Comments on: Kid 17

Kid 17

jbickers — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 18:31:53 -0800

What happens when you play two separate copies of Radiohead's "Kid A" exactly 17 seconds apart? According to some, it produces some amazing synchronization effects. Although some fans claim to have heard Thom Yorke say it was intentional, "Whether or not it was intentional to me seems beyond the point. Fact of the matter is that it actually 'kind of' works." If that doesn't float your boat, you can always just sync it up with The Matrix.

By: jonmc

jonmc — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 18:33:14 -0800

What happens when you play two separate copies of Radiohead's "Kid A" exactly 17 seconds apart? a disembodied voice says 'you have too much free time?'

By: Poolio

Poolio — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 18:38:06 -0800

Pink Floyd synchronization effects: Dark Side of the Rainbow (Dark Side of the Moon + Wizard of Oz) and Jupiter and Beyond the Infinite (Echoes + 2001: A Space Odyssey)

By: Kickstart70

Kickstart70 — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 18:39:44 -0800

None of those mp3 links work. Which kind of sucks.

By: BeerFilter

BeerFilter — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 18:48:04 -0800

I'm on it.

By: hal9k

hal9k — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 18:50:23 -0800

Fitter. Happier. Suckier.

By: ninjew

ninjew — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 18:52:14 -0800

I prefer pot. It's easier, and I can listen to something other than Radiohead, while still getting the same amazing effects. Not that I don't like Radiohead.

By: Ethereal Bligh

Ethereal Bligh — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 18:53:33 -0800

Oh my god! Melody and harmony are related to each other! Holy shit!

By: Eideteker

Eideteker — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 18:55:19 -0800

"What happens when you play two separate copies of Radiohead's "Kid A" exactly 17 seconds apart?" It sucks twice as much, but slightly out of phase? Seriously, Radiohead going experimental was probably the worst thing in music since U2 went experimental.

By: mek

mek — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 18:56:45 -0800

Seriously, Radiohead going experimental was probably the worst thing in music since U2 ~~went experimental~~.

By: Eideteker

Eideteker — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 18:56:52 -0800

Your favorite band sucks. Your favorite band sucks. Damn the marquee tag being disabled.

By: humannaire

humannaire — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 18:57:37 -0800

Seriously, Radiohead?

By: Item

Item — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 19:03:21 -0800

It would be really nice if, for once, Radiohead fans shut the hell up about Radiohead.

By: josephtate

josephtate — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 19:05:03 -0800

This was a Wikipedia rumor that has since been deleted. Also, I've read just about every published interview with and article/book about the band and this hasn't been mentioned. But, to quote Radiohead, "I might be wrong."

By: gwint

gwint — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 19:07:22 -0800

So... the cool kids don't like Radiohead anymore? I just can't keep up. Also: It's Gonna Rain.

By: abulafa

abulafa — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 19:08:28 -0800

Er. I like it. I like Dark Side of the Rainbow too. Not for some deep hidden intent, but, as above, visually, lyrically, even thematically humans are good at inferring rhythm. This also reminded me I never ripped Kid A. It's actually my favorite Radiohead album.

By: Mach3avelli

Mach3avelli — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 19:13:46 -0800

Is this Radiohead something I would need the internet to know about?

By: BeerFilter

BeerFilter — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 19:17:13 -0800

I'm no big Radiohead fan, got nothing against them, but I think possible "easter eggs" like this are interesting. I don't have this album, and the links given don't seem to work. I think my neighbor has this CD though. I'll report back as soon as I've had a chance to check it out.

By: Shakeer

Shakeer — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 19:18:00 -0800

Yo we can all agree that Radiohead is really annoying and boring but a popular band intending for their popular record to sound good when two copies of it are played 17 seconds apart is kind of cool, and I'm at least interested in hearing what it sounds like.

By: Devils Rancher

Devils Rancher — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 19:19:07 -0800

Has anyone ever actually heard the Flaming Lips album where you have to play 4 disks simultaneously in 4 separate players? Seems more interesting to me than playing Radiohead twice. I only bought The Bends after Steven Wilson name-checked it in a Porcupine Tree song, but I kinda liked it. I don't get the fervency, but they're really a pretty interesting band, and I'd sooner listen to Radiohead that 999/1000 "songs" that are played daily on what passes for radio, so I guess I don't get the hate, either.

