You could do an entire video on the samples used to create Frontier Psychiatrist by The Avalanches. Fascinating history and for a long time it wasn't even known where all the samples actually came from.
Absolutely! The avalanches need to be talked about in this series!!! Although I think it would be much more fulfilling to talk about Since I Left You, as most of frontier psychiatrist’s samples are not from songs
the iconic riff of "Talk" by Coldplay was actually sampled from "Computer Liebe" (computer love) by Kraftwerk. As I heard Kraftwerk's song for the first time, I was very confused because I recognized it directly, but it took some time to realize from which modern song :D
Makes more sense that all of them where originally inspired by Chopin's Funeral March, sharing the use of minor scale notes that represents the feeling of grief or sadness within.
I saw you at the Princess Charlotte in Leicester, on the recommendation of the girl from BPM records who I was infatuated with. I was hoping she would be there. She wasn't. Still had a great time though. Had a chat with you and bought a FlexiDisc from you. Should still have it somewhere.
Chaka Khan - Fate --> Stardust - The Music Sounds Better With You Pointer Sisters - Dare Me --> Junior Jack - Stupidisco Steve Winwood - Valerie --> Eric Prydz - Call on me Zombies - Time Of The Season --> Melanie Fiona - Give it to me right Kernkraft 400 - Zombie Nation is perhaps not a sample but note for note the melody from the old C64 game "Lazy Jones"
Kanye also sampled a Hungarian song from the late 60ies. It's called Gyöngyhajú lány (roughly translated: Girl with pearl hair) by the Hungarian band Omega. It can be heard in Kanye's song New Slaves. Omega sued Kanye because of copyright violation and they settled out of court
Sampling wasn't a popular thing in Spanish-sung music until Charly García's Clics Modernos, released in 1983. The hit song 'No me dejan salir' (they won't let me go) features at least three different James Brown samples (who had been in jail 'without reason, just because he was black', as he said), added to the rythm chain of the Roland 808 he had. The song, while dance-able and cheerful in its sound, was a protest against the martial law that the dictatorship in his country, Argentina, had held until that year. The whole album is a masterpiece for Latin culture, with some serious thought provoking songs, even if they don't initially sound like that. It was also a revelation that Charly, who was a very well acclaimed prog and classical-influenced musician in Spanish rock, who often criticized autoritarism, tried doing something different (dance-able music) in such dark times.
Really enjoyed hearing the reaction from artists to being sampled - there is a real skill to getting the perfect sample, especially when you are shifting the speed/frequency to fit the new song.
The 'lyric splicing' thing was done for the radio edit of I Took a Pill in Ibiza by Mike Posner; the titular phrase was blended with "I took a plane to my hometown" to form "I took a plane to Ibiza" and remove the drug reference.
'Another chance' by Roger Sanchez is Totos 'i won't hold you back'. Rui da Silvas 'Touch me' is Spandau Ballets 'Chant no.1 (i don't need this pressure on).
I’d love to see an analysis of how Avalanches use samples. They’re so insanely detailed and layered, it’s kinda mind-boggling to think they’re entirely made from samples.
Vaporwave is an entire genre based on samples of '80s songs tweaked in very creative ways. I think the album Macintosh Plus is probably the first intentional example of this genre.
Whenever I hear More More More on the 70s radio station that blares out in my office I’m surprised to hear that bit sampled by Len. Every time. It’s like I never learn.
I used to have a keychain that had a speaker and 5 buttons on it, each of which activated a different sound effect when pressed. One of those sounds was the "bombs away" descending gliss sound, which is scattered throughout the Clandestino album... I mean the exact same sound, not a similar sound. He either got it from the keychain or from a similar novelty product that featured the same audio chip. It was from the 1990s.
There is an episode of Song Exploder on Netflix about the Dua Lipa song, they explain how they had difficulties getting the My Woman sample into the right key for Dua Lipas track.
Thanks for reminding me of the FANTASTIC "Just Be Good To Me" - I'd completely forgotten about it! I don't know how you do what you do but just keep doing it. 🕺🤣
I _was_ going to mention Britney Spear’s “Toxic” which takes three melodic fragments, rearranging them and reversing part of one, from Bollywood’s “Tere Mere Beech Mein”-it’s sheer genius-but David mentioned it in a previous video (except he said _two_ melodic fragments, not three) - _and,_ in any case, it sounds like an interpolation. (The less-than-a-minute video “Sample Breakdown: Britney Spears - Toxic” over on *Tracklib* shows exactly how it was done.)
