Madlib’s 13 Pound ‘Brick’ of Hip Hop

Posted by StrangeFlow on September 7, 2012
Posted in: New Music, Review. 3 Comments

Another incredible release by super-prolific musician, Madlib
So, Madlib is one of my favorites, and has been, ever since I discovered him, a few years back.

First of all, his music has a very soulful and psychedelic aesthetic. I can put a bunch of Madlib tracks on a Winamp playlist, hit shuffle, smoke something nice, and just chill out for hours. Its always great to discover an artist who creates music that’s good for background ambience AS WELL AS intense and close listening – Madlib is one of those artists that’s perfect for that, and believe me, not all music is like that.

So anyway, enough about why Madlib is awesome. You might be sitting there, listening to me babble, saying, “Yea, Madlib is dope as hell, but what has he done for me lately?” Well, here’s something…

The Madlib Medicine Show – The Brick. It’s a series of thirteen discs of funky hip hop, mixed by Madlib…. Let me say that again: It’s a huge compilation, and it stretches the length of thirteen albums! Thirteen. To borrow a quote from the Beastie Boys tune, ‘Watcha’ Want,’ “You can’t front on that…”

I looked into it and read something interesting on the Stones Throw site…

“Years before this series was announced Madlib had talked about an idea to release an album a month. For this producer, whose work thrives on a freestyle cut & paste, sometimes blurring the lines between original work and DJ mixing, there was little time or patience for the normal marketing and promotion norms of the music industry. By the start of 2010, it was time to experiment.”

It’s incredible! Listening to this whole thing is such a diverse experience, musically. It’s an experience you can truly sink your teeth into – there’s the always-enjoyable breakbeat style you expect and love from Madlib; and of course, interesting samples and random vocals from all over the spectrum, all blended together in an expressive and entertaining way. It’s a breath-taking example of a truly prolific artistic mentality, of which I have an interesting theory on that I would like to share…

When an artist spends enough time on their craft, their skill, and their output, you can tell. They say if you practice something for ten thousand hours, you’re a master at it. Right? Beyond that point, the more music you put out, the more you give people the chance to truly understand your range.

I mean, if you play five notes, even if they’re five GREAT notes, they’re still just five notes. If you play five million notes, people really start to see where you’re coming from; they see inside your mind, as, at some point in the cosmic musical trip, you must be opening doors you didn’t think you’d be opening (because you can’t just open the first-and-most-obvious “5-note” doors…) and the listener gets to see deep within the your psyche. Doors open up to rooms you couldn’t have anticipated… There’s more than just this kitchen and this living room, see – there’s a secret tunnel over here, too… etc.

Or, at least, that’s my theory. But the point, in all of my musical rambling (of which I greatly enjoy doing) is that you will likely find something in this compilation of psychedelic, raw, jazzy, and entertainingly-schizophrenic hip hop arrangements that you enjoy. I call it a compilation, but that’s probably not even fair, as it’s a mixture of original as well as material you would consider being a DJ-set. Madlib blurs the lines, because he has no time for convention.

Incredible hip hop for you! Check it out!

Ah, the photos of these thirteen CDs look majestic.

They are arranged into themes – for example, the second disc is, which is, “80-minutes of Brazilian psyche, folk and jazz,” and then there’s the fifth disc, containing, “Madlib’s early years, 1990-2000, from beat cassettes produced for local rap crew Crate Digga’s Palace.”

Check it out, it’s worth it.

http://stonesthrow.com/store/album/madlib/madlib-medicine-show-brick

Sidechain Compression, 101: A Guide to Ducking

Posted by StrangeFlow on September 5, 2012
Posted in: How-to / Tutorial. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , . 2 Comments

Sidechain Compression, 101 - A Guide to Ducking (by StrangeFlow)
So, what the hell is ducking? Ducking is a term that refers to audio that incorporates the
“side chain compression” technique. So, what the hell is sidechain compression?

When the volume on one track is turned down to give room for another track to play. It’s popular in radio; when the DJ turns down the mix to ramble on about something unimportant. That’s the most popular example, and we’ve all heard it. But it’s also used in music – electro is a good example, as well as some of the hip hop tunes created by J Dilla.

So, firstly, let’s talk electro. You know how a lot of tunes in this genre have that ‘pumping’ sound to them? You hear the kick drum play out, and then you hear a synth bass that sounds like it’s getting as loud as possible. If you listen to it with headphones on, it has a jarring but igniting sound to it. How is this achieved? Through the use of ducking!

When the kick plays, everything else stops (more or less) and then, after the kick has played, the synth or instrument sample is brought back from it’s silence and screams at you for a half of a second, until the next kick drum, when the process is repeated.

