Holidays and Quick Spins: Session Victim, Christian Löffler

Hi everyone,

White Noise has been running for a year now, and I thought it was time that the site had a bit of an overhaul. As well as a much prettier layout, there are now different sections in the header for easy navigation and the site runs a great deal faster.

I'd also like to introduce a new feature to bring to the site, in the form of a brief series of musical recommendations. I run this site solo so I don't always have time to write a full review of all the great stuff I hear, and I thought it would be worthwhile to occasionally drop in with some recommendations of albums and tracks without the need for a whole review.

Of course I will still be writing reviews, features, and creating playlists, and each of these articles will go in their appropriate section so the key posts won't get lost amongst more casual recommendations.

Finally, tomorrow I'm leaving for a trip around the West coast of the USA for a month, so the site won't be regularly updated again until mid-July.

Have a good month everyone, and I'll leave you with some recommendations from what I've been listening to this week.

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Session Victim - The Haunted House of House

The first thing I'd like to recommend is this fantastic album which slipped under my radar on release a couple of weeks back. Session Victim have been slowly building a reputation following on from their 2011 classic Good Intentions, and their debut LP has finally hit the shelves. It's a top-notch album of classic-sounding house music with a modern twist, and the end result couldn't be better. Literally every track is expertly put together and demands attention, from Dark Sienna's moody locked grooves to the smooth, feel-good glitching of Cow Palace by way of the title track's punchy boogie vibes. It's stylish, it's current, and it's endlessly satisfying and rewarding on repeated spins, so I recommend you get yourself a dose of Session Victim as soon as humanly possible.

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Christian Löffler - A Forest

The second album I highly recommend is by Christian Löffler, whose Aspen EP I reviewed earlier in the year. Here the German producer offers a beautiful collection of organic and cerebral deep house; intricately structured and with an enormous array of natural-sounding textures. The album is clearly a labour of love for Löffler and it comes off as one, presenting a singular and consistent vision whether its in the deep groove found deep in a jungle of synths, effects and chimes in A Forest, the melancholic vocals that haunt the clicks and beats of Blind or the tumbling synths in pacing closer Slowlight. There are even a few tracks featuring guest vocalists, and while not quite all of these work for me (Gry's voice really starts to grate about 5 seconds into Feelharmonia), other collaborations such as Eleven feat. Mohna are a surprising success. Any fans of the deeper, slower end of the Electronic spectrum should check this out as Löffler's star is only set to rise from here.

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That's it from me for a month, I'll leave you with some moody vintage house vibes, this killer track out soon on Delsin courtesy of Trevor Deep Jr. It's certainly been brightening up my day.

 

Trevor Deep Jr - Keep On!

XI – Joy / Fear

Label: New Kanada

Canadian export XI has been creating big waves since his recent move to Berlin, marking a seismic shift from his usually maximalist productions on his fantastic second release on Orca this January, Immunity / Squeeze. On his latest EP for New Kanada, the Toronto-born producer shows he’s not done genre-switching yet, offering up three tense and moody slices of dance music that reference Bass, Dubstep and Garage.

On Joy / Fear XI offers up three tunes that offer different takes on contemporary Dance trends, and the title track is a monstrous dancefloor killer that’s sure to get pulses racing. Joy / Fear kicks off with unsettling looped vocals and a percussive pattern that slams hard against the bass bins, building to an early climax where everything unexpectedly drops away, replaced by disorientating pitchbent synths and throbbing bass stabs. The two disparate sounds duel for control of the track, receding and intruding to keep the listener always on their toes, resulting in an incredibly powerful assault on the senses that creates an uneasy tension and refuses to let go right up until the end.

Joy / Fear

Second cut Nightlif is a much more delicate affair, with a 4/4 pulsing gently under iridescent synth effects. Over the top of this XI laces canny micro-edits, tight vocal loops and a surprisingly pretty synth melody that simmers seductively over suffocating bass throbs and punchy beats. An early vocal loop recalls his Orca B-Side Squeeze but Nightlif is a force unto itself, proudly brighter and catchier than anything XI has produced to date. If these first tracks sound different to each other, it’s because they are, with only the producer’s relentlessly shifting percussive punches to offer a continuity of sound across the EP. Ultimately this works to the EPs advantage, as a real variation of the flavours on offer makes Joy / Fear a diverse and gratifyingly listen on repeated spins.

Nightlif

Final cut Antikythera situates itself mood-wise somewhere between the first two cuts, with the darkness of the title track married to gently bubbling synths while a strong 2step beat pattern stops the tune from ever quite taking off into dreamworld, despite the shiny synths encroaching towards the close. While XI doesn’t offer up anything revolutionary here, all three tracks are attentively detailed and put together with a keen sense of mood. As a DJ, the release is worth a look for its outrageously heavy A-side, and you might just find something to love in the gentler variations of the other tunes.

7/10

May Roundup

It’s that time of the month again, here are some of my favourite releases from May, in one handy playlist. This month I've included a couple I missed from the end of last month and a couple that come out at the beginning of June. Enjoy!

Tracklist:

Omar-S feat. L’Renee – SEX (Constant Gardens Posse Remix)

Leon Vynehall – Picture Frame (Clip)

West Norwood Cassette Library – Coming On Strong (Clip)

Jimmy Edgar – U Need Love

Boddika & Joy O – Dun Dun

Girl Unit – Ensemble (Club Mix)

Head High – Rave (Dirt Mix)

Guy Andrews – The Wait

XI – Joy / Fear

Swindle –If I Was A Super Hero

Hackman – Forgotten Notes (free download here)

Bo Saris – She’s On Fire (Maya Jane Coles Remix)

Fantastic Mr Fox – Yesterdays Fall feat Alby Daniels

Bondax – Wet Summer (free download here)

Friendzone – Chuch

How To Dress Well – Ocean Floor for Everything (free download here)

Here are a couple of top quality releases from earlier this year well worth checking out:

Storm Queen – Look Right Through (MK Don’t Talk To Me Dub)

Body Double – My Life / Be Strong

Enjoy!

