xkcd

by **Malvolio** » Wed Apr 15, 2009 11:13 am UTC

I love crescendos. When the music picks up and makes you drop what you're doing and clutch your headphones to your ears. When the emotions turns on like a spigot, blasting water from the tap. When the music gets loud.

Some examples:

- The Gaslight Anthem - The '59 Sound
- Frightened Rabbit - Keep Yourself Warm
- Sigur Rós - Hoppípolla
- The National - Mr. November

Any other examples you guys can think of?

by **Blinke** » Wed Apr 15, 2009 12:18 pm UTC

Might be worth checking out, well, anything by Explosions in the Sky if you haven't already.

by **seladore** » Wed Apr 15, 2009 5:30 pm UTC

Blinke wrote:Might be worth checking out, well, anything by Explosions in the Sky if you haven't already.

You beat me to it.

Anything post-rock flavoured will have plenty of these.

Try Sigur Ros, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, or God is an Astronaut for starters.

by **Malvolio** » Wed Apr 15, 2009 5:53 pm UTC

I love Sigur Rós and Explosions in the Sky. I haven't listened to much Godspeed You! Black Emperor or God is an Astronaut, however. I'll try them out.

by **charliepanayi** » Wed Apr 15, 2009 6:45 pm UTC

The song Like Herod by Mogwai is a pretty good example.

by **Izawwlgood** » Wed Apr 15, 2009 6:58 pm UTC

All Blueman Group songs.

Uh, duh, Stairway.

by **Blinke** » Wed Apr 15, 2009 8:33 pm UTC

I second the GY!BE, Mogwai and God is an Astronaut recommendations and add This Will Destroy You. All good stuff.

by **miles01110** » Wed Apr 15, 2009 9:24 pm UTC

Bolero?

by **SirMustapha** » Wed Apr 15, 2009 11:01 pm UTC

... plus, Tubular Bells!

Though I don't know exactly if you're talking about crescendi or about climaxes there, since they're not exactly interchangeable. But here are some further examples anyway:

Autechre - Cap.IV
Arcade Fire - Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels) and In the Back Seat
Coldplay - Politik
Björk - Hyperballad
Sigur Rós - the last track from the semicircles album
Mogwai - You Don't Know Jesus
Stereolab - Space Moth
Squarepusher - Iambic 9 Poetry

EDIT'D: I dunno why the hell I mixed "Neighborhood" with "Underground" there.

by **Masily box** » Wed Apr 15, 2009 11:06 pm UTC

Yeah, I'm not sure if you meant it this way, but the OP reminds me of the "literary" use of crescendo to mean climax, which drives me batty. Don't use a technical term if you're going to use it wrong.

(Not necessarily a rant aimed that the OP, but even so, I think you might mean "music with long drawn out crescendos"? Any gradual increase in volume is a crescendo...)

by **Malvolio** » Thu Apr 16, 2009 3:06 am UTC

I mean music that builds to a peak. That's all.

by **ChocloManx** » Thu Apr 16, 2009 3:18 am UTC

Close to the Edge and Starship Trooper by Yes
Starless by King Crimson
Supper's Ready by Genesis
Larks' Tongues in Aspic part one also by King Crimson

If you are into slightly crazier stuff, the first movement of music for strings, percussion and celesta by Bela Bartok is one of the most beautiful crescendos ever.

by **Malvolio** » Thu Apr 16, 2009 3:24 am UTC

How did I forget King Crimson?! I love 21st Century Schizoid Man.

by **SirMustapha** » Thu Apr 16, 2009 9:04 pm UTC

Starless is probably the epitome of the crescendo in 70's prog rock. I don't think anyone did better than that. The Talking Drum, also by King Crimson, is good too.

by **ChocloManx** » Fri Apr 17, 2009 3:17 am UTC

High fives are to be had all around.

by **miles01110** » Fri Apr 17, 2009 6:06 am UTC

The second movement of Hindemith's Symphonic Metamorphoses (Turandot) is also another long crescendo.

by **Lleu** » Fri Apr 17, 2009 9:25 pm UTC

miles01110 wrote:Bolero?

