Deconstructing DJ Shadow - Mutual Slump

In this video I deconstruct and rebuild DJ Shadow - Mutual Slump
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- open.spotify.com/artist/3CHeJ...
Thanks to the community at www.whosampled.com/ for finding a lot of these samples. If you're looking for samples, this is a good place to start.
DJ Shadow - Mutual Slump
• Mutual Slump
Björk - Possibly Maybe
• björk : possibly maybe...
Pugh Rogefeldt - Love, Love, Love
• Pugh Rogefeldt - love ...
Roger Waters and Ron Geesin - More Than Seven Dwarves in Penis Land
• More Than Seven Dwarfs...
Om - Hommage à Mme. Stirnimaa
open.spotify.com/track/6oM8R6...
Ed Thigpen's Action-Re-Action - Action-Re-Action - Illusions
• Action-Re-Action - Ill...
00:00 - 00:25 Intro
00:25 - 1:05 Björk - Possibly Maybe
1:05 - 2:25 Sampling Björk
2:25 - 3:00 Pugh Rogefeldt - Love, Love, Love
3:00 - 4:45 Drum Sampling
4:45 - 5:36 Roger Waters and Ron Geesin - More Than Seven Dwarves in Penis Land
5:36 - 6:00 Sampling Penis Land
6:00 - 7:09 Roller Skates Talk
7:09 - 8:35 Ed Thigpen's Action-Re-Action - Action-Re-Action - Illusions
8:35 - 9:35 Sampling Flute
9:35 - 12:19 Om - Hommage à Mme. Stirnimaa (Sax Solo)

[@brianwarner308]

i graduated high school in 96' and started Djing...this record taught me everything i ever wanted to know about the drumbs....

[@brianwarner308]

that Pugh album is awesome!

[@thecaremaker1001]

The weird radio sample in Possibly Maybe was a sample that Bjork used that wasn't cleared, and was taken off. Shadow used an edited version after that sample clearance issue happened.

[@KarlBoltzmann]

No way! I had no idea. That's very cool. It must have been in my head, but I could have sworn that I could hear the sample looping back on itself in Mutual Slump.

[@dalek604]

Yep, the weird radio sound sampled ambient artist Scanner from his album Mass Observation.

[@artisans8521]

As far as Wiki knows there was a nice controv about Robin Rimbaud's sample indeed. His label was not having it. One Little Indian trashed 100K album. Rimbaud was a lot more cool with it and instructed the label execs to back off. So it's still there on Post AFAIK. But maybe lightning does not strike twice and Mr. Shadow took the short straw.

[@xHeadcleanerx]

I remember when when I first heard of Scanner, his albums were basically intercepted cell-phone calls (back during the short period of time when that was possible.)

[@AokoTheGod]

i hoping for someone to mention this as I've found that version and pieces 1 to 1 heh

[@eggharwellyt]

there's something about the sax that just adds a bit of chaos but beauty.

[@KarlBoltzmann]

That sax is inspired chaos! I love it.

[@namahecc]

@@KarlBoltzmann I think I remember Shadow saying that you can hear him needle dropping the Om record during that sax part

[@djweego]

​ @KarlBoltzmann ​I hear so much despair in this solo sax, my favorite sample from the whole album. By the way, "Hommage à Mme. Stirnimaa" means "Tribute to Mrs Stirnimaa​​" in french, "Mme." is the french contraction for "Madame" 🙂

[@djdren]

love that black and white picture ..

[@quibster]

I reckon if you have your own field recordings, even if they are just your girlfriend at the time speaking, that is still sampling, I'd say you are probably doing something quite unique especially for '96, not to flag folk down for "Just sampling some dead guy" or whatever, I think that's always an overstatement really- but when you put a bit of your own personality into your tracks like Shadow does with personal recordings, or his own playing/instrumentation in some songs, or even the way he does percussion with tuned samples, it is all very personal. Those are the touches that make his particular combinations totally unique in the end. It's so impressive really, every time in these videos, I get an impressive sense of how his ear for blending samples really is, even just from feeling how strongly Bjork merges with the somewhat obscure drum sample. I would never be able to think like that, wherein he has actually identified samples with such strong magnetism towards one another.

[@KarlBoltzmann]

He's always had an amazing ear for blending samples, that's for sure. I think the other factor is his work ethic, finding the records, listening to the records front to back, cataloguing the samples he found so he can use them. It all takes a lot of time and you can't really cut corners with that sort of work. At least back then you couldn't.

[@afgh1408]

great channel, stumbled on it via the stress video, subscribed, and would love more Justice content

[@gypsumfantastic23]

Great video, as always.