Porcelain by Moby is a genius sampling which features reversed strings from the Ernest Gold composition "Fight for Survival" from his soundtrack for the 1960 film Exodus…
You should do a video on best songs sampling The Beatles with number 1 being Chemical Brothers - Let Forever Be. Amazing rearrangement of a sample from a bootleg-only version (at least at the moment of sampling) of Beatles' song
Since you have an interest in sampling, as well as music theory, perhaps you could do a video of the theory explanations of sampling where there are things like, tempo, pitch and even key changes done to the sample.
Speaking of keyboard samples, in Trio's "Da Da Da" (later covered by Elastica, which Damon Albarn was also connected to) an electronic rhythm kicks in that is the Rock-1 preset rhythm from the tiny Casio VL-1 keyboard from 1981.
Wow, now I know what "Dub Be Good To Me" is actually titled! I downloaded an mp3 off of file sharing ages ago that was just titled "Late Night Ambient Mix" and attributed (probably wrongly) to Squarepusher (in the tags, while the filename said it was DJ Shadow) that was a megamix of several tracks, and one of them is that. I had long ago figured that it was some obscure '70s artifact dug out of a record crate and I would never know the source.
As always I learned something new here David. I had no idea Idioteque uses samples. On Coldplay using dialogue they also used some lyrics/words by Leonard Cohen on their song " Up with the birds". I suppose that's not really sampling though.
The most beautiful sampled song contender: Crystal Waters 'Ghetto Day', which samples the Fifth Dimension's cover of Stoned Soul Picnic recorded with the Wrecking Crew, Billboatd No.3 hit in the late 60's. Stoned Soul Picnic was written and originally recorded in 1968 by the Bronx genius Laura Nyro, who has been sampled by Kanye (Glory), Dilla, Madlib, and others.
Gorillaz heavily sampled dialogs AND music from Romero's 1985 "Day of the Dead" movie at the beginning of their "M1 A1" track. It was a blast when I first heard it. Instant chills.
The opening bars of ‘Just be good to me’ always remind me of ‘Rage hard’ by Frankie Goes To Hollywood which came out 3 years later. Similar chord progression, distorted guitar with background organ.
Coldplay’s first sample is from 2005, with the song Talk. They sampled Computer Love, by Kraftwerk They also did the “spoken word sample” with Trouble in Town, when they used the sound from a police unlawful harassment
I watched Disney movie Coco and in the DJ scene went, Hey I know that. It was the backing track for German song "Schüttel deinen Speck" by Peter Fox, used as the dance music for the viral, also Hallowe'en themed, Wölfshager Hexenbrut.
I think you’re right about ‘Your Woman’ by White Town being the inspiration for Dua Lipa to use the sample. I immediately thought of it when I first heard it myself
Five for Fighting used the same rif from Angie Aparo's Seed for their song Superman and Angie Aparo also wrote the song Cry which was covered by faith hill
I'm not usually into "that" kind of music, but I really like "Hell is Round the Corner", by Tricky, which then I learned that used the same sample as Glory Box, by Portishead, which turned out to be Ike's Rap or something, by Isaac Haye. Coldplay sampling a line from Back to the Future is a really interesting example of sampling. There's a band called Agalloch, in their album "The White" they took samples from The Wicker Man and used them in three songs, and if I remember correctly, they also introduced a sample from The Seventh Seal in another song in their album "The Mantle". AND now that I remember, also the song Sinners Bleed samples the laughter scene from the film The Mummy from 1932.
Xzibit - Paparazzi (1996) sampled Barbra Streisand - Pavane (Vocalise) (1976), which is a cover of Gabriel Fauré - Pavane in F-sharp minor, Op. 50 (1887). Interesting really
I was straining my ears to make out the sample in the coldplay track, and then you went ahead and played the clip 😂 I really thought you would've had trouble with copyright on that one.
Speaking of Kanye West's album 'My Beautiful Dark...', I've listened to 'You Showed Me' both by The Turtles and The Byrds (who wrote the song) my fair share, but I still never could have imagined that the guitar in Kanye West's 'Gorgeous' was a sample from that song, but in an instrumental cover of 'You Showed Me' by Enoch Light and The Glittering Guitars. Just an example when you've heard both the song that was sampled (although not the same version) and the song that sampled it but still don't realize it's a sample because it's done so well.