By: Greg Nog

Greg Nog — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 19:23:48 -0800

HOLY SHIT, IT WORKS

By: TrialByMedia

TrialByMedia — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 19:24:02 -0800

Seriously, Radiohead going experimental was probably the worst thing in music since U2 went experimental. I agree. If there's one thing we need more of, it's bands that are unwilling to try anything new.

By: Adam_S

Adam_S — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 19:24:50 -0800

Trip report: I tried it with "Everything In Its Right Place", and it vaguely sync'd up. The "everything" from one track flows into the "in its right place" from the other, kinda. Although any song based on atmospheric loops like this may be able to repeat this to some degree. Basically it just sounds like the live version.

By: timelord

timelord — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 19:24:58 -0800

The link at this blog worked for me. You have to click through some download site and you get a RAR file. Still waiting for it to finish....

By: abulafa

abulafa — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 19:27:57 -0800

Ok, I got about halfway through -- most of the time is was pretty listenable but when it wasn't it just sounded like a long delay -- no synchronicity that is. I still like Radiohead though, so take that scurillous snarkful interwebs.

By: fishmasta

fishmasta — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 19:29:03 -0800

Has anyone ever actually heard the Flaming Lips album where you have to play 4 disks simultaneously in 4 separate players? Yeah, I have it. It's got some pretty good songs, but I've only been able to listen to it a few times because I just don't have that many CD players. I really want to hear the Parking Lot Experiments that that did, where they'd gather a bunch of cars in a parking lot and give them all tapes with different parts to play really loud through the car speakers.

By: 2or3whiskeysodas

2or3whiskeysodas — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 19:31:04 -0800

Devils Rancher: Zaireeka. At the proper volume, it is truly one of the most amazing listening experiences you'll ever have.

By: tsmo

tsmo — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 19:32:52 -0800

I'm listening to it now, synced up by hand, and I have to say I like it quite a bit. It should probably be noted that I'm the kind of person that might like it if you did this to any given rock track, though. I'm pretty sure a music theory nerd could posit an explanation for this coincidence having to do with radiohead using similar song structures throughout the album.

By: 2or3whiskeysodas

2or3whiskeysodas — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 19:36:43 -0800

I'm really, really curious to hear this but don't have a copy of Kid A handy and can't get any of the download links I've found to work. If anyone feels like sending the results of their experiments my way, email's in profile. Thanks!

By: abulafa

abulafa — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 19:38:11 -0800

(And yes, if someone told me jumping off a bridge while playing Flight of the Valkyries would result in an awesome Synchronized Suicide Megamix I'd do that too...)

By: Devils Rancher

Devils Rancher — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 19:38:48 -0800

At the proper volume, it is truly one of the most amazing listening experiences you'll ever have. It does sound like fun -- though one of the CDs would have to be played on my tinny Powerbook speakers. I might actually buy it and mix it to stereo in Logic, though -- I'm quite smitten with the Lips.

By: TheOnlyCoolTim

TheOnlyCoolTim — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 19:42:42 -0800

Is this something I would need to own a TV marijuana to understand?

By: Sailormom

Sailormom — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 19:43:07 -0800

So has anyone heard the Flaming Lips album that Devils Rancher linked above? I know Wayne Coyne used to gather people together in parking garages and pass out cassettes that he had made of different insect sounds, and when he gave the signal, everyone would play the tapes at the same time. I read about it in a magazine, not on the internet and I can't seem to find a reference anywhere. There was more to it than just playing the tapes, but I can't remember the details. And if I was Thom Yorke, I would say that the synchronization effects were intentional until I was on my deathbed.

By: hupp

hupp — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 19:44:59 -0800

Speaking of musical easter eggs, check out the face embedded in Aphex Twin's Windowlicker

By: smackfu

smackfu — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 19:52:16 -0800

A few years ago, they had an installation at MoMA that was 40 speakers arranged in an oval, each one playing a different voice of a choir. It was trippy. Imagine that with something a little more modern.

By: niles

niles — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 19:54:37 -0800

See Nickelback - How You Remind Me of Someday.

By: 2or3whiskeysodas

2or3whiskeysodas — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 19:56:13 -0800

No no no! Don't just mix it down. You'd be doing it all wrong! One of the beauties of the thing is that listening to it is a social event by nature: you have to get three pals and three decent CD players together. And you all have to press play at the exact same time--or rather, you all have to press play at sightly different times, since all CD players play at slightly different speeds. It's low-tech and silly, and you have to do it every couple of songs (or every song, depending on how picky you're going to be). But there's that "ha-HA!" feeling when you get it right, and then you get to enjoy some seriously mind-bending stuff. They pull every sonic trick they could think of employing four CDs made to be heard on eight speakers . By the way, I'm not a Flaming Lips fan. And typing this has made me want to get another Zaireeka party asap.

