and Alphabethead says...
G’Day buds,
Whenever I bring a stray piece of vinyl home my fervent hope, aside from it being good music, is to use it as source material in something. Unfortunately, due to my ‘habit’ it’s very hard to assimilate the relentless inflow of records. This recording was a conscious effort to utilize all the random records that had slipped through the cracks. I’d grab any unused LP in arms length of the turntable and set the goal of making a beat from it. This is certainly not a unique approach; many beat-makers set themselves such exercises as a challenge and to breakdown any preconceived notions of what ‘should’ be sampled. In sampling unconventional records I learnt about filtering songs to isolate bass and create muffled drones, amplify and affect record pops to make percussion and stretching and layering notes for textures.
Over 60 LP’s went into this one – mostly Sally Army or junk shop finds. Sample sources include; Frank Sinatra, Uriah Heep, Fiddler on the Roof, Gong, 3 Hur-El, Bach, Donovan, Silver Apples, Ravi Shankar, Santana, Stockhausen… Although it’s my fifth beat-tape, it’s the first I’ve presented in mixtape form with transitions, miscellaneous tit-bits of sound and segues between tracks. This one also includes some Hip Hop cutting!
I’m tickle pink with both ‘Tibetan Glitch Beat’ and ‘Two-Zero-One-Zero’. Both of these beats transcend their source material; I’ve no recollection of what records I sampled? They’ve been mangled and affected beyond recognition! When making sample-based music I feel I’ve succeeded when, rather than the old ‘Oh, he just slightly tweaked Kraftwerk’ type of response I elicit more of a ‘What the hell was that? Was it Frank Sinatra or Frank Zappa?’ The further removed my piece is from the original the better. This kinda sums up my thoughts on sampling. I have absolutely no qualms about using another artist’s work just as long as:
(a) The ‘sample’ of another piece of work is a ‘component’ or ‘element’ in the new work rather than the ‘crux’.
(b) The work can be viewed as a new composition in its own right and doesn’t decrease the artistic merit or impinge on the viability of the existing piece.
Of course what defines a ‘new composition’ or constitutes an ‘element’ is certainly a contentious issue. I’ve found that proving a piece of sample-based music is (at least) equal to the sum of its parts can be an uphill battle…
I’m glad to have finally weaved that classic Kiwi bloke Fred Dagg into a mix. I have a crate of lectures, theatre, advertisement and comedy records which I draw on as the garnishes for my mixes. Next stop for spoken-word samples Peter Sellers, Spike Milligan and Sam Hunt! The other track I was pleased with was ‘One-Nine-Eight-One’. In the second half all the samples (excluding drums) were pitched up an octave creating a dreamy vocoder effect (thank you Rza)! Please give it whirl…
For those still rocking a discman, hardcopies with covers and disc art are available for 8 NZ bucks.
Alphabethead – N37 Modulations
2Much!
x alphabethead
ps. If you rap feel free to jump on any of these tracks.
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