Thursday, January 3, 2008

More Psychedelic Sampling


The Electric Prunes - Holy Are You


The Electric Prunes were a psychedelic garage band from Los Angeles, CA, but by 1968 they had been completely transformed into a project run by composer David Axelrod (pictured above) and producer Dave Hassinger. Their two albums from 1968, Mass in F Minor and Release of an Oath, combined rock and classical music with heavy religious content. This song is from Release of an Oath.



Quasimoto - Return of the Loop Digga


Quasimoto is a project by producer/DJ/MC, Madlib. The music is heavily sampled, tripped-out hip hop with rapping by Madlib and his alter-ego Quasimoto, which is Madlib rapping with an altered, high-pitched voice. This song is from The Unseen, which is the first of the two Quasimoto albums.

Madlib's sample from "Holy Are You" occurs at about the 1:06 mark. In "Return of the Loop Digga," the sample appears at about the 2:02 mark after Quasimoto says, "Yo Madlib! Yo! I know you comin' with all this other shit man, but I want you to hit 'em with that raw shit right about now. You know whatcha gotta do." This is a great example of the potential to recontextualize music through sampling. Madlib takes a loop of David Axelrod's religious, orchestral production and turns into a raw, hip hop beat...and a peculiar one at that.