| Sampledelia | |
|---|---|
| Stylistic origins | |
| Cultural origins | Late 1960s–1980s |
| Typical instruments | |
| Derivative forms | |
| Other topics | |
Sampledelia (also calledsampledelica)[1] issample-based music that usessamplers or similar technology to expand upon the recording methods of 1960spsychedelia.[2] Sampledelia features "disorienting, perception-warping" manipulations of audio samples orfound sounds via techniques such aschopping,looping orstretching.[2][3] Sampledelic techniques have been applied prominently in styles ofelectronic music andhip-hop,[4] such astrip hop,jungle,post-rock, andplunderphonics.[5]
Sampledelia describes a variety of styles which involve the use of samplers to manipulate and play back appropriated sounds, often drawn from outside familiar contexts or from foreign sources.[4] Common techniques includechopping,looping, ortime-stretching, the use offound sounds, and a focus ontimbre.[2] Artists frequently join musical fragments from different sources and eras, emphasizing rhythm, noise, andrepetition over conventional melodic and harmonic development.[2] The 1990s also saw computer-based sampling develop, with sounds treated within the "virtual space" of thehard disk.[2] Samples may be used for both their musical qualities and cultural associations.[3]
According to criticSimon Reynolds, sampledelic music expands upon the recording methods of 1960spsychedelia, which saw artists abandon "naturalistic" recording practices in favor of usingstudio-based techniques andeffects to create sounds that could not be achieved through live performance.[2] Reynolds identifies two contrasting tendencies amongst sampledelic artists:postmodernist versusmodernist, with the former viewing sampling as a form ofcollage andpop art referentiality, and the latter approaching it as an update ofmusique concrète's techniques of sonic manipulation and transformation.[2] TheoristKodwo Eshun has described sampledelia as a kind of mythology in which "sounds have detached themselves from sources [and] substitute themselves for the world," inducing an experience of "synthetic defamiliarisation."[3]
Earlysampling practices date back to late-1960sturntablism andscratching in dance music,[4] including Jamaicandub music scenes.[6] CriticSimon Reynolds notes that early sampling techniques were used byart rock artists such asBrian Eno,Kate Bush andPeter Gabriel (the latter two via the expensiveFairlight CMI), with Eno andDavid Byrne'sMy Life in the Bush of Ghosts (1981) a landmark in the genre.[7] However, he states that the beginning of the sampledelic era was marked by the acquisition of cheapersamplers such as theE-mu Emulator andEnsoniq Mirage byrap producers.[2] In 1985,John Oswald coined the term "plunderphonics" to describe an approach which framed sampling as a "self-conscious practice" which interrogated notions oforiginality,identity, and "the death of the author."[5]
Sampling was incorporated intohip hop'sDJ- and studio-based approaches by artists such asMantronix,Eric B & Rakim, andthe Art of Noise, and by 1987 UK acts such asColdcut,M/A/R/R/S,S'Express were creatingbreakbeat-driven samplecollages blending the feel of hip hop andhouse.[2] Late-1980s hip hop albums such asIt Takes A Nation of Millions To Hold Us Back (1988) byPublic Enemy,3 Feet High & Rising (1989) byDe La Soul, andPaul's Boutique (1989) bythe Beastie Boys exemplified the sampledelic production style by appropriating sounds from varied sources to create "a dizzying, impressionistic whole that reminded some of the rock's ambitious psychedelic era of the late '60s" beforecopyright law made such an approach more difficult.[8]
Early sample-based music often involved blatant interpolations of known music, prompting criticism and copyright concerns, but in the 1990s the style grew more subtle, with artists obscuring their sources in part to avoid legal repercussions.[2] Artists such asA Guy Called Gerald,Techno Animal, andthe Young Gods approached sampling with a more modernist outlook than Oswald.[5] According to theoristKodwo Eshun, sampledelic techniques were used by artists such asTricky andRZA ofWu-Tang Clan andGravediggaz.[9] 1990s acts such asPosition Normal andSaint Etienne would also take a sampledelic approach to explore forgotten elements of English culture.[10] Albums such asThrobbing Pouch (1995) byWagon Christ andEndtroducing..... (1996) byDJ Shadow are prominent 1990s works in the style.[11]
Australian groupthe Avalanches[12] extended DJ Shadow's sampledelic approach on their 2000 albumSince I Left You.[13]Pitchfork described the 2007Panda Bear albumPerson Pitch as sitting "firmly in the sampledelic canon" alongsideSince I Left You andPaul's Boutique.[14] In the 21st century, genres such aschillwave pushed sampledelic music into new territory, incorporatingretro styles such asyacht rock.[15]West Coast hip-hop producerMadlib was described byUncut as a master of the "lost art" of sampledelia, harkening back to an earlier era of hop-hip beatmaking.[16]