# Need suggestions for some 'insane' instrumental music **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 12, 2015, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-suggestions-for-some-insane-instrumental-music/712481 "2015-02-12T16:28:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2015, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-suggestions-for-some-insane-instrumental-music/712481/1 "2015-02-12T16:28:02Z")
I’m looking for some incidental music for a play that is set in an insane asylum. (actually in an person’s dream) I want some music (preferably orchestral or orchestral-ish, trios quartets) Vocals not in English OK. Stuff that sounds nightmarish, or insane. Maybe solo bassoon or cello? Stuff that Schoenberg would flinch at and say “Dude! That’s not music!” 😉 Bonus question, I remember a piece back in my college days (early 80’s) and the listening test for it. It was an orchestra, the work about Hiroshima and I remember that my way to remember the work was that the string section sounded sometimes like a squeaky screen door. But now I don’t remember the title of that. That would be a good piece. Any suggestions? thanks ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2015, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-suggestions-for-some-insane-instrumental-music/712481/2 "2015-02-12T16:40:32Z")
Might be cliché by now, but: [Requiem, for Soprano, Mezzo-Soprano, 2 Mixed Choirs & Orchestra](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6z2mf0kjEP8) - György Ligeti (used in 2001) Would the Hiroshima piece be: [Penderecki: Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dp3BlFZWJNA) ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2015, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-suggestions-for-some-insane-instrumental-music/712481/3 "2015-02-12T16:54:58Z")
This was used in “The Mist”: “[The Host of Seraphim](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpMNXEY_tio)” - Dead Can Dance I’m done, real classical fans should be here soon. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2015, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-suggestions-for-some-insane-instrumental-music/712481/4 "2015-02-12T17:04:21Z")
The [Gollum movement](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxn-EIqYF8U) of the _Lord of the Rings_ Symphony by Johan de Meij. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2015, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-suggestions-for-some-insane-instrumental-music/712481/5 "2015-02-12T17:07:10Z")
Perhaps parts of [Night On Bald Mountain](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCEDfZgDPS8). ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2015, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-suggestions-for-some-insane-instrumental-music/712481/6 "2015-02-12T17:07:19Z")
> [@Zebra](#): > > I’m looking for some incidental music for a play that is set in an insane asylum. (actually in an person’s dream) > > I want some music (preferably orchestral or orchestral-ish, trios quartets) Vocals not in English OK. Stuff that sounds nightmarish, or insane. Maybe solo bassoon or cello? > Stuff that Schoenberg would flinch at and say “Dude! That’s not music!” 😉 Have you ever heard of the band **Stalaggh**? They have an, um, unusual oeuvre. [Stalaggh - Project Misanthropia](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=br5tyuEUBWE); skip ahead to about 5:50 if you want to hear some actual guitar and drums in there as well. There’s more, but that’s the first bit of it. The same group also released an album (just the one so far) as **Gulaggh** called [Vorkuta](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuO9xtNsRs0) that features screaming, wailing & caterwauling from the residents of a children’s mental hospital as vocals. Good times! My other suggestion would be to use a song by the **Portsmouth Sinfonia** ; perhaps [Blue Danube Waltz](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmqBzFcHQis) or [In The Hall Of The Mountain King](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wiRivDMIYM)? ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2015, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-suggestions-for-some-insane-instrumental-music/712481/7 "2015-02-12T17:13:32Z")
Tom Waits has some short instrumentals that are very bizarre in a different way from the classical repertory listed so far. Try “Knife Chase” or “Bride of Rain Dog.” The nonvocal passages snipped from “Hell Broke Luce” would be very effective as well. Hell, just set the whole thing to “God’s Away on Business.” 🙂 Katzenjammer is an all-female group that has some cuts that outweird the inestimable Mr. Waits. Try “Demon Kitty Rag” or “Soviet Trumpeter.” Or Yellow #5’s instrumental “Demon Crossing.” ---
**Author:** ![Nightfall1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@Nightfall1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nightfall1)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2015, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-suggestions-for-some-insane-instrumental-music/712481/8 "2015-02-12T17:19:48Z")
> **[Ravi Shankar - Transmigration Macabre: Music From The Film Viola - Amazon.com...](https://www.amazon.com/Transmigration-Macabre-Music-Film-Viola/dp/B00BH415WK)** > > Digitally remastered edition of this 1967 album from the late sitarist and composer. Transmigration Macabre is not your average Ravi Shankar album. Overtly psychedelic, sometimes closer to Coltrane's mystical free jazz than the world music Shankar is... This music was written with the idea of someone slowly going insane. The music traces his emotional turmoil, struggles, and eventual victory against the dominating influence of his wife after her death. ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2015, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-suggestions-for-some-insane-instrumental-music/712481/9 "2015-02-12T17:22:52Z")
Not orchestral, but instrumental, [Animals As Leaders](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmfzWpp0hMc) sounds like the soundtrack to an insane asylum. Virtuoso playing, nauseating atonal-chromatic melodies, and weird time signatures and polyrhythms so deep that “Who can find the one [beat] first?” is a game I play with my friends when a new song comes out. ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2015, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-suggestions-for-some-insane-instrumental-music/712481/10 "2015-02-12T17:34:35Z")
