Sample Based Albums

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I'm looking for some recommendations of favorite sample-based albums. By this I mean whole albums that are in majority comprised of samples, or maybe use oodles of them over some created music. I have three favorites but don't know of much more than these.

1. Eon - Void Dweller
A dance club record filled with tons of samples from movies, video games, etc. Upbeat, fun, surprising and never boring. Because of J. Saul Kane's involvement I went out a picked up his Lust albums, neither one of them comes close to this one. Though I have his "Bounty Killer" song on a comp which is fantastic, I'd love to find more of his songs like that one.

2. Avalanches - Since I Left You
There's probably been enough said about this one in other threads, but the weaving of musical and vocals samples on this record is compelling ... when I first got it I simply could not stop listening. Another big plus is the transitions between the songs, like it's one big experience and not just an album of individual tunes.

3. Kitty Craft - Beats And Breaks From The Flower Patch
Multiple sampled loops working at once to create wholly new and thrilling pop songs. I was obsessed with finding out the origin of the samples (finding the Johnny Rivers one was a thrill) ... should probably start a thread about that too! The 2nd album with a band doesn't even come close to the beauty of this one.

Does anyone have recommendations of other similar albums? I'm not as interested in obvious sampling or repetitive use of one particular line/loop. These records all use multiple samples with each song, working together to create a wholly new work unto itself.

― zaxxon25 (zaxxon25), Thursday, 30 January 2003 23:17 (twenty-three years ago)

Amon Tobin, surely?

― Sean Carruthers (SeanC), Thursday, 30 January 2003 23:22 (twenty-three years ago)

you didn't forget

dj shadow - endtroducing...

did you?

― coelcanth, Thursday, 30 January 2003 23:26 (twenty-three years ago)

Well, there's a whole genre of sample-based music.
It's called hip-hop.
Some of most inventive and least repetitive hip hop is probaly early Wu Tang, the first couple of De La Soul albums, Pete Rock's first EP and album, or Public Enemy.

I'm guessing you don't like hip hop though, so I'd have to recommend Wagon Christ's Throbbing Pouch. Dj Shadow,of course,is very good too. I know there's someone I'm forgetting...Amon Tobin maybe?

― andy, Thursday, 30 January 2003 23:27 (twenty-three years ago)

If you want J Saul Kane you should track down the 9 Deadly Venoms compilation--has Bounty Killer and all the other stuff he did around the same time. Very good, still gets overlooked, pre-dates Shadow too.

― Ben Williams, Thursday, 30 January 2003 23:29 (twenty-three years ago)

Portishead, anyone?

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Thursday, 30 January 2003 23:34 (twenty-three years ago)

and least repetitive hip hop is probaly early Wu Tang

??!!?!!!

― jess (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 30 January 2003 23:36 (twenty-three years ago)

and on a Wagon Christ tip, Luke Vibert's Plug album Drum'n'Bass For Papa is still amazing and has stood the test of the last 5 years admirably well. Might be right up yr alley.

― Charlie (Charlie), Thursday, 30 January 2003 23:37 (twenty-three years ago)

ground zero -- null & void, more on the experimental tip

books -- thought for food, almost accoustic, almost electronic, amazing use of samples

― JasonD (JasonD), Thursday, 30 January 2003 23:43 (twenty-three years ago)

I'm afraid hip hop doesn't really do it for me, except in small doses. Often the samples are simply an endless repetition of a hook which bores me. And I much prefer harmonizing/singing to rapping as a vocal style.

I don't know much about DJ Shadow or Amon Tobin so the recommendations are appreciated.

― zaxxon25 (zaxxon25), Thursday, 30 January 2003 23:45 (twenty-three years ago)

There's an early Herbaliser album you'll probably want to check out, too. Possibly DJ Vadim and DJ Food, too.

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Thursday, 30 January 2003 23:46 (twenty-three years ago)

Aufken

― Mike Taylor (mjt), Friday, 31 January 2003 00:03 (twenty-three years ago)

sounds like the rjd2 album would be right up your alley. although it's on def jux, it's not so much a hip-hop album. only a few songs have rapping on them, and the sampling is much more in line with the avalanches approach than the 'endless repetition of a hook' approach.

i'll second the 'throbbing pouch' recommendation too. you might have some trouble finding it, it's not still in print is it?

