Short songs

instantjuggler 2017-02-20 18:51:46 UTC #1

sometimes i scroll through my music library looking for tracks of a particular length- its kind of fun when i need something that is 20 minutes or more, or then extremely short like i'm looking for now...

wondering if anyone has a favorite song that is about 30 seconds long or less? of course we all define what a "song" is differently, but just curious in a casual way if someone has something they really like which they find compelling as a "full composition" loosely speaking... maybe something a step above the brian eno microsoft start up sound, but those kinds of things are also fun too!

Toaster 2017-02-20 18:54:48 UTC #2

Honestly, if you move things up to 'under a minute and a half', there's bunches of them. But I like grindcore a lot. "You Suffer" is just about the most fully realized composition you're going to pack into a second.

ermina 2017-02-20 19:19:11 UTC #3

ha! first thing i thought seeing the title of the thread was "grindcore". Nasum was a great band in that genre (if anyone wants to explore it).

glia 2017-02-20 19:39:26 UTC #4

doubt i'll find anything good < 30s

plenty within 30s and 1m

Angela 2017-02-20 19:42:19 UTC #5

The first one that came to mind was They Might Be Giants' Minimum Wage. Technically, it's 48 seconds. 48 seconds should qualify. I'd say generally speaking a short song is a song less than 2'30"

Melt Banana also have about 10 short songs and those kicked ass. They went over well at concerts and everything Melt Banana does kicks ass anyway.

madeofoak 2017-02-20 19:48:44 UTC #6

no surprise i'm not the first person to suggest tmbg, they have so many excellent examples of intelligent brevity. this one came to mind:

sandy 2017-02-20 19:48:47 UTC #7

That was the first song that popped into my head when I read the thread title!

trickyflemming 2017-02-20 19:49:25 UTC #8

trickyflemming 2017-02-20 19:52:58 UTC #9

Also good:

This is the "Extended Mix". The original ends at the :14 mark.

murray 2017-02-20 20:07:32 UTC #10

From one of my very very favorite records,
combatwoundedveteran's this is not an erect, all-red neon body

s_hamann 2017-02-20 20:22:47 UTC #11

Sweet Times by The Chills is just over 30 seconds (with the fade out on the last note lasting close to 10 seconds), but I've always been partial to it.

Simeon 2017-02-20 21:31:22 UTC #12

How has no one already posted this?! Short songs for short people! 101 songs under 30 seconds.

Simeon 2017-02-20 21:32:37 UTC #13

On the back of this I contributed to Calm Down Kidder's Chip reboot of the concept: Micro Music For Micro people. My track is number 29 of 101:

steveoath 2017-02-20 21:34:12 UTC #14

madeofoak 2017-02-20 21:39:18 UTC #15

oh my god, i used to play this at the record store i worked at in high school. hadn't thought about that comp in forever!

Simeon 2017-02-20 21:40:28 UTC #16

The Rebel Orthodontics are another great band who's songs titles take longer to read than the tracks themselves. Kinda surf rock / garage.

Hard to find, but great! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4A1Sh7HBJvs

geh2oman 2017-02-20 21:56:17 UTC #17

Probably my favorite Beatles' song:

Toaster 2017-02-20 21:59:06 UTC #18

Let's not forget about John Zorn's contribution to the 'really short songs' genre with Naked City's album "Torture Garden". Longest song on it was like 1:10:

infovore 2017-02-20 22:31:39 UTC #19

Cheney by Brakes. When I've seen them do it live, they sometimes do it twice in a row.

It's borderline-novelty, but I appreciate their commitment to performing it identically every time; that makes it more like a song for me, because it emphasises formality.

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=brakes+cheney

HLAB-27 2017-02-20 23:06:33 UTC #20

And right at the 1 minute mark (happy 50th bday to mr. Kurt Cobain):