[@amandagordon1307]

Love the thumbnail.

[@MrInfamousNevermind]

What your doing I have literally spent countless hours doing as a producer. Amazing man. 👏👌🏼. Do more hip hop tracks. Outkast, NAS samples, sht, led zeppelin sampled almost all their hit songs

[@KarlBoltzmann]

Thanks! I know what you mean. Zeppelin technically "borrowed" some ideas (riffs etc) rather than sampled, but otherwise, for sure. There are some great Nas tracks that I should cover and I've always loved Outkast's production, but I'm not sure they sampled enough to make an interesting video about a track.

[@noahbluesky1218]

Was ao licky to go see Shadow live in Denver this weekend. Such an amazing talent. His shows are always fire!!! Love your videos, you have such talent!

[@KarlBoltzmann]

Amazing! I would love to see him live again.

[@Millez]

I'll never get tired of these videos

[@Matisto1]

Thanks for the video Karl, always found this a haunting and memorable song. Would keep replaying in my head because of its many facets.

[@2Chickaboom2]

I had the CD of Music from the Body BITD (I was a Pink Floyd nut for a long while). It was actually my roommate’s CD but I was fond of having it on at times. One day I was playing it and I got a phone call. It lasted much longer than I wanted it to. My roomie was trying to sleep but the phone cord wouldnt reach to the stereo. After about 15 minutes of fart noises, claps, hums, swallowing and chewing noises set to drumming, he stumbles out of his room, releases the CD from the tray, and snaps it in half and goes back to his room. lol.

[@KarlBoltzmann]

Hahah, dude. That gave me a good laugh! You're a good story teller.

[@domnelson5063]

yesss new Karl Boltzmann just dropped

[@afgh1408]

oh and one more comment, i really really really appreciate that when you play samples, you play a longer selection of them Rather than just the used portion. much more interesting to here what comes before and after

[@KarlBoltzmann]

Thanks! It prevents me from monetizing the videos, but I think it's worth it to show the samples in their original context.

[@MatthewNWilliams]

Love these videos, keep them coming please

[@KarlBoltzmann]

The video releases should be more steady this fall and winter.

[@jobrien505]

Just got to say, Karl... I only recently found your channel, and absolutely love both it, and your sample breakdowns! I have voraciously tore through your back catalog of videos, and while I'm in the know for most of the source samples on a lot of the songs you choose to breakdown & share (and with sampling / audio production), I still love seeing the way you present it, and am always looking forward to new breakdowns / videos. Clearly we had a almost identical similar taste in music in the 90's, and it's just been so nice to see these artists & tracks presented in the way they are, and hopefully they'll educate people in their 20's and 30's about sample culture, and the glorious golden era of sampling from the 80's and 90's that's just waiting to blow anyone's mind, who scratches just beneath the surface. Keep doing what you're doing... it is incredibly appreciated and loved!| If you ever start a Patreon, I would love to help contribute to what you do. Thanks for all the had work you put in, that gives someone like me, nothing short of pure enjoyment! 💙💙💙

[@KarlBoltzmann]

Wow, thank you for the very thoughtful comment! It's nice to hear that these videos are finding people who share a similar passion for this music. These tracks have always meant the world to me, which makes it all the more special to break them down and show people how they were made. Part of me wants to help motivate other artists to make more music along these lines by showing how this beautiful, powerful, soulful music was created in the first place. Of course it's much more difficult than just throwing some samples together, but inspiration and motivation need to start somewhere. I've certainly thought about doing some extra content/classes with Patreon. Maybe I'll put that together in the coming year. Anyway, thanks for the support!

[@wm1573]

thank you heaps for still doing these. i enjoy these a lot. you have very good taste :) any plan on doing j dilla deconstructions?

[@KarlBoltzmann]

Thanks! And absolutely, he is on the list.

[@xrgiok]

Love Bjork, love DJ Shadow…❤ Thanks Karl !

[@KarlBoltzmann]

Post is such a great album too.

[@Mode-7]

Hope you are able to make some more videos. It would be cool to see Prefuse 73 -Perverted Untertone deconstructed.

[@KarlBoltzmann]

Thanks, just busy atm, but more videos will be made in the near future. Cool suggestion. Prefuse 73 is a blast from the past. It's been a while since I've seen that name pop up. That's a great track, I will see if it's possible to deconstruct or not.

[@Mode-7]

@@KarlBoltzmann you’re awesome. I’m sure making videos is crazy time consuming

[@KarlBoltzmann]

It's definitely more work than it would appear. So, there is very little info on the samples in "Perverted Undertone", so I doubt I'll be able to deconstruct that one anytime soon. I'll keep an eye on it though.

