But it's actually not all that weird of an instrument to play: To produce sound on this giant lithophone, simply hit the keys as you would on a normal organ. This weird instrument has since been embraced by the likes of Gorillaz and Daft Punk, who used it on ‘Touch.” The Great Stalacpipe Organīased in the Luray Caverns in Virginia, this cave organ produces sound by tapping ancient stalactites with rubber mallets. One of its main supporters nowadays is Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood, who used it for some of the unearthly moments on Kid A (notably on “How to Disappear Completely”). On the Murmur track “We Walk,” producer Mitch Easter slowed down a recording of billiard balls clanking into one another, making a deep and ominous sound.Ī close cousin to the theremin, this late 20s device made a similar spooky sound but was easier to get accurate notes from. Often mistaken for simple guitar-bass-drum albums, the early R.E.M. Like a brass instrument, it has a mouthpiece you blow into, the same as a cornett or tuba (both of which are descendants of this instrument). On the woodwind side, you have sound holes, similar to what you have with a clarinet or bassoon. This weird snake-shaped music-maker is a strange wind instrument that is a bit of a hybrid between woodwinds and brass. Composed of a large number of glass bowls in a row, it's a weird and beautiful acoustic instrument. Glass HarmonicaĮver been amazed at the sound of a wine glass? So was Benjamin Franklin, who was so enamored by its harmonious effects, that he went ahead and invented the glass harmonica. Though the video has Keith Moon and Roger Daltrey miming on the instrument, it was really Pete Townshend playing. Usually a sound effect used in more comical music, The Who gave it a moment of glory in “Join Together,” even making it the lead instrument in the intro. While a friend apparently invented the device, Waits was likely responsible for its punning name. The conundrum was a rack equipped with all manner of metal junk and machine parts, and the album wouldn’t have been half as unsettling without it.
Weird stringed instruments full#
Homemade percussion is another art-rock tradition those early King Crimson albums were full of unique “percussives.” But percussive chaos was essential to Bone Machine, the 1992 Tom Waits album that took his career into uncharted territory. The result looks like a Pablo Picasso cubist painting, with 42 strings in four separate sections. This harp guitar was commissioned by Pat Metheny, who reportedly asked instrument designer Linda Manzer to create a guitar with the most strings possible.
Only Eno knows what these weird instruments did, but you’d probably miss them if they weren’t there.
Weird stringed instruments movie#
He’d just used a bicycle horn on The Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds track “You Still Believe in Me,” but outdid himself by making this electronic device a key element of “Good Vibrations.” The 1993 movie Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey, built a real mystique around the instrument, with Wilson honored as one of its pioneers.Īrabesque, Snake Guitars, Electric Larynx, Uncertain Pianoīrian Eno’s instrumental credits are worth a study in themselves, and these were among the many instruments that Eno played on his various solo albums. Thereminīy 1966, Brian Wilson was no stranger to strange instruments. Here’s our overview of some of the weirdest instruments we've come across. And from Stylophones to pool balls, the world of music is full of memorably odd sounds and incredible instruments. In the context of the rock world back then? Definitely strange. The viola, by itself, isn't weird of course. Obviously "strange" or "weird" is a relative term. Sometimes it takes a weird instrument to push a record into greatness – and Reed ought to know, since The Velvet Undergroundwas probably the first rock band with a viola player. Sorry, Lou, but that’s not always the case.
Weird instruments? Why bother? Indeed, Lou Reed once wrote “you can’t beat two guitars, bass, and drums,” in the liner notes of his 1989 album, New York.
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