Perspectives on Sampling
Today the production method and cultural technique of sampling has become a kind of lingua franca for producers in electronic music around the globe. Musicians and producers often sample instruments, field recordings, media material, and previously released music in their tracks. In doing so they transform the meaning of the source material particularly as regards its cultural and political contexts. The PhD project of Norient editor, curator, and scholar Hannes Liechti investigates sampling strategies in (experimental) underground electronic pop music, and aims to contribute to a greater Ethnography of Sampling in music which still has to be written.
Sampling is an issue that has been a topic of controversial discussion since the days of early hip hop in the 1980s. In public discourses as well as in the academic literature the focus has mostly been put on issues of copyright and subsequent questions of originality, authorship, and creativity. A broad study on the production level of sampling is still missing, especially in the field of electronic pop music. More than ten years ago Tara Rodgers pointed out that the «musical and political goals» of samplists haven't been adequately explored (Rodgers 2003: 313) – and this is still the case today.
This project understands sampling as a process, that encompasses (at least) «selecting, recording, editing, and processing sound pieces» (ibid.) and analyses it through the «Referenzanalysekatalog» (RAK – catalogue to analyze the use of references) by Thomas Burkhalter (2015 – see article on Norient.com) with its research perspectives on «music-making as a practice», «music as a media product», and the «musician as an actor». The project focuses on the following questions: Why, what, how and with what consequences are producers today using the technique of sampling? What kind of strategies, positions, attitudes, meanings or discourses are lying behind the procession of pre-recorded sounds in their tracks? How are these strategies being read from actors close to the producers or the broader reception? How do musicians use sampling to achieve nuanced musical expression and cultural commentary? (Rodgers 2003: 313)
Looking at some of the case studies presented in the series «Sampling Stories» on Norient.com, it is clear that sampling is an important means to comment on political and cultural issues. Whether intended as incendiary or not, sampling practices trigger controversial debates: in spring 2017 some media reported on techno DJ Dax J, who sampled a Muslim call to prayer during a live gig in Tunisia. He was sentenced to one year in jail after the gig. DJ Dax J fled the country and apologized on Facebook to the Muslims he offended:
«I am incredibly saddened that anyone would believe that I played a track, featuring a 20 second vocal of the ‹Call To Prayer / Adhan›, for any reason other than its musicality and the beauty of the vocal.» (April 7th, 2017)
This example shows a gap between the artist’s intention behind the act of sampling and the reception of the musical output. An in-depth analysis of sample-based pop music thus has to take into account particularly the position and habitus of the artist to analyze questions such as: What does it mean when a British techno DJ samples a Muslim call to prayer during a gig in Tunisia? How important are ethical guidelines when it comes to sampling? To what extent does the technique of sampling enhances a frivolous contact with culturally «meaningful» material?
«The accelerated processes of digitalization revolutionized the production of music on many levels. The Internet is a growing super-archive, and the prizes for data storage on computers and online clouds sink. Almost every music and sound is reachable within a few mouse clicks. Acoustic data can be stored and manipulated easier than ever via music software on computers and tablets, steered via midi-controllers and apps.»
Beyer, Theresa, Thomas Burkhalter, and Hannes Liechti. Eds. 2015. Seismographic Sounds – Visions of a New World. Bern: Norient.
Publications
Liechti Hannes. tba. «‹It’s Sharing Your Narrative›: Sampling Strategies in Experimental Electronica. Five Case Studies Between 2015 and 2017.» PhD. Diss. University of Bern. (To be published).
Liechti, Hannes, Thomas Burkhalter and Philipp Rhensius. Eds. 2020. Sampling Politics Today (Norient Sound Series 1). Bern: Norient.
Sampling Stories
In this series tracks from musicians that have been involved in the research are presented to the readers of Norient. These stories of samples and the corresponding sampling strategies provoke feedback, contradictions, and further specification that are included in the research as well. Find all sequels here or in this list below:
Berlin-based producer Kritzkom rarely works with samples and, accordingly, on her 2016 techno track «Inner March for Utopia» synth basses and melodies dominate. But if one digs deeper one can find the traces of a sample of the Kurdish national anthem.
After being invited by the Iwalewahaus Bayreuth the Nairobi-based electronic musician and producer did an artist residency in Germany, rummaging through the institution’s extensive music archive of ethnographic field recordings from Africa.
In the tracks of the San Francisco-based artist, sampling is as much identity-generating as a political tool. Here are five reasons why sampling is so important in the ambient-shaped tracks of the upcoming producer.
Tracing the genesis of a track by producer Ian McDonnell (Eomac, Lakker) we can follow the steps to learn how sampling is used to replace a conventional vocal track and discuss questions on the circulation and handling of media material in times of Web 2.0.
In this interview Norient asked Eduardo Navas, one of the main scholars theorizing the phenomenon of remix, to clarify some of his points and to talk about algorithms, the surplus of remix studies, and cultural appropriation.
It was early 2016 when female:pressure launched their #rojava campaign. With a bundle of tracks and more, they aimed to raise awareness around the resistance movement in Northern Syria. Here we meet one of the artists who have contributed to the project.
Chino Amobi is heavily sampling in his tracks, from airport soundscapes to chicken clucks and – not least – gun shots. In this short quote he explains why the latter are in fact uniting people.
