Timeless psychedelia: Ty's wordless
- Jan 12, 2024
- 7 min read
Updated: Jan 13
By Ty Breuer
Thanks for tuning into my wordless mix. I compiled these tunes in a week, but have listened to some of them for years and in the past year even made some instrumental music of my own. Here is an overview of my 100 vox-less jams:
Selections can be placed into the following crude categories: Indie Rock, Classic Rock, Cumbia, Acoustic, Ambient, and Improvised/Avant-garde music. That might be a good way to get through this without any silly singer telling you what to do!
The Indie Rock selections could just be all Yo La Tengo instrumentals, but in choosing one I went with "Green Arrow"– though you can’t go wrong with any of ‘em. More exciting jams from Cave and Goat will make you upset you are just hearing about these bands now. Julianna Barwick could also take over this section, but I chose her tune with Jónsi to satisfy that Sigur rush. No instrumental list is complete without Mogwai and “Kids Will Be Skeletons” is probably the snowy walk theme song for any person reading this. Other highlights include a funky Air track, the rare mellow release from The Fucking Champs, some steel from SUSS, and some lo-fi perfection from Purling Hiss. Back to the steel, or pedal steel guitar, it's all over this playlist - be sure to check out Chuck Johnson, Ducks LTD, and my buds Hamilton Belk and Patrick Lee. About a quarter of these tunes have the sad machine in the mix.
Strokes member Albert Hammond Jr.’s solo work is wonderful and I am happy to include his composition “Spooky Couch” – its a beaut. Be sure to give “Swamp Song” by Oasis, yes Oasis, or “Lower the Heavens” by San Diego’s The Donkeys or the 107 Faunos (outta Buenos Aires) or El Mato a un Policia Motorizado (La Plata) entries to remember you are listening to rock n’ roll.
Classic Rock starts with “Classical Gas” and passes through Santana’s “Soul Sacrifice” and wraps up with ZZ Top’s “Asleep in the Desert.” Some acoustic Sabbath bridges the gap to some punishing prog rock by Rush and even Maiden and ‘Tallica. The Allmans, The Who, and Edgar Winter, and Floyd fill out your popular names. For more guitar fireworks, be sure to check out the Babe Ruth entry and don’t listen to anything after “Eruption” cuz there is no point (except for any swaggering Booker T. song, the slide on “Sleepwalking,” or dirt on “Rumble”). Those are untouchable. New to me the past few years: Ashra for you Kraut-rawkers and Federale for more of that Morricone cinescape.
I included some classics in the sense of standards, like a cumbia version of “In the Hall of The Mountain King” and “In A Sentimental Mood” (the latter being the first dance song at my wedding, the former being a chicha cover of my band, Don Chicharron - an act previously mentioned on this blog).
The actual Cumbia section of this list hints at a few different takes of the genre. Cumbia has an incredible amount for branches in its tree – each country/state/city/part of a city that plays it has a multitude of approaches to its sound and lucky for you, plenty of wordless catalogs to step to. A fine start is the rebajada (or slower bpm) trance of Ezmeralda or take your pick of the grip of Peruvian artists on this list, including Los Mirlos, Los Wembler’s, or Los Destellos (the only band on here twice). These guys are heroes. Electronic influence in cumbia works quite well for this playlist as does the entire discography of Nicola Cruz or El Buho (largely 4-on-the-floor club grooves). Psychedelic sounds weave in perfectly and rip in live settings – see CDMX’s Sonido Gallo Negro. Ondatrópica's “Swing de Gillan” is my favorite song to DJ. Although distinctly Reggaeton, Tainy put out his first solo album this year and did an instrumental version of it too. He is behind some of Bad Bunny’s biggest hits and on his own is very fulfilling.
Acoustic instrumentals are all over this list and could find themselves in any of these other categories but here are a few selections that you can really hear some fret noises and pedal dampening throughout. “Juvenescence” off of Yasmin William’s Urban Driftwood is wonderful, the whole album is perfect. Marisa Anderson is a great follow up. Steve Gunn in whatever capacity gets a lot of play on the family hi-fi, and here is a collaboration of his that you can stare off into your couch with. Denver dude Miles Eichner put out an EP this year and I am just putting the first track on here in hopes you will give it all a spin. Add some bird noises to your dreadnought and you get Hayden Pedigo. Harp does good on this list, but it's Mary Lattimore’s compositions that make it great. How the hell did Lee Ranaldo make it on here? Paul Maroon from the Walkmen too?
Ambient is the throughline for most of this list if you remove “Grazing in the Grass” haha. Of course there is Eno, but have you heard Eno + Harmonia? Heavy electronics layer out this Fennesz entry and get intense on “Dissolution Grip” by KMRU. There’s a ton of this kind of stuff out there, but trying to get some more ambient cosmic country on this list was important – give North Americans, William Tyler, or Luke Schneider a long desert drive. Denver metal-gawds, Blood Incantation, are known to do straight ambient synth and if you dig that give This Will Destroy You a shot. War on Drugs can chill with the best of them too – check out this transition track that holds up to any of their anthems. And if anthems is what you want, Stars Of The Lid made a career out of doing them ambiently. Lastly, Emily Sprague puts out a great album every year.