Nina Simone's My baby just cares for me is a cover song. Recorded by Eddie Canter, but unsure if Eddie's version is the original. Skatalites and Tommy McCook recorded "Riding West". Is a cover version originally by Billy Hope and the bad men. This song has ska version, reggae and dub versions. And finally El pussycat by the Skatalites. Is a cover version, originally recorded by Mongo Santamaria.
Well, the "Steal My Sunshine" one is pretty well-known and I'd almost argue that Dua Lipa's "Love Again" sample was initially from White Town's sample (while both ultimately derived from the Lew Stone single and Nat Gonella's trumpet solo).
Another example of preset instrument samples being used as major parts of songs is Chirp by C418. The entire first half is almost entirely comprised of the Bossa Nova Style samples from the Optigan, only adding on a few lead instruments and some percussion later on.
There are two songs that I know, I guess they may be some more, that take samples from the famous Ravel's composition, Bolero. The most evident is the song, "Nie mehr Bolero", sang by Karel Gott. The other one is, "Et maintenant", by Gilbert Bécaud.
Ok... how about the first official album “since I left you” by Avalanches that’s FULL OF SAMPLES. Some credited. Some not 😅 The album itself is really cool too! 🎉
I found a few more examples of songs that certainly interpolate or at least are influenced by older songs. The 2015 hit “Downtown” by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis has a synthesizer riff between two octaves of the same note, very similar to the longer version of “The Safety Dance” by Men Without Hats. Also, the current US top 40 hit “Please Please Please” by Sabrina Carpenter, seems to have a similar rhythm guitar riff and/or beat in some parts to the Pink Floyd song “Another Brick in the Wall Part II,” though the chord progression and bass line is different. Not sure if either of these have been mentioned yet.
I was just thinking about you, David. I was listening to a song new to me, and they had an instrumental section that made it seem like there was going to be a key change, but there in fact wasn't. But it almost seemed like there was, like a false key change. It made the song more interesting! I'd be curious to learn how that works and how it tricks the brain. The song in question was the cover of I Just Died In Your Arms Tonight by Norther Kings, but this effect is also achieved in the song Morning Has Broken by Nana Mouskouri.
Considering the chord progression and drum pattern of 'love again' is so similar to 'your woman', I'd say 'your woman' is the version they heard first then sought out the original to do the same vein.
Cupid’s Chokehold/Breakfast in America by Gym Class Heroes sampling Breakfast in America by Supertramp. I know it’s in the title but many people might not know who Supertramp are or the original song even though it’s used heavily in the Gym Class Heroes song
I can think of a couple of other examples of hip hop sampling '70s prog besides Kanye using King Crimson. The producer Madlib in particular seems to have been fond of Gentle Giant, because the beat from "Strange Ways" from Madvillainy (with MF Doom) is largely built from a sample of Gentle Giant's "Funny Ways", and he also used a sample from GG's "The Boys in the Band" in his remix of "Get By" by Talib Kweli. On a completely different end of the spectrum, the beat from "Known For It" by the abrasive experimental hip hop group Death Grips is based around a sample from "De Futura" by the French avant-prog group Magma. Death Grips drummer Zach Hill is on record as a huge fan of Magma drummer/frontman Christian Vander.
Here's a relatively obscure one: (except for Disney fans) "Mannish Boy"/"Hoochie-Coochie Man" (Muddy Waters) -> "Bad To the Bone" (Delaware Destroyers) -> "E.V.I.L. B.O.Y.S." (Dan Povenmire, ft. in "Phineas and Ferb")
I'm always amazed at how my musical memory works (presumably other peoples' work like this too?) - I haven't seen or heard Dub Be Good To Me in years, probably since it was in the charts, but as soon as I saw the first snippets of the video I was "oh, it's Dub Be Good To Me!" and the song came flooding back :D. I often hear songs from the 80s that I haven't heard since then and I still know all the words...!
Idris Muhammad's track, "Lorien's Dance" features the funkiest start to a song you'll ever hear. Sampled in Fat Boy Slim's "The weekend starts here", Beastie Boy's, "hey Ladies", and there's another one I remember hearing but have forgotten.
Actually it's To All the Ladies and B-Boy Bouillabaisse by Beastie Boys, the albums opening and closing tracks, and maybe the song you're thinking of is Fluid by Jestofunk?
»Clint Eastwood« is no the first hit based on a preset beat. The massive 1980ies hit »Da Da Da« of the German band »Trio« is based on the preset beat »Rock-1« of the »Casio VL-1« keyboard.
