Xenochrony is a studio-based musical technique developed at an unknown date, but possibly as early as the early 1960s, by Frank Zappa

Frank Zappa

Frank Vincent Zappa was an American composer, singer-songwriter, electric guitarist, record producer and film director. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa wrote rock, jazz, orchestral and musique concrète works. He also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed...

, 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, in order to create an unexpected but pleasing effect. He said that this was the only way to achieve some rhythms.

Etymology

The word derives from the Greek

Greek language

Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...

 words ξένος (xenos), strange or alien, and χρόνος (chronos), time.

Examples

One of the most prominent examples of xenochrony can be found on Zappa's rock opera Joe's Garage

Joe's Garage

Joe's Garage is a 1979 rock opera by Frank Zappa. Zappa stated that along with Lumpy Gravy, this album was one of his finest achievements. It was originally released as two separate albums, the first comprising Act I, and the second part as a double-album which made up Acts II & III. All three...

(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

Sheik Yerbouti

Sheik Yerbouti is a double vinyl album by Frank Zappa made up of material recorded in 1977 and 1978. It was first released on March 3 1979 as the first release on Zappa Records and re-issued on compact disc, first in unauthorized form by EMI in 1986 and then by Rykodisc in 1990 and then again in 1995...

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.

Xenochrony can be heard as early on in Zappa's career as 1969: on The Mothers of Invention

The Mothers of Invention

The Mothers of Invention were an American band active from 1964 to 1969, and again from 1970 to 1975.They mainly performed works by, and were the original recording group of, US composer and guitarist Frank Zappa , although other members have had the occasional writing credit...

's Uncle Meat

Uncle Meat

Uncle Meat is the fifth studio album by the Mothers of Invention, released in 1969. It is billed as a supposed "soundtrack" to a film by The Mothers of Invention which was, in the end, never made. The front cover, designed by Cal Schenkel, included the words ""...

, 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

Lumpy Gravy

Lumpy Gravy is the first solo album by Frank Zappa, originally released in 1967, but not generally available until May 1968. Zappa was credited as conductor on the album cover and he described the contents as "a curiously inconsistent piece, which started out to be a BALLET, but probably didn't...

, 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

We're Only in It for the Money

We're Only in It For the Money is the third studio album by The Mothers of Invention, released in March 1968. The album peaked at number thirty on the Billboard 200...

, 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

The World's Greatest Sinner

The World's Greatest Sinner is a 1962 underground film written, directed and starring the character actor Timothy Carey. The self-financed film tells the story of an average man, Clarence Hilliard , who quits his day job as an insurance salesman and forms a rock band...

" 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).

Another example is the King Crimson

King Crimson

King Crimson are a rock band founded in London, England in 1969. Often categorised as a foundational progressive rock group, the band have incorporated diverse influences and instrumentation during their history...

 song "The Devil's Triangle", on their 1970 album In the Wake of Poseidon

In the Wake of Poseidon

In the Wake of Poseidon is the second album by the progressive rock group King Crimson. By the time this album was released, the band had already undergone their first change in line-up, however they still maintained much of the style of their first album, In the Court of the Crimson King.Greg Lake...

, which uses elements of a previous Crimson song, "The Court of the Crimson King

The Court of the Crimson King

"The Court of the Crimson King" is the fifth and final track from the British progressive rock band King Crimson's debut album, In the Court of the Crimson King. It was also released as a single. It reached #80 on the US charts, and is the band's only charting single in the United...

", near the end.

Other examples are the albums from avant-garde guitarist Buckethead

Buckethead

Brian Carroll , better known by his stage name Buckethead, is a guitarist and multi instrumentalist who has worked within several genres of music. He has released 34 studio albums, four special releases and one EP. He has performed on over 50 more albums by other artists...

, Forensic Follies

Forensic Follies

Forensic Follies is the twenty-fifth studio album by avant-garde guitarist Buckethead, and the sixth album to be originally released on tour, first being sold at Buckethead's May 2009 concerts...

and Needle in a Slunk Stack

Needle in a Slunk Stack

-Notes:*Track 2, "Interview with the Double Man", is a reference to the song "Revenge of the Double Man", from Monsters and Robots and also contain samples of "Symmetrical Slug" from Albino Slug....

, released in 2009: both featured songs from several Buckethead albums to make new songs.