― arjun (arjun), Friday, 31 January 2003 00:06 (twenty-three years ago)

boom bip "seed to sun"

cassetteboy "parker tapes"! hahahahahah

― gaz (gaz), Friday, 31 January 2003 00:10 (twenty-three years ago)

Future Sound of London's "Lifeforms" or is it that "Ephidrina" one?

― phil jones (interstar), Friday, 31 January 2003 00:10 (twenty-three years ago)

Also, Animals On Wheels!

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Friday, 31 January 2003 00:25 (twenty-three years ago)

the first skylab disc

― gaz (gaz), Friday, 31 January 2003 00:28 (twenty-three years ago)

beastie boys - Pauls Boutique.
jeus f. christ this includes like half of "modern" music..

― Savin All My Love 4 u (Savin 4ll my (heart) 4u), Friday, 31 January 2003 00:33 (twenty-three years ago)

soft pink truth, apparently. check CoM

― gaz (gaz), Friday, 31 January 2003 00:34 (twenty-three years ago)

KLF - Chill Out

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Friday, 31 January 2003 00:37 (twenty-three years ago)

Brian Eno.

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Friday, 31 January 2003 01:08 (twenty-three years ago)

The Wiseguys - The Antidote.

Though I'd definitely place that in the "Destroy" category if this were a S&D thread.

― Curtis Stephens, Friday, 31 January 2003 02:39 (twenty-three years ago)

Sterling -- Your suggestion brings to mind Byrne & Eno's My Life in the Bush of Ghosts right away, but is there more, too? (Just out of curiosity...)

On a different note: Kid Koala - Carpal Tunnel Syndrome makes me smile...

― Paul in Santa Cruz (Paul in Santa Cruz), Friday, 31 January 2003 04:34 (twenty-three years ago)

Jess, I see your "??!!?!!!" and raise you a "wtf dood?"

Try Cage's "Williams Mix"

― Clarke B., Friday, 31 January 2003 05:18 (twenty-three years ago)

He doesn't work with samples exclusively (in fact he doesn't sample instruments) but Herbert is work investigating for a different approach.

― Mark (MarkR), Friday, 31 January 2003 05:26 (twenty-three years ago)

You might want to give John Oswald's work a shot, although it may be expensive / hard to come by. The album "Plexure" is completely mindblowing, absolutely obsessively minutae based and really surreal, and not coming off as "cool" at all like, say, avalanches. You may have heard about the "Grayfolded" album which is comprised entirely of samples of one song, Dark Star, played live by the Grateful Dead. Oswald takes versions from their entire career and whips up a pastiche that is so seamless you'd think it was one jam. He grafts moments of Jerry Garcia singing in one note from 1969 over another one from 1981; the effect is warped and sublime (like an audio nitrous hit - tough to concentrate on the overall picture but each component is heard distinctly and thrillingly at the fore). I don't even care for the Dead that much but this disc is great, you even get a chart detailing every minute's samples, when they're form, how long they last, and the strength of their volume compared to other moments - truly detail oriented overload. "Plexure" by comparison is just every song from the 80's that charted put into a blender, then arranged by BPM so the whole album gets faster. In a perfect world this record would be required listening for....

Plus there's Christian Marclay's "Records" which is awesome too but in a more straight up "arty" direction. Still highly highly recommended. Stylus scribbling never sounded so evil!!

Thomas Brinkmann's "Klick" is all samples of run out grooves on records intentionally cut into with an X-Acto blade. It's then turned into gauzy thump thump house. Nothing else quite like this that I've heard (and if you've got recommendations spill the beans cos this record rules).

― Dr. Annabel Lies (Michael Kelly), Friday, 31 January 2003 07:40 (twenty-three years ago)

Solex - Low Kick and Hard Bop and Pick Up

― Orange, Friday, 31 January 2003 09:42 (twenty-three years ago)

And if you can find it: Kid Koala - Scratchcratchratchatch.

