Rage Within the Machine
April 30, 2020 10:37 AM Subscribe
OpenAI's newest unholy creation is Jukebox, a pop-music-generating neural network bringing you hits like Kanye West's "Lose Yourself", an alternative Rickroll, the Verve Pipe singing about pasghetti, and 7,000+ more samples.
Sorry I'm a little slow some days. Is there an easy way I can just make this play randomly all 7000 tunes? I feel like the mind-numbing artifice of endless AI-generated musical simulacra might be just what my soul might need to push it into the next level of psychic evolution.
posted by glonous keming at 10:51 AM on April 30, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by glonous keming at 10:51 AM on April 30, 2020 [3 favorites]
Most of the curated samples on the front page are surprisingly listenable. The Frank Sinatra hot tub Christmas song seems scarily plausible, and the Katy Perry and Rage Against the Machine ones are decent. The Elvis song, despite being about Mitosis, is not good, though.
posted by rikschell at 10:56 AM on April 30, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by rikschell at 10:56 AM on April 30, 2020 [2 favorites]
This is actually a pretty good Dio-era Black Sabbath song.
Because of the similarity between bands, this AI really excels with the death metal genre
posted by NoMich at 10:56 AM on April 30, 2020 [3 favorites]
Because of the similarity between bands, this AI really excels with the death metal genre
posted by NoMich at 10:56 AM on April 30, 2020 [3 favorites]
Am I....am I having a stroke?
posted by higginba at 11:02 AM on April 30, 2020 [4 favorites]
posted by higginba at 11:02 AM on April 30, 2020 [4 favorites]
omg this Talking Heads cover of Dumb Blonde
posted by theodolite at 11:08 AM on April 30, 2020 [6 favorites]
posted by theodolite at 11:08 AM on April 30, 2020 [6 favorites]
Ha, I was about to say that the Sinatra one sounds like Ol' Blue-Eyes has a stroke a couple of verses in.
This is pretty cool, though it sounds like network was maybe overtrained on its inputs, in that it replicates the original songs a little too faithfully without generalizing to the style. "Never Gonna Give You Up" is basically just "Never Gonna Give You Up" with a bit of improvisation, though that itself is pretty impressive. Still fun though.
posted by biogeo at 11:09 AM on April 30, 2020 [1 favorite]
This is pretty cool, though it sounds like network was maybe overtrained on its inputs, in that it replicates the original songs a little too faithfully without generalizing to the style. "Never Gonna Give You Up" is basically just "Never Gonna Give You Up" with a bit of improvisation, though that itself is pretty impressive. Still fun though.
posted by biogeo at 11:09 AM on April 30, 2020 [1 favorite]
I very much needed the "It's Christmas, You Know What That Means, It's Hot Tub Time" pick me up today.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 11:10 AM on April 30, 2020 [7 favorites]
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 11:10 AM on April 30, 2020 [7 favorites]
I think the Rick Astley one (and the ones labeled "Continuations" in the explorer) all start with the first 12 seconds of the actual song before the AI takes over.
posted by theodolite at 11:12 AM on April 30, 2020
posted by theodolite at 11:12 AM on April 30, 2020
"Listen," Case said, "that’s an Al, you know? Artificial intelligence. The music it played you, it probably
just tapped your banks and cooked up whatever it thought you’d like to — " ....
posted by Agent_X_ at 11:18 AM on April 30, 2020 [9 favorites]
just tapped your banks and cooked up whatever it thought you’d like to — " ....
posted by Agent_X_ at 11:18 AM on April 30, 2020 [9 favorites]
I take it back. This one is ostensibly "folk rock" in the style of "Simon and Garfunkel," but it sounds like they dropped a shitload of acid before recording. Looks like they fed in some lyrics for it to match. I love it.
posted by biogeo at 11:20 AM on April 30, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by biogeo at 11:20 AM on April 30, 2020 [1 favorite]
I feel like the mind-numbing artifice of endless AI-generated musical simulacra might be just what my soul might need to push it into the next level of psychic evolution.