Let’s wrap up by letting loose with this Improvised/Avant-garde section (or that is what I am calling it). Nicolas Jaar’s album Telas and the tune “Telehora” captures textures and tones not heard elsewhere on this list – it's a wild ride. Not relaxing. Hilarious person Ryley Walker and ripping band Kikagaku Moyo link up for this strictly improv release – check out both acts for lots of wordless exploration. Wheelchair Sports Camp did a soundtrack to Alice in Wonderland a couple years back that was mixed to the point of absurdity – like I don’t know how they did it. I love when the Dead improvised (at least during certain stretches of their career) and this excerpt between China-Rider is a lesson in trashing mixolydian scales. Banjo sounds good in this setting – thanks Daniel Bachman. Bitchin Bajas is more relaxing but just as long as some of these other jammier selections.
OK that’s it – those are all of the words I can write about these songs given the circumstance. Final thought: my favorite song on this list –"Claire de lune."
Tracklist: Ty's wordless
Classical Gas — Mason Williams
Soul Sacrifice — Santana
Asleep in the Desert (Instrumental) — ZZ Top
La Villa Strangiato — Rush
Patience Wearing Thin — Ducks Ltd.
Himmelgeist (Remastered 2005) — Rheingold
Spooky Couch — Albert Hammond Jr.
It’s All Is — Robert Stillman
Ojos Locos — Purling Hiss
Lower the Heavens — The Donkeys
Swing de Gillian — Ondatrópica
Gamm — Cave
Stoned Wanderer — The Reeds, Pinks and Purples
Mind Left Body Jam – Live, June 26/28, 1974 — Grateful Dead
Jocotoco Antpitta — Nicolás Cruz
Tlacotlan — El Búho
Juvenescence — Yasmine Williams
The Haunting Idle — The War On Drugs
Goatband — Goat
In a Sentimental Mood — Duke Ellington, John Coltrane
The Last Black Man in San Francisco — Emile Mosseri
Peperomia Seedling — Green-House
Song of Injured Love — Gábor Szabó
Happy Cycling — Boards of Canada
The Big Ship (2004 Remaster) — Brian Eno
Caracol — Tremor
Kids Will Be Skeletons — Mogwai
In a Mirror — Lumas Casino
We Trigger the Sun — Fennesz
First Piano — Paul Maroon
Ashokan Farewell — Goldmund
An Enormous Breath / Intro — Miles Eichner
Cobra — My Morning Jacket
Rucho — El Metálo a un Policía Motorizado
Triceratops Roll — 107 Faunos
Vendetta — Federale
Telahora — Nicolás Jaar
Leaves Lying On Each Side — Daniel Bachman
Serotiny — Chuck Johnson
Carthage — Hayden Pedigo
Slow Night’s Static — William Tyler
Midnight — SUSS
Sun At 5 In 4161 — Andrew Tuttle
Good Doer — North Americans
somnificus — Luke Schneider
Smaller Rivers — Sam Prekop
In Waves — Marisa Anderson
Dungtitled (In a Major) — Stars Of The Lid
Double Jointed — Japancakes
Horizon — Emily A. Sprague
Sometimes He’s In My Dreams — Mary Lattimore
Saw You Through the Trees — Eerie Gaits
Borderland Sorrows — Slow Meadow
For a Chisos Bluebonnet — Eli Winter
Lucerito Mirando a la Nada — Ezmeralda
Green Arrow — Yo La Tengo
In Light — Julianna Barwick, Jónsi
Rooftop — This Will Destroy You
Ea: First Movement — Blood Incantation
Dissolution Grip — KMRU
Rabbit Hole — Wheelchair Sports Camp, Michelle Rocquet, DJ Egadz, Felix Ayodele
Sonido Amazonico — Los Mirlos
Un Silbido Amoroso — Los Wembler’s de Iquitos
Serenata Guajira — Sonido Gallo Negro
Boogaloo del Perro — Los Destellos
Guajira Sicodélica — Los Destellos
Vanishing Breed — Patrick Lee
Losfer Words (Big ’Orra) (2015 Remaster) — Iron Maiden
Lamplighter — The Fucking Champs
Laguna Sunrise (2021 Remaster) — Black Sabbath
Orion (Remastered) — Metallica
Last Donut of the Night — J Dilla
EN VISTO (instrumental) — Tainy
Semillas de Luz — Los Espíritus
Pour Dampness Down In The Stream — Ryley Walker, Kikagaku Moyo
Angels and Demons at Play — Bitchin Bajas
In Virus Times, Pt. 2 — Lee Ranaldo
Almost — Harmonia & Eno ’76
Heavy Air — Pure X
Aladdin och lampan (Version 1) — Dungen
The Swamp Song (Remastered) — Oasis
Embryonic Journey — Jefferson Airplane
The Rock — The Who
La femme d’argent — Air
In Memory of Elizabeth Reed — Allman Brothers Band
Time Is Tight — Booker T. & the M.G.’s
Frankenstein — The Edgar Winter Group
Rumble — Link Wray & The Wraymen
Interstellar Overdrive — Pink Floyd
Grazing In The Grass — Hugh Masekela
Eruption — Van Halen
For a Few Dollars More (1994 Remaster) — Babe Ruth
Sleep Walk — Santo & Johnny
Freeway Jam — Jeff Beck
Pacific Theme — Broken Social Scene
En la Gruta del Rey de la Montaña — Don Chicharrón
Over the Dune — Steve Gunn, David Moore, Bing & Ruth
77 Slightly Delayed — Ashra
Between Two Worlds — Meg Baird, Mary Lattimore
Clair de lune — Claude Debussy, Alexis Weissenberg
(If you've got your own favorite wordless music to share, check out our open and public collaborative playlist. And if you want to create one of these mixes and write a blog about it, send us a note! wordlesscollective[at]gmail[dot]com.)
Comments