― Orange, Friday, 31 January 2003 09:45 (twenty-three years ago)

Kid Koala's Carpal Tunnel Syndrome is pretty wonderful too

― M Matos (M Matos), Friday, 31 January 2003 10:02 (twenty-three years ago)

also, a more obscure one that's still wonderful: Kid America and the Action Figures, Bandy, which you can find at http://www.othermusic.com

― M Matos (M Matos), Friday, 31 January 2003 10:03 (twenty-three years ago)

There's a John Oswald retrospective, "69 Plunderphonics 96", that's not very hard to find.

― Colin Meeder (Mert), Friday, 31 January 2003 11:01 (twenty-three years ago)

Definitely "The Parker Tapes", although an argument could be made that it's comedy rather than music. And the best bit on the album (the pseudo deep house vocals) is one of the few bits that aren't sampled.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Friday, 31 January 2003 11:24 (twenty-three years ago)

pablo - story of sampling

― zemko (bob), Friday, 31 January 2003 12:32 (twenty-three years ago)

I had heard a wonderful Kid Koala song on the radio a few years ago that sampled "I Got a Rock" from the Charlie Brown Halloween special ... when I called the dj she said the song was unfortunately out of print. Anyone know if it's now available (or even what it is)?

― zaxxon25 (zaxxon25), Friday, 31 January 2003 12:44 (twenty-three years ago)

It was originally available on a ten inch on Ninja Tunes. Can't remember names at the moment...

― alext (alext), Friday, 31 January 2003 13:33 (twenty-three years ago)

zaxxon25 and alext: that song is "Tricks 'n Treats" from Scratchcratchratchatch, Kid Koala's self-released 30-minute debut tape. It's pretty rare, I think. Parts of it were reissued as the Scratchhappyland 10" by Ninja Tune, but I don't think that one has "Tricks 'n Treats". I have the original tape and it's (fucking) good, delicious. You can probably get it on Napster or one of those things, but I could probably help you out as well.

Oh, and: Fantasma by Cornelius isn't all samples, but it's really good. So.

― Orange, Friday, 31 January 2003 15:22 (twenty-three years ago)

Eno-Byrne's My Life in the Bush of Ghosts was one of (if not the?) first sample-based record. It holds up pretty well.

― Aaron W (Aaron W), Friday, 31 January 2003 15:27 (twenty-three years ago)

i'm not a dead fan, but i definitely second the recommendation of "grayfolded". there's something really, really spooky about it. very nice.

i'm also a big fan of the "hook theft, sample robbery" of laptop nerds like fennesz, o'rourke, ehlers (check out the ekkehard ehlers plays john cassavetes record, it's infuriatingly soothing) and some of the biosphere stuff is alright. i slammed shenzou hard when it came out because it's just debussy loops and a bit of crackle, but i've since grown to appreciate it.

― fields of salmon (fieldsofsalmon), Friday, 31 January 2003 15:33 (twenty-three years ago)

Parts of it were reissued as the Scratchhappyland 10" by Ninja Tune, but I don't think that one has "Tricks 'n Treats".

"Tricks 'n Treats" is on the 10-inch, I have it, but I think it's out of print anyway. If memory serves there were copyright problems & it never received distribution.

― Mark (MarkR), Friday, 31 January 2003 15:49 (twenty-three years ago)

Those who are confused as to why I said Wu Tang is not very repetitive must not be listening closely enough. The change-ups are subtle, not as obvious as the Avalanches.

I second the recommendations for DJ Vadim, first Portishead album, Boom Bip, and Herbaliser.

― andy, Friday, 31 January 2003 16:01 (twenty-three years ago)

Cornelius is really cool how he blends samples and instruments and programmed beatistry into such a solid tweaky-yet-euphoric sound...Point and Fantasma are two of my favorite albums of the last few years.

I would recommend just about anybody off of Ninja Tune, but especially Kid Koala and Amon Tobin. Kid Koala makes some of the most insanely vibrant turntable-based-music around, and Amon Tobin blends samples into such an organic sound you'll swear there are musicians in the room with you. The drum-beats in most of his tracks electrify my brain.

I want to recommend Mixmaster Mike's Anti-Theft Device album, but I can only truly recommend it if you're totally wigging on LSD, in which case it's one of the best-most-frenetic-albums I've ever heard.

