Kenny G straddles the line between popularity and infamy. Here are five samples from the controversial saxophonist. I don’t like Kenny G. That sounds like an odd admission when I’m about to write about the man but I have reasons. And those reasons are because of you. Well, not necessarily *you* but readers in general. You see, as part of our content strategy, I check…
To celebrate Thelonious Monk’s 100th birthday, we take a look at five samples from the iconic jazz pianist. He was a trailblazer with his improv style, wide-ranging melodic shifts, and trademark fashions. Thelonious Monk was born on this day in 1917. We have been blessed to have had him in our presence, physically and musically. In commemoration of this, we have compiled a list of…
Our Sampleface Five is dedicated to Herbie Hancock samples from the likes of Ugly Duckling, Lamb and Venom. As we’ve already heard that Herbie and FlyLo are in “cahoots”, we thought it’d be worth looking at a selection of five Herbie Hancock samples. The problem with doing that, of course, is choosing just five from such a vast pool of tracks (at least 440 according…
Blurred Lines might be the most popular and controversial Marvin Gaye sampled-track but there have been plenty more. We picked five. One of the biggest singles of 2013 carried with it a fair amount of controversy. Blurred Lines was a staple on every medium from the jump and while the sexist lyricism did little to deter most listeners, the issues surrounding the use of Marvin…
We picked five “making of” videos for our latest edition of Sampleface Five. The creation of a beat or general composition can be as simple or as convoluted as you want but for those really dedicated to the craft, it requires a process. “Making of” videos give an insight into those routines and our latest iteration of Sampleface Five shows the likes of Daedelus, 9th…
It would have been John Coltrane’s 87th birthday yesterday so for that, we’re looking at five samples of the late jazz master’s work. They say the good die young and in John Coltrane’s case, that might well be accurate. The jazz saxophonist, born in North Carolina, passed away at the relatively young age of 40 due to liver cancer. In his somewhat brief career, he…
We take a look at five albums made using the MPC1000. I was fortunate enough to come into a large tax rebate a couple of years back and decided it was time to progress my production into a more hardware based set up. Until that point, I was strictly a LPD8/LPK25 guy with Logic, CDs and MP3s my sample palette of choice. Now was the…
Here is our selection of five music blogs you should be reading. One of the best things about music blogs is there isn’t really “competition” like you have with tabloids and broadsheets. It should be about the music and getting readers to the best from all channels (“should” being the operative word, but I’m not throwing any punches or calling out any websites). Since before…
An underrated sampler has been used on some great albums. Here are five of them, made using the SP-303. Akai and their line of MPC’s have ruled the roost for the past couple of decades, with the SP-1200 the only real competition in that department. Now that we have the Maschine, things are a little different but back in 2001, Roland Corporation fused and improved…
We look at harmonic samples for our Sampleface Five. I do love harmonic samples. You could catch a riff and transform it into an instrument or use it as a counter melody. The possibilities are endless. For our latest edition of Sampleface Five, we look at five quality examples of what can be done with harmonic samples by some of the best producers around. 1….