That was funny.

Also the Prelude of Das Rheingold.

by **Antimatter Spork** » Fri Apr 17, 2009 11:43 pm UTC

In Quartet for the End of Time, Messaien wrote pretty much the most epic crescendo ever written for clarinet (IMO).

Of course, the more intimate atmosphere of a chamber work heightens the impact.

by **Smiling Hobo** » Sat Apr 18, 2009 3:33 am UTC

SirMustapha wrote:Starless is probably the epitome of the crescendo in 70's prog rock. I don't think anyone did better than that. The Talking Drum, also by King Crimson, is good too.

To keep the King Crimson trend going, what about Epitaph? An epic song if there ever was one, that is.

I also suggest Echoes by Pink Floyd, if you have ~25 minutes to devote to listening.

*Nibbles on kitten*

by **Lithium33** » Tue Apr 21, 2009 8:36 pm UTC

seladore wrote:
Blinke wrote:Might be worth checking out, well, anything by Explosions in the Sky if you haven't already.

You beat me to it.

Anything post-rock flavoured will have plenty of these.

Try Sigur Ros, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, or God is an Astronaut for starters.

The Birth and Death of the Day by EitS has awesome crescendoing.

by **MrPopinjay** » Mon Apr 27, 2009 2:59 pm UTC

I'm not familiar with any of the music you listed so I don't know if you like electronic music but pretty much all drum & bass features crescendos.

by **Chobbes** » Sun May 03, 2009 4:23 am UTC

Asobi Seksu's Thusday (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8paDhfGQH4E) or It's Too Late.

It's Too Late is particularly relevant...the ending is a 3 minute guitar-distortion fest just building and building. The word "distortion" probably makes it sound like noise...but there's a beautiful melody beneath the fuzz.

by **ddt** » Mon May 16, 2011 12:03 am UTC

I'm a nut for crescendos too. My favourite ones seem to "tell a story" even without lyrics, and I'll listen to them over and over again, write down the exact moments where new beats, instruments, and passages come in, and then after replaying many times, they will start to dictate stories to me, which I will write down or memorize.

These are my fav crescendos:

The Dream is Collapsing by Hans Zimmer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imamcajBEJs

Heroes of Might and Magic 3 theme music for the Fortress level by Paul Romero:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsYjN4wFw4o

The Henley Race Scene from The Social Network by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwIPDpRuyNk

Not as fond of crescendos with lyrics, but these deserve extremely honourable mention:

Sex Born Poison by Air:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ELWWpBWF3M

A Day in the Life by The Beatles:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCUeia-nEio

by **Роберт** » Tue May 17, 2011 3:02 pm UTC

Oh my God by Jars of Clay has an interesting, very long and slow crescendo in it. Starting at around 2:39.

by **Midnight** » Tue May 17, 2011 7:53 pm UTC

Post-rock is affectionately (or derisively, depending on how much you like post-rock) called crescendo-core, so there's that.
Also, anything from the Romantic Era.

by **cjmcjmcjmcjm** » Wed May 18, 2011 5:15 am UTC

I'm a big fan of a crescendo followed by a couple counts of a quiet note, then BAM! LOUD SECTION!

by **no-genius** » Wed May 18, 2011 5:07 pm UTC

charliepanayi wrote:The song Like Herod by Mogwai is a pretty good example.

Helicon 1 is a better one (especially when it's live)

by **SirMustapha** » Thu May 19, 2011 8:01 pm UTC

no-genius wrote:
charliepanayi wrote:The song Like Herod by Mogwai is a pretty good example.