This is an extremely 2020 sentence.
posted by mhoye at 11:22 AM on April 30, 2020 [9 favorites]
This is an extremely 2020 sentence.
posted by mhoye at 11:22 AM on April 30, 2020 [9 favorites]
This is awesome and terrifying. The lifelike text generation was bad enough, but this is the first time I’ve heard of deep learning producing music and vocals from scratch.
posted by Rhaomi at 11:26 AM on April 30, 2020
posted by Rhaomi at 11:26 AM on April 30, 2020
the first time I’ve heard of deep learning producing music and vocals from scratch.
The words “music” and “producing” need 72 point scare quotes around them. I clicked through to the “folk rock” one and heard what sounded like a monkey playing with the tuner on a radio. I then scrolled through the list and found something that purported to be in the style of Zappa. Again a monkey playing with the tuner, but this time smooth jazz. Sort of... Just as the AI doesn’t know squat about Zappa, I’m afraid the human behind it doesn’t know either. If these tracks were just unlabeled it might be funny for five minutes. But I think this isn’t meant to be funny. Now, a real monkey playing with the tuner on a radio, that would be interesting.
posted by njohnson23 at 11:44 AM on April 30, 2020 [2 favorites]
The words “music” and “producing” need 72 point scare quotes around them. I clicked through to the “folk rock” one and heard what sounded like a monkey playing with the tuner on a radio. I then scrolled through the list and found something that purported to be in the style of Zappa. Again a monkey playing with the tuner, but this time smooth jazz. Sort of... Just as the AI doesn’t know squat about Zappa, I’m afraid the human behind it doesn’t know either. If these tracks were just unlabeled it might be funny for five minutes. But I think this isn’t meant to be funny. Now, a real monkey playing with the tuner on a radio, that would be interesting.
posted by njohnson23 at 11:44 AM on April 30, 2020 [2 favorites]
My next band will just play these off a laptop, and we'll be called Rock-o's Basilisk, and our debut album will be called You Must Never Not Listen to This, and the cover art will be this except her face will be replaced by one of those This Person Does Not Exist faces.
posted by CheesesOfBrazil at 11:49 AM on April 30, 2020 [7 favorites]
posted by CheesesOfBrazil at 11:49 AM on April 30, 2020 [7 favorites]
Do not like.
posted by Everyone Expects The Spanish Influenza at 12:11 PM on April 30, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by Everyone Expects The Spanish Influenza at 12:11 PM on April 30, 2020 [1 favorite]
The song itself is absolutely terrible, but the lyrics for this Pet Shop Boys pastiche are right on.
posted by murphy slaw at 12:12 PM on April 30, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by murphy slaw at 12:12 PM on April 30, 2020 [1 favorite]
This is what all music sounded like until I finally fixed my radio's antenna.
posted by gwint at 12:19 PM on April 30, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by gwint at 12:19 PM on April 30, 2020 [1 favorite]
"Let It Go" in the style of Raffi is amazing.
posted by mbrubeck at 12:27 PM on April 30, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by mbrubeck at 12:27 PM on April 30, 2020 [1 favorite]
It's true: Descend through madness long enough and you eventually arrive at smooth jazz.
The researchers really need to stop torturing this AI or we're really in for a revolution.
posted by Eleven at 12:27 PM on April 30, 2020 [2 favorites]
The researchers really need to stop torturing this AI or we're really in for a revolution.
posted by Eleven at 12:27 PM on April 30, 2020 [2 favorites]
> The song itself is absolutely terrible, but the lyrics for this Pet Shop Boys pastiche are right on.
