What is that sound??

[Duarte]

Hello BC! It's good to be back.

I am here with a quick question. What is THAT sound? To me it sounds like rubbing a pane of glass. It's apparent in many, many P-Funk tracks - which is where I've noticed it moist prominently. I'd often wondered what it was, and I didn't know what to google and nobody I know has the answer. I bet it's obvious and I'm being stupid.

Basschat, what is that sound?

Here, it kicks in around the 20 sec mark. 

Cheers!

 

[BassTractor]

From my tiny laptop speakers I can't really hear the details, but whatever sound it it, I feel it's at least based on the sound of the Brazilian instrument called cuíca - a kind of drum with a stick mounted to its skin, and one rubs that stick much like some males tend to polish knobs.
Another similar instrument exists in South-America, but I've forgotten its name, and Google didn't help me out quickly enough.

 

 

[Leonard Smalls]

Sounds like a cuíca to me too - probably played by Carl "Butch" Small or Larry Fratangelo… Not the very best of Parliament, though still better(*) than the very very best that most other bands can come up with!

 

* I mean that in a completely subjective way!

[Duarte]

That has got to be it. With a little more research it's confirmed - Bernie Worrell mentions it in an interview. 

Thanks folks! Now, where to find one...

[SpondonBassed]

I always thought of it as the recorded murmurings of a chimp.

[matski]

I've found you can achieve a similar sound by repeatedly sliding the straw in and out of a half empty large size fizzy beverage paper cup with plastic lid from a fast food chain.

[TrevorR]

Also prominent in this well known track...

 

 

Edited April 18, 2019 by TrevorR

[Maude]

Les Claypool with his Whamola, Cuica solo at 3:00.

 

 

Also put to good use in The Chili Pepper's 'Walkabout', fits perfectly with Dave Navarro's wah pedal. 

 

[Bigwan]

10 hours ago, Maude said:

Les Claypool with his Whamola, Cuica solo at 3:00.

 

 

Loved that!