Somewhere in the middle of Whole Lotta Love by Zed Zepplin I start feeling like they or I should be institutionalized. ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2015, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-suggestions-for-some-insane-instrumental-music/712481/11 "2015-02-12T17:39:54Z")
> [@Ellen\_Cherry](#): > > Somewhere in the middle of Whole Lotta Love by Zed Zepplin I start feeling like they or I should be institutionalized. That section always sounds to me like a really, really stoned guy trying to maintain enough focus to finish sex. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2015, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-suggestions-for-some-insane-instrumental-music/712481/12 "2015-02-12T17:40:22Z")
Arcturus - [The Masquerade Infernale](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCIQlRNc9go) Arcturus - [Of Nails and Sinners](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OY-pKEgMT1M) Biosphere - [Sphere of No Form](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrHc7JO1HGc) Cirque du Soleil - [Irna](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3j9-9hdtQs) Cirque du Soleil - [Nocturne](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cr1eD_MJ80Y) Crash Worship - [Sendero Luminoso](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nn5Z7HTceRE) Crash Worship - [Discordia](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVAFCxduhq0) Crash Worship - [Pyru](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjitAr7cNL4) Deerhoof - [Sealed with a Kiss](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gm2bCd1VyUk) Deerhoof - [Flower](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYmFoQ2js30) downy - […take your pick…](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qT81oA1tCyg&list=PLJFUtd6Crs9kBD4rjQ61DuX1bLfegmsdM) I have to go to work. I can resume from the E’s when I get home. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2015, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-suggestions-for-some-insane-instrumental-music/712481/13 "2015-02-12T17:41:46Z")
Diamanda Galas ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2015, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-suggestions-for-some-insane-instrumental-music/712481/14 "2015-02-12T18:06:07Z")
Not orchestral, but listen to Eno’s _Nerve Net_, there are some tracks on that that would make for a good crazy dream soundtrack: _Wire Shock_, _My Squelchy Life_, _What Actually Happened_. I have always liked _In Dark Trees_ from _Another Green World_, but it is a bit short. ---
**Author:** ![picker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/picker/32/13969_2.png) [@picker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picker)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2015, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-suggestions-for-some-insane-instrumental-music/712481/15 "2015-02-12T18:08:59Z")
Mr. Bungle ---
**Author:** ![DooWahDiddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9bcb4/32.png) [@DooWahDiddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DooWahDiddy)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2015, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-suggestions-for-some-insane-instrumental-music/712481/16 "2015-02-12T18:25:47Z")
Not being a jerk (because you might remember we’re both from the same small town in Oklahoma and live in the same city now, so you’re cool in my book!), but I’m really wondering: are you looking for music that’s in the public domain, or are you willing/able to go through the procedure to secure the rights to use whatever music you end up deciding on? Because we could name all the songs in the world, but to use it in a public performance without permission isn’t a good idea. So let us know if you’re looking for something pre-1924-ish that you can use without hassle, or if anything is game because you’ll be going through the right channels, and that’ll help us suggest appropriate things. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2015, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-suggestions-for-some-insane-instrumental-music/712481/17 "2015-02-12T18:45:03Z")
There’s always Lol Coxhill’s version of “[I Am the Walrus](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44ER67JGcyQ)” If you don’t want vocals, you can pick any of the instrumentals on his album [“Ear of Beholder”](http://www.allmusic.com/album/ear-of-the-beholder-mw0000235564). ---
**Author:** ![Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/les_espaces_du_sommeil/32/308_2.png) [@Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Les_Espaces_Du_Sommeil)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2015, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-suggestions-for-some-insane-instrumental-music/712481/18 "2015-02-12T18:57:24Z")
[QUOTE=burpo the wonder mutt] Requiem, for Soprano, Mezzo-Soprano, 2 Mixed Choirs & Orchestra - György Ligeti (used in 2001) Would the Hiroshima piece be: Penderecki: Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima [/QUOTE] Right and right! You want some solo bassoon? Try **Gubaidulina** ’s _concerto for bassoon and low strings_. Here’s a link to the first movement [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMiTj4xyJfM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMiTj4xyJfM). It starts out more weird and disjointed than scary but it gets wilder later on. There are four more movements so take your pick :D. As a bonus, you get a strange (and totally unrelated) video. ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2015, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-suggestions-for-some-insane-instrumental-music/712481/19 "2015-02-12T19:15:54Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > Might be cliché by now, but: > > [Requiem, for Soprano, Mezzo-Soprano, 2 Mixed Choirs & Orchestra](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6z2mf0kjEP8) - György Ligeti I came in here to suggest something by Ligeti. There’s plenty more besides this one. ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2015, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-suggestions-for-some-insane-instrumental-music/712481/20 "2015-02-12T19:44:58Z")
[Igor Stravisnky’s The Rite of Spring](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWotpIy0uTg) Starting at 22:08 is what I’ve always considered appropriate insane asylum music. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-suggestions-for-some-insane-instrumental-music/712481.md?page=2)