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Xenochrony is a studio-based musical technique developed at an unknown date, but possibly as early as the early 1960s, by Frank Zappa, who used it on several albums. Xenochrony is executed by extracting a guitar solo or other musical part from its original context and placing it into a completely different song, to create an unexpected but pleasing effect. He said that this was the only way to achieve some rhythms.
The word derives from the Greek words ξένος (xenos), strange or alien, and χρόνος (chronos), time.
One of the most prominent examples of xenochrony can be found on Zappa's rock opera Joe's Garage (1979), on which the guitar solos are all xenochronous (with the exceptions of "Watermelon in Easter Hay" and "Crew Slut").
In the words of Zappa himself:
A classic "Xenochrony" piece would be "Rubber Shirt", which is a song on the Sheik Yerbouti album. It takes a drum set part that was added to a song at one tempo. The drummer was instructed to play along with this one particular thing in a certain time signature, eleven-four, and that drum set part was extracted like a little piece of DNA from that master tape and put over here into this little cubicle. And then the bass part, which was designed to play along with another song at another speed, another rate in another time signature, four-four, that was removed from that master tape and put over here, and then the two were sandwiched together. And so the musical result is the result of two musicians, who were never in the same room at the same time, playing at two different rates in two different moods for two different purposes, when blended together, yielding a third result which is musical and synchronizes in a strange way. That's Xenochrony. And I've done that on a number of tracks. [1]
Xenochrony can be heard as early in Zappa's career as 1968: on The Mothers of Invention's We're Only in It for the Money , the rhythm track from the chorus line of "How Could I Be Such A Fool" on Freak Out! (which consists of the drums, bass, vibraphone and orchestra) is used on the ending of "Lonely Little Girl." This is noticeable when listening to the backing tracks without vocals, which appear on the posthumous box set releases The MOFO Project/Object and Lumpy Money . On Uncle Meat , a phrase from the guitar solo of "Nine Types of Industrial Pollution" appears later on at the end of "Sleeping in a Jar". Several earlier possible examples of xenochrony can be heard on Lumpy Gravy , Zappa's first solo album. A passage from "Harry, You're a Beast" may or may not be incorporated in "Almost Chinese": a harpsichord/xylophone sounding instruments plus several "snorks" can be heard directly after Larry's dialogue with Motorhead Sherwood. Also, the sound effect that begins "Flower Punk" from We're Only in It for the Money , released months earlier, is played at approximately 0:19 of Part 2, 15:19 or 15:20 of the record. Excerpts from "The World's Greatest Sinner" soundtrack, composed by Zappa, are audible on both "I Don't Know If I can Go Through This Again" (from Lumpy Gravy) and "Mother People" (from We're Only in It for the Money).
Simon & Garfunkel also used this technique on their 1968 Bookends album. The second track on the album, "Save the Life of My Child." uses the first few seconds of "The Sound Of Silence" (released on their 1966 Sounds of Silence album) around the 1:20 mark in a slowed-down fashion.
Another example is the King Crimson song "The Devil's Triangle", on their 1970 album In the Wake of Poseidon , which uses elements of "The Court of the Crimson King" near the end.
Other examples are the albums from avant-garde guitarist Buckethead, Forensic Follies and Needle in a Slunk Stack, released in 2009: both featured songs from several Buckethead albums to make new songs.
The technique was used by Dream Theater at the beginning of the song "The Dance of Eternity", where samples from their earlier song "Metropolis Pt. 1" briefly fade in and out against a slower drum and bass beat.
Car Seat Headrest used the technique on the 2010 album "3," albeit in a unique way; the song "Beach Drugs" (Track 10) prominently features a reversed version of "Sun Hot" (Track 6) in its outro. This reversed version of "Sun Hot" was later released on the compilation "Little Pieces of Paper With 'No' Written on Them" as "Hot Sun."
We're Only in It for the Money is the third studio album by American rock band the Mothers of Invention, released on March 4, 1968, by Verve Records. As with the band's first two efforts, it is a concept album, and satirizes left- and right-wing politics, particularly the hippie subculture, as well as the Beatles' album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. It was conceived as part of a project called No Commercial Potential, which produced three other albums: Lumpy Gravy, Cruising with Ruben & the Jets, and Uncle Meat.
Joe's Garage is a three-part rock opera recorded by American musician Frank Zappa in September and November 1979. Originally released as two separate studio albums on Zappa Records, the project was later remastered and reissued as a triple album box set, Joe's Garage, Acts I, II & III, in 1987. The story is told by a character identified as the "Central Scrutinizer" narrating the story of Joe, an average adolescent male, from Canoga Park, Los Angeles, who forms a garage rock band, has unsatisfying relationships with women, gives all of his money to a government-assisted and insincere religion, explores sexual activities with appliances, and is imprisoned. After being released from prison into a dystopian society in which music itself has been criminalized, he lapses into insanity.
Freak Out! is the debut studio album by American rock band the Mothers of Invention, released on June 27, 1966, by Verve Records. Often cited as one of rock music's first concept albums, it is a satirical expression of frontman Frank Zappa's perception of American pop culture and the nascent freak scene of Los Angeles. It was also one of the earliest double albums in rock music, as well as the first two-record debut album. In the UK, the album was originally released as an edited single disc.
Uncle Meat is the fifth studio album by the Mothers of Invention, released as a double album in 1969. Uncle Meat was originally developed as a part of No Commercial Potential, a project which spawned three other albums sharing a conceptual connection: We're Only in It for the Money, Lumpy Gravy and Cruising with Ruben & the Jets.
