Music in Slow Motion

There was some Twitter buzz a while back about a slowed-down version of Justin Bieber's U Smile. If you haven't heard it, you must: it's interesting, and a little freaky ...

I won't lie, his voice sounds other-worldly, and I hear waves crashing on the rocks throughout. (And this got the millions of Bieber-haters to actually listen to him!)

J. BIEBZ - U SMILE 800% SLOWER by Shamantis

That's all fun and games, but ... what about doing something similar with Beethoven's 9th Symphony? Like stretching it out to last 24 hours? Thanks to a podcast from the great NPR program Radiolab, I heard part of this the other night. (9 Beet Stretch is its name.) It's been done in installments (the Radiolab broadcast was from one in San Francisco), but you can listen to it (or part of it) from your very own home via the 24 hour stream.

What an interesting concept: taking music that we're familiar with and transforming it into something completely different. What things do you hear that are new? Can you hear hints of the old in these versions?

Something old becomes new, heard through new ears ...