I would say Mr. Bungle is the epitome of Surrealism in music. They add so many weird things into their songs and albums yet it stills feel whole. It's surreal, but not just random.
The Residents is pretty out there even for “the out there” crowd. They probably also qualify. Given they’ve been doing what they’ve been doing since the 70s is even more mind blowing looking back on it almost 40+ years later. But yeah, can’t argue with Mr. Bungle at all. Mike Patton is a hell of a musical auteur. Definitely deserving of all the praise.
Someone you will definitely be interested in is Steve Reich - who basically made music designed to warp reality. His music is almost to the point of performance art but is undeniably surreal.
The sheer concept of surrealist music is interesting because it doesn't adhere to any genre. Captain Beefheart and Tom Waits obviously come to mind. But also so does someone like Merzbow in his early days. Seemingly randomised sounds give off a very peculiar vibe.
A prime example in recent memory is Lil ugly mane’s “Volcanic bird enemy and the voiced concern” which wonderfully blends psychedelia with nostalgic samples and surrealist imagery. One of my favorites in the past couple of years
Maudlin of the Well, particularly Bath and Leaving Your Body Map, are what I first think of when it comes to surrealist music. Meant to channel the subconscious creativity of shroom-induced astral projection, these albums (particularly Bath, for me) give off an otherworldly, almost inhuman atmosphere, like they were made in a different dimension.
So glad to see this comment. motW and Kayo Dot are insane. Bath absolutely blew my mind for the first time listening to it, and Choirs of the Eye is my favorite album ever. It's truly incredible stuff.
I feel like avant-garde death and black metal bands like Ad Nauseum, Thantifaxath, Portal and Ulcerate could be considered "surrealist" duee to the dizzying and scary atmospheres they often conjure with their music.
i think it's tricky because nearly all music is an inherent abstraction- music has never sought to represent things like how one can paint a bowl of fruit to represent a bowl of fruit, or how scenes in a film show us images of people, landscapes, etc. to represent the real people and landscapes in our minds. We call surrealist art and and film "surrealist" because it does something to break away from the practice of purely representing / retelling. Music as we know it has never possessed a clearcut barrier between representation and abstraction. When I try to imagine a music that delineates between representation and abstraction, the only thing that comes to mind would be something that uses text to establish something that "makes sense" to the listener, but over the course of the piece break away into the dream-logic territory. But this would essentially just be poetry, since this aim of surrealism is utilizing text, and not pure sound. Anyways, this train of thought just makes me uncomfortably aware of the mysterious nature of literally ALL music - be it Nurse With Wound, or Ed Sheeran. It is all meaningless and untraceable- but also 100% complete by itself without any prerequisite knowledge gathered from being a human on earth. Great video and topic.
Nice to see you getting into surrealism! I think it's a very authentic and borderless form of art, making it one of the most honest and human forms of expression there is. What I love about it is that it's not made to be pleasing, it's just pure artistic vision.
I'd say that a lot of The Mars Volta's music, and even more so the lyrics, tends to be pretty surreal. Otherworldly sound design and strange stories are to be expected, though it's still pretty accessible all things considered.
While there is an abundance of Surreal music in the whole spectrum of genres, the post-WWI french neo-classicist scene (Satie, as you mentioned, Ravel, Les Six, Jolivet, even early Messiaen) is -in my opinion- the closest i can think of when it comes to Surreal-IST music, mostly due to their close connections to Surrealist artists like Cocteau, Char, Eluard, and Breton
I would say Animal Collective match the surrealism concept, especially their earlier stuff. Also Naked City and Current 93 fit that "Juxtaposition" term very well
Not sure if you could count it as surrealist, but the films of Andrei Tarkovsky are very strange and dreamlike, particularly the film Mirror. I highly recommend it to anyone with a keen interest in cinema. Many of his films have actually been uploaded here on youtube.
If I'd take a guess I would say something like The Ruins Of Beverast would be the music playing while looking at a surrealist painting like that of Beksinski, and something like Jute Gyte would be the music playing while in a surrealist painting like Beksinski. I think separating these two definitions is key in describing what is truly surrealistic music, as I believe Jute Gyte is surrealism, and Ruins is not. I think you have to feel like you are in it. Another example I can think of now is Neptunian Maximalism that is a different form of surrealism. One thing to take note of is that each person's severity of surrealism, ie how quickly they FEEL surreal, impacts what is surreal enough. Fiona Apple will certainly fall under surrealism for some and I do consider her work to FEEL pretty surreal.
Mr. Bungle, some Faith No More. And some bands and artists influenced by Mike Patton like the whole Funk Metal/Avant Garde Metal genre with bands like Primus, Dog Fashion Disco, Diablo Swing Orchestra, Unexpect, Stolen Babies, Pin Up Went Down, and Buckethead. Mike Patton is a fan of David Lynch who is a surrealist himself, so Mike Patton I would call a surrealist as well.
I think, what makes music surreal is, when it unites the disturbing with the funny, when it leaves the structures behind, that are typical for its genre or music in general and if it reminds you of something that is very familiar, but so deeply buried in the deserts of your mindset, that you just recognize it as a crippled version of the original (for example a memory or feeling from your childhood). The first album, that gave me that feeling was "Geri Reig", the first album of the Neue Deutsche Welle/Minimal Synth-band Der Plan.