Jimmy Edgar – Majenta

Label: Hotflush

In Jimmy Edgar’s 10 years on the scene, an impressive amount of time for a man still under 30, he’s always shown a keen interest in a handful of things. The first is Techno; born in Detroit and currently based in Berlin, his early IDM releases on Warp and !K7 showed a precocious young talent who had a rare skill for micro-edits, despite a rather loose grasp over quality control. The second, on display just as much as ever on Majenta, is sex; his tracks are smutty and sleazy, from the bed-rocking funky basslines to the murmured vocal seductions, by way of some truly climactic synthwork. The vulgar obsession has always been tempered by a dark vein of humour running through Edgar’s music and lyrics, but on previous releases it was never quite matched by a coherent and impressive body of music. On Majenta Edgar has finally done good: offering a striking and immensely enjoyable mission statement that, despite an unhealthy focus on sexual depravity, is looking like one of 2012’s early highlights.

What’s immediately striking about Majenta is that despite the sleaziness and retro-fetishism, there are some serious production chops across the board; the beats are crisp and punchy, synths blurred into bright electronic smears, and the vocals occasionally humorous but always keeping with the mood- in a sentence: Edgar does smut, but he does it seriously. Part of what makes the LP such a success is that Edgar has toned down some of his previous quirks and lightning-fast beatscience to ensure that, while his style is always abundantly on display, it always importantly comes second to song writing.

This One’s For The Children

If the review is all starting to feel a little sober, don’t worry – this album is a pure delight, and will probably offer you a couple of laughs as well as more than a handful of powerful grooves and catchy hooks. Practically every track could be considered a highlight; from breathy opener Too Shy, trading in iridescent synth bounces and funky bass stabs, to Heartkey’s late-night robotic punches which erupt into gorgeous stuttered arpeggios towards the close, ending in a nakedly beautiful series of synth flutters.

Genre-fusion and the recycling of old styles are nothing new at the moment but Edgar handles both with uncommon skill; taking the spectrum of Bass music, vintage House, G-Funk, RnB and a whole lot more under his broad umbrella of electro-sleaze. More impressive still is how clear Edgar’s individual sound is despite his experimentation in a myriad of genres. We can see his musical restlessness in the differences between Edgar’s releases to date and this really works to Majenta’s advantage; keeping every track fresh and satisfying on repeated spins.  Sweaty, 80s vibes abound throughout, flipping between Edgar’s deft hand at breathless micro-edits, shown with particular aplomb on Indigo Mechanix (3D) , and simpler, hard-bodied tracks such as phenomenal lead single This One’s For The Children, which lays catchy couplets (‘we don’t like television / we don’t like new wave / we don’t like celebrities / we just want what we crave’) over a massive undulating bassline.

Touch Yr Bodytime

The experimental steps into newer territories for Edgar show him surprisingly confident and successful; the Prince-indebted Funk edge in Sex Drive (‘windows down and legs apart / look behind my beating heart’) is smutty but adds a keen tension to the sound. Elsewhere on Touch Yr Bodytime Edgar verges on Dam-Funk inspired G-Funk before adding a slew of bass-referencing loops and edits, all pulled off with a spontaneity that feels almost like Edgar’s editing before your eyes, guided solely by the pleasure principle.

Another strong highlight is middle track Let Yrself Be, which trades Edgar’s coercing tones for chopped-up bassy vocals backed up by tight filtering synthwork and vintage drum patterns. Even though this is Edgar treading new ground the result is better than the output of a lot of dedicated House producers, establishing a strong groove with clear hooks and lasting appeal in its simplicity, and this is all before the magnificent addition of that seasick ‘please’ towards the end.  Every track here demands attention; even the shorter interludes and digital exclusives; I Need Your Control hits like a brick with massive drops and funky synth strokes, while digital addition U Need Love is a love-letter to the big New Jersey House sound.

Heartkey

Closer In Deep cloaks Edgar’s classic sound in a deep, hazy shroud, with funky basslines and android voices floating up to the surface of a constantly shifting field of synths and beats – ‘I wanna play with you’ – goes a bit spiritual in a brief breakdown before retreating to a robotic sex temple which finds itself musically somewhere between Jazz, Trip Hop, and Prog. It sounds overblown, and it is, but somehow Edgar pulls it all together, as he does over and over again across the course of the LP. In Majenta Edgar’s humour is still intact, as is his love of sex and vocoders, but there’s a confidence to the instrumentation and details here which has a powerful effect; each track sets up a strong mood and doesn’t let go, never feeling toothless despite being less meticulously micro-programmed than some of his previous offerings. Majenta aims high but Edgar ceaselessly exceeds his lofty ambitions, crafting a sleazy, funky and sun-drenched LP that is simply unforgettable.

9/10

Traumprinz – Paradise With A Lobotomy

Label: Kann

After a lengthy hiatus, German imprint House and Techno imprint Kann is back with a new EP courtesy of Giegling mainstay Traumprinz, who you may also know from his Prince Of Denmark moniker. Traumprinz has been steadily making a name for himself as a purveyor of finely crafted machine-house, implementing dusty textures and human touches to give a hand-crafted feel to his mechanical sound. On Paradise With A Lobotomy he excels not only in producing three superb cuts of decaying dance music but also gives the listener a real sense of variation across the tunes, resulting in an impressive and highly listenable EP.

Love Yeah

It’s hard to pick a highlight when all three tracks on offer feel so worthwhile and carefully crafted, but opener Big Baby Jesus, the straightest cut of the selection, definitely makes a strong impression. Using thick layers of ambient static as a base, Traumprinz applies a chugging 4/4 and carefully sequenced Dub Techno synthwork which filters powerfully through the mist. The Dub referencing is taken a step further later in the tune, with the echo turned up to eleven on an ethereal reggae sample which leaves a ghostly trace across the second half of the track. Even though Traumprinz uses a varied range of samples and sounds on his tracks they always meld fluidly thanks to careful mixing, resulting in tracks which feel like coherent machinations more than a collection of individual effects. Nowhere is this clearer than on second cut Love Yeah, where a similar ambient field is laid under a catchy melody of chimes and deeply atmospheric vocals embedded deep in the mix. The subtle buildup of percussive textures, each rich and organic, continues right up to the close, rewarding listeners who pay attention to the details.