I really like stuff where people blend sample-based and instrument-based stuff. There's a Buckethead album that came out last year called Bermuda Triangle he did with DJ Extrakd that is just straight-up stunning, it's very hard to tell where the samples end and the Buckethead begins.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Friday, 31 January 2003 16:15 (twenty-three years ago)

The Coldcut CDs - Let Us Play and Let Us Replay - both excellent. And I definitely second the recommendation of the Plug 2-CD thingy. And, as far as hip hop strikes your fancy, the 1st 2 Ice Cube LPs, the 1st Lench Mob Cd and the Cube EP from the same period squeeze in so many freakin' samples your head will spin. And they're funny, too.

― matt riedl (veal), Friday, 31 January 2003 17:48 (twenty-three years ago)

try out... Presage-outer perimiter, Mr. Dibs & DJ Jel & MC Dose

― chad (chad), Saturday, 1 February 2003 00:29 (twenty-three years ago)

Last year? FANTASMA came out in 1998 or summat. I recall singing one song from it to my friend who liked hardcore Black Metal. He stared at me and said: "You like that song don't you?!?!?!"

― Guerillas On The Piss, Saturday, 1 February 2003 21:57 (twenty-three years ago)

Ministry. Psalm 69 in particular sounds particularly 'sampley'.

― mei (mei), Sunday, 2 February 2003 14:24 (twenty-three years ago)

Do albums that mainly use keyboards count? Many keyboard's sounds are sample based with the appropriate envelopes and filters applied.

― mei (mei), Sunday, 2 February 2003 14:25 (twenty-three years ago)

Charlie: Drum & Bass For Papa is so inferior to the first three Plug EPs! This album sounded weak compared to the samples/breaks/melodies frenzy that drove (?) tracks like "Tuff Rinse" or "Military Jazz". Can't even remember a single part of "d&b for papa", it was just a listenable drill&bass album that didn't need much attention.

Plug 1, 2, and 3 have been reissued on a double CD with "d&b for papa", so i guess it makes it an actual album, probably one of the best instrumental LPs i've heard.

― Etienne Menu (Etienne), Sunday, 2 February 2003 20:39 (twenty-three years ago)

Quasimoto - The Unseen

In fact, anything by Madlib- hip hop as a whole is sample-centric but Madlib takes it to the next level.

― Bobby D Gray (bedhead), Sunday, 2 February 2003 20:59 (twenty-three years ago)

I'm pretty sure that Madlib keeps his finest beats for himself (ie. his helium-voiced character Quasimoto), just listen to the Declaime album, it's a much lower level than The Unseen.

Btw the Yesterday's New Quintet album was so boring, why do so many producers used to sampling and looping need to make a "real instruments/live feel" record? To prove themselves they're the new Jazz Messengers?

― Etienne Menu (Etienne), Monday, 3 February 2003 16:53 (twenty-three years ago)

I think Madlib should've actually learned how to play an instrument before he put out an instrumental jazz album.

Mr.Dibbs mixes are damn fine, as well

― andy, Monday, 3 February 2003 17:03 (twenty-three years ago)

I finally picked up Kid Koala's Carpel Tunnel Syndrome yesterday, which is BAD-ASS. That dude knows his way around some tables!

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Monday, 3 February 2003 18:23 (twenty-three years ago)

i thought the testerdays's new quintet disc was just skewed enough to be interesting for a couple of listens...

― gaz (gaz), Monday, 3 February 2003 21:31 (twenty-three years ago)

YNQ is worth a few listens. Pretty good at parts, but any solo in it sounds completely amateurish and just wanders off to nowhere.

― Oops (Oops), Monday, 3 February 2003 21:41 (twenty-three years ago)

one year passes...

Amon Tobin, top of the charts in my book for some top Brazilian Trip hop / spooky yet relaxing beats. I Just went and saw Kid Koala Play Amon in his opening set on 13th April. Chocolate 'Lovely' leading into fender bender.. Nice.
Get your chomps into some (previously mentioned)RjD2 He played alongside Kid. Very Special mini 45' samples thrown in on that one. But be careful, use only in moderation... **Highly Addictive**

― Jeff Dohnt, Monday, 19 April 2004 11:10 (twenty-two years ago)

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