Scott Walker - It's Raining Today, is a perfect example of juxtaposition in music. in the left ear, there is a more conventional plucked guitar, soft bass and drums. meanwhile in the right ear there are rising, almost dissonant strings which combined together with Walker's crooning give the song this psychedelic, surrealist mood. impressive given it released in 1969.
I think something worth bringing up is Coil's Time Machines. It's an album made up of 4 lengthy ambient tracks made to make you lose track of time. Whenever I listen to even one track from there I get completely enveloped in its minimal drone textures and it feels like a given amount of time could be one minute or over 20. It's rare enough to get an experience this bizarre and hypnotic, but it's also created with the intent to do so. I think it's a more than worthy contendor to put under the label of surrealist music. Some other individual track examples I think would be Revolution 9 by The Beatles and The Bark And Below It by The Olivia Tremor Control.
Interesting video; I would think avant garde music like Diamanda Galas, Rich Shapiro, Can, etc could be thought of as surrealist music even though it's not referred to as such by most.
Absolutely, as far as western composers, Satie is one of my favorites. That and Debussy. Magical Surrealism itself started out being for Surrealism, what hard scifi became for Space Opera. That it developed this literary and near fantasy connatation came much later. Though books like 100 years of solitude or Wind Up Bird are still more grounded than Surrealism. As a pianist my own measure for it less trying to be surreal per say, but rather accurately reflect my own dreams and subconcious, and let the listener interpret it.
For those interested in the darker side of surrealism, I'd highly recommend Hal Foster's "Compulsive Beauty". Foster has a darker take on surrealist elements, such as the sinister, compulsive repetition and the uncanny. It's a very interesting read, especially considering the whole Breton-Bataille thing. It really changed the way I understood surrealism. Also, Lautréamont's "Les Chants de Maldoror", whose line "beautiful as the chance meeting on a dissecting table of a sewing machine and an umbrella" embodies the idea of startling juxtapositions that many surrealist works are known for. And also, some classic surrealist films like René Clair's "Entr'acte" (which includes Marcel Duchamp and Man Ray playing chess), Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí's "Un Chien Andalou" (famous eye scene) and "L'Age d'Or", and as somedoby already recommended on a previous comment, Luis Buñuel's "The Exterminating Angel", which is a bit more traditionally structured than the others but still delivers quintessential surrealist elements.
I really enjoyed this video, have you heard much of James Ferraro's music? His stuff is incredibly surreal imo, and there's a mountain of his stuff to listen to.
Dear Wyatt, if you are looking for another artistic scene that was really influential for the music scene, please check out dada! One of the most influential and still inspiring cultural movements in recent memory. Just the fact that industrial ogs Cabaret Voltaire take their name from the cafeteria in Zurich where dada was born in 1916, and that Merzbow's name comes from Kurt Schwitters and his magnum opus "Merzbau" should say enough... And we are only scratching the surface!
Scrambled Defuncts' "Souls Despising The God" comes to mind. That one will scramble your brain! Also, look into Sion Sono's filmography, if you haven't already.
Great vid as usual, Wyatt. For me, I’ve always thought of surrealist music as music that is unorthodox and weird but doesn’t quite enter the avant-garde territory. In terms of metal, I’d say bands like Portal, Enmity, Dripping, Diskord, Timeghoul, etc. fit the bill pretty well.
Let me start by saying that I love your channel, recently discovered it and have been binge watching it ever since. Really not expecting to see Alejandro Jodorowsky and The Surrealist Manifesto being discussed here but I'm really happy you did. Allow me to suggest a nice and "smooth" intro to surrealism (if You wish to get deeper into it): Movies: 'Daisies', 'Un Chien Andalou' (Salvador Dali) and prety much anything made by David Lynch Painters: Hiëronymus Bosch, Max Erns and Giorgio de Chirico Books: "The Songs of Maldoror", "Irene's Cunt", "The Blind Owl" Greatings from Portugal (also check out some of our bands :) Besta, Gaerea, OAK, Juseph, Catacombe, Bas Rotten, Sinistro, Redemptus) Keep up the great work.