Civilization Phaze III is the sixty-third album by Frank Zappa, released posthumously as a double album on October 31, 1994. It was the first studio album of new material from Zappa since 1986's Jazz from Hell. The album marks the third part of a conceptual continuity that started with We're Only in It for the Money (1968), with the second part being a re-edited version of Zappa's 1967 album Lumpy Gravy. Zappa described the album as a "two-act opera", but in lieu of traditional recitatives and arias, it alternates brief spoken word passages with musical numbers created on a Synclavier using a combination of sampled and synthesized sounds. Much of the sampled material in the second half of the album was originally recorded by Ensemble Modern and other musicians to Zappa's specifications.
Lumpy Gravy is the debut solo album by Frank Zappa, written by Zappa and performed by a group of session players he dubbed the Abnuceals Emuukha Electric Symphony Orchestra. Zappa conducted the orchestra but did not perform on the album. It is his third album overall: his previous releases had been under the name of his group, the Mothers of Invention.
Cruising with Ruben & the Jets is the fourth studio album by the Mothers of Invention, released under the alias Ruben and the Jets. Released on December 2, 1968 on Bizarre and Verve Records with distribution by MGM Records, it is a concept album, influenced by 1950s doo-wop and rock and roll. The album's concept deals with a fictitious Chicano doo-wop band called Ruben & the Jets, represented by the cover illustration by Cal Schenkel, which depicts the Mothers of Invention as anthropomorphic dogs. It was conceived as part of a project called No Commercial Potential, which produced three other albums: Lumpy Gravy, We're Only in It for the Money and Uncle Meat.
Weasels Ripped My Flesh is the seventh studio album by the American rock group the Mothers of Invention, and the tenth overall by Frank Zappa, released in 1970. It is the second album released after the Mothers disbanded in 1969, preceded by Burnt Weeny Sandwich. In contrast to its predecessor, which almost entirely focused on studio recordings of arranged compositions, Weasels Ripped My Flesh consists of a combination of live and studio recordings and features more improvisation.
Quaudiophiliac is a compilation album featuring music by Frank Zappa, released in DVD-Audio format by Barking Pumpkin Records in 2004. It compiles recordings he made while experimenting with quadraphonic, or four-channel, sound in the 1970s. Zappa prepared quadraphonic mixes of a number of his 1970s albums, with both Over-Nite Sensation (1973) and Apostrophe (') (1974) being released in discrete quadraphonic on Zappa's DiscReet Records label.
Sleep Dirt is an album by Frank Zappa released in January 1979, on his own DiscReet Records label. It reached #175 on the Billboard 200 album chart in the United States.
Läther is the sixty-fifth official album by Frank Zappa. It was released posthumously as a three-CD set on Rykodisc in 1996. The album's title is derived from bits of comic dialog that link the songs. Zappa also explained that the name is a joke, based on "common bastardized pronunciation of Germanic syllables by the Swiss."
London Symphony Orchestra is an album series by Frank Zappa, released in two parts as London Symphony Orchestra, Vol. I in 1983 and London Symphony Orchestra, Vol. II, in 1987. They were recorded at the same sessions, in January 1983. The two albums were later combined, and re-released on a Rykodisc CD as London Symphony Orchestra Vol. I & II (1995).
Pal Recording Studio (1957–1964) was an independent recording studio that operated in Cucamonga, California The studio was started by engineer/innovator Paul Buff. The studio is known for its instrumental Surf music recordings such as "Wipe Out" and the original demo recording of "Pipeline". The first location was at 8020 North Archibald Avenue. Later, the studio moved down the street to 8040.
In Search of The is a set of thirteen albums by Buckethead, released on February 21, 2007. Each was initially personally numbered and monogrammed by Buckethead himself. No two sets were the same, as the covers were hand-drawn and unique from one another. It is considered a special release, making it the first of Buckethead's albums to be referred to as such.
Transmutation is the first album by Bill Laswell's ever-changing "supergroup" Praxis. The album was released in 1992 and features Buckethead on guitar, Bootsy Collins on bass and vocals, Brain on drums, Bernie Worrell on keyboards and DJ AF Next Man Flip on turntables.
"Willie the Pimp" is a song from Frank Zappa's 1969 album Hot Rats. It features an idiosyncratic Captain Beefheart vocal and one of Zappa's classic guitar solos. It is the only track that is not instrumental on the album, though the track features a long guitar solo.
"Take Your Clothes Off When You Dance" is a song written by Frank Zappa, with the first officially available version being recorded and released by The Mothers of Invention on their 1968 album We're Only in It for the Money. The song was originally recorded as an instrumental by Frank Zappa in 1961 at Pal Recording Studio.
The Lumpy Money Project/Object is a compilation album by Frank Zappa. Released posthumously on January 23, 2009 as Official Release #85, it compiles the releases Lumpy Gravy and We're Only in It for the Money with previously unreleased material, with the overall package serving as an audio documentary of the production of the two albums, which share conceptual continuity themes. It is project/object #2 in a series of 40th Anniversary FZ Audio Documentaries, following MOFO (2006).
The Old Masters is a box set series by Frank Zappa, released in three volumes on Barking Pumpkin Records from April 1985 to December 1987, consisting of studio and live albums by Zappa and The Mothers of Invention originally released from 1966 to 1976 on other labels, as well as "Mystery Discs" which contained previously unreleased material. The graphics on all three sets was airbrush illustrated by Larry Grossman.
Jim "Motorhead" Sherwood was an American rock musician notable for playing soprano, tenor and baritone saxophone, tambourine, vocals and vocal sound effects in Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention. He appeared on all the albums of the original Mothers line-up and the 'posthumous' releases Burnt Weeny Sandwich and Weasels Ripped My Flesh, as well as certain subsequent Zappa albums. He also appeared in the films 200 Motels, Video from Hell and Uncle Meat.
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