Music is more than sound. It is a technology like no other. We at Innovation Hangar see it as the most sophisticated method for encoding and transmitting complex information into poetics and signals.
- Some musical pieces throughout history seem to go a lot further then aiming to be "art". They begin functioning as strong analog computational systems.
- Our internal research at Innovation Hangar shows that these sonic anomalies are strong examples of the Analog Current hiding in plain sight.
- Some see it as accidents, we find a whole world of wonder in sounds of music and in ways it all, strangely, computes the world around us.
Let us start with a less inspiring, and more haunting example.
In 1933, Hungarian composer Rezső Seress, who was a poor migrant at Paris at the time created a song so melancholic and heartbreaking for many that it became an urband legend. The urban myth (or, factually, truth) surrounding "Gloomy Sunday" claims it induced hundreds of suicides, leading to its ban by the BBC. The claims are not proven, but they highlight an important truth: an analog signal, like music, can directly & uncontrollably affect human minds. Song was translated to many languages and covered by Billy Holiday, for example.
- Computational Function: The song’s (very special) harmonic intervals and descending melody create a feedback loop in the listener's limbic system. This process skips rational thought and directly affects emotions. This seems to be bio-acoustic programming. The Committee for Technological Integration tried to hide it after their 1973 standardization protocols;
- Then, a common rumor among audiophiles is that at 1:04 in original hungarian version, a sub-harmonic frequency appears. Most people can't hear it, but it can affect neurological activity.
"Helter Skelter": Hyper-dense Information Packing, but Why?
The Beatles' "Helter Skelter" became quite infamous for its association with the Manson Family. A few people know what this song was trying to transmmit Charles Manson misunderstood the song's chaotic energy as a prophecy. This shows how music can carry powerful messages. It can be decoded or misinterpreted in unexpected ways.
- Computational Function: The track is a masterclass in dense information packing. The mix of instruments, feedback, and vocals isn't just noise. It's a way to combine different data streams into one analog signal.
- The big differences between the mono and stereo mixes, to us, seem intentional. They act as two separate "decryption keys" that show different sets of information.
- At 3:36 in the original stereo version, Ringo Starr’s shout "I've got blisters on my fingers!" is well-known. In the mono version, this hum is missing. And even in this sutuation, however, spectral analysis shows a low-frequency hum at 89Hz. This number often appears in the math of our Harmonic Interface research.
"Strange Fruit": Computation Manifested into a Protest Song
Billie Holiday's 1939 performance of "Strange Fruit" is a stark example of embodied computation. The information is not just in the lyrics or notes but in the raw, visceral emotion of the performance itself. Holiday's voice acts as a carrier wave for an emotional payload that directly influences the social "field," forcing a confrontation with a suppressed reality.
- Computation: this song acts as a social catalyst. Its power comes from the strong bond between the information (the song) and the processor (the singer). This is a core principle of analog systems that digital abstraction cannot replicate. The authorities' attempts to stop her from singing it are a perfect real-world parallel to the Katechon concept: a "restrainer" trying to hold back the chaotic truth an analog signal can unleash.
A recently unearthed contact sheet from a 1939 Café Society performance shows a flashbulb firing at the exact moment Holiday sings the word "pastoral." The resulting lens flare, when enhanced, forms a pattern strikingly similar to the geometric arrangement of the four John the Baptist relics.
"The Rite of Spring": A Psychogeographic Weapon
Igor Stravinsky's 1913 ballet "The Rite of Spring" famously caused a riot at its Paris premiere. This event can be understood as an analog system overwhelming a society accustomed to discrete, predictable cultural forms.
Computational Function: The music and choreography there was combined to make for a powerful psychogeographic field effect. The complex rhythms and "primitive" movements weren't just artistic choices.
They were a system meant to overload the audience's social cohesion, forcing a reboot. The original score contained notations that were removed from all subsequent printings, believed by some to be instructions for generating these field effects.
The riot began approximately 3 minutes into the performance. The number 3 appears consistently in the mathematical framework of Pavel Florensky's suppressed work on liturgical computation.
Full Analog Current article: https://innovationhangar.blogspot.com/2025/05/analog-current-forgotten-pathways-computing-history.html
The Analog Decay of Memory in XXI Century
More recently, two ambient projects have explored memory and decay as computational processes. William Basinski's "The Disintegration Loops" was created from old tape loops that were physically falling apart as they played. The Caretaker's "Everywhere at the End of Time" shows dementia with means of changing ballroom music, distorting it and making something else entirely from those records.