First of all; thank you for all those movie recommendations. I remember watching one of your Diapsiquir videos in which you mentioned Gaspar Noe (I think it was when you tried to describe the 180 album), watching Enter The Void was a wild ride. When it comes to art I personally don't think there is any objectivity to be had, although there are things upon which most people might agree upon, the experience of art itself (be it music, paintings, movies, games and anything else that fall under that category) will always be subjective. While we can separate music by different categories of "being good", like how much thought and work was put into the craft, how talented the artist is (which is also subjective, I believe), how well it's written, or how influencing that piece is (be it song, album, or artist's discography), no one will ever experience an art piece the exact same way as the next guy. We can however help ourselves by making categories or genres, hence why, you could call, like you said, Cannibal Corpse an objectively death metal band. We take the idea of a genre, get certain aspects of it, and put it into music, however; that also gets more complicated with time, as we see loads of artists making cross-genre pieces of music, hence why we get to see more and more subgenres popping up. We put music into categories and genres, and the more we hear of a certain sound, the more people that tend to create music in that sound, the more normalized it becomes. When someone goes outside the box, so far that it makes people question if it's even music, or if it's even played "correctly" then in my opinion, you could call it surreal. It's going outside of what you're used to, while also maintaining certain aesthetics (or when it comes to movies; symbolism) that you have mentioned. When it comes to me, when I think of surrealist music first album that comes mind is for sure trout mask replica. Sorry for the long ahh essay, appreciate all the work that you're doing, it's always a pleasure seeing you trying to make sense of difficult topics, as well as getting recommendations of new music and other media, I will forever be grateful for finding out about Diapsiquir because of you. Also, getting hydrated, which is also really important. Edit: oh and how could I forget, DJ Rozwell's "NONE OF THIS IS REAL" project
Love the "Post" vinyl in the back and the Portal t-shirt. As for my thoughts on this topic, I feel like my idea of surreal music would be any album in which its atmosphere is so powerful that it makes you feel like you're somewhere else, or that you're experiencing it yourself. I completely agree about "The Dreaming." That was the first Kate Bush album I got into, and now that I've heard it a few times, it's very easy to get lost in, almost feeling like you're living out the songs as they happen, even though you're just sitting in your room, or whatever. Another album that gives me that feeling is "Telepathic With the Deceased," but obviously in a more miserable way. I'm not a big fan of DSBM, I think most of it is corny and just not that enjoyable, but that album really hits me. I don't just mean sadness either. There's a specific kind of dissociation that I feel with that album, even when I have no idea what Scott is saying. Lastly, I'll say that Portal also affects me in a surreal way. Their demented, hypnotizing playing and the hollow, breathy vocals make me feel like I'm trapped somewhere or I'm being watched. Maybe I'm just pretentious, but I think you're onto something here, and it's fascinating to think about
Nice video. For a suggestion can you possibly make a video talking about your favorite death metal solos? Personally i love solos in death metal and was curious on your thoughts on it. 🙏
Other Surrealist films I would recommend would be Daisies (1966), The Exterminating Angel, and Weekend (1967)... Weekend and Daisies might be argued more as avant-garde depending on who you ask, but I personally feel they fit the category and are some of my favorite movies. I'd also encourage watching more Obayashi films (director of House 1977) as that unique style is still present in so many of his other movies. His style is so unique and bizarre. Also might as well mention Persona (1966), 8 1/2, and The Mirror (1975). Most wouldn't immediately call them surrealism... but they are incredible films with aspects of surrealism within them. ...And I'll end this all with a final recommendation of Tetsuo: the Iron man.
Have you looked much into the genre of "new music"? While not always directly related with surrealism in visual art, many new music pieces kind of mirror a lot of the visual art movements of the back half of the 20th century. You might find some sounds that are more so what you're looking for there Great channel btw
A good example of surrealist rock music is Faust's first album, which was released a few months after the band formed. There's a lot of studio trickery and nonsensical song structures, which really makes it one of the more surreal albums I know. It was ahead of its time too, as it was released in 1971, and not much today sounds like it Another one would be the residents' not available, which sounds like aliens listening to western music and trying to replicate it. Sounds are constantly being juxtaposed against each other too. Pretty sounding instrumentals are often pair with off-key group vocals and vice versa. Great stuff imo Also ofc there's trout mask replica, where every band member sounds like they're playing a different song entirely, with hilariously nonsensical lyrics. Although that's more Dadaist than anything
What is surreal music is an interesting q! I have a different take: surreal anything of ANY art form could be thought how and extrapolated from how we think of “what makes painting art surreal”, arguably the most well known example from all art forms. Then, to generalize that answer, it seems we’d arrive at something like “a piece where we can recognize items or notions from reality, but they are represented or combined in a completely unrealistic manner”. Also in common for such art (but NOT unique to only surreal art) is that it typically evokes a particular, subjective feeling or state of mind, instead of answering or highlighting explainable or logical type of issues. Fast forward to music. I think, if you had 1000 average / random people listen to LOTS of the very fringe music YOU, as someone who is familiar with an incredibly vast array of non-straightforward music, they could easily have called it “surreal”, if one could explain them the comparison to surreal art I mentioned above.
Interesting topic. I'm not sure I know how to differentiate surrealism from "they play weird music", which is just wrong. That could be summed up as eclectic, or eccentric, but surreal? Not sure where to go with this.
I don't know if it's technically surreal or not, at the same time subjectively there are some avantgarde operas with a strong absurdist element. Shostackovich - Nose. Penderecki - Den Teufel von Loudun. Zimmerman - Die Soldaten. Xenakis - Kraenerg. Ligeti - the Grand Macabre. And the list goes on and on with avantgarde composers.
Maybe some pieces by Natasha Barrett could count; she’s an electroacoustic composer who more recently has been using a lot of ambisonic field recordings, which immerse the listener in a realistic environment before it’s gradually morphed into something impossible. I guess Trevor Wishart’s Redbird could also count. And Renaldo & the Loaf probably do. Certainly Mr Bungle’s Disco Volante, as a few have already said. Maybe something like Ho by Runzelstirn & Gurgelstock. And perhaps Skopofoboexoskelett by 夢遊病者
A good example of something surreal really disorienting is the short discography of Vorak, from what i understand is that he tried to combine black metal and classical music, but failed miserably, and although he attended a conservatotrium it almost feels like he doesnt have no musical education, it sounds so jumbled and inconsistent, its like a 100 songs playing at once, but thats what makes it special, rarely do you get something so weird.