Third cut Feel is the most unusual track on offer here, but that only goes to show the producer’s deft skill at implementing his unique sound in an array of different styles. A meticulously programmed drum pattern limps heftily through the opening minute of the tune before it’s joined by a host of slow, worn synth stabs and a pitch-perfect vocal sample that echoes emotively through the soundfield. A warbling vocal evokes unusual tones towards the end of the track, before only the ghostly ‘feel’ is left as the song erodes rather than fades away. The worn and dusty aesthetic of the sounds suits Traumprinz’s loping House style to a tee, showing a producer with a deep understanding of how to create punchy and unique Techno tunes which immediately grab attention and further seduce the listener on repeated spins.

7/10

Huxley – Out Of The Box

Label: 2020 Vision

UK producer Huxley is certainly having his day in the sun at the moment; given a promising 2011, running his own label with Ethyl, DJ spots and mixes all over the place and most importantly his fantastic Let It Go single earlier this year on Hypercolour. There are surely a number of reasons for this; such as his prolific approach to production, or his keen sense of marrying smooth and catchy sounds with a real dance drive, but what his music most clearly evokes is a sense of fun. This four track EP on 2020 Vision is no different, displaying a varied set of tunes that are guaranteed not only to get your body moving, they’ll probably put a smile on your face too.

Box Clever

Opener Box Clever comes off as a bit of a sequel to Let It Go, and that is meant as a high compliment. It’s a big House tune that effortlessly emphasises of Huxley’s strong points as a producer; all rolling basslines and colourful synthwork culminating in a tune that it’s hard to stop listening to. Warm House keys come to a boil over sharp beats before the introduction of an earworm vocal line that references classic House without ever coming across as cheesy. The other tracks on offer explore the deeper end of the House spectrum, with second track Atonement building a strong groove with shuffling swung beats anchoring filtered synths and a kinetic bassline. It may come off as a bit by-the-numbers but there’s a lot of detail in the production and it would surely kill on the dancefloor.

Out Of My Mind

Third track Out Of My Mind proves a strong highlight besides the opener, as Huxley experiments with thumping 2step rhythms and ghostly diva vocals. It’s an impressive percussive workout that doesn’t let a 4/4 intrude til well past the midway point, and proves that this is a producer who has a lot to offer besides the big House tunes that are making his name. Final cut Feel What You Want is a digital exclusive that references sunny 90s House with a killer groove and well-applied vocal snippets. There’s not a great deal of variation but this breed of House excels when setting up a trance-like (the state, not the genre) groove and sticking with it, and Huxley pulls it off with style. While only a couple of these tracks are truly essential, Out Of The Box shows a producer at the very top of his game, changing up his ideas and style while always keeping it smooth, exciting and eminently danceable.

7.5/10

April Roundup

I haven’t been hugely on it this month with holidays getting in the way, but we've been spoiled for singles this April, alongside a few fantastic LPs (check out LHF and Actress’ new albums). But that’s not to say I haven't heard loads of great tunes this month, so here’s my pick of the litter.

Kicking off with more upbeat numbers as per usual, we start with Andrés’ instant classic New For U and a few choice Bass and House cuts from stalwarts XXXY and Huxley. Following is some fine Funky from The Town and a couple of choice remixes; Lone’s reworking of Midland’s Placement and Kevin McPhee’s chugging Techno reworking of Sepalcure. Moving off the dancefloor to darker territories is Amen Ra’s spiritual and stunning Akashic Visions. Actress provides atmosphere in spades before Beaumont’s 80s-worshipping synth odyssey Never Love Me. Next is Lungs, an intriguing project by London-based vocalist Py, produced by White Noise favourite George Fitzgerald. Some slow-burn 303 Techno is delivered courtesy of Recondite, then things get moody with Synkro’s drum workout and Vessel’s smacked-out death disco in Standard. oOoOO closes shop with twisted ghostly style with the final cut from his brand new Our Loving Is Killing Us EP. Enjoy!

Tracklist:

Andrés – New For U

Huxley – Box Clever

XXXY – Everything

The Town – The Movement

Midland – Placement (Lone Remix)

Sepalcure – The One (Kevin McPhee Remix)

Amen Ra – Akashic Visions

Actress – IWAAD

Beaumont – Never Love Me

Py – Lungs

Recondite – Tie In

Synkro – Knowledge

Vessel - Standard

oOoOO – NoWayBack

Previous Months:

March 2012

Feburary 2012

January 2012

Midland – Placement

Label: Aus

Harry Aguis, aka Midland, occupies an interesting space in the dance world. Within two years he’s released a series of top-quality House records alongside an impressive selection of great remixes for the likes of Caribou, Julio Bashmore, Lone and many more. As a producer he has yet to release something that could be called significantly different from current Dance trends, but the consistent quality of his tunes both on and off the dancefloor halts that from being a true criticism of his work – after all, the ‘contemporary sound’ from which the originals diverge wouldn’t be popular in the first place if there weren’t a certain amount of producers furthering that sound with a great deal of finesse.

Tape Burn

Up until this point, and excluding his excellent collaboration with Ramadanman Your Words Matter, Midland’s releases have always been characterised by a certain density and darkness, and with Placement he begins to lift the veil, these tracks having a certain airy quality to them despite retaining a depth and weight which always makes Midland’s tracks killers on the dancefloor. The slow-building Tape Burn is a perfect entry to this accomplished EP, loping forward on well applied percussive textures and gradually accumulating an ambient hum, subtle finger clicks keeping time, a dusty beat and a subdued bassline which come together to form a warm and rich listen with a great deal of movement. Add that to the dawn-breaking pause midway through and the mounting anticipation beats as the track draws to a close and you have a near-perfect opener, fluidly preparing the listener for what’s to come while serving as a brilliant track in its own right.