By: niles

niles — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 19:56:24 -0800

link that actually loads the song

By: fatbobsmith

fatbobsmith — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 19:57:13 -0800

Has anyone ever actually heard the Flaming Lips album where you have to play 4 disks simultaneously in 4 separate players? I have and highly recommend it. There are several stereo mixes available out there on the interwebs, but do yourself a favor and buy or download the 4-disc set. The experience is truly one of a kind. It's like entering an entirely different world. It does sound like fun -- though one of the CDs would have to be played on my tinny Powerbook speakers. Don't let that stop you. I used an iBook, an alarm clock, a home stereo and a PC and the changes in speaker types added an interesting dynamic. Even with 2-3 discs, it's a magical experience. Each time you listen, it will be different. Make sure you share the experience with at least another person!

By: pokermonk

pokermonk — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 20:06:53 -0800

I think this one best exemplifies how well this synchronization works.

By: empath

empath — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 20:08:26 -0800

Congratulations, you've discovered 'delay'. You're on your way to become a record producer.

By: Shakeer

Shakeer — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 20:09:39 -0800

So I listened. I guess they sync up insofar as most of the electronics are probably on a 17 second loop and they can be overlapped somewhat cleanly. No shit that's intentional. You could probably do this with any repetitive song, but it "works" here because Radiohead sounds "glitchy" enough that whatever doesn't match up fits the music okay, or makes it sound "trippier". Only listen this if you're crazy about the album and want to hear a slight remix of it. What is noteworthy perhaps is that every song on the album can be made to sync up on itself with the same amount of delay. Well, I didn't listen to every song but I'm assuming that's the case.

By: empath

empath — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 20:09:41 -0800

Oh, the rare DOUBLE RICKROLL. Hats off to you, sir.

By: dougunderscorenelso

dougunderscorenelso — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 20:11:42 -0800

Pokermonk, that's an awesome, but it seems like the song was specifically engineered to work with the delay/sync. I'll let some other MeFites weigh in, though.

By: LordSludge

LordSludge — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 20:18:09 -0800

Tool put a hidden song on 10,000 Days (previously?)

By: sidereal

sidereal — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 20:20:21 -0800

What happens when you mix A with B? Now, YOU pet the bunny. I love mixed media. Even incestuous self-referential media. I have to say, though - when you take an artist's work and do a moiré of their work that they hadn't intended[1], it's...interesting...not sure it's meaningful. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe the point of the FPP is about the fascinating patterns that emerge from moiré-style blending, and not some specific brilliant foresight thingy. ::time passes:: Ok, I just played a Beatles song (nevermind which one) with two media players simultaneously with a 12 second lag. WOW. That was, honestly, very interesting. huh. English guitarist Steve Hillage is a pro at long delay repeat canons. I wonder if there's artists who also capitalize on this effect, but on larger scales. Like Anthony Braxton composing for a Digital Delay with a 20 minute cycle or something. Or 20 years, you know how Braxton is. I'm making that up, but I'd believe it. [1] OR DID THEY

By: Balisong

Balisong — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 20:51:39 -0800

Get offa my lawn with your audio synchronisers, Damn kids.

By: kowalski

kowalski — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 21:01:13 -0800

I was so there six years ago when some kid on the Hollywood & Vine Radiohead forum announced this to the world.

By: gompa

gompa — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 21:30:54 -0800

The big indie theatre festival here in Calgary (High Performance Rodeo) has closed with a Zaireeka listening party the last few years. I've been twice. Everyone sort of shuffles around in a grooving circle proscribed by the four stereos set up in each corner of the theatre floor. As you move around the room, the song you're listening to fundamentally changes, which means of course that you could listen to Zaireeka a hundred times and never be sure you heard it "properly," which is part of the point. Also, you're sort of shuffling/grooving/acting as a group of (in this case) maybe a hundred, which is an even bigger part of the point. The Lips have created a piece of recorded music that compels the creation of an atmosphere approximating a performance-art happening or some kind of esoteric revival meeting or something. No easy feat, and a rare and wonderful thing in my experience.