Please tell me you watched the Czech movie Lunacy! It's subtitled and like 4 hours long, but up there with Eraserhead as one of my favorite weird AF movies I torture my friends with. Also, Léolo which i believe is Canadian and in French and weird. Gonna have to check out the ones you mentioned that I haven't seen
When it comes surrealist music my mind goes to experimental electronic musicians like The Books, Oneotrix Point Never, Actress, James Ferraro Sloussen Malone and Matmos Another important mention would be Nicolas Jaar with the album Pomegranates, which was intended as an unofficial alternative soundtrack to the movie The Colour of Pomegranates, and it surtenly captures the surrealis feeling that movie evokes
Personally, early James Ferraro is most surreal music I know. Every 2009-2010 album he made sounds like a fever dream or exploration of the subconsciousness, Jarvid 9: Gecko for instance
I would consider Autechre's 2013-2018 output to be some of the most surreal music I've ever listened to. Many of the sounds are just so unnatural and they almost never "tell" the listener what to feel emotion wise, so it all comes off as strange and disconnected from reality. One of my favorite examples of this is their song nineFly off of NTS Sessions 3. It's a freakish collection of sounds that almost create a techno beat but it's so off it doesn't even register in my brain as being electronic, it just sounds so alien and disjunct, it doesn't sound real. I'd also say some of Coin Locker Kid's output could be considered surrealist, but I'm not as sure about that one.
And dali is my fav , and love holy mountain, check El topo, and Santa sangre same director, check blue velvet the twin peaks all epsodes are great i might be comming off the rails but , antichrist, pink flamingos and I first watched with my mom, now I can see almost anything with the mom when she visits haha I keep editing this, but only surrealist albums I can think of is the clash sandinista, and ministry dark side of the spoon, i could be off but I tryed
The Pixies were influenced by Dali and surrealism. They have a song called "un chien andalusien", that is named after the Salvador Dali movie of the same name. If you haven´t already, you should definately check that out. And all other movies by Dali.
Dream Pop is a good take on what type of sound surrealist music could be, as far as textures and feel goes. But the fact that tempos tend to be fairly regular (4/4, 6/8) throws me off a bit. Surrealist music should be strange. Mr Bungle always sounded surrealist to me, especially Disco Volante. Neptunian maximalism, Swans...anything that is fucking weird. The first section on Mike Oldfield's Incantantions should fit, as well as the last section of Tubular Bells with that sort of troll with gutural voice. Remember that surrealism just means _super realism_ , latin _super_ meaning over or on top of. So it is beyond realism, and therefore, weird and far from convention. Edit: typos
also i'm not seeing comments about zappa. the live albums from the seventies and especially 80's were great emcompassings of world music and otherworldly escapades
I would say Mr. Bungle is the epitome of Surrealism in music. They add so many weird things into their songs and albums yet it stills feel whole. It's surreal, but not just random.
this.
The Residents is pretty out there even for “the out there” crowd. They probably also qualify. Given they’ve been doing what they’ve been doing since the 70s is even more mind blowing looking back on it almost 40+ years later.
But yeah, can’t argue with Mr. Bungle at all. Mike Patton is a hell of a musical auteur. Definitely deserving of all the praise.
Mr. Bungle sucks ass
Someone you will definitely be interested in is Steve Reich - who basically made music designed to warp reality.
His music is almost to the point of performance art but is undeniably surreal.
Electric counterpoint one of my fav albums (:
The cabinet of dr. Caligari is an awesome surrealist horror movie.
The sheer concept of surrealist music is interesting because it doesn't adhere to any genre.
Captain Beefheart and Tom Waits obviously come to mind.
But also so does someone like Merzbow in his early days.
Seemingly randomised sounds give off a very peculiar vibe.
Surrealist films are beautiful! Glad you're enjoying them, brother!
A prime example in recent memory is Lil ugly mane’s “Volcanic bird enemy and the voiced concern” which wonderfully blends psychedelia with nostalgic samples and surrealist imagery. One of my favorites in the past couple of years
One of the recent albums that changed my life
That bjork vinyl tho🥰
The rose tree with the head of a cat sings sounds without music. Music is Love.
I would say something like Deceit by This Heat is a perfect example of surrealist music.
their self titled record feels waaaay more surreal
Maudlin of the Well, particularly Bath and Leaving Your Body Map, are what I first think of when it comes to surrealist music. Meant to channel the subconscious creativity of shroom-induced astral projection, these albums (particularly Bath, for me) give off an otherworldly, almost inhuman atmosphere, like they were made in a different dimension.
So glad to see this comment. motW and Kayo Dot are insane. Bath absolutely blew my mind for the first time listening to it, and Choirs of the Eye is my favorite album ever. It's truly incredible stuff.
I never thought about it in those terms! Even though Kayo Dot has been my favourite band for years. It does make some sense.