Placement

The two central tracks on the EP serve as the real dancefloor meat, and both are sensitively handled House tracks that build a strong groove while retaining a certain delicacy which ensures the tight detailing is just as present as the staggering beats. Placement is another slow-build, with a heavy drum pattern underpinning a rising synth line and a whole range of detailed sounds. Every so often a new layer comes into play expertly; a looped clap, a forceful snare or a woozy breakdown that simmers, threatening to boil over, beneath the fabric of the tune. All these sounds lead up to the showstopping synth-line which, while simple, is very effective and dominates the second half of the track. Afterwards comes the densest and moodiest cut on offer, What We Know, and it’s all the better for being both of those things. An earworm vocal snippet lays a slight hook over another bed of rich and masterful percussion, while simmering detuned synths make an unexpected but very welcome appearance at the breakdown.

What We Know

The EP goes out with Tail Ender, a novel departure from 4/4 to a syncopated 2step beat. Something feels off-kilter about the seesawing synths and unstable percussion but this works towards a great atmospheric track that undulates rather than moving forward, proving that Midland can work magic even outside of his tried and tested House beats. The tracks on offer across Placement may not grab you on first listen, but they’re all worth repeated spins. To pay attention to Midland’s finely-woven webs of sound, where every layer is perfectly treated and applied, is to realise this is more than just a contemporary release somewhere in between House and Techno, it’s another jewel in the crown of a fantastic producer who crafts straightforward dance music with rare skill and force.

8/10

Si’Ke DJs – Safe House

Label: Say Ahh!

Some people might not know too much about Scottie Deep (aka Scott Kinchen) and his brother MK, but back in the 90s New York House scene the pair were practically legendary, putting on events and parties as well as releasing a series of strong EPs on the hottest labels of the time such as Strictly Rhythm and Henry Street Music. They faded from the limelight in the last ten years or so, but apparently in 2012 they’re back, setting up the Say Ahh! label for a pure love of music and because they “missed the smell of new vinyl”. However on the first Say Ahh! release it’s not Scottie or MK at the helm but Manchester newcomers Si’Ke Dj’s (aka Si Jones and Mike Morgan) who do an admirable job of catapulting us back in time to the very height of New Jersey House. This EP doesn’t do anything particularly new but it contains four tracks of excellent dance music, and if that’s not enough for the House-heads then I don’t know what it is.

EP Minimix

The pair leap straight in on A-side Safe House, with powerful drums and classic keys setting up a heavy groove instantly. The hardware used sounds more vintage than cutting edge but with such a great knack for structure it hardly needs to be modern, with stuttering vocals and a shifting bassline layered expertly onto the track. As the tune continues the simple but catchy keys come to the fore along with an elongated version of the vocal sample, cementing the strength of the opener. Say What! is on the flipside, a different take on a similar sound that adds light organs and a nagging vocal line to the potent drums. The track really comes into its own with the addition of a great bass loop deep in the mix, introduced on its own with a singular kick drum. Again, each layer is stripped away and re-introduced to give maximum satisfaction to the listener, with both tracks sounding like the products of real House legends.

Although the sound on display here won’t be particularly new or surprising to anyone, the impressive inclusion of two very accomplished Dubs might just be. Normally a Dub adds little to a song or strips down a few layers to make it ‘deeper’, but the alternate versions of these two tracks are significantly different from the originals, and clearly aimed at being incorporated at different stages of a mix. On Safe House (Deep Dub), the addition of some emotive piano chords and searing synth strings makes a world of difference, resulting in a track that is lighter while remaining just as catchy and inviting. The Dub of Say What! goes really deep, transforming the tune completely into a heady House workout replete with piano, extended vocal line and a rolling synthline that holds it all together over the simple percussion. The House sound on display here still works because it’s essentially timeless, and on the two original tracks here (and the surprisingly worthy Dubs) we’re treated a collection of tight and perfectly produced dance music that is guaranteed to make anyone move.

7.5/10

Mix: I'll See You After The Function

A very special surprise for you all today, a massive mix from our resident DJ G More, and it really couldn't be better. The mix focuses mainly on the housey side of things and it includes more White Noise favourites than you can  count, so sit back (or get on up) and enjoy!

 

Tracklist:

Metro - Brownstone Express 

Jimmy Edgar - This One's For The Children 

Christophe - The Scene 

Late Nite Tuff Guy - A Deal With God 

Krystal Klear - From The Start 

Storm Queen - It Goes On (Dub) 

Omar - Feeling You (Henrik Schwarz Remix) 

Kato - Booty Dance (Nicholas Raw Interpretation) 

Brawther - Do It Yourself (Alternative Mix) 

NY Stomp - The NY House Trak 

Simpson - Till You Were Dead 

Dominic Martin - Homage New Jersey 

Si'Ke DJs - Safe House 

FCL - More Than Seven 

Huxley - Let It Go 

Maurice Donovan - Call My Name 

Omar S Presents Aaron "Fit" Siegel feat. L'Renee - Tonite (Detroit Mix) 

Late Nite Tuff Guy - I Get Deeper 

Christophe - The Force (Julio Bashmore Piano Mix) 

Behling - Last Chance 

Krystal Klear - We're Wrong 

Equation - I'll Say A Prayer 4 U 

Johnny Osbourne - We Need Love

Trikk – Jointly / I Fall Down

Label: ManMakeMusic

George Fitzgerald’s ManMakeMusic is still just getting on its feet, but with this newest release, a debut from Portugese import Bruno Deodato, the label proves itself a real force to be reckoned with. Although you may not associate the darker fringes of Bass and Techno with Southern Europe, Trikk shows a lineage grounded in the last ten years of underground dance music, and these two tight tracks show off that heritage with style.