The same technique is used, as I said, in some hip hop production. I think it’s easier to hear in hip hop, because, for one thing, the rhythm is typically slower. With electro, tracks can be so tangled and fast that it can be hard to pick apart what you’re hearing. I’ll point out, also, that when I say it’s “tangled and fast,” that’s not a negative assessment, it’s just an observation of an aesthetic. In fact, some of the coolest music I’ve heard comes from incorporating musical techniques that… well, for lack of a better phrase, trick the listener (I remember when I first heard Fatboy Slim, when I was a kid, I thought I was listening to a magician working his magic on some incredible bassy breakbeats! “How can anyone be doing this with sound? What a genius! What magic!” …then I discovered the ‘magic’ of the sequencer, and I at once began making electronic music, and, at least initially, ripping of Fatboy Slim like a carnie rips off carnival-goers…)

Here’s a great example of ducking, by one of my favorite hip hop producers, Samiyam…

I feel like I could make a top ten for duck’d beats. If there’s any interest in that, I have no problem doing it :)

And now, for the producers in the room, let’s get on to the beat of this article… How can you effectively side-chain compress your beats?

I would first like to point out that it is entirely possible to do it with a regular sequencer, using the hand-drawn or hand-crafted approach, manually adjusting the volume yourself, or copying and pasting a few hand-done volume adjustments. I do that with Acid Pro all the time. But, I know a lot of artists would likely prefer the automatic route. There are ways to do it with Ableton Live, and with a lot of the other big-name DAWs. Thankfully, we live in the era of Youtube, and there are easily-searchable videos to figuring all that out, depending on what software you specifically use.

Beyond that, here are some links to plug-ins that are specifically designed for sidechaining. Happy ducking!

– Slim Slow Slider’s Side Chain Compressor (Windows)
– DBAudio’s Sidechain Compressor (Windows)
– Twisted Lemon’s SideKick 4.3
– Variety of Sound’s Density mkII (Windows)
– Cockos ReaPlugs VST FX Suite (Windows)

Top Ten Most Inspiring Videos

Posted by StrangeFlow on September 4, 2012
Posted in: Articles, Top Ten Lists. Leave a comment

Top Ten Most Inspiring Videos

So, I decided to compile a small collection of videos that really have the ability to inspire you to get off your couch and go get what you want to in life. This is a music blog, so obviously, some of these will be centered (in theme) on music and artistic creation. Some of them, though, are not necessarily about music; they’re more general. But just try and watch a few of these, and tell me they don’t really hit ya deep. Especially the funk one!

Kinda wondering if maybe that one’s more inspiring just to people who like funk?

Whatever, though.

10.) We are Created to be Individuals

I hand-selected these. And, a funny thing about looking through inspiring videos – there’s a ton of weightlifting videos to be found, when you’re looking for inspiration. I mean, on the one hand, it makes sense; as I’m sure body-builders need a good amount of inspiration. It’s just interesting, because a lot of the ideas brought up by weight-lifting videos could be almost directly applied to anything – physical or mental, creative, business-oriented, etc…

9.) Kai Greene – Rage Philosophy

So, weightlifting. A good focus might be to attack your musical goals with the intensity and ambition of a bodybuilder or fitness nut.

A side note, but still on topic: I remember hearing that Andre 300 and Big Boi, when developing their craft and practicing their lyrics, they would run down the road, reciting all their lyrics as they became more and more physically exhausted – but they worked through the pain, in a kind of hyper-ambitious cross between physical and mental endurance.

8.) Workout Motivation

7.) Gary Vaynerchuk – Gratitude

On to business, this is a clip of Gary V. If you haven’t heard of him, I really recommend checking out some of his work. There are some great keynote speeches he’s done, which I really enjoyed. They are all pretty long, and I wanted to keep this post relatively shorter than that, so you’ll have to find them on Youtube. Easy to find, though.

6.) Seth Godin Quotes

So, after I started doing this post, I realized how much bullshit there was out there claiming to inspire people. Most of it’s complete nonsense. I don’t about you, but I’m not super inspired by a three-year old with no legs. I’m sorry, but I’m not! I understand it might be inspiring to other people, though… and I know that’s horribly insensitive of me, but I’m just being honest. I’m not hating on anyone, either, it’s just that 99% of ‘inspirational’ videos out there are like that… Anyway, back to the videos…

5.) Various Motivational Videos

With the exception of the video footage of Donald Trump, this one’s generally good. A compilation of inspiring words by various people. I also did not enjoy the douche with the sunglasses in the car. Yea, the whole video is really a mixed blessing for inspiration. Maybe I’m being too skeptical. But, if you can get past the bullshit, there are some good thoughts in there, for sure.

