Sampling Stories

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?

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 DJ Raph 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.

With the #rojava campaign female:pressure aimed to raise awareness around the resistance movement in Northern Syria. We meet one of the artists who have contributed and sampled women fighters.

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.

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 his use of distortion.

Digging samples in the tracks of Daniel Jakob 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.

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.

In this new series, Norient talks about sampling and remixing with different musicians from all around the world: Why, how and what do they sample? Meet Israeli electronic industrial artist Ptyl in this first sequel.