Jointly

Even though this is his debut, Trikk rapidly establishes a clear voice through his spare style, opening out A-side Jointly with a ferocious kick drum and skeletal clicks. The track would clearly be monstrous on the dancefloor, with a deep bassline paving the way for cut-up Garage vocals and searing old-school synths that are sequenced over the latter half of the track. These synths are particularly note-worthy, constantly shifting the track’s focus while taking nothing from its powerful groove.

I Fall Down

On the flipside I Fall Down is a more unusual 4-am cut, introducing itself with sampled applause and a full run-through of the vocal line that haunts the seasick synths underpinning the tune. Tight drum programming adds to the punch but it’s the details here that really count; a far-off sax cry, perfectly syncopated claps in the track’s second half, and that ungodly heart-in-mouth moment around the two-minute mark where the whole track drops out for four bars, springing back to life after a lethal bass stab. Although Trikk doesn’t tread any radically new ground on this release, his production chops are clearly strong, demonstrating an impressive grasp of space and timing, and his particular fusion of Techno, House and Bass music definitely cements him, along with the nascent label, as ones to watch this year.

8/10
Check out this review in its original form on Inverted Audio.

Feature: Vocal Exercises

Vocal sampling. The act of cutting a human voice from source audio and repurposing it in a new piece of music. It’s become fairly normal to hear a vocal sample adding an edge of humanity to a dance or electronic track at the moment, but how did vocal sampling become what it is today? And what exactly is it today? In this feature I want to examine what different producers are doing with vocals at the moment and why, but in order to do that we need to start at the beginning.

Royal House – Can You Party (1988)

I’m not going to get into discussing breakbeats or sampling itself, because there has already been plenty of interesting discourse on the subject. The first examples of vocal sampling in dance music seem to be in the Acid and Chicago House tracks of the late 80s. Once hardware had become complex enough to sample voices, songs started to emerge where vocals were sampled and manipulated rather than a vocalist having to physically record their voice for each track. These tended to be in the stuttered, repetitive vocal phrases that populated the genre, look at any of Todd Terry’s classic productions for reference points.

Youngbloods – Got Me Burnin’ Up (1991)

This technique was taken further in the East-coast sound of the early 90s, with the emergence of what we now know as Garage. By this point the actual words sampled tended to be an exciting or catchy line that would ramp up anticipation and enjoyment on the dancefloor, but at the same time the samples started to become used more and more as hooks and percussive elements as we recognise them today, removed from their original context and meaning. On Nightcrawlers’ Push The Feeling On (The Dub Of Doom) we can hear and early example of a vocal that has lost all meaning, used purely as a catchy melodic element. Although this sounds fairly average by today’s standards, one can imagine how it might be strange to have a human voice there that was manipulated into a form where it is impossible to discern the words, in what can essentially be seen as a levelling of the human voice into a base musical element. Of course this was nothing new considering the amount of wordless song that have existed throughout the ages, from pagan chants to choirs, but it was the first time that a vocal that once had meaning was deliberately manipulated through electronics to lose that meaning, and then repurposed as just another instrument.

Nightcrawlers – Push The Feeling On (The Dub of Doom) (1992)

From the beginning of sampling in the US, I now want to move on and focus this feature on the UK dance scene. The root of vocal sampling as we now know it in the Bass music scene is most clearly grounded in UK Garage, which took the aforementioned sounds of Todd Terry and co and gave them a hard UK edge, as well as pushing vocal manipulation a lot further than it had ever gone before. Artists like Todd Edwards and Tuff Jam cut up multiple vocal samples and laced them together to form the melodic core of their tracks, retaining the warmth of the human voice (especially important in their dark Garage soundscapes) while stripping away any meaning whatsoever, and letting the sample work just as another element in the sound.

Tuff Jam – Key Dub (1999)

As UK Garage charted a slow shift towards Dubstep in the British underground, use of vocals diminished. Excepting occasional use of brooding voices, early Dubstep was characterised by the space and darkness of its sound, and although UK Garage-style sampling continued in some respects, the technique was not furthered in a major way for several years.

Burial - Archangel (2007)

The next producer to really hit the Electronic mainstream with innovative sampling was Burial, a producer I’m sure you all know well. Although his sources were nothing new, he used his samples to evoke a melancholy and darkness rather than a catchy hook, which was unusual at the time. Added to this, he expressed a fondness for pitching male voices up and female voices down to create “sexy vibe” and an ambiguity of gender, another technique that is fairly commonplace by now. Burial  stated while discussing the early UK Garage scene in a 2007 interview with The Wire, “I’d love these vocals that would come in, not proper singing but cut-up and repeating, and executed coldly. It was like a forbidden siren.” It’s a simple description for a musical technique that has accelerated Burial to Electronic stardom, where he introduced samples just as much to highlight absence as their presence, as can be seen in a 2009 interview with Fact; “That’s the sound I love…like embers in the tune…little glowing bits of vocals…they appear for a second, then fade away and you’re left with an empty, sort of air-duct sound…something that’s eerie and empty.”

XI - Squeeze (2012)

Fast forward to the last few years, and vocal sampling is everywhere. There are more producers than you can count who wield their samples to achieve the same effect as Burial, as well as a few others who have taken his style even further into the dark. See for example XI’s recent single Squeeze, in which a super-clipped vocal sample is treated and "de-oxygenated” (as RA described it) in a fashion that highlights a humanity and warmth that has been stripped away, strengthening the menacing, inhuman feel to its tough percussive workout. XI further dehumanizes the voice by pitching it up and down to form a skipping melodic variation, proving how far a voice can be taken from its original meaning and humanity. It is curious to imagine that a producer would choose to add a person’s voice which makes a song feel less human, but it is a potent tool which adds to the paranoid power of the track.

Brenmar - Temperature Rising (2011)

Producers are now using cut-up vocals not just to express a human touch to contrast a moody soundfield, as Burial did, but to other purposes. In Temperature Rising Brenmar was just one of many producers who twinned choppy RnB vocals with fast-tempo Bass production to demonstrate a silky, overt sex appeal, while in the second You on Gold Panda’s Lucky Shiner album, a single-word vocal sample repeats to a powerfully mournful effect. It’s clear this particular style of vocal sampling can be manipulated to evoke almost any emotion the producer wants.