I feel like avant-garde death and black metal bands like Ad Nauseum, Thantifaxath, Portal and Ulcerate could be considered "surrealist" duee to the dizzying and scary atmospheres they often conjure with their music.
I absolutely agree with you. Portal definitely does it for me, and I was thinking of Ulcerate as I typed about Portal
Even more funny as he is wearing the shirt in the video. Been listining to their music thanks to Wyatt himself!
i think it's tricky because nearly all music is an inherent abstraction- music has never sought to represent things like how one can paint a bowl of fruit to represent a bowl of fruit, or how scenes in a film show us images of people, landscapes, etc. to represent the real people and landscapes in our minds. We call surrealist art and and film "surrealist" because it does something to break away from the practice of purely representing / retelling. Music as we know it has never possessed a clearcut barrier between representation and abstraction.
When I try to imagine a music that delineates between representation and abstraction, the only thing that comes to mind would be something that uses text to establish something that "makes sense" to the listener, but over the course of the piece break away into the dream-logic territory. But this would essentially just be poetry, since this aim of surrealism is utilizing text, and not pure sound.
Anyways, this train of thought just makes me uncomfortably aware of the mysterious nature of literally ALL music - be it Nurse With Wound, or Ed Sheeran. It is all meaningless and untraceable- but also 100% complete by itself without any prerequisite knowledge gathered from being a human on earth. Great video and topic.
Art itself in its purity is surreal and real at the same time, making it a paradox.
Nice to see you getting into surrealism!
I think it's a very authentic and borderless form of art, making it one of the most honest and human forms of expression there is. What I love about it is that it's not made to be pleasing, it's just pure artistic vision.
I'd say that a lot of The Mars Volta's music, and even more so the lyrics, tends to be pretty surreal. Otherworldly sound design and strange stories are to be expected, though it's still pretty accessible all things considered.
While there is an abundance of Surreal music in the whole spectrum of genres, the post-WWI french neo-classicist scene (Satie, as you mentioned, Ravel, Les Six, Jolivet, even early Messiaen) is -in my opinion- the closest i can think of when it comes to Surreal-IST music, mostly due to their close connections to Surrealist artists like Cocteau, Char, Eluard, and Breton
Nurse With Wound strikes me as surreal music
I fell asleep listening to the Murmuüre album recently. That was fucking surreal when I woke up
Rocking that Bjork album in the back, very cool
I would say Animal Collective match the surrealism concept, especially their earlier stuff. Also Naked City and Current 93 fit that "Juxtaposition" term very well
I was thinking early Animal Collective too!
Not sure if you could count it as surrealist, but the films of Andrei Tarkovsky are very strange and dreamlike, particularly the film Mirror. I highly recommend it to anyone with a keen interest in cinema. Many of his films have actually been uploaded here on youtube.
If I'd take a guess I would say something like The Ruins Of Beverast would be the music playing while looking at a surrealist painting like that of Beksinski, and something like Jute Gyte would be the music playing while in a surrealist painting like Beksinski. I think separating these two definitions is key in describing what is truly surrealistic music, as I believe Jute Gyte is surrealism, and Ruins is not. I think you have to feel like you are in it. Another example I can think of now is Neptunian Maximalism that is a different form of surrealism. One thing to take note of is that each person's severity of surrealism, ie how quickly they FEEL surreal, impacts what is surreal enough. Fiona Apple will certainly fall under surrealism for some and I do consider her work to FEEL pretty surreal.
Mr. Bungle, some Faith No More.
And some bands and artists influenced by Mike Patton like the whole Funk Metal/Avant Garde Metal genre with bands like Primus, Dog Fashion Disco, Diablo Swing Orchestra, Unexpect, Stolen Babies, Pin Up Went Down, and Buckethead.
Mike Patton is a fan of David Lynch who is a surrealist himself, so Mike Patton I would call a surrealist as well.
I think, what makes music surreal is, when it unites the disturbing with the funny, when it leaves the structures behind, that are typical for its genre or music in general and if it reminds you of something that is very familiar, but so deeply buried in the deserts of your mindset, that you just recognize it as a crippled version of the original (for example a memory or feeling from your childhood).
The first album, that gave me that feeling was "Geri Reig", the first album of the Neue Deutsche Welle/Minimal Synth-band Der Plan.
Scott Walker - It's Raining Today, is a perfect example of juxtaposition in music.
in the left ear, there is a more conventional plucked guitar, soft bass and drums. meanwhile in the right ear there are rising, almost dissonant strings which combined together with Walker's crooning give the song this psychedelic, surrealist mood.
impressive given it released in 1969.
I think something worth bringing up is Coil's Time Machines. It's an album made up of 4 lengthy ambient tracks made to make you lose track of time. Whenever I listen to even one track from there I get completely enveloped in its minimal drone textures and it feels like a given amount of time could be one minute or over 20. It's rare enough to get an experience this bizarre and hypnotic, but it's also created with the intent to do so. I think it's a more than worthy contendor to put under the label of surrealist music. Some other individual track examples I think would be Revolution 9 by The Beatles and The Bark And Below It by The Olivia Tremor Control.
I threw this on after I read your comment and 7 minutes went by out of nowhere! Will definitely be giving this a full listen.
