41 replies to this topic

[YO303]

Richard's mother knew he was going to be a musician, so she built a mini-studio inside her uterus. Songs recorded during that era will be relased later this year as "Selected Uterus Works: December 1970 - August 1971"

Edited by YO303, 05 February 2012 - 05:43 PM.

[Ivan Ooze]

YO303, on 05 February 2012 - 05:43 PM, said:

Richard's mother knew he was going to be a musician, so she built a mini-studio inside her uterus. Songs recorded during that era will be relased later this year as "Selected Uterus Works: December 1970 - August 1971"

[Diao]

IIRC, Green Calx was the 'newest' track to appear on that album, and I was the oldest.

[Ando]

Diao, on 05 February 2012 - 06:34 PM, said:

IIRC, Green Calx was the 'newest' track to appear on that album, and I was the oldest.

Where would you have found that out?

[Diao]

That was a long time ago, so I don't really remember, but probably Joyrex.

[vganalog]

:]
http://groups.google...720889cc4?pli=1

Edited by vganalog, 05 February 2012 - 09:27 PM.

[vganalog]

Freak of the week, on 05 February 2012 - 10:25 AM, said:

sirch, on 05 February 2012 - 10:08 AM, said:

well we could all say that. i used to make my own silly radio shows with my brother when i was 8 or 9... and record and loop stuff off the radio, and sing along to The Troggs... so what.

So nothing. I am personally not bothered with how old was RDJ when he made SAW85-92 or SOSW, as long as music is that good. I just wrote what other (famous) people said, not that it is any guarantee of the truth. Also, in the interview I attached to this post, RDJ said that (in 1993.) some stuff from Ambient Works was around four to five years old. Maybe he made that up. Fine. Doesn't matter really. We'll never probably have any actual evidence of him producing the music at those times, anyway. We might speculate about this for ages. That doesn't change the fact that the music is great. That's eventually only thing that's important.

thank youuu!
we need more of these!

[ZoeB]

ZoeB, on 05 February 2012 - 02:37 PM, said:

...you don't have any artistic control over how the sample sounds if you didn't commission it.

kinski, on 05 February 2012 - 04:03 PM, said:

i don't really follow your last sentence.

I'm just saying, if you sample something from one of someone else's tracks, it sounds a certain way that you have no say regarding. If you commission someone to create something a bit similar for you, you can tailor it to your exact requirements. So you can, for instance, request the lush singing be in the key and tempo of the new track you're working on, and be sung in such a way that it fits in really well. Plus the singer can hear the context of what it's going to end up in and use her own judgement to make sure she sings it in the most appropriate style possible.

kinski, on 05 February 2012 - 04:03 PM, said:

but let's not turn this into another boring discussion about making our own music. i mean, nobody cares.

unless you're richard, then fire away.

Fair enough. As you've no doubt gathered, I'm not. :)

[sickboy]

joshuatxuk, on 03 February 2012 - 08:53 PM, said:

Well Xtal samples Opus 3 - "It's A Fine Day" and that was released in 1992, so yeah...

so yeah.... except it obviously doesnt

[Mesh Gear Fox]

can i just weigh in and say that there's nothing wrong with sampling. i don't think it's unoriginal if you use the sample in a way that suits your own (original) track. it's not the sounds you use but what you do with them.

if you're just talking about vocals then i sorta of see what you're getting at but i wouldn't get down on richard for doing it.
evidence = xtal for it is perfect.

Edited by Mesh Gear Fox, 06 February 2012 - 05:56 AM.

[ZoeB]

Mesh Gear Fox, on 06 February 2012 - 05:54 AM, said:

can i just weigh in and say that there's nothing wrong with sampling. i don't think it's unoriginal if you use the sample in a way that suits your own (original) track. it's not the sounds you use but what you do with them.

if you're just talking about vocals then i sorta of see what you're getting at but i wouldn't get down on richard for doing it.
evidence = xtal for it is perfect.

Yes, there's nothing wrong with sampling. I like the sound of Straight Outta Compton (if not the lyrics), and Fatboy Slim, The Future Sound of London and Pop Will Eat Itself are amongst my favourite artists. Moby's Play is one of my all time favourite albums. It's a nice aesthetic, but it's nonetheless a constraining one by definition. There's certainly nothing wrong with sampling other people's music, and I should have worded what I said a bit more carefully so I wasn't implying that, sorry. It works best when you recontextualise an obscure sample, and if the vocal in Xtal is a sample from another song that doesn't sound anything like Xtal, then excellent, it works well. I love Xtal, it's an absolutely sublime piece music. It's just that what you do is more original the closer you get to doing it from scratch, however impossible an overall ideal that might be. You only have to listen to Zeros and Ones to hear how RDJ can make something very original even when he's (apparently) using someone else's music as a starting point, so I think it's safe to say I didn't mean to criticise his music, how good it is or how original it is. Out of all the musicians I've heard, and certainly all professional ones, his music's about the furthest from the well trodden paths!