Gold Panda – You (2010)

Joy Orbison - Hyph Mngo (2009)

Nowadays the current Bass scene is saturated with artists cutting up RnB and Funk vocals to varying degrees of success, but it begs the question of why an artist would prefer to chop up their vocals than leave them as whole phrases. Two plausible answers occur to me, the first musical and the second more based in meaning. Some producers use cut up vocals almost as a human alternative to a synth, as merely another musical tool to be manipulated and sequenced into the melody of a track. In a song like Disclosure’s i love...that you know or Joy Orbison's classic Hyph Mngo, a heavily treated vocal line, with the actual words often  (or completelyindiscernible, forms the central hook of the track. It’s an interesting idea to remove meaning from words to just hear the melody of language, and a producer’s willingness to just let a manipulated vocal line be the core of a track is intriguing, trading the meaning of words for their musicality.

Benjamin Damage & Doc Daneeka – Halo feat. Abigail Wyles (2012)

The second reason I can think of to chop vocals in this way is to do with the meaning and emotion evoked by the words in the listener. Simply put, if a vocal is treated so the words are difficult to make out, then it’s likely that the listener will attribute their own language and meaning to the song. The result of this is that the song forces no specific emotion on the listener, more a general mood, to which the listener can attribute the words and sentiment that personally suit them at the time. It is irrelevant to consider whether this is a case of the listener subconsciously ‘hearing what they’re feeling’ in terms of language or if it’s a more conscious process of application, because either way by becoming linguistically ambiguous, a song actually increases its emotive scope. Benjamin Damage and Doc Daneeka’s Halo is a perfect example of this, with Abigail Wyles’ muffled vocals freely interpretable by the listener as long as their chosen meaning suits the subdued vibes of the song. It seems almost paradoxical that by making a voice less recognisably human you can actually increase its emotional appeal, but this is the intriguing effect of a lot of contemporary electronic music.

Wolfgang Voigt – Kafkatrax 2.1 (2011)

With the rapid development of audio manipulation tools, the use of vocal samples is now only really limited by the producer’s imagination. There are only two ways to push the use of these samples; forward and backward, and there are great contemporary producers pursuing the path in both directions. For an example of someone pushing use of vocals forward into more extreme territory, one need look no further than legendary German producer Wolfgang Voigt, who many of you will know as Ambient Techno producer Gas and the head of Cologne-based label Kompakt. In his recent Kafkatrax series, Voigt producer a series of tracks comprised solely of vocals cut and treated from a Kafka audiobook excepting the inclusion of a single kick drum. The result is as cerebral and successful as any of Voigt’s work, the vocals assembled into deep, hypnotic Techno with some sounds still recognisable as human voice and others so far removed as to sound like they were recorded entirely from a synthesiser.  This is, in some ways, the upper limit of that trade-off between musicality and meaning, the press release states that the use of Kafka, “is entirely meaningless to the final musical product – Voigt is only interested in the sound of recited vocal text.”

Doc Daneeka & Abigail Wyles – Tobyjug (2012)

On the opposite end of the spectrum, there are producers who traditionally used samples that are now drafting in vocalists to sing original vocal tracks for their Electronic productions. Doc Daneeka, who built his reputation on hard-bodied UK Funky and Bass music, reigned in the force of his productions and once more collaborated with vocalist Abigail Wyles to produce the Electronic soul ballad Tobyjug, in which he allows her voice to take centre-stage, lyrics and all. There is certainly a trend emerging of vocalists being called in for Dance and Electronic productions, from the poppier end of the spectrum with Jessie Ware (recently produced for by Julio Bashmore), to Funky muse Fatima, to SBTRKT favourite Sampha.

SBTRKT – Hold On (feat. Sampha) (2011)

So on one side we now have experimental tracks entirely made of vocals, and on the other producers are returning to the historic technique of inviting original vocalists to feature in tracks, not to mention the thousands of producers working and sampling somewhere between the two extremes. It’s important to realise that those that feature vocalists shouldn’t be seen as regressive in any way, Dance music has always run in cycles with techniques going in and out of fashion, and furthermore the application of new styles of Electronic production mean the results sound nothing like the 20-year old songs that used live vocals in a similar fashion. It’s impossible to predict where vocal sampling can go from here, but considering the resourcefulness of producers in using the human voice as a tool so far in Electronic music, it’s probably best to not have any specific expectations. The world of Electronic music moves so fast and offers so many surprises that you probably won’t have to wait too long to find out anyway.

First Choice – Let No Man Put Asunder (1977) 

Before the playlist, I'll leave you with this First Choice classic, almost every single line of which has been sampled in one dance track or another. See how many you can recognise. Also, listen out for a very early example of vocal manipulation at the end of the track.

I hope you’ve enjoyed the discussion on vocal sampling, included below is a selection of a few tracks from the last few months that have used vocals in particularly interesting or gratifying ways. Enjoy!

Tracklist:

Bondax – All Inside

Arthur Beatrice – Midland (Bwana Remix)

Shlohmo – Wen Uuu

Airhead – Wait

Lianne La Havas – Forget (Shlohmo Remix)

Above & Beyond – Love Is Not Enough (Synkro Remix)

Burial – Ashtray Wasp

2562 – Air Jordan

Label: When In Doubt

Even in a musical world saturated by quality producers who have been knocking out classics since way back when, Dave Huismans is different. Alright, he hasn’t been around for quite as long as some, but Huismans has some legendary producers more than beat in terms of innovation. Kicking off by expanding Dubstep’s narrowing horizons as 2562, he then proceeded to release a slew of releases under this moniker and as A Made Up sound, the latter generally attached to genre-defying dance singles that always stood out from the crowd. A Made Up Sound’s last release was the remarkably unique Take The Plunge, which paired glitchy synth loops with a loping Techno skeleton to stellar effect. His last outing as 2562, however, was the entirely sampled-based Fever, in which he cut up snippets of old Disco records and dextrously repurposed them into something more colourful but still clearly Huismans’ own. This latest release, Air Jordan, is similarly made up from samples, but that’s where the similarities end. Every sample on this EP was field recorded by 2562 on a recent trip to Jordan, and the end result is a more spacious, dark, and altogether intriguing release than its predecessors.