I would consider the album "Ceres & Calypso in the Deep Time" by Candy Claws as surreal art
Interesting video; I would think avant garde music like Diamanda Galas, Rich Shapiro, Can, etc could be thought of as surrealist music even though it's not referred to as such by most.
Absolutely, as far as western composers, Satie is one of my favorites. That and Debussy.
Magical Surrealism itself started out being for Surrealism, what hard scifi became for Space Opera. That it developed this literary and near fantasy connatation came much later.
Though books like 100 years of solitude or Wind Up Bird are still more grounded than Surrealism.
As a pianist my own measure for it less trying to be surreal per say, but rather accurately reflect my own dreams and subconcious, and let the listener interpret it.
Trout Mask Replica by Captain Beefheart is the perfect example of surrealist music.
Frank Zappa is a good example of surrealist music
Yes. I’d say Captain Beefheart as well. Trout Mask Replica is very surreal. Even the the cover art.
For those interested in the darker side of surrealism, I'd highly recommend Hal Foster's "Compulsive Beauty". Foster has a darker take on surrealist elements, such as the sinister, compulsive repetition and the uncanny. It's a very interesting read, especially considering the whole Breton-Bataille thing. It really changed the way I understood surrealism.
Also, Lautréamont's "Les Chants de Maldoror", whose line "beautiful as the chance meeting on a dissecting table of a sewing machine and an umbrella" embodies the idea of startling juxtapositions that many surrealist works are known for.
And also, some classic surrealist films like René Clair's "Entr'acte" (which includes Marcel Duchamp and Man Ray playing chess), Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí's "Un Chien Andalou" (famous eye scene) and "L'Age d'Or", and as somedoby already recommended on a previous comment, Luis Buñuel's "The Exterminating Angel", which is a bit more traditionally structured than the others but still delivers quintessential surrealist elements.
I really enjoyed this video, have you heard much of James Ferraro's music? His stuff is incredibly surreal imo, and there's a mountain of his stuff to listen to.
Came to say this
Dear Wyatt,
if you are looking for another artistic scene that was really influential for the music scene, please check out dada! One of the most influential and still inspiring cultural movements in recent memory.
Just the fact that industrial ogs Cabaret Voltaire take their name from the cafeteria in Zurich where dada was born in 1916, and that Merzbow's name comes from Kurt Schwitters and his magnum opus "Merzbau" should say enough... And we are only scratching the surface!
Scrambled Defuncts' "Souls Despising The God" comes to mind. That one will scramble your brain!
Also, look into Sion Sono's filmography, if you haven't already.
Great vid as usual, Wyatt.
For me, I’ve always thought of surrealist music as music that is unorthodox and weird but doesn’t quite enter the avant-garde territory.
In terms of metal, I’d say bands like Portal, Enmity, Dripping, Diskord, Timeghoul, etc. fit the bill pretty well.
What a great video.... really enjoyed it and I am glad you discovered Jodorowsky. Please listen the album “The Hanging Gardens” by Nico
Your music channel is my favourite, it's sincere, not clickbaity, and has interesting topics
Mr. Bungle to me is surreal music.
And I don’t know why but Neoandertals came to mind as well
Let me start by saying that I love your channel, recently discovered it and have been binge watching it ever since.
Really not expecting to see Alejandro Jodorowsky and The Surrealist Manifesto being discussed here but I'm really happy you did.
Allow me to suggest a nice and "smooth" intro to surrealism (if You wish to get deeper into it):
Movies: 'Daisies', 'Un Chien Andalou' (Salvador Dali) and prety much anything made by David Lynch
Painters: Hiëronymus Bosch, Max Erns and Giorgio de Chirico
Books: "The Songs of Maldoror", "Irene's Cunt", "The Blind Owl"
Greatings from Portugal (also check out some of our bands :) Besta, Gaerea, OAK, Juseph, Catacombe, Bas Rotten, Sinistro, Redemptus)
Keep up the great work.
Todesstoss gotta be on the list. One man psychedelic depressive black metal fuckery with a lot of custom surriealist cover paintings
First of all; thank you for all those movie recommendations. I remember watching one of your Diapsiquir videos in which you mentioned Gaspar Noe (I think it was when you tried to describe the 180 album), watching Enter The Void was a wild ride.
When it comes to art I personally don't think there is any objectivity to be had, although there are things upon which most people might agree upon, the experience of art itself (be it music, paintings, movies, games and anything else that fall under that category) will always be subjective.
While we can separate music by different categories of "being good", like how much thought and work was put into the craft, how talented the artist is (which is also subjective, I believe), how well it's written, or how influencing that piece is (be it song, album, or artist's discography), no one will ever experience an art piece the exact same way as the next guy.
We can however help ourselves by making categories or genres, hence why, you could call, like you said, Cannibal Corpse an objectively death metal band. We take the idea of a genre, get certain aspects of it, and put it into music, however; that also gets more complicated with time, as we see loads of artists making cross-genre pieces of music, hence why we get to see more and more subgenres popping up.
