As part of our ongoing commitment to electronica-fy classic rock, may we present:
Born 2B Wylde
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Vocals and arranging by Barbara. Samples, guitar and drum machine programming by me.
The song was written by Mars Bonfire. Best stage name ever! I love this song as music, but its symbolism is a little lost on me. Bla bla bla sixties, open road, freedom, whatever. The biker mythos doesn’t grab me. I’ve never made it all the way through Easy Rider. I do like the poster though.
One of the biggest copyright failures of copyright law ever is the The Verve song “Bitter Sweet Symphony.”
The distinctive string sample comes from an orchestral arrangement of “The Last Time” by The Rolling Stones.
Doesn’t sound much like the Verve, does it? The two bands do share a taste in the I – flat VII – IV chord progression. But here’s the Andrew Oldham Orchestra’s version, the sample will jump right out at you twenty-five seconds in.
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Why are the Beatles still so cool? By which I mean the late Beatles, Revolver onwards. I like Please Please Me as much as the next guy, but it isn’t why the Beatles are cool now. No, I mean the last few records, especially Sgt Pepper, the White Album and Abbey Road. If any of these albums were released next week, Pitchfork would go ballistic over them. Three quarters of the indie rock of the past ten years descends directly from Abbey Road. Why do we all still care so much?
Say “oooh” as in “noodle.” Then say “aaah” as in “park.” When you say “oooh” your mouth is more closed, with less resonating space and a smaller opening. This configuration blocks the higher overtones of your voice. When you say “aaah” your jaw and lips open, creating more resonating space and letting more high overtones through. Now glide from one to the other. The resulting “ooohaaaah” is the sound the wah-wah pedal is named for. By selectively filtering an electronic instrument’s overtones, the pedal can make it sound more vocal. It’s only two vowel sounds out of the dozens your mouth is capable of producing, but it’s a start toward making a more human tone.
The drum intro from Led Zeppelin’s “When The Levee Breaks” is, as far as I’m concerned, the very embodiment of The Awesome Majesty Of Rock.
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John Bonham’s staggeringly heavy drum performance was recorded by engineer Andy Johns in Headley Grange, a Victorian-era poorhouse in England. Bonham played a brand new drum kit at the bottom of a stairwell, recorded by microphones placed three stories above. This arrangement made for a big and powerful, yet oddly diffuse and distant sound. To make it even more humungous, the band slowed the tape down a little, lowering the pitch and giving the track a thick, sludgy quality. Zeppelin only ever played “When The Levee Breaks” live a couple of times. On the recording, the tempo is seventy beats per minute, and it’s hard to maintain a heavy groove when you’re playing that slow. Also, it’s impossible to replicate the pitch-shifted timbre acoustically. It’s almost as if “Levee” was meant to live in the electronic realm. (more…)