Those are just the original lyrics to Birthday Boy by the Pet Shop Boys. I think all (?) of the lyrics are existing songs and poems, not machine-generated.
posted by mbrubeck at 12:32 PM on April 30, 2020 [2 favorites]
Those are just the original lyrics to Birthday Boy by the Pet Shop Boys. I think all (?) of the lyrics are existing songs and poems, not machine-generated.
posted by mbrubeck at 12:32 PM on April 30, 2020 [2 favorites]
Those are just the original lyrics to Birthday Boy by the Pet Shop Boys. I think all (?) of the lyrics are existing songs and poems, not machine-generated.
i'll be over here dying quietly.
posted by murphy slaw at 12:33 PM on April 30, 2020 [1 favorite]
i'll be over here dying quietly.
posted by murphy slaw at 12:33 PM on April 30, 2020 [1 favorite]
omg this Talking Heads cover of Dumb Blonde
Once an AI endlessly creates talking robot head songs that all sound the same, I really do wonder if we're finding out we exist in some kind of terrible simulation.
The band in heaven
They play my favorite song
Play it one more time
Play it all night long
Heaven or hell, though?
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 12:38 PM on April 30, 2020 [2 favorites]
Once an AI endlessly creates talking robot head songs that all sound the same, I really do wonder if we're finding out we exist in some kind of terrible simulation.
The band in heaven
They play my favorite song
Play it one more time
Play it all night long
Heaven or hell, though?
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 12:38 PM on April 30, 2020 [2 favorites]
Its take on "All Through the Years" by Erasure is a pretty decent Erasure song, even though it's nothing like the original. Though, like a lot of the output, it has a weird, long, repetitive intro.
posted by mbrubeck at 12:41 PM on April 30, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by mbrubeck at 12:41 PM on April 30, 2020 [1 favorite]
I don't want to spam the thread, but here's 25% of a Frank Sinatra and 75% of an Al Jackson singing a song from the film La La Land.
It's so disturbingly accurate that I had to check that neither of the artists has actually covered that song.
posted by Eleven at 12:43 PM on April 30, 2020
It's so disturbingly accurate that I had to check that neither of the artists has actually covered that song.
posted by Eleven at 12:43 PM on April 30, 2020
Bowie's countdown here (~45s in) is some serious biodigital jazz, man.
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 12:49 PM on April 30, 2020 [4 favorites]
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 12:49 PM on April 30, 2020 [4 favorites]
The Philip Glass ones plow right through the realm of parody, and come out on the other side.
posted by schmod at 12:51 PM on April 30, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by schmod at 12:51 PM on April 30, 2020 [1 favorite]
The words “music” and “producing” need 72 point scare quotes around them.
Also true of 90% of popular music these days. Zing!
posted by biogeo at 12:59 PM on April 30, 2020 [2 favorites]
Also true of 90% of popular music these days. Zing!
posted by biogeo at 12:59 PM on April 30, 2020 [2 favorites]
More tracks for the ultimate cover album:
Prince sings The Bangles' Manic Monday
Katy Perry sings Let It Go
Raffi sings The New Kids On the Block's Boys in the Band
posted by mbrubeck at 1:11 PM on April 30, 2020 [1 favorite]
Prince sings The Bangles' Manic Monday
Katy Perry sings Let It Go
Raffi sings The New Kids On the Block's Boys in the Band
posted by mbrubeck at 1:11 PM on April 30, 2020 [1 favorite]
The Tori Amos one I stumbled on checks out, especially for baby AI's first songs!
posted by riverlife at 1:21 PM on April 30, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by riverlife at 1:21 PM on April 30, 2020 [1 favorite]
I wonder how long it will be before this stuff is good enough to mean that an artistic equivalent of Kasparov's Advanced Chess emerges. Maybe it's not quite a fair comparison, in that the conditions and media of chess remained fairly static for a very long time, while art of all forms has continually adapted to new media and tools, but, presuming we survive long enough, it will be fascinating to see just what music can be produced by combining the insights of human understanding and machine learning.