We put music into categories and genres, and the more we hear of a certain sound, the more people that tend to create music in that sound, the more normalized it becomes. When someone goes outside the box, so far that it makes people question if it's even music, or if it's even played "correctly" then in my opinion, you could call it surreal. It's going outside of what you're used to, while also maintaining certain aesthetics (or when it comes to movies; symbolism) that you have mentioned.
When it comes to me, when I think of surrealist music first album that comes mind is for sure trout mask replica.
Sorry for the long ahh essay, appreciate all the work that you're doing, it's always a pleasure seeing you trying to make sense of difficult topics, as well as getting recommendations of new music and other media, I will forever be grateful for finding out about Diapsiquir because of you. Also, getting hydrated, which is also really important.
Edit: oh and how could I forget, DJ Rozwell's "NONE OF THIS IS REAL" project
Love the "Post" vinyl in the back and the Portal t-shirt.
As for my thoughts on this topic, I feel like my idea of surreal music would be any album in which its atmosphere is so powerful that it makes you feel like you're somewhere else, or that you're experiencing it yourself. I completely agree about "The Dreaming." That was the first Kate Bush album I got into, and now that I've heard it a few times, it's very easy to get lost in, almost feeling like you're living out the songs as they happen, even though you're just sitting in your room, or whatever. Another album that gives me that feeling is "Telepathic With the Deceased," but obviously in a more miserable way. I'm not a big fan of DSBM, I think most of it is corny and just not that enjoyable, but that album really hits me. I don't just mean sadness either. There's a specific kind of dissociation that I feel with that album, even when I have no idea what Scott is saying. Lastly, I'll say that Portal also affects me in a surreal way. Their demented, hypnotizing playing and the hollow, breathy vocals make me feel like I'm trapped somewhere or I'm being watched.
Maybe I'm just pretentious, but I think you're onto something here, and it's fascinating to think about
Sick Portal shirt.
Nice video. For a suggestion can you possibly make a video talking about your favorite death metal solos? Personally i love solos in death metal and was curious on your thoughts on it. 🙏
Other Surrealist films I would recommend would be Daisies (1966), The Exterminating Angel, and Weekend (1967)... Weekend and Daisies might be argued more as avant-garde depending on who you ask, but I personally feel they fit the category and are some of my favorite movies. I'd also encourage watching more Obayashi films (director of House 1977) as that unique style is still present in so many of his other movies. His style is so unique and bizarre. Also might as well mention Persona (1966), 8 1/2, and The Mirror (1975). Most wouldn't immediately call them surrealism... but they are incredible films with aspects of surrealism within them. ...And I'll end this all with a final recommendation of Tetsuo: the Iron man.
I'd say the quintessential surrealist band is The Residents, especially their album 'Not Available'.
Makes me happy seeing the comments bringing them up
Have you looked much into the genre of "new music"? While not always directly related with surrealism in visual art, many new music pieces kind of mirror a lot of the visual art movements of the back half of the 20th century. You might find some sounds that are more so what you're looking for there
Great channel btw
Checkout Enemy from 2013 by Denis Villeneuve. Keep up the great work man!
As they are actually influenced by surrealist I would say deathspell omega in a metal context. But you also have dada influence.
A good example of surrealist rock music is Faust's first album, which was released a few months after the band formed. There's a lot of studio trickery and nonsensical song structures, which really makes it one of the more surreal albums I know. It was ahead of its time too, as it was released in 1971, and not much today sounds like it
Another one would be the residents' not available, which sounds like aliens listening to western music and trying to replicate it. Sounds are constantly being juxtaposed against each other too. Pretty sounding instrumentals are often pair with off-key group vocals and vice versa. Great stuff imo
Also ofc there's trout mask replica, where every band member sounds like they're playing a different song entirely, with hilariously nonsensical lyrics. Although that's more Dadaist than anything
What is surreal music is an interesting q! I have a different take: surreal anything of ANY art form could be thought how and extrapolated from how we think of “what makes painting art surreal”, arguably the most well known example from all art forms.
Then, to generalize that answer, it seems we’d arrive at something like “a piece where we can recognize items or notions from reality, but they are represented or combined in a completely unrealistic manner”. Also in common for such art (but NOT unique to only surreal art) is that it typically evokes a particular, subjective feeling or state of mind, instead of answering or highlighting explainable or logical type of issues.
Fast forward to music. I think, if you had 1000 average / random people listen to LOTS of the very fringe music YOU, as someone who is familiar with an incredibly vast array of non-straightforward music, they could easily have called it “surreal”, if one could explain them the comparison to surreal art I mentioned above.
Cool video. I often wonder what specific paintings might sound like. Whaddya think "The Garden of Earthly Delights" would sound like?
I recently watched Tetsuo - The Iron Man. Great surrealist film
One of my favorite body horrors
Basically the movie equivalent of industrial music
new wyatt video always an instant click
Interesting topic. I'm not sure I know how to differentiate surrealism from "they play weird music", which is just wrong. That could be summed up as eclectic, or eccentric, but surreal? Not sure where to go with this.
