This Track Contains Politics: The Culture of Sampling in Experimental Electronica
What does it mean to process field recordings from the Ukrainian war in an electronic music track? How can the sampling of an Armenian keyboard melody be read as a critique of traditional gender roles? And what does it say about voyeurism in our culture when a techno producer uses viral YouTube videos as the basic material of his compositions? A book by Norient curator and editor Hannes Liechti. Order now via our shops on Bandcamp or Big Cartel.
Across five detailed case studies, Hannes Liechti discusses the culture and politics of musical sampling from a new perspective. Giving particular attention to the reasons behind sampling processes, Liechti’s in-depth analysis of sampling strategies by artists such as COOL FOR YOU and Lara Sarkissian shows that sampling political material, and sampling with political intentions reveals a complex net of contexts, meanings, and often deeply personal choices and creative decisions.
Offering tangible tools and concepts for further exploration of sample-based music, the book illustrates the potential of popular music to tell stories about the world, and it describes the habits, thoughts, and realities of the laptop producer, one of the core actors in 21st century music-making.
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book launches and events
Sep 9, 2023, 2.45pm: Klang – Moor – Schopfe Gais (CH)
May 4, 2023, 7pm: Gewölbe Paderborn (DE)
Apr 9, 2023, 3.15pm: Rewire Festival The Hague (NL)
Jan 24, 2023, 7pm: Echo Bücher Berlin (DE)
Sep 16, 2022, 7pm: Planet Ears Festival Mannheim (DE)
Imprint
[NB005]
Hannes Liechti
This Track Contains Politics: The Culture of Sampling in Experimental Electronica
four colors, softback
16,5 × 23,5 cm, 354 pages
ISBN 978-3-9525444-2-6
https://doi.org/10.56513/xkwv4402
Language: English
Release Date: September 22, 2022
Publisher: Norient Books
Graphic Design: gut&schön Zürich, Annegreth Schärli
Copy Editor: Angus Finlayson
Infosheet w/ Introduction (PDF)
[Citation]
The open access publication of this book has been published with the support of the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF)
Order Now
You can order the book directly via our Shops on Bandcamp or Big Cartel. Find also other books and vinyl on the shop’s sites.
CHF 34.00 / EUR 29.00 + Mailing
Voices
«Liechti’s careful study is a welcome and needed contribution to our understanding of sampling as a central practice in the production of music – and of meaning. Grounded in ethnographic fieldwork and focusing on poetics rather than reception, this book steers clear of interpretive speculation about what certain samples might mean. With analytical rigor and nuance, and a laudable focus on non-commercial productions spanning various styles, Liechti foregrounds producers’ perspectives as he examines a range of approaches to ‹political› sampling. Going beyond questions of what is being sampled and how it has been processed, Liechti’s work crucially addresses why certain producers deliberately link sampling to politics.»
Wayne Marshall, Berklee College of Music (USA)
«This book profoundly focuses on the production side of non-commercial electronic music and suggests a typology of political music – based on five transnational case studies. Liechti’s precise and innovative cultural analyses and ethnographic fieldwork impressively show the politics and technologies of sampled music and how sampling is historically and systematically influencing the cultural worlds of popular and especially electronic popular and experimental music. Our worlds of culture are sampled worlds in every hindsight – as you can see looking at the well-designed book itself – and Liechti’s study is developing a kind of witty ‹trackology› and ‹trackstory› instead of a his- or herstory.»
Christoph Jacke, Paderborn University (Germany)
«I admired Liechti’s tenacity in theorizing the playful and often random approaches of the producers he observed and interviewed. His theoretical rigour is balanced by his sensitive and nuanced voice, which is strongest when it becomes active, especially in the self-reflexive passages which reveal themselves when he addresses some of the problems encountered in trying to do fieldwork in the intimate work environments of ‹laptop producers›.»
Moses Iten, RMIT Melbourne (Australia)
Media Coverage / Reviews
→ Neural, IT, 27.12.2023, book review (Link)
→ Dancecult: Journal for Electronic Dance Music Culture 15 (1), book review (Link)
→ Gonzo Circus, NL, 1.5.2023, Issue #175, book review (Link)
→ Radio RaBe, Subkutan, CH, 29.3.2023
→ Deutschlandfunk Kultur, Kompressor, DE, 3.2.2023, «Wann ist Sampling politisch?» (Link)
→ Schweizer Musikzeitung, CH, 3.10.2022, publication note
→ Jazz Thing & Blue Rhythm, DE, 30.9.2022, publication note (Link)
About the Author
Hannes Liechti is a popular music scholar and lecturer living in Bern, Switzerland. He works as a curator and producer for the platform for music research Norient. Find detailed biography here.
Chapters Overview
Front Matter, pp 1–2
[PDF] [DOI] [Citation]
Table of Contents, pp 3–5
[PDF] [DOI] [Citation]
Acknowledgements, pp 6–8
[PDF] [DOI] [Citation]
**
Chapter 1, pp 9–32
Introduction
[PDF] [DOI] [Citation]
Part I: Tools and Theory
Chapter 2, pp 33–82
Terminology and Methods
[PDF] [DOI] [Citation]
Chapter 3, pp 83–100
The Analysis of Sample-Based Music
[PDF] [DOI] [Citation]
Chapter 4, pp 101–108
The Fader of Visibility (FOV)
[PDF] [DOI] [Citation]
Chapter 5, pp 109–144
The Spider of Sampling Reasons (SSR)
[PDF] [DOI] [Citation]
Part II: Case Studies
Introduction, pp 145–148
[PDF] [DOI] [Citation]
Chapter 6, pp 149–176
«Stabilized, YES!» by COOL FOR YOU: a Political Message
[PDF] [DOI] [Citation]
Chapter 7, pp 177–200
«kenats» by Lara Sarkissian: a Political Signature
[PDF] [DOI] [Citation]
Chapter 8, pp 201–222
«Libres» by Moro: Politicizing Sound
[PDF] [DOI] [Citation]
Chapter 9, pp 223–244
«Perversas» by Eomac: Depoliticizing Sound
[PDF] [DOI] [Citation]
Chapter 10, pp 245–272
«Methy Imbiß» by M.E.S.H.: Concealed Politics
[PDF] [DOI] [Citation]
Interlude: Field Notes
Chapter 11, pp 273–296
Inside the Factory: Observing Musical Production
[PDF] [DOI] [Citation]
**
Chapter 12, pp 297–314
Conclusions and Outlook
[PDF] [DOI] [Citation]
**
Appendix, pp 315–354
Glossary, Interviews and Personal Communication, List of References, Sampling Definitions, Index
[PDF] [DOI] [Citation]
Case Studies from Part II, Chapters 6–10
Norient Special: Sampling Stories
A loose series of blog posts and interviews created as part of Hannes Liechti’s research on sampling in experimental electronic pop music.
Digital Publication: Sampling Politics Today
In this first issue of the Norient Sound Series, Hannes Liechti, Philipp Rhensius, and Thomas Burkhalter examine how political contexts of our time are transformed into musical production. Among many further accounts, they follow the sampling of car horns in Indonesia, read about an Italian refugee project that uses smartphones as sampling resources, and reflect on ethical questions such as: can one sample sounds of war? With case studies from all around the world, this Norient Special approaches sampling as a tool for critical thought and a way of alternative storytelling. Download PDF with introduction and table of contents here.