4.) Marilyn Manson on Bill O’Reilly

So I realized, at some point during this top ten, that, well… rather than ONLY having the standard clips of “You can do it!” and so on, I figured I would also include clips that I personally find inspiring. So here’s one of Marilyn Manson on Bill O’Reilly. Why is it inspiring? Because it’s Manson intelligently defending his ‘crazy’ music and image on one of the most conservative talk shows on TV a few years back.

3.) Nike “Rayguns” ad with Bootsy Collins

This one inspires me because… well – look at the team funking it out in basketball, and look at how goddamn funky they are! ‘Nuff said, in my opinion. I wish I could be so funky. The commercial is based on the story of Dr. Funk, an incredible basketball player from 1975.

2.) Saul Williams @ Lollapalooza

1.) Rage Against the Machine – Killing in the Name of

Fuck it, this is one of the most inspiring videos I’ve ever seen in my life. It’s hard to blast this at peak volume and not be inspired. Also, I thought it would be good to end this documentary with a good music video to help with inspiration. I love the last minute where Zach (the vocalist) stops the bouncer who wants to keep that kid from crowd surfing!

Music For Shuffle

Posted by StrangeFlow on August 30, 2012
Posted in: Articles, Review. Leave a comment

Mathew Irvine Brown's 'Music For Shuffle'

So, I thought this would be a really great site to share with you guys…

The project is called, ‘Music for Shuffle.’ It’s pretty clever, actually. A guy by the name of Mathew Irvine Brown put together a bunch of very short audio tracks (and is offering them up for free here) that generate random and infinite songs. What you do is put these tracks into a playlist and hit the shuffle mode, and a different tune will play every time! I’m really impressed by this concept, and is goes right along with a new art movement that’s called the New Aesthetic.

>> musicforshuffle.com/

Here’s what Mathew had to say, in his own words:

“Hello. I’m Matthew Irvine Brown. This is an ongoing project exploring how to make music specifically for shuffle mode.

Each piece is made from small, interlocking phrases (each formatted as an individual MP3) which can be played in any order and still (hopefully) make musical sense.

At the minute, these are just sketches and ideas in rough demo form. Maybe some day they’ll turn into something more.”

I hope to be seeing a lot more interesting audio concepts from Mathew Irvine Brown soon!

Miles Davis Hip Hop Loops

Posted by StrangeFlow on August 29, 2012
Posted in: Samples. 3 Comments

20 Royalty-Free Samples for you!

HEY, Sorry errryone, but because reasons, this sample pack is temporarily offline for the moment. And no, it’s not for copyright-infringement like a couple have suggested; I am still quite positive NOTHING illegal is going on. I’ll try to post these later, but for right now, it’s off. Got almost 500 downloads in a very short time, which I was delighted by.

Over 600 Juke Samples Pack - ON Sale right now - click here

Top Ten Uses of the Funky Worm Sample

Posted by StrangeFlow on August 27, 2012
Posted in: Top Ten Lists. 1 Comment

Top Ten Uses of the Funky Worm Sample

If you don’t know what funky Worm is, please listen to the video just below.. It’s one of the most sampled tracks in hip hop. It provided as much to the G-Funk sound as P-Funk did.

Goofy little tune. I simply hate the vocals! Ha. Though, to be fair, I don’t think the Ohio Players had ANY idea how big or useful this tune would prove itself to be, years later.

Even if you’re not a fan of all the songs or artists on this list, it really shows how a few seconds of music can actually provide the backdrop for an entire genre that might emerge a decade or two later; for such a unique sound, early 90s rappers sure got a lot of range out of it.

Makes you wonder what other short samples of sound can provide the source material for an entire style of music. Well, maybe it doesn’t make you wonder, but it makes me wonder… Some other good examples are the Funky Drummer beat by James Brown, the Amen Loop, just to name a couple of examples.

I would also like to note that sooner or later, musicians started incorporating their own original synthesized renditions of the high pitched ‘Worm’ sound into their music. A good example is the Chronic Intro with Dr. Dre and Snoop.

So here we go! Top Ten songs to feature that hi-pitched ‘funky-worm’ whistle.

10.) C.E.B. – Seems You Forgot

9.) Ministers of Black – Step Inside My Office

8.) Niggaz Can’t Hang

7.) Above the Law – Black Superman

6.) PMD – I Saw it Cummin’

5.) Snoop Dogg – Serial Killa

4.) NWA – Dope Man

3.) Mc Breed – Ain’t No Future in Yo’ Frontin

2.) Dr. Dre – The Chronic Intro

1.) Ice Cube – Wiked