posted by howfar at 2:10 PM on April 30, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by howfar at 2:10 PM on April 30, 2020 [1 favorite]
All the ones in No Lyrics Conditioning are interesting, it really likes repeated riffs, and seems to sort of know what an intro is as most of the songs start quieter and ramp up. Frank Zappa, Pink Floyd, The New Pornographers, Linkin Park are fun.
posted by JZig at 2:16 PM on April 30, 2020
posted by JZig at 2:16 PM on April 30, 2020
my first reaction: oh no, it's happening again
posted by some loser at 2:17 PM on April 30, 2020
posted by some loser at 2:17 PM on April 30, 2020
I just wrote this up, it's great. Last year (MuseNet) they were limited to MIDI melodies to keep the library and look-ahead realistic, now they're reducing 10 million samples to a few thousand to recreate rich audio.
Next year they'll release an album and not tell anyone until 3 of its songs are gold records.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 2:40 PM on April 30, 2020 [2 favorites]
Next year they'll release an album and not tell anyone until 3 of its songs are gold records.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 2:40 PM on April 30, 2020 [2 favorites]
This one is a long way away from Tchaikovsky, but it has kind of a neat style to it. Reminds me a little bit of the Nier: Automata soundtrack.
posted by teraflop at 3:11 PM on April 30, 2020
posted by teraflop at 3:11 PM on April 30, 2020
this neil young imitation sounds more like fleet foxes to me
posted by pyramid termite at 3:32 PM on April 30, 2020
posted by pyramid termite at 3:32 PM on April 30, 2020
These sound like in-game music to some unreleased version of Bioshock.
posted by xigxag at 4:20 PM on April 30, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by xigxag at 4:20 PM on April 30, 2020 [1 favorite]
I cannot get enough of this kind of thing. It's both amazing and unnerving, almost Lovecraftian. Powerful black box software that programs itself to generate media with the shape of content, but bereft of meaning. It sounds so warm and authentic and familiar, but try to listen for a specific word or instrument or melody and your mind just slides right off, defeated. Like you went to sleep listening to a band's music and then dreamed a new album, except now you have the recording. Or like when you get the "tetris effect" after playing a new game, except you can actually see a Let's Play of the vague phantom impressions of gameplay. The idea that the essence of a real, living artist is in there, somehow, but even the programmers can't really explain how exactly it works. It's so fascinatingly eerie.
A few years ago I binge-listened a podcast on a very long drive, and by the end I could feel little snatches of the hosts' banter in my head without them saying anything specific. I wonder if this could do the same thing?
posted by Rhaomi at 5:47 PM on April 30, 2020 [3 favorites]
A few years ago I binge-listened a podcast on a very long drive, and by the end I could feel little snatches of the hosts' banter in my head without them saying anything specific. I wonder if this could do the same thing?
posted by Rhaomi at 5:47 PM on April 30, 2020 [3 favorites]
We're closer to developing an AI compression algorithm where a bit error turns Jefferson Airplane into Jefferson Starship.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 9:14 PM on April 30, 2020
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 9:14 PM on April 30, 2020
a bit error turns Jefferson Airplane into Jefferson Starship
It's just a glitch in the Matrix.
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 9:28 PM on April 30, 2020 [1 favorite]
It's just a glitch in the Matrix.
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 9:28 PM on April 30, 2020 [1 favorite]
Billy Joel doing Zac Brown Band sounds like it could be a B-side on 52nd Street
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 10:01 PM on April 30, 2020
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 10:01 PM on April 30, 2020
And what genius had Air Supply cover The Soft Parade in a Christmas vein
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 10:09 PM on April 30, 2020
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 10:09 PM on April 30, 2020
The categories trained to match lyrics felt a little forced, so I skimmed through the "no lyrics conditioning" playlist to find the best examples of pure synthesis:
Sesame Street!
Wordless nothings from Aretha Franklin
A shockingly coherent Bad Religion track. Crowd sounds and ambient intro, the instrumentation is actually structured, and the (gibberish) lyrics even rhyme!
