Staff Pix 4/4: Instrumental

Toot toot! Dum dum dahhhh… Tweedlee-dee, tweedledee-da, wah woh… This week’s all about instruments! Here’s what the staff’s been rootin’ and tootin’ about.

“最後の楽園” by Haruomi Hosono

If there is one thing in life I am guaranteed to do, it’s rave about Haruomi Hosono, Shigeru Suzuki, and Tatsuro Yamashita’s brilliantly dreamy Pacific. Give me the chance (and you have) and I will never stop talking about this melodic masterpiece, especially the opening track: “最後の楽園.” That first piano flourish, rattling drum, and rippling synth marks the inception of a journey of eternal summertime sunshine, one in which I cannot tear myself away from. It’s brilliantly arranged and grapples various synthesizers and points of percussion into a masterful showcase of an illusionary daydream. With not a single verse accompanying the instrumentalism, both the song, and the album as a whole, are transcendent and miraculously create an unparalleled depiction of dreamy nostalgia. This track in particular sets the tone for the work as Hosono displays his particular way to communicate such a daunting feeling, to expand storytelling, to remember summer days. —Sophie Parrish

“Perfection (Instrumental)” by Marvin Gaye

Imagine you slip on your jorts and a t-shirt, put on a beanie, lace up your worn high-tops, and hop on your red bike, Rocket. You pedal down the street of your beautiful sunny neighborhood and all your neighbors are coming out of their doors with big smiles, waving. You pull up to Main Street and rest your bike against a tree. You step into the local diner, “The Golden Apple,” and you ask Monica for a slice of the daily—yes you want it a lá mode. You eat the pie at the counter on your favorite red-leather stool next to Joe Butter, who is wearing his signature pink Uggs. The bell rings on the way out and you are off to skip rocks at Pebble Pond. You find the perfect stone—smooth and flat—and it skips seven times. A heart forms from the last ripple and you look at yourself in the water. Your reflection smiles back. What a perfect day! —Christian Jones

“The Sure Shot (parts 1 and 2) - Instrumental” by Adrian Younge

I found God at TD Garden. God being subjective, of course, but nevertheless, I found this song that fateful September night, and that’s all that matters. Setting the mood before the Arctic Monkeys took the stage, “The Sure Shot” instrumental ripped throughout the anticipatory crowd. And just another warm-up track it was not! This was high art! The nastiest drum I’ve maybe ever heard, driving the horns into precarious breakdowns. We were not worthy! I subsequently whipped out my Shazam faster than you can say it. Adrian Younge has since become one of my favorite musicians/producers, seamlessly blending jazz, psychedelic, and funk. “The Sure Shot” instrumental is from the B-side of his collaboration album with Ghostface Killah, Adrian Younge Presents: Twelve Reasons To Die, that is a treat on its own, layered with tracks on par to the sauce of this pick. I could hit repeat all day on this one until my neck inevitably creaks from a groove overload. —Sofia Giarrusso

“Open Eye Signal” by Jon Hopkins

The peak of house music. Bold statement, but there really are few other pieces of music that hits quite like “Open-Eye Signal,” or really, the entirety of Jon Hopkins’ Immunity. Just listen to the production on this track; the glitching synths, the faint, scattershot samples, the way the entire thing expands and contracts like some great, biomechanical lung heaving for air. The song lives and breathes, pulsing with a mystifying rhythm that extends beyond the confines of 4-on-the-floor house and transmutes into something else entirely. When the track reaches its event horizon of a climax–a mountain of synthesizers on full blast, kick drum crowbarring its way right into the soul–it’s an experience best described as spiritually cleansing. Though that’s only just moments before the track takes a seismic drop all the way back down the mountainside, stripping itself bare of everything but a laser-gun synth and stank face-worthy bass. In an instant, “Open Eye Signal” shifts from the ethereal to the substantial, from incorporeal feeling to the very much physical sensation of bass. There’s nothing quite like it. —Lucca Swain

“Afterthought” by Fugazi

Fugazi knew what they were doing when they recorded Instrument Soundtrack in 1999, the soundtrack for the band’s documentary film Instrument. From the album, “Afterthought” has a special place in my heart because of its twinkling, playful beat that makes for a nostalgic and whimsical listen. At times the synth shines and at others it’s the piano playing; the song rises and falls. Either way, once you hit play, don’t be surprised when “Afterthought” transports you with its interchangeably synchronized/unsynchronized beat, twinkling chimes, or lower beat that grunts. —Heather Thorn

“Boost” by Astrid Sonne

Pumped from the special factory in Copenhagen that makes wonderful contemporary musicians, Astrid Sonne and her sleek, minimal pop songs creep around with the uncanniness only possible in a well executed midi arrangement. “Boost” is a center instrumental from her most recent album, Great Doubt. The track opens with pumping synths. Electronic chirps and smooth, formless bass chugs the whole composition together. Slowly mounting all of these parts together, a smokey few seconds of silence urge you to listen deep for differences in a rotating cast of drum presets. Halfway through the track the dam breaks loose, digging into the funkiest, eeriest jam in recent memory. The groove is hot, but it’s laced with an uneasiness only born from a bright, Scandinavian smile. —Nathan Hilyard

“The Whale” by Electric Light Orchestra

ELO’s 1977 double LP Out of The Blue is undoubtedly their landmark record, featuring seventeen songs of disco-rock masterpieces backed by an array of synths and strings. Each song stands on its own, with many becoming super hits among the ELO catalog, but one strange tune stands out on the D-side. “The Whale” is a four-minute, foreboding synth odyssey that communicates a strange feeling of triumph while submerging the listener underwater with echoing keys and moog sounds that mimic whale noises. The track feels disconnected from its poppy counterparts, but is a testament to ELO’s diverse plethora of sounds during the peak of their career, giving listeners a strange oceanic journey to come back to years down the line.  —Sam Shipman

“Windowlicker” by Aphex Twin

A six-minute masterpiece. A low growl brings the song to life as we enter my favorite complex atmosphere by Richard James. We dive into syncopation and overlapped beats, immediately sprinkled with delicious synth drags and glitches. Then, the vocalizations take the stage; not words but the voice taking on the role of instrument. Blending seamlessly with drum machines, the hypnotization easily sets in. “Windowlicker” travels in a spiral, somehow descending upwards. With one-minute left, the song explodes into a cacophony of sound, expanding in every which way. Everything overlaps, every sound blurs together emulating static. But, through it all, there is a driving beat that takes us on this journey. A high-pitched whine guides us to the end of the track, allowing us to gently float back to the ground. “Windowlicker” leaves you feeling more alive than ever before. —Izzie Claudio