Beefheart and Nurse with Wound
Jean Cocteau.. the godfather of surrealist cinema
First album I thought of is bobby beausoleil lucifer rising
dear wyatt, you would have loved going to my college
I don't know if it's technically surreal or not, at the same time subjectively there are some avantgarde operas with a strong absurdist element. Shostackovich - Nose. Penderecki - Den Teufel von Loudun. Zimmerman - Die Soldaten. Xenakis - Kraenerg. Ligeti - the Grand Macabre. And the list goes on and on with avantgarde composers.
Try these -- Das Synthetische Mischgewebe / Bladder Flask / Mixed Band Philanthropist / Nurse With Wound..
I'd call some of thought industry's music surrealist, i'm listening to outer space is just a martini away rn
Maybe some pieces by Natasha Barrett could count; she’s an electroacoustic composer who more recently has been using a lot of ambisonic field recordings, which immerse the listener in a realistic environment before it’s gradually morphed into something impossible.
I guess Trevor Wishart’s Redbird could also count.
And Renaldo & the Loaf probably do.
Certainly Mr Bungle’s Disco Volante, as a few have already said.
Maybe something like Ho by Runzelstirn & Gurgelstock.
And perhaps Skopofoboexoskelett
by 夢遊病者
A good example of something surreal really disorienting is the short discography of Vorak, from what i understand is that he tried to combine black metal and classical music, but failed miserably, and although he attended a conservatotrium it almost feels like he doesnt have no musical education, it sounds so jumbled and inconsistent, its like a 100 songs playing at once, but thats what makes it special, rarely do you get something so weird.
never heard of this dude.. definitely worth listening to :D
Please tell me you watched the Czech movie Lunacy! It's subtitled and like 4 hours long, but up there with Eraserhead as one of my favorite weird AF movies I torture my friends with. Also, Léolo which i believe is Canadian and in French and weird.
Gonna have to check out the ones you mentioned that I haven't seen
Jan Švankmajer is a one of a kind filmmaker and one of my favorites. A true pioneer and innovator.
Wonderful movie
When it comes surrealist music my mind goes to experimental electronic musicians like The Books, Oneotrix Point Never, Actress, James Ferraro Sloussen Malone and Matmos
Another important mention would be Nicolas Jaar with the album Pomegranates, which was intended as an unofficial alternative soundtrack to the movie The Colour of Pomegranates, and it surtenly captures the surrealis feeling that movie evokes
albert?
The Residents
Watch Santa Sangre as well!
Personally, early James Ferraro is most surreal music I know. Every 2009-2010 album he made sounds like a fever dream or exploration of the subconsciousness, Jarvid 9: Gecko for instance
I would consider Autechre's 2013-2018 output to be some of the most surreal music I've ever listened to. Many of the sounds are just so unnatural and they almost never "tell" the listener what to feel emotion wise, so it all comes off as strange and disconnected from reality. One of my favorite examples of this is their song nineFly off of NTS Sessions 3. It's a freakish collection of sounds that almost create a techno beat but it's so off it doesn't even register in my brain as being electronic, it just sounds so alien and disjunct, it doesn't sound real. I'd also say some of Coin Locker Kid's output could be considered surrealist, but I'm not as sure about that one.
Not surrealist, but definitely mind fucking music
Arrigo Barnabé - Clara Crocodilo
And dali is my fav , and love holy mountain, check El topo, and Santa sangre same director, check blue velvet the twin peaks all epsodes are great i might be comming off the rails but , antichrist, pink flamingos and I first watched with my mom, now I can see almost anything with the mom when she visits haha
I keep editing this, but only surrealist albums I can think of is the clash sandinista, and ministry dark side of the spoon, i could be off but I tryed
The Pixies were influenced by Dali and surrealism. They have a song called "un chien andalusien", that is named after the Salvador Dali movie of the same name. If you haven´t already, you should definately check that out. And all other movies by Dali.
Isnt that song called Debaser?
I think that the title track to Brian Eno’s Here Come the Warm Jets is objectively surrealism
ZARDOZ SPEAKS TO YOU
holy shit he has actual thumbnails now!
Freud was Austrian
Post vinyl W
Or like early Cabaret Voltaire
how surreal
By the way Surrealism was superseded by daDa (a [sub]conscious rejection of Freudianism..
Check out Yabujin
Or, conversely, is there Realist Music? Can music be realistic? Or is it by its nature and intrinsically an abstraction of our minds?
I think 1970s German band Faust was always deeply surrealist rather than psychedelic
Dream Pop is a good take on what type of sound surrealist music could be, as far as textures and feel goes. But the fact that tempos tend to be fairly regular (4/4, 6/8) throws me off a bit. Surrealist music should be strange.
Mr Bungle always sounded surrealist to me, especially Disco Volante. Neptunian maximalism, Swans...anything that is fucking weird. The first section on Mike Oldfield's Incantantions should fit, as well as the last section of Tubular Bells with that sort of troll with gutural voice.
Remember that surrealism just means _super realism_ , latin _super_ meaning over or on top of. So it is beyond realism, and therefore, weird and far from convention.
Edit: typos
edgard varese
also i'm not seeing comments about zappa. the live albums from the seventies and especially 80's were great emcompassings of world music and otherworldly escapades
Bladee neg diffs everything you mentioned.
yoko
Where in the FUCK can I get that Portal shirt? 😂
If you know you are going to say something wrong, why don't you check the pronunciation on youtube?