Solitary Sheepbell

Why is it necessary to have quite so much backstory on a producer in a review for a 4-track EP? To explain Huismans’ galloping rate of innovation in Electronic music is also to understand a little better how experimentalism works in the dance world. When one thinks of Techno experimentalists, names like Demdike Stare and Sandwell District come to mind, who took to more abstract compositional structures, beatless expanses, unusual noises and rips of static. Air Jordan charts a cultural experimentation just as much as a sonic one; as the listener realises that these otherworldly sounds and samples are actually from this world, just not a part of it they’re necessarily familiar with. 2562 draws a real sense of menace and isolation out of these samples, while spoken-word, animal and instrumental samples lend the sound an unmistakably Middle-Eastern flavour. It could almost be compared to Onra’s Chinoiseries LP in the sense of a willingness to look out to the world beyond to broaden musical horizons, rather than just delving deeper into the hardware. I’d argue that a cross-cultural experiment is not only more accessible, but also truer to the idea of what experimentalism is.

Jerash Hekwerken

As could be expected from a producer of 2562’s calibre, this is no mere shuffling of field samples. On each of the four tracks on offer here, a familiar element of his sound is re-examined through different base components and textures, resulting in an immersive and original set which still feel like 2562. Although first track Solitary Sheepbell is beatless, it’s not an inconsequential ambient opener. The track is a collage of finely applied textures, conjuring vivid imagery of the stark isolation of some of the country’s locales with bell sounds chiming at a range of pitches over a fizzing bed of ambient mist and effects that sound a little like insects manoeuvring in the distance.

Second cut Desert Lament is an assault of dusty percussive layers built into a thrilling whiplash drum pattern. There’s a real richness to the samples that shines on a strong soundsystem, with a killer sub-bass setting off forest sounds and extending the shadowy atmosphere. On the next track, Jerash Hekwerken, Huismans twins a deadly rolling drum loop with tight vocal work, crafting what is arguably the EP’s standout track. As with the best Electronic tunes, the devil is in the details, and the reverb that offsets the beats or the masterful vocal manipulation around the two-minute mark have to be heard to be fully appreciated. Although the tracks don’t strike the listener immediately as club tunes, I’d imagine the rattling bass and complex drum patterns could go down a storm on the dancefloor, especially in a darker Techno mix.

Nocturnal Drummers

The extended final track, Nocturnal Drummers, sends the EP off in style, relying on a meticulous drum loop that snakes hypnotically past a broad range of nuanced samples and textures across its 8-minute runtime. It also proves as a fitting summary of 2562’s success in bridging cultures through the prism of his own personal experience, and in doing so crafting a set of four masterful tracks that are interesting, evocative, and deeply inviting.

8.5/10

Lorca – Can’t See Higher / Missed Me

Label: Dummy

Brighton-based Lorca (apparently named after the houseboat he once lived on) is a relative newcomer, with only a split-EP release with Visionist on Left_Blank to his name, but on his first solo release on Dummy he shows strong production chops for a fresh producer. I wouldn’t be the first to say that we’ve had an awful lot of chopped up RnB vocals going around but Lorca makes them work, demonstrating on both tracks a keen ability to use sounds and tropes that saturate today’s dance scene but keep them sounding fresh and strong.

Can’t See Higher

Can’t See Higher is a near-anthemic peak track, with acoustic drums rolling under a Joy O-style synth synthline before it establishes a powerful groove, with the vocal sample extending ecstatically over the course of the track. It all comes together rather beautifully with a masterful sense of tension and release, tunnelling synths and a perfect plateau of a breakdown introducing the tune’s upbeat second half.

Missed Me

B-side Missed Me is the slow-burn cut of the two, with more rich percussion introducing a perfect synth hum that underpins the track along with a simple but effective bass progression. There’s something woozy and relaxed about the track that is rare (and welcome) in a cut that still demonstrates a strong dance focus, perfectly exemplified by the breathy breakdown that emotes quietly and confidently to great effect. Both tracks here demonstrate a powerful grasp over mood and a clear understanding of what kills on the dancefloor on this great debut, and I’m more than a little eager to see what Lorca comes up with next.

8/10

Duct – Circles

Label: Shades of Grey

There tends to be a distinction in dance music between artists who create precise, finely wrought music and those who create club-demolishing peak tracks, with the former rarely packing as much energy while the latter infrequently offering as much subtlety and enjoyment to the listener off the dancefloor. Here on his first release on nascent London label (and club night) Shades of Grey, headman Luke Harris does an astonishing job of combining the two; crafting a collection of delicate and nuanced tunes that still pack a massive punch.

 

EP Clips

Maybe I’m just surprised because this is the first I’ve heard of Duct, or because the first time I listened to these tunes they didn’t hit me all that hard, but on repeated listens (and a bigger system) every track here shines bright. All four tunes could find their rightful place somewhere in a club, but two stand out as more overtly dancey than the others. First cut Jessica’s Garden is one such track, launching right into a fantastic groove with clean tropical beats and a rising bassline. Each sound that Duct uses feels carefully treated and applied to his tracks, meaning that the tunes are consistently varied and interesting. By the midway point of Jessica’s Garden we have not only the beats, synths, and drowned vocal line but also a sampled half-gasp, blips of static that tear through the fabric of the track and a whole range of clever details (one-off vocals, birdsong) that compliment the breakdown. If one word springs to mind more than any other to describe Duct’s production, it’s ‘tight’. The sense of timing is impeccable throughout, building tension and releasing it as if effortlessly, with clean, rounded sounds giving the tracks a real sense of depth and power. The most impressive of Circles’ dance offerings is third cut Love Crazy, which builds slowly over distant vocals, complex drum patterns and an occasional synth line that sears across the track, leaving bright traces. Back-and-forth synth sweeps move from bassline to melody and back again, until eventually the track drops, releasing its coiled-up momentum expertly. Again it’s the details that make the track so impressive, particularly how the track builds masterfully towards the second drop; the vocal spiralling faster and faster, a rising acid-line out of nowhere, one beat of silence before the track falls satisfyingly back into place.