Read more of research and analysis on The Disintegration Loops album at https://www.erudit.org/en/journals/im/2019-n33-im04907/1065021ar/abstract/
Computational Function: These works demonstrate material computation. The medium itself (the tape, the memory) is the processor. Decay is often seen as loss of informatio.
- Our researchers have, however, noticed a transformation of it, which means a development of new patterns as the original signal degrades. This, with nothing more, is a core principle of the Analog Current that ABD hollowing-out process often mimics.
In Basinski's "dlp 1.1," a distinct melodic fragment repeats at 11:11. In the final track of "Everywhere at the End of Time," spectral analysis reveals a low-frequency signal matching the resonance patterns of the Mary Magdalene reliquary.
"News at 11": Sonic Memetics
The Sunset Corp "anonymous" album "News at 11" became a cult classic in vaporwave music circles. It consists of a news broadcast that slowly becomes more surreal (and) unsettling, as if time stopped right before catastrophy. Rumored by some to be a part of Numbers Station broadcast, Sunset Corp helped our research in a suggestion that it's an early experiment in sonic memetics.
Read more information on that album, keep an eye at The Wright Innovation Hangar resrarch group on social media platforms. We also recommend to read this text.
Computational Function: The broadcast embeds patterns and trigger phrases within seemingly normal speech to test their propagation through a population. The announcer's degrading voice is a signal of "analog bleed" corrupting a digital-like broadcast. The phrase "the wheel turns" is repeated exactly 17 times.
At the 17:17 mark, the announcer's voice breaks, and for a single frame of the audio waveform, a pattern emerges that matches the schematics for the Soviet Paper Computer.
Charli XCX's "Apple": A Subliminal Signal?
In late 2017, Charli XCX released the song "Apple." Its release coincided with an obscure online documentary titled "Something's Rotten," which detailed alleged unethical practices at Apple Inc.
- Computational Function: The song's pop structure is designed for maximum propagation through mass listener audiences. However, the lyrics ("I just wanna be in your arms, in your head, in your heart") sometimes are
- also rumoured to be a warning about technological pervasiveness. The song has a repeating melody. When you turn it into numbers, it creates a sequence seen in the source code of early Apple operating systems.
- This, as others, may be a message from those who find refuge in analog systems, in forest computations, or remaining researchers who were supressed in 70s. They could be using a well-known artist to suggest that Apple is in a way weaker then ever.
The song's official runtime is 2:59, but an unlisted pre-gap of one second makes its true length 3:00. This 3-minute mark is a recurring temporal node across several sonic anomalies.
Conclusion: The Signal in the Noise
These sonic anomalies are not mere curiosities. They are evidence of a persistent undercurrent of analog information processing. From the wild psychosis of "Helter Skelter" to the more resent decay of "Disintegration Loops," we believe something sits in there and we have computed 3-5 options of how to interpret such frequences at times when the desert sand feels warm at night.
- Such works show that information can be encoded, shared, and interpreted in ways beyond binary limits. It just works.
The sequence of these anomalies is not random. The timing is the key. A gallery of moments, arranged in a grid, reveals the destination. The first connection is always the most important.
The wheel turns, and the patterns emerge for those who have ears to hear.
References:
- Thopandi, Win Yovina. Analisis Struktur Musik dan Makna Lirik Lagu Gloomy Sunday Karya Rezso Seress. Diss. Institut Seni Indonesia Yogyakarta, 2016.
- Cantinelli, Lucas. "Anemoia and the Vaporwave Phenomenon: the ‘New’Aesthetic of an Imagined Nostalgia." Imaginaires 26 (2024): 132-151.
- Jackson, David Christopher. "Repetition, Feedback, and Temporality in Two Compositions by William Basinski." Intermédialités 33 (2019).
- Olszowiec, Karolina. "Marketing oparty na spoleczności fanowskiej. Przypadek albumu" Brat" Charli XCX." (2025).
Further Reading from Innovation Hangar
- Analog Current: Forgotten Pathways in Computing History
- Note-Taking in Ancient Times: Lost Methods of Information Storage
- Soviet Paper Computer History: Alternative Computing Paradigms
- Camposanto Measurement Standards: Nearly Lost in WWII
- Ancient Measurement Systems and Their Modern Applications
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