Chems Sample Origins

[gavin35]

Just came across these amazing videos showing original tracks the lads sampled for each album.
I dont know why they bother with all those synths, sounds like all they've ever used is a turntable and an MPC, DJ shadow style. So many elements that i just presumed were either a drum machine or a sequence on a synth, were actually samples.

*EDIT* sorry for the multiple posts, the embed wouldnt work for me for multiple videos

[gavin35]

[gavin35]

[gavin35]

[gavin35]

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[gavin35]

[Wolkenkrabber]

Just came across these amazing videos showing original tracks the lads sampled for each album.

...So many elements that i just presumed were either a drum machine or a sequence on a synth, were actually samples.

Ha! It's a bit of a shock the first time you hear them, isn't it?

We've discussed Chems samples on various threads here in the past, particularly on the Samples & Trainspotting thread, but actually it does make sense to have a thread for Chems samples in particular.  I'm sure @Bosco will be thrilled to see you've started this thread, he loves it when the Chems magic is revealed!

Some of these samples videos have been previously posted to the forum -although surprisingly, not in the above mentioned thread- and I think I've already seen the first four. I enjoyed catching up with No's 5 & 6 today. It's more fun than just trawling through the WhoSampled website, although I suspect that's what this YouTuber has done. Too bad he stopped at Further.

There are a couple of samples mentioned in these videos that aren't currently listed on WhoSampled. In the Surrender video, Bobby O's "She Has A Way" is presented for Out Of Control. And I agree with it, indeed I had some discussion on this with @Enjoyed here, so why it isn't on WhoSampled, I don't know. 

The other one - at the end of the Further video - is Tag Team's Whoomp! There It Is sampled in bonus track, Don't Think. And I Do Think (!) that one is probably right too.

Some additional thoughts:
Star Guitar's sample of Flight To Venus by Electronic System is undoubtedly correct, but I don't think it's well demonstrated in the video, nor is it well demonstrated on WhoSampled. Probably because the short video edit of Star Guitar doesn't have that descending part in Star Guitar that we all know well from the full version. The bit at 4:45, and 4:59 and 5:44 and 5:59 and 6:14

Spoiler

...Which can be heard clearly in the opening of Flight To Venus.

The Salmon Dance's sample of Beethoven has been discussed before. It's not a direct sample so we're not 100% sure if Beethoven really did inspire the intro to Sammy The Salmon, but I think he did -  perhaps via another artist.
Dinosaur L's Go Bang at aound 4:18. Dinosaur L was a production/band name for Arthur Russell, who was also a classical musician - so Beethoven would have been in his wheelhouse. Go Bang may have in turn, influenced The Salmon Dance.

Go Bang almost certainly provided inspiration for the Chems Bango some years later, even though it isn't directly sampled. Also, fun fact: Arthur Russell was the founder of Sleeping Bag Records; the label who released Class Action's Weekend (sampled on another No Georaphy track: Eve Of Destruction).
Tricky Tee's Johnny The Fox (which samples Thin Lizzy!) popped up in the Chems 2019 Essential Mix, and is also on Sleeping Bag Records. I suspect that's not a coinicidence.

And now that I'm on the No Geography era, I see that the title track of the album is listed as having a direct sample of Running by Information Society. If you listen carefully I think it's right, but I wouldn't have spotted it myself. I do think the same track (bass) may have been "interpolated" in another NG track though - Bango (again!) circa 3:19

Spoiler

Jumping back to the Further video at 3:37 we have The Chems sampling The Chems! Nude Night backmasked and sampled in Swoon. That's twisiting my melon man!

And finally on the website I note that we have a forum member listed: Mr @hstn . And he used Eve Of Destruction in this mash up thing. Does that mean @hstn that you are Meervo on WhoSampled?

[hstn]

And finally on the website I note that we have a forum member listed: Mr @hstn . And he used Eve Of Destruction in this mash up thing. Does that mean @hstn that you are Meervo on WhoSampled?

I'm not Meervo! I've seen him in some online scenes I also frequent, but yes I did use Eve as the basis for the mashup, it was a lot of fun to make 

[GLAKO-FAHN]

holy moly. i've listened to a lot of chemical brothers in my time. cannot believe i'd never before noticed whoomp there it is in don't think but now i can't unhear it. wow

for me, sampling is the magic trick..the chemical brothers make music that, on paper, makes no fucking sense at all. it's like, random weird mix of samples with layers on layers (these references only scratch the surface sometimes). and then you add some broken synthesizer sounds. and you make sure it's all a little bit out of key.

but then somehow—out of all this emerges the sublime. that's the best word i have to describe it. i listen to these samples but i can rarely imagine how to dream of putting them together this crazy way, never mind the sheer technical excellence in the sampling and remixing

edit: also, i really intend the magic trick reference. there are incredible illusions in here. endtroducing and since i left you are two of my favourite albums, no doubt, and they're both technically brilliant. but there's no way you can listen to them and fail to hear them as genius collages of samples. the first illusion is that the chemical brothers sound like it just happened like this, that some kind of weird band just played these songs somehow. the second illusion, relatedly, is that this weird hip-hop-techno collage is somehow just a bunch of pop songs. what a weird trip

[ThePumisher]

Not sure about that Jackie Wilson 'Higher and Higher' in Snow. Does this count as a sample? On Snow it's Stephanie Dosen singing the vocals.

[gavin35]

I'd love to know how they decide on samples, do they just listen to loads of obscure music and just sample any sort of isolated drums, good vocal samples, chords, keys etc and just have them in a massive folder they can just dip in and out of?

[gavin35]

@Wolkenkrabber  thats an incredible first reply to my post, some great info there 

[satur8]

@gavin35  - I just recently discovered that channel as well. As a matter of fact, I sought it out with a general search after realizing Star Guitar samples Bowie. I never picked up on that until recently. Great thread!

[rynostar]

Stop me if we've heard this one before...

Call me crazy, but at 2:47:

Star Guitar claps? 

Have to thank Gilles Peterson and Nubya Garcia for playing this on the radio last weekend.

I've already submitted to Whosampled.