The Depths · All albums

The Velvet Underground & Nico

The Velvet Underground · 1967

• Zone: Shallows (level 2 of 5)
• Genre: Rock, Art rock, Noise rock
• Mood: gritty, detached, avant-garde
• Sound: noise, drone, feedback, spoken

The Velvet Underground & Nico brought avant-garde drone and noise into rock and paired it with lyrics about drugs, prostitution and sadomasochism. Recorded mostly in about four days in April 1966 at Scepter Studios, with Andy Warhol as the only credited producer, it uses John Cale’s electric viola strung with guitar and mandolin strings, sustained drones, detuning and distortion on “Venus in Furs” and “The Black Angel’s Death Song”. Lou Reed’s “ostrich” tuning sets every guitar string to the same pitch, and on “Heroin” the percussion quickens as the viola builds to something close to feedback. Maureen Tucker played standing up on bass drums and tambourines laid on their sides, and Nico’s cool vocals contrast with Reed’s flat, chant-like singing. Cale’s work with La Monte Young and John Cage fed the experimental side, and the album is often called the original art-rock record, with an influence that runs through punk, krautrock, post-punk, noise rock and shoegaze.

Track list

1. Sunday Morning
2. I’m Waiting for the Man
3. Femme Fatale
4. Venus in Furs
5. Run Run Run
6. All Tomorrow’s Parties
7. Heroin
8. There She Goes Again
9. I’ll Be Your Mirror
10. The Black Angel’s Death Song
11. European Son