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        Instrumental

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        • Years Active: 1990s, 2000s

        Albums

        Albums (242)Compilations (196) Sort By: Most Downloaded

        Biography All Music GuideWikipedia

        All Music Guide:

        Instrumental is a sextet of strings that focuses on doing covers of electronic acts such as Orbital, Brian Eno, and Moby. The sextet consists of Everton Nelson (violin), Catherine Brownin (violin), Brian Wright (violin), Sally Ward (viola), Andrew Nice (cello), and Andrew Waterworth (double bass). All the players have trained at very reputable colleges and have recorded or toured with popular musicians and worked on major film scores.

        Instrumental's story began when the seasoned musicians had a desire to combine their weekend club life with their professional training. Unlike those who argue that electronic music is not "real" music, the connection between accoustic and electronic were clear to these six musicians. The first public attempt was when the ensemble did their own rendition of the Orb's popular single "Little Fluffy Clouds." The cover resulted in Instrumental being invited to open for the Orb's last show in London, in addition to subsequent covers of the Orb's work. The ensemble has also done studio work for Andrea Parker, Toshihiko Mori, and 4 Hero. In 1999, Instrumental released their debut full-length album Acoustek on Bill Chill, UK records. Acoustek supplies stringed covers of the Orb, Orbital, and Plastikman's minimal anthem "Consume."

        Wikipedia:

        Flat Eric featured in the video for Mr. Oizo's "Flat Beat" in 1999; the puppet and instrumental UK number one were popularised through use in advert for Levi's Sta-Prest jeans.

        An instrumental is a musical composition or recording without lyrics, or singing, although it might include some inarticulate vocal input; the music is primarily or exclusively produced by musical instruments.

        In a song that is otherwise sung, a section not sung but played with instruments can be called an instrumental interlude. If the instruments are percussion instruments, the interlude can be called a percussion interlude. These interludes are a form of break in the song.

        In popular music [edit]

        In commercial popular music, instrumental tracks are sometimes renderings of a corresponding release that features vocals, but may also be compositions originally conceived without vocals. An instrumental version of a song which otherwise features vocals is also known as a -1 (pronounced minus one).

        The opposite of instrumental is a cappella.

        In genres which the non-vocal part is conceived using electronic media, the instrumental not necessarily has to be conceived by musical instruments, but is the term to refer to some composition or version that does not include vocals.

        #1s [edit]

        Instrumentals in advertising [edit]

        Many times, instrumentals are used in advertising in place of vocalized music, because there is much more room for a product's information. Some notable cases are:

        "Moby Dick" – Led Zeppelin (Recycling Advert from '70s)

        Borderline cases [edit]

        Some recordings which include brief examples of the human voice are typically considered instrumentals. Examples include singles with the following:

        Short verbal interjections (as in "Tequila" or "Topsy" or "Wipe Out" or "The Hustle")Repetitive nonsense words (e.g., "la la..." (as in "Calcutta") or "Woo Hoo");A short spoken passage (e.g., "To Live Is to Die" by Metallica);Wordless vocal effects, such as drones (e.g., "Rockit" or "Flying");Vocal percussion, such as beatbox B-sides on rap singles;Yodeling (e.g., "Hocus Pocus");Whistling (e.g., "I Was Kaiser Bill's Batman" or "Colonel Bogey March").An ominous statement at the end (e.g., God Bless the Children of the Beast by Mötley Crüe, Cremation by King Diamond)Inclusion of field recordings which may or my not contain non-lyrical words. (e.g. Many songs by Godspeed You! Black Emperor and other post-rock bands.)

        A few songs categorized as instrumentals may even include actual vocals, if they appear only as a short part of an extended piece (e.g., "Unchained Melody" (Les Baxter) or "TSOP (The Sound of Philadelphia)" or "Pick Up the Pieces" or "The Hustle" or "Fly, Robin, Fly" or "Do It Any Way You Wanna" or "Gonna Fly Now" (Bill Conti)). Falling just outside that definition is "Theme From Shaft" by Isaac Hayes.