By: jouke

jouke — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 22:16:33 -0800

My kindergarten school teacher was a genius. She invented this before Radiohead.

By: neckro23

neckro23 — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 22:20:12 -0800

I think I just found nirvana.

By: deCadmus

deCadmus — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 22:44:26 -0800

Oh... I could go for a wall of monitors of this.

By: thecaddy

thecaddy — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 23:01:05 -0800

row row row your boat gently down the stream merrily merrily merrily merrily life is but a dream
                      row row row your boat gently down the stream merrily merrily merrily merrily
                                            row row row your boat gently down the stream
                                                                  row row row your boat

By: jokeefe

jokeefe — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 23:07:46 -0800

I have nothing to add except that it's doubtful it was intentional (I can't claim to have read as much about RH as josephtate, but I've read a lot) and also that I, erm, really ~~passionately adore to extremes~~ like Kid A and think it's good and stuff.

By: bardic

bardic — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 23:23:33 -0800

There's a lot of echo and delay on that album. Not surprising.

By: stavrosthewonderchicken

stavrosthewonderchicken — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 23:54:43 -0800

Oh, the rare DOUBLE RICKROLL. People are still fucking doing that? Banhammer with extreme prejudice would be my response. Good thing I don't one. Tangentially on-topic, I downloaded this a while back but still haven't gotten around to watch it: At War With Baraka, apparently a synch-up of the movie Baraka with the Flaming Lips' At War With The Mystics.

By: lupus_yonderboy

lupus_yonderboy — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 23:59:50 -0800

since all CD players play at slightly different speeds. To the very best of my knowledge, all CD players play at exactly the same speed, reading 2 simultaneous tracks containing precisely 44,100 16-bit samples per second.

By: flarbuse

flarbuse — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 00:26:59 -0800

Very cool. I also have found a cool synchronization effect when I play Madonna's "Open Your Heart" video and -- 34 seconds in -- begin masturbating.

By: Pinback

Pinback — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 00:41:40 -0800

Yeah, l_y, that was my first thought - then I realised that he probably means unless you use 4 identical players, they'll all take slightly different times to react to the play button. (and notwithstanding slight variations and drift in the PLL clock source between machines) If that doesn't float your boat, you can always just sync it up with The Matrix.
How stoned do you have to be to come up with these anyway? Imagine going through all the permutations until you hit one ... '"Little Creatures" & "Citizen Kane"? Nah...' '"Jagged Little Pill" & "Amelie"? Nah...' '"Dark Side Of The Moon" & "The Spongebob Squarepants Movie"? Nah...'

By: fcummins

fcummins — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 00:42:34 -0800

Alfred Schnittke^ wrote a truly haunting piece: the Prelude in Memoriam Dmitri Schostakovitch, which used a solo violin and an analog tape recording of the same violin. The intrinsic variability of analog tape playback gave rise to very subtle and effective beats and disharmonies between the two instruments. Yes, I confess I've played two recordings of it quasi-simultaneously on two recorders, producing 4 slightly mis-tuned violins, and I enjoyed it, but I think perhaps that was one of those personal pleasures.

By: sparkletone

sparkletone — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 01:15:19 -0800

I've listened to a copy of this... It was... interesting? I had nothing better to do with my ears, and listened while doing other stuff. It kinda floats in and out of sync. My favorite bits were around the points where it would float into sync. A lot of the song transitions don't quite work well enough for me to think this is intentional at all. Some of them do. But that's just luck. It's all just luck. Unless you're Thom Yorke.

By: Floydd

Floydd — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 01:24:23 -0800

I played one copy forward and one copy backward at the same time and got silence. I'm going to do this with ALL my CDs from now on!

By: god hates math

god hates math — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 05:46:10 -0800

To the very best of my knowledge, all CD players play at exactly the same speed Nope. Every single device that plays back audio plays back at a different speed. Think about it - they're all driven by something that can, and does, vary. CD player motors are driven by A/C - which is notoriously unstable. Clocks in professional audio setups are driven by crystals, which vary just enough to introduce small, horrible amounts of phase differential. If you were to take 4 identical CD players and start them all with a single contact closure, they'd start to show phase differences almost immediately.

By: Doohickie

Doohickie — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 06:07:44 -0800

Darnit. thecaddy stole my gag....

By: Pastabagel

Pastabagel — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 06:59:42 -0800

You probably haven't heard this, but if you play "Stairway to Heaven" backwards, you'll hear "High School Musical".

