Simultaneous songs in stereo

mixed_biscuits

_________________________
One of the random things I bought this weekend was Luther Blissett - The Open Pop Star, a multi-artist ('Luther Blissett' is to the contributors a multiple-use nom-de-plume, an 'open reputation') cd of various oddities, mostly electronica.

Anyway, the third track is two different songs played concurrently: Merzbow in the left channel and Ladybird in the right. The tracks differ in style but can be listened to together without being any more grating than Merzbow can be heard in isolation, or listened to separately by panning.

Does anyone know of any similar experiments - ideally an entire 'dual layer' stereo album?
 

noel emits

a wonderful wooden reason
There's Ornette Coleman's 'Free Jazz' album which consists of two seperate groups playing different things in either channel. Also Flaming Lips 'Zaireeka' which goes several channels better, being 4 CDs intended to be played simultaneously.
 

john eden

male pale and stale
The original version of Lee Perry's Blackboard Jungle Dub features different mixes in the left and right channels and is wicked. You can mix it up using the "balance" knob.

Psychic TV's Roman P 7" on Sordide Sentimale features a double groove b-side (i.e two grooves running in parallel so it's random which one gets picked up by the stylus) one of the tracks features spoken word by Jim Jones in one channel and Charles Manson in the other. I think.

I've got that Luther Blissett CD somewhere as well - will have to give it another listen. :cool:
 

STN

sou'wester
Oh look, Psychic TV have appeared on this thread, what a surprise!

My mate's dad once told me that in the early 70s him and his pals would get two stereos and play Led Zep on one and choral chanting on the other. I daresay it sounded awful but there you are.
 

Benny Bunter

Well-known member
Yeah, Zaireeka is mental if you ever get the chance to listen to it properly There's a bit where somebody screams out of all four speakers at once and you shit yer pants:cool:

Also there's the Boris album 'drone/evil'. Two cds to be played simultaneously, one with 'evil' metal riffs, the other with feedback drones and cymbals. Its one of their best albums actually, not gimmicky at all, just a bit of a pain in the arse to set up.
 

Mr Jeg

suck your thumb
^Neurosis have something in a similar vein as well - their sister band Tribes of Neurot's album 'Grace' is meant to be played at the same time as the 'Times of Grace' album. The TON album is more of an add-on (ambient textures and sounds for the most part) than an essential part of listening, though.
 

woops

is not like other people
Merzbow and Ladybird did an album, Balance, which is all stereo panned as you request.

Ladybird do a nice karaoke version of It Only Takes A Minute Girl sung over the Popcorn melody. Hmm it's a mashup.
 

Benny Bunter

Well-known member
I think Spiritualized's 'Pure Phase' album was supposed to have two different mixes, one in each channel, but I've never been able to tell from listening to it :slanted:
 

Gabba Flamenco Crossover

High Sierra Skullfuck
The double lead vocal thing that Marvin Gaye does in 'What's Going On' was an accident: he'd cut two vocals and couldn't decide which one he preferred, so he asked the engineer to give him both vocals, mixed hard left and hard right respectively, over a mono backing track... so Marv could flip between them at home with his stereo balance control (in between doing stupid amounts of charlie). Except the engineer accidently mixed the whole thing to mono. Luckily Marvin liked it and decided to do the whole album like that.
 
Not to harp on the F'Lips thing, but the basis of Zaireeka was Wayne Coyne's earlier symphony for car stereos in Austin ('97 I think), where he recorded onto multiple cassettes, set up a few dozen cars in a circle and got mates to fire them off at the same time. They tried a few more times with tape decks in clubs and whatnot.

But not helpful for this thread. Good morning! :confused:
 

mistersloane

heavy heavy monster sound
I did an entirely left/right channel noise opera once at the ICA called "mangina's oedipus rex', I can up it if anyone really really wants but it was one of those 'you had to be there' things I think, 5K rig, massive...
 

Benny Bunter

Well-known member
How about the Velvet Underground's 'Murder mystery' from the third album, with the simultaneous spoken word sections?
 

woops

is not like other people
critically panned

some of the old bruce haack stuff has the drums in one channel and everything else in the other, presumably to smash up the dancefloor. I think a song called party machine is an example of this.

sometimes on old jazz lps you see a note saying one soloist plays in the left and the other in the right. I suppose that's so you can compare styles and be that much more of a connoisseur.
 

Octopus?

Well-known member
^Neurosis have something in a similar vein as well - their sister band Tribes of Neurot's album 'Grace' is meant to be played at the same time as the 'Times of Grace' album. The TON album is more of an add-on (ambient textures and sounds for the most part) than an essential part of listening, though.

Not to mention the Tribes of Neurot "Adaptation & Survival" project consisting of multiple 7" inches of insect sounds processed and unprocessed designed to be played simultaneously, one at a time or in whatever combination you desire. That is, if listening to swarms of insects angrily buzzing around you is what does it for you.

They also released it on CD, which doesn't exactly have the same effect. Some parts do sound quite nice and immersive, a little like that "Broken Hearted Dragonflies" CD on Sublime Frequencies.
 
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