Sonic Seduction Music

[Roxine Denison]

Iwouldn't say that "everybody" knows The Walkmen's 2004 hit "The Rat"--obviously, in a country of 310 million people, some of those folks are a bit more familiar with the entire oeuvre of Taylor Swift many times over than are even slightly acquainted with The Walkmen's biggest single. However, in indie rock circles, "The Rat" is one of those definitive songs of the '00s. Its insistent guitars, its desperate drums and the indignant, croaky vocals of that guy singing way too high for his range became a familiar staple on college radio. I always admired its sheer propulsion and sense of plain pissed-off-ness, but mostly just abstractly. That guy though? Hamilton Whatshisname? Why does he do that cartoonish rising-and-falling thing with his vocal lines, a la Dylan? Wasn't my taste.

Sitting down with Lisbon, the band's new record, reminded me of a few things, though. 1) Almost no single song has ever fully encapsulated an artist or band, 2) Even a DJ forgets that simply letting songs just kind of "pass by," only half-listened-to, does both the band and the listener a disservice, 3) Man, listening to a whole album can change everything, and finally, 4) I should really read more reviews more often--because everything I discovered on this record is the stuff countless reviewers have been saying about this band for years.

Duh, right? OK, give me a second here. No, "The Rat" isn't even that representative of what The Walkmen are about at all. These guys are masters of texture and atmosphere, and furthermore, atmosphere in the service of beautifully dejected, I'm-the-last-guy-at-this-bar kind of heartache. Ironically, I love artists who tread in this territory: Tom Waits, American Music Club, The Pogues--and here was another one right under my nose! There is an awful lot of seduction in The Walkmen's music. It reveals sonic spaces that reside just down at the end of the alley, or at the other end of the bar, inviting you to approach them rather than them coming to you.

On Lisbon, a song like "Blue As Your Blood" begins completely unassumingly, then sneaks up on you with a giant bloom of aural majesty, the string pad in the chorus sounding like dawn peeking through a hangover. The military-band brass of "Stranded" is also a touch that gives the song a kind of elegiac, funeral-party-raising-glasses-at-a-wake kind of wooziness. The band even has the audacity to title a song "Woe Is Me"--a move even the aforementioned American Music Club's famously brooding Mark Eitzel wouldn't attempt-- but it works, without being maudlin or sinking into parody. Why? I'm not sure, I think it might be magic or something.

The rawk is still there, of course: if there's an analogue to "The Rat" on Lisbon it's "Angela Surf City." This time around, it's not quite as straightforward lyrically (indeed, whatever Hamilton Leithauser is singing about here, I'm missing it), but the tune still packs a pretty hefty, growly punch. "Follow the Leader" could be seen as a two-minute throwaway of raspy slop, but in the album's overall cinematic context, even this song feels at home as a kind of odd sonic way-station in the narrative.

And Leithauser's singing? It grew on me. More than that; I now hear it as an integral, and even (*gasp*) seductive component of the whole romantic, amber, almost nostalgic canvas The Walkmen are working with.

I am very happy to say that I'll go back to The Walkmen's Lisbon again and again, and also that I'm much more inspired to check out their entire back catalog now than ever before. All Music Guide described Lisbon as on the "happier" side of The Walkmen's output. If that's the case, I'm excited to discover even greater delights of gorgeous dejection ahead.

Twenty seconds of listening to the first song of an album can relay a lot of information, and the first 10 seconds of St. Paul & The Broken Bones' Half The City are pure seduction. From the outset of "I'm Torn Up," the band was seemingly whispering, Hello, sweetheart. Forget all your musical woes. We can take things from here.

St. Paul and the Broken Bones have solidified themselves as performers who serve their recoded material by electrifying it with forceful stage presence. After the spacial lines are dissolved, these guys proved an entertainer's ability to intimately capivate an audience establishes their legacy more than producing an album with a fine-toothed comb ever could.

Since that time, many researchers have studied the workings of the mind and the role of the subconscious in rational decision-making, leading to the seminal work of Noble Prize winner Professor Daniel Kahneman and his book, Thinking Fast and Slow. In it, he describes two systems that control thinking and decision-making: System 1, which is fast, intuitive and emotional; and System 2, which is slower, deliberate, and logical. He found that 95 percent of human decision-making takes place in the subconscious System 1.

