Sirens of the Sea

August 14, 2014 7:52 PM

Wave instruments: San Francisco's gurgly Wave Organ; Blackpool's moaning High Tide Organ; Zadar's hypnotic Sea Organ.

Sound and video:

Wave Organ: 1, 2 [YouTube]
High Tide Organ: 1 [YouTube, wind noise], 2 [SoundCloud]
Sea Organ: 1 [YouTube], 2 [Bandcamp]

The Sea Organ previously on MetaFilter: soundwaves

posted by We had a deal, Kyle (10 comments total)

I thought the wave organ in SF would be a cool place to go on a date, but we went out there and it sounded like a toilet flushing repeatedly. Needless to say we did not kiss that afternoon and I don't recommend it to anyone.
posted by BuddhaInABucket at 8:48 PM on August 14, 2014 [6 favorites]

The Wave Organ is slightly better during a full moon, in that it sounds like a combination of far-off moaning and a toilet flushing. For certain values of "better."
posted by blnkfrnk at 9:17 PM on August 14, 2014

Wave Organ video #2 sounds pretty amazing with headphones on.
posted by isthmus at 9:39 PM on August 14, 2014

That Blackpool high tide organ sounds wonderful.
posted by quazichimp at 11:21 PM on August 14, 2014

Wave Organ video #2 sounds pretty amazing with headphones on.

It does have something of a mid-90's Warp Records vibe to it, doesn't it?
posted by aubilenon at 12:04 AM on August 15, 2014

Many people know who they were and what they were doing, but their legacy remains ... hewn into the living rock ... of the Marina District.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 12:07 AM on August 15, 2014

:zoviet*france has plans to build one in Northumberland. (Facebook link)
posted by malocchio at 6:18 AM on August 15, 2014

I don't recommend it to anyone

I dunno, I went there on a "tour of some of the odder things in SF" with a long-time resident of the Bay Area (it included a visit to most of the locations in Our Lady of Darkness, which, if you haven't read it go and do that right now). The Wave Organ was a fun stop, even though it did sound like a bloopy toilet flushing. To be fair, neither of us were planning kissing, so I can't speak to the romance angle.
posted by GenjiandProust at 6:50 AM on August 15, 2014

Man, I got all excited that there was a Bandcamp link for the Zadar organ, but two minutes of audio on a busy day was not what I was expecting. This is a bit more like it, but I expect to really get into the vibe of the thing, you'd want to record it for at least an hour...
posted by mykescipark at 8:38 AM on August 15, 2014

This on loop has me completely hypnotized. I'm building some melodies and rhythms around it right now. Thanks so much We had a deal, Kyle!
posted by erebora at 9:29 AM on August 15, 2014