Alphabethead - N37 Modulations

Hip Drop homeboy Alphabethead drops yet more insane stuff for y'all...

Whenever I bring a stray piece of vinyl home my fervent hope, aside from it being good music, is to use it as source material in something. Unfortunately, due to my ‘habit’ it’s very hard to assimilate the relentless inflow of records. This recording was a conscious effort to utilize all the random records that had slipped through the cracks. I’d grab any unused LP in arms length of the turntable and set the goal of making a beat from it. This is certainly not a unique approach; many beat-makers set themselves such exercises as a challenge and to breakdown any preconceived notions of what ‘should’ be sampled. In sampling unconventional records I learnt about filtering songs to isolate bass and create muffled drones, amplify and affect record pops to make percussion and stretching and layering notes for textures.

Over 60 LP’s went into this one – mostly Sally Army or junk shop finds. Sample sources include; Frank Sinatra, Uriah Heep, Fiddler on the Roof, Gong, 3 Hur-El, Bach, Donovan, Silver Apples, Ravi Shankar, Santana, Stockhausen… Although it’s my fifth beat-tape, it’s the first I’ve presented in mixtape form with transitions, miscellaneous tit-bits of sound and segues between tracks. This one also includes some Hip Hop cutting!

Alphabethead - N37 Modulations

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