[vganalog]

vganalog, on 05 February 2012 - 09:25 PM, said:

:]
http://groups.google...720889cc4?pli=1

[joshuatx]

ZoeB, on 05 February 2012 - 12:34 PM, said:

joshuatxuk, on 03 February 2012 - 08:53 PM, said:

Well Xtal samples Opus 3 - "It's A Fine Day" and that was released in 1992, so yeah...

The same track that Orbital sampled in Halcyon + On + On? I love the lush timbre Kirsty Hawkshaw sings that in... Am I the only one obsessive enough to pay a session singer to sing original vocals for her instead of sampling other people's songs, then? (Not to mention The Future Sound of London sampling Mary Hopkin's vocal from Rachel's Song...)

sickboy, on 06 February 2012 - 01:58 AM, said:

so yeah.... except it obviously doesnt

But really, it does. There was an acappella of the track that they likely all backmasked. There was thread about it years ago, it's quite obvious imo, the only differences are the sound quality of the sample. The whole thread was kick-started by the fact that someone else found the same sample in a far more recent release while browsing beatport. Notably, albeit in a completely different scene, a lot of future bass/UK garage tunes have sampled the hell out of a Brandy acappella track found on a single she released. Both that and the Opus 3 are easily aquired very cheaply, hence their appeal.

Personally I don't think any of the tracks are from 1985 through say, 1988-89ish, but I don't doubt he was making music then, or making these tunes in his head. There could be demos and fragments recorded that are far older, either lost in a pile of cassettes or erased/taped over long ago.

Edited by joshuatxuk, 06 February 2012 - 01:24 PM.

[Joyrex]

I always though the going rumour is it was his girlfriend at the time... SamanTHA who provided the melodic singing on Xtal. I've listened to both the Opus 3 remake, as well as the Jane original, and to me, they sound nothing (melody-wise). I could be wrong though. I just personally don't hear it.

Also, it seems to makes sense (the Opus III track came out in 1991), and would lend credence to these tracks all being created around 90-91 (and not as early as 1985 as Richard would have you think based on the title - the beginning of his 'history' as it were). I dunno, it's a hard call.

[joshuatx]

Joyrex, on 06 February 2012 - 02:49 PM, said:

I always though the going rumour is it was his girlfriend at the time... SamanTHA who provided the melodic singing on Xtal. I've listened to both the Opus 3 remake, as well as the Jane original, and to me, they sound nothing (melody-wise). I could be wrong though. I just personally don't hear it.

Also, it seems to makes sense (the Opus III track came out in 1991), and would lend credence to these tracks all being created around 90-91 (and not as early as 1985 as Richard would have you think based on the title - the beginning of his 'history' as it were). I dunno, it's a hard call.

Holy shit that is a new tidbit to me. Thanks for sharing this Joyrex.

Here's that thread I was talking about- http://forum.watmm.c...ple-as-in-xtal/, and the track that specifically that kickstarted the Xtal sampling Opus III debate..

Edited by joshuatxuk, 06 February 2012 - 02:58 PM.

[joshuatx]

Apologies sickboy, it isn't set in stone after all. And If the sample wasn't used, then Aim sampled Xtal that's that.

[Joyrex]

joshuatxuk, on 06 February 2012 - 02:58 PM, said:

Joyrex, on 06 February 2012 - 02:49 PM, said:

I always though the going rumour is it was his girlfriend at the time... SamanTHA who provided the melodic singing on Xtal. I've listened to both the Opus 3 remake, as well as the Jane original, and to me, they sound nothing (melody-wise). I could be wrong though. I just personally don't hear it.

Also, it seems to makes sense (the Opus III track came out in 1991), and would lend credence to these tracks all being created around 90-91 (and not as early as 1985 as Richard would have you think based on the title - the beginning of his 'history' as it were). I dunno, it's a hard call.

Holy shit that is a new tidbit to me. Thanks for sharing this Joyrex.

Here's that thread I was talking about- http://forum.watmm.c...ple-as-in-xtal/, and the track that specifically that kickstarted the Xtal sampling Opus III debate..

Interesting - it certainly sounds like Aim sampled Xtal (Aim's biography notes one of his skills is taking samples from film soundtracks and old records and repurposing them), but it sounds like he shifted the pitch down a bit... deeper down the rabbit hole we go!