Helicon 1 is a better one (especially when it's live)

Most live versions of New Paths to Helicon, part 1 I've heard are a complete murder: they utterly drown and choke the melody with unlistenable brown noise. It works on their more brutal and violent tracks, but as far as the fragile beauty of that song is concerned, the original recording found on Ten Rapid is still the definitive version for me.

by **Dream** » Thu May 19, 2011 11:20 pm UTC

Road to Nowhere by Talking Heads probably has the best overall build up of any rock song I know. As soon as that "There's a city in my mind" verse comes in, dancing, singing and grinning like a loon. It's just so uplifting, it's wonderful.

by **darthdidious** » Wed Jun 01, 2011 4:06 am UTC

The first movement of Shostakovich's 7th Symphony (specifically, the Bolero-like middle section).

by **Ross1** » Sun Jun 05, 2011 12:44 pm UTC

My favourite songs that hit a climax are:

Kaki King - My Nerves That Committed Suicide
Chris Bathgate - The Last Parade on Ann St.
Cortney Tidwell - Eyes Are at the Billions
Wye Oak - Civilian (also the name of the album its on)
The Antlers - Kettering
Noah and the Whale - The First Days of Spring
Eskimeaux - Your Fire Arms

by **no-genius** » Sun Jun 19, 2011 4:55 pm UTC

SirMustapha wrote:
no-genius wrote:Helicon 1 is a better one (especially when it's live)

Most live versions of New Paths to Helicon, part 1 I've heard are a complete murder: they utterly drown and choke the melody with unlistenable brown noise. It works on their more brutal and violent tracks, but as far as the fragile beauty of that song is concerned, the original recording found on Ten Rapid is still the definitive version for me.

Have you heard the version on Special Moves?

by **SirMustapha** » Mon Jun 20, 2011 4:08 am UTC

no-genius wrote:Have you heard the version on Special Moves?

Not as far as I recall. I have heard the one on My Father My King and the one on Government Commissions, and some YouTube videos. I think the former is the only truly egregious case, but the others just don't touch the right buttons for me.

by **Windowlicker** » Mon Jun 20, 2011 4:53 pm UTC

Smiling Hobo wrote:I also suggest Echoes by Pink Floyd, if you have ~25 minutes to devote to listening.

On these lines, I'd just suggest the whole of the album The Wall. I find it very difficult to do anything else whilst it's on.

Also, the Funeral for a Friend part of Elton John's Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding.

On a slightly different note, I often wonder how people come across and then post in threads that are over 2 years old.. unless this part of the fora is less active than I thought.

by **Роберт** » Mon Jul 11, 2011 6:28 pm UTC

Windowlicker wrote:
Smiling Hobo wrote:I also suggest Echoes by Pink Floyd, if you have ~25 minutes to devote to listening.

On these lines, I'd just suggest the whole of the album The Wall. I find it very difficult to do anything else whilst it's on.

Also, the Funeral for a Friend part of Elton John's Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding.

On a slightly different note, I often wonder how people come across and then post in threads that are over 2 years old.. unless this part of the fora is less active than I thought.

It's called search. Creating duplicate threads is generally considered bad ju-ju.

by **lanicita** » Mon Nov 14, 2011 12:49 am UTC

Reviving this thread because I have a thing for crescendos, and because Luca by Brand New desperately needs to be in this thread.

by **Euphonium** » Tue Nov 22, 2011 2:50 pm UTC

miles01110 wrote:Bolero?

Indeed. A single, fourteen-minute-long crescendo.

by **UniqueScreenname** » Sat Nov 26, 2011 12:12 am UTC

One of my favorite classical songs: Smetana - Moldau

by **Amarantha** » Sat Nov 26, 2011 12:58 pm UTC

Lots of classical has crescendo-y bits, but the one that comes to mind is the 1812 Overture. Everyone's familiar with the spectacular bit that has cannonfire, but apart from that it's pretty much 17 minutes of build-up.

by **Bartimaeus** » Sun Dec 25, 2011 4:27 am UTC

2+2=5 is an AMAZING example of this!
Also, Fake Plastic Trees, and The Daily Mail.

I hate to be the "Radiohead guy," but their music is filled with examples of this.

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