By: dubold

dubold — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 07:07:41 -0800

Hm. I think this works, as was said before, due to the nature of the repeating loops and the glitchyness of the record. Far more interesting to me are intentional synchronizations, like Zaireeka or "The Galilean Satellites" by Rosetta "Galilean Satellites" is a two disc set - one of songs, and one of ambient stuff - that can be played separately or simultaneously. I read a review that described it as "the perfect mix of shoegaze and metal" and was intrigued. I've seen them play a few times here in nyc - they rock.

By: designbot

designbot — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 07:29:20 -0800

If you play "I Remember Larry" from "Weird Al" Yankovic's album Bad Hair Day backwards, it actually says "Wow, you must really have a lot of free time on your hands." Also, playing "Nature Trail to Hell" backwards (from 1984's "Weird Al" Yankovic in 3-D, of course) reveals a demonic voice chanting "Satan eats Cheez Wiz." [This is true.]

By: baphomet

baphomet — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 08:56:19 -0800

My high school psychology teacher showed us the first 15 minutes of Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon synched with the Wizard of Oz. I was unimpressed. Then he showed us the beginning of Fritz Lang's Metropolis synched to Britney Spears' "...Baby One More Time". I was blown away. When she says, "I'm going down, down, down" a bunch of dudes totally shuffle onto an elevator...AND GO DOWN! Truly a mind-bending experience in synchronization. If you get high enough, any album will synch with pretty much any movie. You can call that the baphomet theorem.

By: waldo

waldo — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 09:19:27 -0800

Speaking of musical easter eggs, check out the face embedded in Aphex Twin's Windowlicker The linked images are wrong -- they have the wrong visualization scale. When viewed properly, it's clearly an image of Richard D. James.

By: Ethereal Bligh

Ethereal Bligh — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 09:24:10 -0800

"Every single device that plays back audio plays back at a different speed." That's bullshit. I was willing to accept the CD player claim because the Red Book spec, being so old, reads the CD data pretty much just like it was a phonograph needle tracking the spiral on a record—for all I knew, the reading and playing of the samples wasn't time-regulated beyond, as you say, the regulation of the drive mechanism. And maybe this is the case. But a general principle of everything that plays audio, including digital? Completely false. It's not true of most/all other digital audio standards, for example DVD. It's not true of computer audio production in most/all cases.

By: four panels

four panels — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 09:32:14 -0800

It surprises me so many people have such pedestrian ears when it comes to Kid A. The album is phenomenal.

By: hatchetjack

hatchetjack — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 09:53:04 -0800

My favorite band sucks.

By: TwoWordReview

TwoWordReview — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 10:35:54 -0800

Yeah it sort of works, but it's more interesting when it's just out of sync, but then again I like Steve Reich. Also Kid A is still one of my favourite albums.

By: mrgrimm

mrgrimm — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 11:56:18 -0800

Kid A is probably my 2nd, 3rd or 4th favorite radiohead album (along with OK Computer, Amnesiac, and Hail), yet I have very little interest in hearing it layering on top of itself. My high school psychology teacher showed us the first 15 minutes of Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon synched with the Wizard of Oz. I was unimpressed. It gets much better than the beginning. You have to play the whole album twice. The *LP* not a CD ... Then he showed us the beginning of Fritz Lang's Metropolis synched to Britney Spears' "...Baby One More Time". I was blown away. When she says, "I'm going down, down, down" a bunch of dudes totally shuffle onto an elevator...AND GO DOWN! I call shenanigans. Does Britney Spears even sing "I'm going down" in "Baby ... One More Time"? I do not think so. Perhaps you are thinking of another favorite Britney tune? Or else you just dreamt up the whole thing.

By: biscotti

biscotti — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 16:00:36 -0800

It surprises me so many people have such pedestrian ears when it comes to Kid A. The album is phenomenal. Yeah, while I tend to think that music, like comedy, is pretty subjective, I find it pretty surprising that so many people don't really seem to get Kid A (and how many people like to rag on Radiohead, for that matter, but I guess everyone's favourite band sucks to someone). Kid A has a transcendent quality that very few albums reach and it's got so much depth and substance that even now, after I've listened to it dozens of times, I still hear something new each time.

By: Kwine

Kwine — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 17:29:27 -0800

Ms. Kwine and I just tried this, and it sounded good throughout except on Optimistic and In Limbo. I love every Radiohead album but Kid A. Chalk me up as someone else who doesn't get it, I guess.