Bob Marley and the w-AI-lers call-and-response
Dolly Parton, soft and sweet
A funky Beatles track
A high-energy track from The Supremes
John Prine and Johnny Cash
ABBA (that intro is so jaunty)
Kendrick Lamar (very smooth)
Prince (interesting rhythms at the start)
A Ramones track that's not great but has some interesting simulated crowd interaction at the beginning
posted by Rhaomi at 10:21 PM on April 30, 2020 [3 favorites]
Sesame Street!
Wordless nothings from Aretha Franklin
A shockingly coherent Bad Religion track. Crowd sounds and ambient intro, the instrumentation is actually structured, and the (gibberish) lyrics even rhyme!
Bob Marley and the w-AI-lers call-and-response
Dolly Parton, soft and sweet
A funky Beatles track
A high-energy track from The Supremes
John Prine and Johnny Cash
ABBA (that intro is so jaunty)
Kendrick Lamar (very smooth)
Prince (interesting rhythms at the start)
A Ramones track that's not great but has some interesting simulated crowd interaction at the beginning
posted by Rhaomi at 10:21 PM on April 30, 2020 [3 favorites]
Holy crap, there are so many mixed signals, it's wonderful, really. I also like the way it crackles as if it's being broadcast from somewhere a lot like our universe but different. I started to post my favorites...
...but I don't know where to stop. This is so chock full of great "clueless-but-doing-my-job" modern AI. The Beatles mockups with inscrutable lyrics sound like Guided By Voices doing Magical Mystery Tour, or a bootlegged Royal Trux concert from 1994. I swear I was at this Kiss concert while I was on so much shrooms.
Bands retain their identity, their "voice", yet songs they actually wrote, they would never have played like THAT.
I have to learn how to use github. This is hilarious and brilliant.
And I can see it developing into a very dangerous thing in the wrong hands. YAY TECHNOLOGY! I DEPEND ON THE GOOD OF MANKIND! And the monkey playing with the radio knob thinking he's listening to the Pretenders
posted by not_on_display at 11:17 PM on April 30, 2020 [1 favorite]
...but I don't know where to stop. This is so chock full of great "clueless-but-doing-my-job" modern AI. The Beatles mockups with inscrutable lyrics sound like Guided By Voices doing Magical Mystery Tour, or a bootlegged Royal Trux concert from 1994. I swear I was at this Kiss concert while I was on so much shrooms.
Bands retain their identity, their "voice", yet songs they actually wrote, they would never have played like THAT.
I have to learn how to use github. This is hilarious and brilliant.
And I can see it developing into a very dangerous thing in the wrong hands. YAY TECHNOLOGY! I DEPEND ON THE GOOD OF MANKIND! And the monkey playing with the radio knob thinking he's listening to the Pretenders
posted by not_on_display at 11:17 PM on April 30, 2020 [1 favorite]
Hey glonous keming, I made a randomizer for these songs that plays an infinite selection of random songs from these mashups. Just push play!
posted by metasunday at 11:21 PM on April 30, 2020 [5 favorites]
posted by metasunday at 11:21 PM on April 30, 2020 [5 favorites]
What the hell, how did the Ramones become a nondescript eastern european folk band?
posted by not_on_display at 11:27 PM on April 30, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by not_on_display at 11:27 PM on April 30, 2020 [2 favorites]
I'm hoping for a Miku collab.
posted by sleepy_fork at 11:43 PM on April 30, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by sleepy_fork at 11:43 PM on April 30, 2020 [1 favorite]
... nicknamed "The Edge" ... this is bullshit, these guys are from England and play reggae and who gives a shit
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 11:55 PM on April 30, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 11:55 PM on April 30, 2020 [1 favorite]
This Nine inch nails... doing nine inch nails? Is kind of amazing too.
posted by vernondalhart at 12:28 AM on May 1, 2020
posted by vernondalhart at 12:28 AM on May 1, 2020
The next David Lynch film has become a little more terrifying.