Of the two other tracks, Blackheath could still justifiably be danced to. Here reverb-drenched chimes create a powerful mood, duelling with clipped percussive samples, the occasional entrance of Bristolian Dubstep jabs and a half-heard vocal in the second half of the track. In the shorter closer Pensive Stare Duct shows a similarly keen eye for atmosphere, with an intensely deep bass sequence underpinning bright synths and clattering yet precise beats. Apparently Harris spends his time teaching others to craft Electronic beats and music, and this experience is on display throughout Circles; a gorgeous collection of tight, restrained and masterful tunes that will keep you coming back again and again.

8.5/10

October – String Theory

Label: Simple

Will Saul, of Aus Music fame and one of the finest DJs I’ve had the opportunity to see this year, discontinued his Simple Records label after the milestone of 50 vinyl releases last February. The story goes that after hearing Julian Smith’s latest creation as October, he decided to pull the label out of retirement just to release these fine cuts of off-kilter House music. It’s a nice background but only worthwhile if the music is up to scratch, and after listening to the two original cuts on String Theory it seems to me that Saul made the right move.

String Theory

Title cut String Theory is a perfect example of sunny-day House vibes, purpose-built for chilling and dancing outside on a summer’s day. Rich percussion lend the meandering track a lazy but clear momentum, paving the way for sampled bird calls and a satisfying bass loop. As the track gets under way these features are joined by a fantastically jazzy Rhodes sample that steals centre stage and makes this track a rather unique proposition, not to mention an essential listen. The second original cut, Tension Point, harks back more to October’s Bristol roots, with a much darker edge to the kicks and beats. The looped vocal sample – ‘I need to get away from all this tension’ – conjures a strong mood before being swept away by a striking bass bounce, later supplemented by smooth synth twinkles accenting the sound to lovely effect. It’s a great set of original cuts, each presenting a different mood while remaining mature, well-crafted and exciting.

 

Tension Point

On the flipside are two remixes courtesy of Danny Wolfers, under two different aliases. The first, under his most famous Legowelt guise, is more faithful to the original, pushing it into spacier territories with a strong synth loop establishing a nice groove. The second, as Polarius, is a much darker Techno cut, referencing moody Detroit sounds with strangely-treated synths rendering the original recognisable only by its beat and bird sounds. Both are interesting takes on the original, and while neither quite tops it, the first is a worthwhile listen in my book. If you check this EP out, it’ll be for the two great original cuts, the first of which will definitely be topping my plays when summer finally comes.

8/10

Hobo – Iron Triangle

Label: Minus

Canadian producer Joel Boychuk, aka Hobo, has been making Techno for a long time but has thus far slipped under my radar. Having split his youth between Canada and Detroit (perhaps two points of the symbolic Iron Triangle?), he shows a varied array of influences in these tunes, implementing clipped vocals and melodies atop curious mechanical beat patterns. The end result is a series of sinuous Techno grooves carved out of dark, well-tuned elements that remain surprisingly accessible considering how purpose-built they seem for gloomy dancefloors.

There’s a strong sense of mood across the album, with Boychuk particularly excelling at crafting more threatening atmospheres. For example, before opener Blackwell bursts into life it spends almost two minutes menacing at you with growling synths and horror-movie effects, which gave me genuine chills on first listen. Add to this how damn satisfying the beat is when it comes into play; heavy and precise, accompanied by a noir-ish synth twinkle, and you’ve already got a great tune. The sounds that come into play across the board are uniquely rich and varied; from the curious sci-fi bounce of Here Comes Everybody to the Burial-esque beats and textures of Ipperwash Dusk. Throughout the sounds are subtle and intricately applied to the tracks, making for an impressive listen as well as an enjoyable one.

The one thing that stood out to me with repeated listens is the excellent sense of pacing on display here. Every layer is exciting, and crucially, Hobo never frontloads his tracks. Take for example Camlachie, an early album highlight which bursts open powerfully with a savage sub-bass loop and tight beats. Only towards the half-way point do we begin to hear the rising synths that establish a stronger groove, accompanied by bursts of Electronic static and all manner of nuanced details, and you have to get a good five minutes into the track before a suffocated vocal sample emerges and a few more percussive loops finally complete the tune in its full glory. Because he spaces everything out perfectly, each track is worth listening to the whole way through, providing a consistently exciting and enjoyable experience as a listener.

Iron Triangle is a remarkably consistent listen throughout, with rarely a disappointing track to be found. But its consistency in some ways is also a flaw, all of the tracks are have a similar length, construction and tone, resulting in a slightly demanding listen that doesn’t relent or change that much across its course.  By the end of its lengthy 75 minute runtime you might find you’re not taking it all in as much, which is a shame because while the latter half of the album is not quite as remarkable, with a few missteps like the dreary clichés of Shadowz, it also bears a few real gems like the phenomenally powerful title track and head-bobbing closer Sundown which are really worth catching. My other issue is that the tightness and precision of these tracks can occasionally over repeated plays feel a little clinical and sanitized, and while this can sometimes result in a truly hypnotic effect, you might find yourself wishing some of the edges were a little less clean.

Despite these minor gripes, Iron Triangle is a surprising success, and Hobo quickly establishes a strong sound while offering a myriad of satisfying variations and detailed nuances. If you’re looking for a moody soundtrack to a walk at night or some late-night Techno to slot into a mix, you definitely won’t be disappointed by the fine craftsmanship and powerful grooves on offer in Iron Triangle.

7.5/10