The heavily sample-based tracks by Estonian electronic producer Mihkel Kleis show the total disembodiment of the samples from their sources. This approach becomes apparent when both listening to the tracks but also looking behind the scenes of its production.
«Volya» is the only record so far in which the Ukrainian experimentalist has used sampling material with a strong political connotation: field recordings from the revolutions in Kiev. A background talk about the soundscape of the Maidan.
It is the very discrete mixture of samples, jazz vocals, folk spirit, live instrumentation and experimental electronics that characterizes the weird and beautiful song sketches of interdisciplinary artist Yatta Zoker from Brooklyn, NY.
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Aniruddha Das understands sampling as a political, yet militant instrument. In the interview he gives insight into his sampling practice and talks about musical exoticism, political meaning, and the use of distortion within his musical production.
Digging traces of sampling in the tracks of Swiss producer Daniel Jakob aka Dubokaj led me to two interesting potentials of the production method: sampling as a hidden means of producing tracks and sampling of ambient sounds as cultural signifiers.
A psychological approach to sampling: the American avantgarde-pop musician Katie Gately samples familiar, sometimes scary sounds and noises form the everyday that are deeply connected to her childhood memory.
We trace the history of the carillon of the biggest church in Rotterdam, the Grote of Sint-Laurenskerk. Its bell sounds play an important role in the tracks of the compilation «010», released by the Dutch initiative RE:VIVE (by Gregory Markus).
With her new project, COOL FOR YOU, Berlin-based multidisciplinary artist Vika Kirchenbauer tends to «decompose harmonies as colonizers». What comes out are high-pitched voices, unfamiliar harmonies, and rumbling and raw rhythms.
In times of constantly bubbling news tickers that have long ago stopped covering sport events only, Berlin-based James Whipple has produced a LP that is dealing with the resultant feeling of information overload.
In «Libres» Argentine producer Moro is bridging the Atlantic slave trade with the current refugee crisis. The main element of the track is a sample of chain sounds, transformed into a historically meaningful rhythm.
Although it’s been labeled as an afro-futuristic project and also comes along as such through an eclectic and futuristic sound collage, fashion, photography, and music videos, Alien Cartoon by Senegalese producer Ibaaku is deeply rooted in place.
By using a vast amount of samples from the most well known underground bands, in his track «Drag Dorks in Vampire Suits» Israeli electronic industrial artist Ptyl tries to «criticize musical underground scenes of producing repetitions of the same thing when mimicking a certain style».
Playlist
These tracks served as the basic pool of material for the research project:
Lectures
May 25, 2018, University of Vienna, Institute for Musicology (A)
Collegium Musicum Populare (CMP) by IASPM D-A-CH
Paper: «Prinzipien des Samplings in der Forschung»
December 2, 2017, Bern University of the Arts (CH)
Research Symposium «The Future Sound of Pop»
Paper: «Rattling Chains and Cackling Chickens. Non-Musical Sampling in Experimental Electronic Popular Music»
July 14, 2017, TU Berlin (D)
PhD Workshop: «Cut'n'Paste Culture – Sample-based Pop Music and its Analysis» feat. Bonaventure & Kabuki
June 26, 2017, University of Kassel (D)
19th Biennial IASPM Conference
Paper: «Sampling Politics. Cultural Commentary through Sampling in Experimental Electronic Pop Music»
December 15, 2016, University of Bern (CH)
2. GSA Forschungstag Paper: «Spurensuche im Global Pop»
October 22, 2016, Karl Franzens University Graz (A)
Darüber hinaus ... Populäre Musik und Überschreitung(en). IASPM-D-A-CH-Konferenz 2016
Paper: «Remix von Orts-Referenzen im Global Pop. Ansätze einer multiperspektivischen Track-Analyse»
Read More on Sampling on Norient
Baron, Jaimie: «Copy and Past(e)»
Beyer, Theresa: «Der Sample-Dompteur Christian Marclay»
Brockhaus, Immanuel: «Gardener of Sounds –And.Ypsilon»
Burkhalter, Thomas: «Remixing References»
Burkhalter, Thomas: «Music of Bombs and Bullets»
Burkhalter, Thomas: «The Sample Shapes the Song»
Burkhalter, Thomas: Grab, Simon: «Sampled Lebenswelt»
C-drík Fermont: «Polyrhythmic Ukranian Noise»
Cumbiónico: «Sounds from the MIDI east»
Daughtry, Martin: «Posthuman Grooves»
Navas, Eduardo: «Regenerative Culture»
Norient: Debate: Archive and Sampling
Spahr, Michael: «Schweizer Verschwörung»
Project Credits
Research Disciplines: Anthropology, Musicology, Popular Music Studies
Keywords: Sampling, Remix, Globalization, Digitization, Music Production, Cultural Meaning
Supervisors: Prof. Dr. Britta Sweers (University of Bern), Dr. Thomas Burkhalter (University of the Arts Bern)
The PhD is part of the research project «Glokale Sounds – Wie Tracks Referenzen auf Orte verarbeiten und neu kodieren» funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation SNF and conducted by Dr. Thomas Burkhalter (Norient).