posted by vernondalhart at 12:31 AM on May 1, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by vernondalhart at 12:31 AM on May 1, 2020 [2 favorites]
I just realized that the "No Lyrics Conditioning" setting is how I hear lyrics naturally. Blah Blah Blah Ginger Blah Blah! Blah Blah Blah Blah Ginger Blah Blah Bah. This could be a Bruce song as far as I care. AND IT'S ACTUALLY BETTER THAN BRUCE. I mean come on. STAGE BANTER!
posted by not_on_display at 12:43 AM on May 1, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by not_on_display at 12:43 AM on May 1, 2020 [2 favorites]
Yo La Tengo Remains The Best Band Ever
Kurt would have loved this.
All these songs sound like they're being played at the wrong speed or in the wrong key
I can finally listen to "Hotel California" again
posted by not_on_display at 1:25 AM on May 1, 2020 [1 favorite]
Kurt would have loved this.
All these songs sound like they're being played at the wrong speed or in the wrong key
I can finally listen to "Hotel California" again
posted by not_on_display at 1:25 AM on May 1, 2020 [1 favorite]
Metasunday! That's amazing. Thank you so much. This is so horrible! I love it!
"LET THE FIRE BURN", sang the AI.
posted by glonous keming at 8:24 AM on May 1, 2020 [2 favorites]
"LET THE FIRE BURN", sang the AI.
posted by glonous keming at 8:24 AM on May 1, 2020 [2 favorites]
I tried some of the Bob Dylan / 'no lyric conditioning' samples and I was not disappointed. Saw Dylan in the 90s from one of the nosebleed seats at the top of the United Center in Chicago and this is basically the same experience. Couldn't make out any of the words then, either. Really takes me back.
posted by Two unicycles and some duct tape at 11:59 AM on May 1, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by Two unicycles and some duct tape at 11:59 AM on May 1, 2020 [1 favorite]
From now on, whenever someone's watching an old film on a television in something, they should have the AI produce more of this "Soundtrack in the style of John Williams". It doesn't particularly sound like him, but it would be royalty-free and those in the audience who care will be utterly stymied in any attempt to identify or even make sense of it.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 4:15 PM on May 1, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 4:15 PM on May 1, 2020 [2 favorites]
The Muppets sing Baby Shark, edited by someone into Musique Concrete
posted by vibratory manner of working at 12:30 PM on May 2, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by vibratory manner of working at 12:30 PM on May 2, 2020 [1 favorite]
I just want to post everything I stumble upon. I just heard Chuck Berry sound like 70's Yacht Rock, and Dead Can Dance like a Syd Barrett-era freeform Pink Floyd.
posted by not_on_display at 8:59 PM on May 2, 2020
posted by not_on_display at 8:59 PM on May 2, 2020
Holy shit -- this one gets a bit chaotic towards the end, but the first 45 seconds are indistinguishable from real human-made music:
Pop, in the style of Lady Gaga (T=0.98)
A genuinely good solo guitar line that repeats the melody with subtle changes, on-point vocals that come in at exactly the right time (and also repeat), virtually no extraneous noise or flaws. It's incredible.
posted by Rhaomi at 2:59 PM on May 7, 2020 [1 favorite]
Pop, in the style of Lady Gaga (T=0.98)
A genuinely good solo guitar line that repeats the melody with subtle changes, on-point vocals that come in at exactly the right time (and also repeat), virtually no extraneous noise or flaws. It's incredible.
posted by Rhaomi at 2:59 PM on May 7, 2020 [1 favorite]
Janelle Shane just featured this on her AIWierdness blog—she asked OpenAI to have bands to renditions of Baby Shark. The results are interesting. I may have to listen to Jack Johnson one day,
posted by not_on_display at 8:52 PM on May 8, 2020
posted by not_on_display at 8:52 PM on May 8, 2020
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posted by The Power Nap at 10:49 AM on April 30, 2020 [7 favorites]