and clearly breaking copyright law. There's no reason this should disturb me but it's unheimlich. Same as those really cheap children's YouTube videos with badly-animated Spiderman interacting robotically with some other cartoon character...

I think the thing that disturbs me about poor-quality kid's entertainment is the sheer lack of concern for the target audience. Or rather the lack of concern for a target audience that can't be blamed for its lack of discernment, and also the tacit acknowledgement that children don't yet have a fully-developed consciousness - they soak up stimuli indiscriminately - which is disturbing in its own way because if you accept that consciousness results from the growth of the brain then it follows that we do not have immortal souls.

Of the songs in the list "Death Disco" is upsetting for the single cover, which is a drawing of little Johnny Lydon and his mum. It's grotesque but devastatingly sad. She lived a hard life and died painfully of cancer in 1978. "Frankie Teardrop" works because it's relentless, but I find it too melodramatic to be disturbing. "The Escape" is to date the only song that has ever made me jump - it's a perfectly-formed jump scare - but it's not disturbing on an emotional level. "Clara" from the same album is more affecting. I've never been able to take Throbbing Gristle seriously, they just come across as incredibly smug and self-satisfied. The same is true of Coil, Nurse With Wound, This Heat, all of the British dark noise bands. The members were all called Colin, Peter, Tony, or Charles. I can't be disturbed by a man called Charles.

Relatively-current internet sensation "Plastic Love" is smooth and upbeat but has surprisingly bleak lyrics, with roughly the same theme as "I Thought You Were My Boyfriend". Has any pop music disturbed me on a deep, spiritual level? Probably the genetic autotune hip-hop that plays in European supermarkets, because it spits in the face of the idea that pop music might be good. Also the Black Eyed Peas, because their songs sounded as if they were written by a team of seven writers specifically for a television dance routine.

Beautiful post (missed your posts here!)

I can't be disturbed by a man called Charles.

I can think of a fairly disturbing man called Charles who had an abortive music career...