That’s right, another free pack for you guys! This time, I’ve come out with 20 copyright-free, vintage swing / jazz / big band samples… Not ‘Samples INSPIRED by,’ but actual samples. Though, I must point out, most of them have been affected, and somewhat cut up. A few of them are REALLY tripped out, too, which make it even easier to make modern-sounding electro swing!
I hope you enjoy these samples. I sequenced them all to a very basic drum pattern (so I know they sequence well at the BPM listed on each track) but then at the end I went and deleted the drum pattern, so all that’s left is the pure swangin’ vinyl sample. Some of them are fit for downright anthem-making, too, in my opinion; catchy as hell, and a lot of fun to play with.
The kit brakes down like this:
“Name of track – BPM – Name of the sampled artist + Name of the sampled track or tracks.”
Again, hope ya like em! If ya do, please leave a comment or share this page, I would appreciate it a lot! I had a lot of fun making these! …Oh, and by the way, the cover image is a re-appropriated image of Fred Astaire, in case anyone was wondering. Also, one you listen to these samples and think, “Well, gee-wizz, Mr. Strange, these sure are the bee’s knees, but it sure would be helpful to have sort or percussion or something, you know, to along with the samples? At least some snares?”
Well, recently I put the question out there to see what people might want in the world of samples.. I got a range of responses, some practical, some extremely difficult (i.e. “the sound of ants fighting”…) and, although I don’t think I’m ready to do a full on bugcore pack (with ants fighting and spiders … screaming?) I WAS able to take care of some of the percussion and snare requests.
Thirty hi-end snares that are clappy, snappy, shiny, copyright-free, and funky. I’m happy I made them, and, to be honest, I think I’m going to be using a lot of them in some of my new tracks :) They make a great crunk’d out basic glitch hop beat, if played alongside a bass kick. For best results, I’d recommend using them at mid-tempo or slower, but obviously, you can ignore my advice and say, “Screw you, Strange, Im’a do whats I wants!”
OK, fair enough. Do whats you wants, and click the graphic for the samples link…and please, if you like the sounds and find ’em useful, please leave a comment :)
So, I’m sure many of you are familiar with ?uestlove and his incredible drumming skills. He’s a prodigy of rhythm, and emulating his sound, or, at least, borrowing it, might seem like a good idea, right? Oh, but that damn copyright infringement! That’ll surely stifle you, right?
Wrong! Here’s some free source material you can use right now, straight outta the studio of ?uestlove – free drums to use in your music! Yes, free! Go ahead, take a look, he just posted the track, called, “Ludwiggy,” to Okayplayer’s soundcloud page, and it’s pretty fucking fun. A nice, hard, funk break. You can’t get better than that, in my opinion! I love a good, hard break.
He played a Ludwig vintage drum kit (the same company that made drums that the Beatles played with) and released the track recently, so no copyright infringement, no holler, no mess – just straight-up, raw, old-school rhythmic dopery.
Typically, I plan to release my own free drums, here on Bassadelic.com, but figured, in the interest of providing as much quality content as possible, it would be in everyone’s best interest if I shared something this awesome. So here: http://soundcloud.com/okayplayer/uestlove-ludwiggy-free
and be sure to thank ?uestlove, if you enjoy his beats! J
Alright, so I realize I’ve spent a considerable amount of time talkin’ bout wonky beats, released a free sample pack (and plan to release a much larger 100-sample beat pack soon) and did that wonky tutorial…but I wanted to switch gears for a second and delve into some other newer styles of electronic music… Electroswing top ten! Here we go!
Electroswing might be seen as a second wave of late 90s swing revival (meaning it’s a… third wave of swing?) and artists have been killin’ out the big band swangin’ samples and swung rhythm for a few years now, which has gained attention partly because of vodka commercials – but also because of some suppsedly-awesome swing nights at clubs (both swing-themed clubs and otherwise) in luxurious cities such as New York City! I’ve not been to NYC, but if I ever did go, I’d definitely want to check out a swing club and jazz it up hardcore.
Well, without further ado, here’s what I would consider a top ten track list for folks and fan eager to get into this new swing revival…
1. Boby C Sound TV – Jelly Belly
Van_Tek from Glitch Hop Forum recommended this one. I definitely featured a few tracks suggested on Glitch Hop Forum, which I’ll talk about a little later in the top ten.
Now, first, I’d like to point out, electroswing has apparently been going on and is just now getting to America. So, to say that there are only ten great songs is not only ridiculous, it’s stupid! There’s a lot of great tracks out there, and I really suggest you take a look and see what else is out there. If you hit up youtube, you’re going to find tons of “15 Minute Electroswing” mixes, and things like that… it can be a good place to start, to be sure, but for individual songs and artists, you can always go off of the tunes I’ve brought to you, here, on this list!
2. Shemian – Happy Swingin`
This one’s some pure, bouncy, electroswing fun.
