The Smallest Weird Number

[Dragon]

I started this thread on WATMM and I'm starting it here too.

I was just listening to Geogaddi when this track came on. Aside from its perfect segue from Julie and Candy, listening to this track in my bed, in the dark, was absolutely mind-blowing. I've always thought this to be a very special track (hell, it even got first place in my Geogaddi best-to-worst thread) but tonight, it seriously, seriously struck me.

I'm just gonna go ahead and say it. The Smallest Weird Number has the most powerful melody I have ever heard. I have no idea if there are any more powerful melodies than this, but all I know is I've heard a lot of music in my life and, as far as single melodies go when played by themselves, I've never heard any more powerful than this.

I've had experiences with weird states of mind, and this is a perfect emulation of the kind of feelings you get when your brain is fucked up. It just sounds so evil and twisted, it completely surrounds you and doesn't let you go until you've reached an epiphany. Some music is so powerful that it can actually touch the soul, but this track completely takes control over it and tries to twist it for its own satanic purposes. Seriously, who, other than Boards of Canada, can make music that does this?

If they had created nothing whatsoever except this track, they would still be two of the greatest artists in history. I don't even care if they release another album, this track (and indeed the entire album) is pure gold (that's an understatement, I couldn't think of a better description).

This thread is dedicated to the melody in The Smallest Weird Number, and all the weird, wonderful, horrifying, claustrophobic, ecstatic and haunting emotions that are conjured with every listen.

[zeitgeist]

dude, are you rolling?


no, but seriously, it's a good track, eh? i miss the days when i used to lay in bed with the ipod playing boards.

[747Music]

Absolutely an amazing melody to it. But I still don't think I like it as much as you do.

[Julian Candy]

My view on the song is that Julie and Candy is a very Armageddon/apocalyptic style song, like a town being bombed, and TSWN is like realizing you're the only survivor and you're viewing the destruction.

It's a very haunting song for me, like the sounds of death, But it does have a very entrancing melody.

[__ = Zenfinity = __]

Smallest Weird Number, forwards or backwards = one of BoC's most powerful broken ambient tunes.

[saturdayindex]

It's track 10 from Old Tunes Vol 1 reversed, anyone can verify me on this?

[Saakki]

It's track 10 from Old Tunes Vol 1 reversed, anyone can verify me on this?

Taken from bocpages: " Track 10 from side B of Old Tunes Vol. 1 appears in reverse at 0:11. Reverb has been applied to the last chord heard in the present track. "

[Seeya_Later]

I LOVE this track. It feels like insanity creeping in on my brain. Turning a peaceful day by the lake into a disturbing series of events.

[Dmitrii]

Anyone is able to transcribe the melody from TSWN? I am pretty sure that it must be a smart-ass musical palindrome or something like that. This melody cannot be just a melody, it’s too out there even for BoC. If there was a musical notation, we (people with bad ears) could analyse it and solve this mystery

[SamuraiDrifter]

Anyone is able to transcribe the melody from TSWN? I am pretty sure that it must be a smart-ass musical palindrome or something like that. This melody cannot be just a melody, it’s too out there even for BoC. If there was a musical notation, we (people with bad ears) could analyse it and solve this mystery

Well it's definitely not a musical palindrome in the same sense as, say, Collapse, because B10 on R35TT is The Smallest Weird Number in reverse and it sounds different.

[Dmitrii]

True, this is not an exact palindrome, but the title suggests there might be some mathematical riddle inside regardless

[Negamuse]

I like how in places it seems to contain a slow version of itself. You hear it in the little phrase that leads up to the point where it loops. The low notes there are the same melody as the high notes, just played at a lower pitch and slower.

It's always made me think of a nature video only with a kind of visual echo, a zoomed in version of itself being mixed over the top of the image so everything seems to have a kind of halo

[Dmitrii]

I guess I found out what's "wrong" about The Smallest Weird Number:
- If you take a look at the waveform, you can see that at the middle of the loop (13,5 seconds of 27 seconds total) there are much more notes and harmonics, and there's even louder tape hiss above 5kHz frequency.
- Given that at this point the melody flow "crashes", I conclude that this is where two different recordings imposed one over another. Hence the major part of track's weirdness
- What's more, every note is off in terms of pitch, as pitch is oscillating in the range of 60ct (100ct = 1 semitone = 1 half step on the keyboard, e.g. from a black key to a white key; 60ct drift is a lot, and it gives the track the unstable, uncanny feeling
- I managed to transcribe the loop and take the two parts apart. Now it sound less jarring but still not quite in tune, haha. So the other key to the weirdness is that melody does not match the pitch of chords underneath (in the Western music canon)

For your reference, here are mp3s of my efforts:

1. The Smallest Weird Number (As Is)
[media]https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/ ... _As_Is.mp3[/media]
2. The Smallest Weird Number (As Is - Chords)
[media]https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/ ... Chords.mp3[/media]
3. The Smallest Weird Number (As Is - Melody)
[media]https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/ ... Melody.mp3[/media]
4. The Smallest Weird Number (Two parts separated)
[media]https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/ ... arated.mp3[/media]

you can check out MIDI files of my transcription on your own: https://disk.yandex.ru/d/F28zubrSJ5mzig