The race was then on for brands to tap the extraordinary power of the subconscious mind and find new ways to subliminally seduce consumers. Now, instead of hidden messages in words and pictures, a new tactic is to use sound to tickle the imagination and stimulate a reflexive impulse to buy.

Since the 60s, brands have been licensing popular songs for advertising, but the high cost of licensing such tunes has given way to more brands creating their own songs, like Farmers Insurance, hearkening back to the early days of corporate jingles.

There are some well-researched guidelines about how retailers should program music in the shopping environment. For example, slow music is better than fast. Slow music encourages shoppers to move more slowly through the store and to spend more time picking things up, touching and interacting in the environment. Fast music tends to make them move faster, so they quickly get what they want and move out. Since higher retail sales are directly correlated to how much time people spend in the store, slower-paced music should be the choice.

It is the same with volume. Loud music, just like fast music, encourages people to move quickly to get out. Soft music creates a comfortable environment encouraging a shopper to spend more time there. For luxury retailers and those retailers that want to drive more high-end purchases, classical music has been found to make people more willing to trade up in price.

Retailers large and small could take a hint from HSBC to think of ways to incorporate distinctive sound notes and ring tones into their websites, mobile apps, and in-store. For example, a branded ringtone could be used upon completion of a transaction or upon opening the website or app. It could also be used in-store to signal that help is needed on the floor or in the dressing room.

For retailers to use sonic branding effectively they need to think beyond random soundtracks chosen by the store manager in the morning and create a symphony of sound that captures the heart and soul of the brand.

On her explosive new debut record Off the Radar, Erez, who grew up in Tel Aviv enmeshed in sociopolitical tumult, delivers confrontation and release through urgent dance music that dives headfirst into sonic conflict and flirts bravely with the forces of chaos and strife. The result is a provocative work that personalizes the political and uses sound, rhythm and her remarkable voice to craft visceral commentary.

Erez has delivered a record filled with hits that remains at all times vital. In its cohesion and crispness, its innovative approach, and perhaps most significantly the astuteness and clarity with which it engages in the frantic, threatening, vibrant world that surrounds Erez, Off the Radar is galvanizing.

Steve Goodman, aka Kode9, dubstep producer and owner/chief curator of the massively great Hyperdub record label, was talking about his new book Sonic Warfare: Sound, Affect, and the Ecology of Fear. (MIT Press)

Military research into acoustic weapons tends to focus on to repelling people, dispersing crowds and essentially making a group into individuals. Seduction indicates branding, to induce consumption behaviors and to get people to buy things. In music culture and sound art insidious frequencies to attract crowds, bring people together.

He went into the Urban Funk Campaign and Operation Wandering Ghost ((From WFMU: The Urban Funk Campaign is something much more evil. It was employed by the CIA Audio Harassment Division in Vietnam and Laos. The idea: bombard the local citizenry with sound instead of bombs. The desired effect: rouse the populace from their hideouts and destabilize their resolve.

In 1972, 13 choppers were equipped with Sound Curdler Systems (costing $50,000 each). The Curdler is a small oscillator unit that is capable of hundreds of hours of uninterrupted operation from a simple 9v. battery. It emits a shrill pulsating shriek at 120 decibels at 10 meters. (Standing on a runway during takeoff of a 747 measures 112db, in other words, potential aural harm.)

The purpose of these intrusive sounds was to enhance panic instincts and facilitate crowd dispersal and the disruption of troop strategies, village chanting, rites, routines, and celebrations. The target audience (victims) are forced to drop everything to cover their ears. At night the system was at its most effective as it harassed the sleeping and preyed on the sensibilities and superstitions of the target population. It was further intended to destabilize beliefs, disorient the human targets, and enhance intra-community irritability.

The 10,000-watt airborne systems were mounted on the choppers so as to best project sound downward in a pyramid apexing at 3,500 meters altitude. This was the technological heart of psychological warfare.

Most effort in that field is involved in directional ultrasound, things like sonic lasers. Rather than use sub-frequencies (like Goodman and many musicians) the military tech focuses on directional devices that create hole-y space, and pockets of audition.

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