3. Odjbox – Birmingham
There’s a couple different camps to the modern swing revival… there’s the house stuff; electro, techno-sounding 4-to-the-floor dance stuff… and then there’s the more hip hop stuff; often a bit slower, more groovin, and not always as poppy… although to say that’s it not poppy is really a fucking lie, because almost all of it is… I mean, for god’s sake, the entire genre is based on pop and dance music from the 20s and 30s, so how could it not be at least a little popped out?
Anyway, this one’s from Odjbox, another killer in the electroswing style, definitely on the upbeat hip hop side of things. Check it out, it’s definitely worth a listen.
4. JFB – Wobble and Squeak
The name really says it all. Some funky, swangin’, loop-happy grooves to getcha’ going. The use of old jazz loops is pretty simple, not a ton going on in that department, and not much needs to be going on, when you consider how infectious, fun, and driving the track is. Some good mixing of modern funk’d out wobbledelic basses and grinds with the old-timey samples, for sure!
5. Mr. Scruff – Get a Move On
This one takes it back a few years, in more ways than one. Yes, its jazzy, and features samples from way back, but also, it was part of the original swing reivival from ten or fifteen years ago… I remember playing this one out when I was in middle school (or was it high school?) back in an awful time period in history known as ‘The Early 2000s.’ But it doesn’t matter when the song came out, it just matters that it’s a great track. It was released on the Ninja Tunes label – yes, that’s right, Ninja Tunes had some swingin’ stuff, believe it or not.
6. Spoonbill – Catfish
Here’s another bouncin’ and swangin’ number, this time by Spoonbill. I should point out, I got a few of these from Glitch Hop Forum, I asked folks for their favorite electroswing tunes, as soon as I got wind of the genre. So props go out to 4bstr4ck3r for this one, and the #1 track I added. 4bstr4ck3r has some good taste! That cannot be understated. Now, as far as GHF goes, someone brought the genre of ‘neurostep’ to attention a couple weeks ago, and, to be honest, I’m still figuring out exactly what makes a tune ‘neuro’ and not just ‘glitch hop,’ but I think, from what I understand, this one is kinda neuro-ish? Or perhaps I’ll get a grand ol’ scolding for assuming such a thing! Who knows… So, what does that make this track? NeuroSwang? Ha.. I sincerely hope that classification comes into existence. I should go back and delete that word, but alas, I’m writing out this blog post on typewriter, and backspaces are impossible on my end! Sorry! Anyway, enjoy Spoonbill – dude’s got some REAL good shit.
7. Caravan Palace – Clash
Caravan Palace is a very decent group from France (as many electroswing artists seem to be) that have released some REALLY quality tracks. So here’s one, and its definitely on the more house-tip of the genre.
8. Parov Stelar – Catgroove
Had to include something from Parlov Stelar, and this one’s really dope. The dude has some moves, too. Very catchy track, I must say. Parlov Stelar is a top-player in the electroswing underground, which is a secret underground series of clubs in France where folks go to jazz out… ah, I wish that were true. Well, it might be, I guess I wouldn’t know, since I’ve never been to France.
9. Electro Swing Lady – Give Me A Dream (Doc-Terry’s Extended Mix)
This one’s embarrassingly upbeat, and for whatever reason, it feels completely acceptable. Actually, the structure of the loops reminds me, a bit, of Fatboy Slim’s old aimlessly wonderful big beat material… One vocal refrain, over and over and over, ah! Just delightful!
10. Chinese Man – I’ve Got That Tune
I have a hard time getting sick of this one. I must’ve played it fifteen or twenty times when I was on the road a few weeks ago, travelling cross country to Seattle, before I decided to give it a rest. All I had to do was wait a couple weeks, and I instantly wanted to start playing it out again! The cartoon imagery of Bettie Boop really does a lot for the track, too… and when she starts playing the air-violin, something about the music and the visuals together just creates such a perfect funk… a perfect moment in poppy-jazz-groovedom. It’s so swangin’ it’s almost creepy. I think that’s a good thing.
Really excited to finally start doing music tutorials! I hope you like it. I’m just starting out, and I’m sure they will get A LOT better! Welcome to Bassadelic, a resource for electronic producers at all levels of the game – from n00bs to pro’s! We host tutorials on a variety of topics, samplepacks in a range of genres, and we have music reviews, guides and humor about the world of bass music.
When he’s not traveling to exotic locations like Indonesia, or designing awesome album covers and graphics, he’s working with his partner, Kaery, to post these designs for SALE in their online shop!! You can actually wear some of this amazing art! It’s probably obvious at this point, but I have nothing but props for this whole project!
African Goddess Longsleeve Shirt- Army Green
It’s truly some psychedelic crunk material, a trend that I’m very excited to see. It’s just my personal opinion, but I think we’re all in for an exciting era for art and clothing.
Mugwort is helping the ongoing evolution of rave culture move into a unique and much more psychedelic space, and I, for one, am a HUGE fan of their work!
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