I'm getting really sick of bad sampled dialogue in tracks, to the point it's becoming an automatic turn-off for a track. The psychedelic genres are especially bad for this - whether it's Shpongle's corny drug babble or those cheesy sci-fi samples in prog psy that all come from videogames. Tech house commits the same sin in a very different way, often with time-stretched "sleazy" dialogue about ing or drugs or ing on drugs.
Nevertheless, it's still a powerful tool when done right, so here are some of my nominations for good spoken-word sampling.
Orbital - Snivilisation
Orbital tended to sample dialogue early in their career as opposed to later, and the earliest stuff is predictable: Star Trek, Planet Of The Apes etc. Not only did their music rapidly develop from humble origins but their skill at sampling too. Snivilisation is a social critique, and it transmits its message with samples of everything from teleshopping and awful science documentaries to political speeches, to great effect.
The Orb's Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld and Young American Primitive
Both these artists use sampling in essentially the same way. They both sample extensively from science fiction and NASA transmissions, but importantly they both use incredibly retro sci-fi material, mainly from the 1950s and 60s. I think this is particularly effective because both were making then-futuristic dance music, back when futurism was a prevalent theme of electronic music. By using this Cold War retro-future framing device, they were aware of the transient nature of their cutting-edge sound and made it sound instantly timeless and nostalgic. The samples deliberately date the feel of the music, and so have a bizarre time-proofing effect.
DJ Shadow - Endtroducing
Just like the album itself, all kinds of samples taken from all kinds of places that have all kinds of feeling, from comic to creepy. I like the idea that Shadow was resurrecting and paying respect to all these dusty, forgotten records, and these weird spoken samples from unknown origins fit the theme perfectly.
James Holden - I Have Put Out The Light
No idea where Holden got this sample from, but it's one of the best spoken vocals I've ever heard on a dancefloor record. It fits the mood of the record - ethereal and melancholic - so perfectly, and yet the sample is very unique, unusual, poetic. Without it I don't think the track would be nearly as memorable.
Indecent Noise - Proxima Centauri
Probably the least well-known example in the post, this is a progressive breaks track I've had for a while but can't find a place for it in any mix. It doesn't feel like a dancefloor record at all, because it's really melodic from start to finish and the beats aren't very clubby. It also has this fantastic spoken sample that develops throughout the track, of a woman discussing a song that has entered her brain from nowhere and won't leave, as if her mind is haunted by this piece of music. I remember walking by a lake early in the morning while autumn sun shimmered on the surface and this track was playing in my headphones. It has that feeling of sleep-deprived spaced-out weirdness about it, and this sample of a woman who sounds on the edge of breakdown as her mind plays tricks on her is so perfect.
Feel free to add your own examples, but please don't post anything with Bladerunner or Matrix samples.
enydo
why are all the vocals pitched down so low
Brick
EDIT: yeah screw that one I posted, I'll dig in and find something worthy lol
Kismet7
winner is:
I wonder if Joris Voorn likes that^ track.
On the real tip...this is quintessential.
you are sleeping...
MrJiveBoJingles
Pretty much any Way Out West sampling. No idea where they get most of their stuff, but it always seems to fit well.
MrJiveBoJingles
Oh yeah, something I have wondered about for a while regarding The Orb:
On the track "Back Side of the Moon" on Adventures, there is this sample at the beginning that sounds exactly like a sound from the scene in Silence of the Lambs when Clarisse enters the prison where Hannibal Lecter is being kept. I'm wondering where the sample is originally from, since both the movie and the album came out in 1991.
Lews
It's funny you making this post, because just yesterday when I was listening through The Orb's Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld I was thinking how fantastic the sampling is. It really is just excellent.
I'll make a list of a few tracks that I like a little later tonight, but I just wanted to say now that I believe the vocal's in I Have Put Out The Light are Holden's sister, Jenny.
In addition to the amazing retro-future samples that Jack mentioned, on occasion (very rare occasions) I love the complete over the top new age sample things, like on Art of Trance's song "Voice of Earth." The sample is just so ridiculous. Lines like
quote:
Have your feet on the ground and your head on the top of the universe - all at the same time
and
quote:
in the drug store of your body you are the pharmacist
make me laugh.
Anyways, I'll make a more detailed list of a few albums / artists / tracks later.
idoru
Honorable mention goes to my good friend, Gel-Sol. Very Orb-influenced, very well-done sampling in a lot of his pieces.
EddieZilker
EDIT: I prefer this mix.
EDIT II:
I love the psychology of it - and that it kind of dares to toy around with psychology at all. The whole female monologue plays on a mix of jealousy and schadenfreude in order to achieve its humor while enhancing an otherwise spartan tension and release. The nasal quality of the voice sounds so self-appointed and, at first, I almost want to resent her; it's a haughty, intellectualized feminism. A flower in constant need of watering just to look pretty but otherwise disinterested and repressed. Slowly, bits of the story are leaked as she makes the case for the Coup de Grāce. Tension builds with it and then, "I've got the pills, pills, pills, pills, pills, pills, pills, pills, pills, pills, pills, pills, pills, pills, pills, pills, pills, " over a build and release into the drop.
I don't resent her as much as I pity the poor chap regardless if he's got his own means or pills or not. The toying with psychedelic aspects of it help this track to create this blended milieu. Maybe it's even a micro-drama playing itself out in the venue. Regardless, it's just a fun song.
Kismet7
Not sampled...but this is some passionate stuff.
'i see you're lost...lost in the oblivion'
SYSTEM-J
Youtube embeds without any explanation do not get listened to.
This is a thread about why your favourite samples stand out and work so well. Have a discussion.
EddieZilker
quote:
Originally posted by SYSTEM-J
Youtube embeds without any explanation do not get listened to.
This is a thread about why your favourite samples stand out and work so well. Have a discussion.
