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11 November 2005

50's lounge plinky music Help me with a genre/artists!→[More:]

I'm looking for a certain kind of 50's music, of which I have no samples, artist names, or tune names. The only thing I can think to describe it is "plinky". Lots of short, plinky, fast notes, no vocals. Very retro/50's documentaries of "life in the year 2000" feeling. Does anyone know what I'm talking about, and, if so, what is the name of the genre/are there any recommendations of musicians/tunes?
post by: bugbread at: 08:02 | 19 comments
Space Age Pop? Maybe take a look at Esquivel. (The second link goes to Amazon--you can hear samples if you scroll down.)
posted by kortez 11 November | 08:17
(Check out track 4, "Surfboard", in particular. I can imagine that in a 50s documentary about kitchens in the next millenium.)
posted by kortez 11 November | 08:21
Perry & Kingsley's stuff is hilariously dorky. Also, even though it's from the late 60's, Dick Hyman's Moog: The Electric Eclectics of Dick Hyman has that same "bachelor pad" feel.
posted by Hellbient 11 November | 08:50
It might be worth checking Winifred Atwell, Russ Conway and Joe 'Mr Piano' Henderson.
posted by Tarrama 11 November | 09:00
You might also enjoy Combustible Edison and Friends of Dean Martinez who update this sound in their own special ways.

See also: tiki music, exotica as genres.
posted by safetyfork 11 November | 09:02
Also, Arthur Lyman is a good time. He's got a great, uh, vibe.
posted by safetyfork 11 November | 09:11
Perry & Kingsley.
posted by matildaben 11 November | 09:33
Hmmm...The space age pop / esquivel stuff sounds far more futurey/loungy than I'm thinking. Combustible Edison is also quite different than I was thinking.

Maybe my "documentaries about the future" was a red herring. Perhaps I should have said documentaries about home appliances. I have a feeling that a narrator would be talking about how great garbage disposals are, or talking about how good dental hygeine is. "Here's mom, taking a little break while the VacuClean works away. And there's little Billy, getting ready to go out on his paperoute."

Also, I've thought of a representative sound: the plinky music at the start of The Sims 2.
posted by bugbread 11 November | 10:54
Do you mean plinky as in a piano, or more specifically, a toy piano? Try the bottom three mp3s here. Hoppity Jones is very plinky.
posted by iconomy 11 November | 11:02
I suspect the plinks come from plucked violin or the like, but I'm not sure. But that plinky stuff you linked to is the right kind of plinky. Just the wrong kind of music surrounding it.

If it helps, the stuff I'm thinking isn't a modern reimaging of the 50's, but real music from the 50's (actually, it could have been the 40's, I'm not sure). Stuff Nick At Nite would frequently have used.
posted by bugbread 11 November | 11:13
Ok I now know what you want - I can hear the music in my head. Now to get my computer to read my mind! Lemme think...
posted by iconomy 11 November | 11:29
Other than it being strings rather than piano, it sounds (to me) like you're describing Steve Allen doing an on-air commercial. He used to play piano on the "Tonight!" show (precursor to the Tonight Show).
posted by kero 11 November | 11:37
Kero: I'll try to track some Steve Allen down.
Iconomy: Mighty thanks!
posted by bugbread 11 November | 12:52
If you prowl around the ephemera in the Prelinger Archive you may find examples of what you're referring to. (Personally I believe I know exactly what you're talking about but I haven't got a lot of time to go digging out examples right now.)
posted by George_Spiggott 11 November | 13:34
George_Spiggott: I'll give that a try when I get home (archive.org is blocked by work firewall as a "remote proxy")
posted by bugbread 11 November | 13:45
oh, "plinky" - i know what you're talking about now. There was an AskMeta about this, but I can't find it. I'm also certain there's a compilation out there, but I can't for the life of me find it. Still looking though...
It's sorta like the music that you hear when Homer has that fantasy about "The Land of Chocolate"? No?
posted by Hellbient 11 November | 14:08
It's sorta like the music that you hear when Homer has that fantasy about "The Land of Chocolate"? No?

No, it's not sorta like that. It's EXACTLY like that! That's it!!

So, question rephrased: Folks, what is the name of the subgenre in hellbient's link? What composers should I look for? What albums exist of it?
posted by bugbread 11 November | 14:17
Plinxotica?
posted by Hellbient 11 November | 19:06
Music for TV Dinners

particularly plinky (wmv):
Man About Town
Shopping Spree
posted by Hellbient 14 November | 23:40
← It kinds sucks online on the West Coast (unless you're Japanesee, I don't know). || I donated to WUNC, local NPR station this week. →

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