Category Archives: Music

Music Discovery via Hip Hop samples: De La Soul and Cymande

As all my friends know I am a music geek at heart and I love discovering new music and sharing it (by “new” I mean new to me).

One of my favorite past-times is digging up the sampled original tracks from old school hip hop tunes to uncover interesting jams. And one of my favorite recent discoveries was from a sample used in De La Soul’s “Change in Speak” by Cymande (from their 70s funk/soul tune “Bra”):

Below is the original tune that De La sampled.

Starting at minute 0:09, you can hear two key Cymande samples used throughout the De La tune, the first using bass, drums and guitar and the second making use of the full horn arrangement. When I first heard this original tune, it immediately triggered a memory of hearing “Change in Speak” way back in the early 90s (notably, De La’s 3 Feet High and Rising was one of my first CD purchases ever, along with A Tribe Called Quest’s first album, People’s Instinctive Paths of Funk and Rhythm…yeah, I really lucked out with those 1st two CD picks!).

At first, this just comes across as a great old-school horn-based groove with some soulful vocals. But, as you listen it’s just gets even better. One of the best parts to my ears is the instrumental break/drop-out at ~2:50 when the horns and vocals stop and the band just grooves for a while on drums and percussion (and plenty of hits to the cowbell!).

I have dug into the rest of Cymande’s catalog and while nothing hits quite like “Bra” there are definitely some other gems including “Brothers on the Slide” and “Dove.”

If you dig this type of musical discovery, you should check out a playlist I made for this kind of thing I called “hip hop who sampled” which I often update with new tracks. Also, as the title of the playlist suggests, I often use the awesome who sampled website to dig up the original tracks and artists.

If you find other gems, definitely let me know!

Song of the Day (month): “Three Drums” by Four Tet

I’ve been listening to this one a lot for the past month or so. It has become a bit of a morning meditation for me, especially on the days I wake up before anyone else in the house and have some quiet time to myself.

“Three Drums” by Four Tet

It’s like an audio sound bath of filtered synths that just washes over you for several minutes, then fades into this mellow outro with human and animal-like vocal sounds. If you listen to enough Four Tet, none of this is surprising, but it’s always interesting to the ears.

Song of the Day: Four Tet – Live in Tokyo

I don’t typically delve into EDM in my “Song of the Day” posts. It’s not that I don’t dig electronic music, it’s more that I just don’t know EDM as intimately as other genres (and it’s so vast these days). But, man, Four Tet just nails a sound I really love.

Check out this full live set from Tokyo:

Technically this post should be called “Set of the Day” since this is more than a song, but at least it’s all one track.

And just for kicks, here’s a little bonus round I recently came across where Four Tet takes only samples from Michael Jackson’s Thriller and creates a new tune in a matter of 10 minutes:

Not the best tune, but man, talk about editing mastery.

Song of the Day: “Cadillac Desert” by William Tyler

Absolutely loving this new record by William Tyler, Impossible Truth, and this is one of my favorite tunes:

I really dig the overall vibe he’s going for with this song…kind of a dreamy, desert soundscape (and a feeling that I’ve occasionally tried to capture with my own amateur sounds).

I highly recommend picking up a copy.

Song of the Day: “Come and Save Me” by Jagwar Ma

I’m really digging this new album Howlin’ by Jagwar Ma, and this one is a standout track:

On the album, they’ve mixed together elements of traditional rock, EDM, and thrown in some killer vocal hooks that tie their sound back to the more traditional American songbook (and yes, I know they’re from Australia). In those hooks, I hear elements of classic 60s & 70s soul, occasional Beach Boys-esque harmonizing, along with more 80s and 90s-era rock references (like Jane’s Addiction, Stone Roses).

But those hooks are all mixed, morphed and updated with a more millennial framework of danceable beats and blips. It all makes for a compelling sound that could crossover really nicely to the live stage, especially if they can let the EDM and groove-heavy songs stretch out a bit. I can really see some of these outro sections easily break out into full dance frenzy once they get the crowd moving.

Thanks to Wes at Live Music Blog for putting these guys on my radar.

Song of the Day: “À tout à l’heure” by Bibio

Justin posted this to LMB a week or two back, so I’m playing a little catch-up game here, but I’m really diggin’ the vibe on this track. It’s kind of made for a nice, sunny spring day. Check it out:

There are some similarities to Tycho‘s mellow, feel-good electro, but with the added element of the vocals hitting on a catchy melody. I also really like the guitar track as the main thematic hook, and it’s all held together nicely with that thick bass guitar laying down the foundation. Good stuff.

As always, I suggest going direct to the source on this one.

Song of the Day: “Confidence” by the Dodos

I was psyched to see that the Dodos have some new tunes coming out. This is a bit of a slow creeper, but it really picks up towards the end.

For a band that used to mainly be an acoustic guitar and drums duo, this gets pretty damn riff-tastic. Kind of bummed we gotta wait until August for the full record to come out, but I’ll definitely be grabbin’ a copy and you should too.

Song of the Day: “Wakin’ on a Pretty Day” by Kurt Vile

Really been digging this new Kurt Vile record….

As far as overall sound and vibe, I still think my original tweet was pretty accurate:

 

(go here for a bit more info on that Sus2 chord I mentioned)

Of course, like any solid album, this one takes a few listens to really grow on ya. I highly recommend picking up a copy.