[@CarrieAnne45]

love your dry sense of humour here! keep up the great work

[@KarlBoltzmann]

[@illcryst]

I just came across your channel and love it. If you aren't familiar with "Quasimodo" aka Madlib, I highly recommend you check him out , he's one of the greatest samplers of all time and has 2 albums " the unseen" and " the further adventures..." I would love to see you deconstruct one of his tracks... Cheers from Canada 🤘

[@KarlBoltzmann]

I appreciate the suggestion! I'll check it out.

[@BOCIMPORTS]

You should try deconstructing John Oswald’s Plexure one day lol

[@KarlBoltzmann]

That might melt my computer....

[@BKLYN_TZU]

There plenty of other sampled based albums before this album Came Out in '96 because this is a Plunderphonics album so Oswald is the creator of the term he put out his debut album Plunderphonic back in 1989 and before that he was making music like this since the 1970s

[@KarlBoltzmann]

That's a great point. I would tend to agree with you and you can correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the distinction is that Endtroducing was said to be entirely sampled from other artists musical records whereas the early Pluderphonics records you're referencing used material from radio/tv/documentaries literally anything with audio. Either way, I don't think Endtroducing is deserving of that title because of the revelations that have come out about his friends being on the record.

[@BKLYN_TZU]

​@@KarlBoltzmannif you look up Endtroducing it's listed as Plunderphonics as one of the genres it's under a precursor to this album was The beastie boys Paul's Bouquet which is a mixture of live vocals and samples combined together

[@KarlBoltzmann]

@@BKLYN_TZU Endtroducing falls under the umbrella of many genres and subgenres but the difference between it and Paul's Boutique is, as you mentioned, the recorded vocals over the samples. If Paul's Boutique had been released as an instrumental album, which is what the Dust Brothers had originally planned for the record, then it would have been the first with the distinction of being made entirely from other people's musical records. Also, Endtroducing was given that title from the Guinness Book of World Records who, in hindsight, got it wrong because there are a couple examples of recorded voices on the record. But really, who cares? It's just a great record.

[@BKLYN_TZU]

​​​@@KarlBoltzmann one of two live vocals doesn't take away from the over album which is samples and those live vocals are more to add on to the track honestly listening to old interviews of Shadow this album was supposed to be a alternative to the mainstream rap at the time he was using samples to make a great hip-hop record but it fell into all these different genres because of all the instrumental sampling he always considered himself as a hip hop artist

[@artisans8521]

​@BKLYN_TZU He probably still does. AFAIK, he's very much alive. You last sentence sound like an obituary 😂.

[@tjunglec]

Ed Thigpen sample is flute and vibraphone not celeste. This track and Changeling were revolutionary for me. I love that there's no bass apart from the rhodes and the kick drum... The polytonality. Total banger.Thanks so much !! 😊

[@KarlBoltzmann]

Yeah, Mutual Slump and Changeling (pretty much all of Endtroducing) are timeless gems. They could be released today and they'd still blow my mind.

[@Phoenix_3196a]

You should deconstruct a Death Grips song

[@KarlBoltzmann]

That's not a bad call. For whatever reason I'm more drawn to the 90s and early 2000s sampling scene, but I'll check it out.

[@UrBoiSeb123]

Yo i can help u decontruct The Humpty Dance by Digital Underground, i manage to find all the samples to the song

[@KarlBoltzmann]

Hey, nice! I've always wondered about that bass. If you want to share some details with me, dm me on IG or hmu on my discord

[@suspect86]

I would imagine they didn’t use any compressors at all in the mixing process. Maybe in the mastering stage. If you’re Shadow, you’re sampling sounds that have already been compressed many times over before he sampled them. They probably didn’t need much.

[@KarlBoltzmann]

You bring up a very interesting point. I have put some thought in to this over the years, so I'll give you my take. Most of these sampled tracks were recorded and mastered in the 60s and 70s, so they're not flattened like today's music, which means there is available headroom to play with. This track in particular, you can really hear the compression gluing the cymbals together which helps it sound like a drummer played the phrase instead of it being chopped up. When I AB the tracks with the compressor on and off there is a big difference to my ear anyway and for what it's worth, when I recreate any of these tracks, they all necessitate some compression in order to match what I hear in the tracks I'm recreating. That's my take, but I could be wrong of course.

[@suspect86]

@@KarlBoltzmann I’m of the opinion that it was compressed only in the mastering phase and not during the mixing portion. Like, shadow would’ve handed off his mixes to whoever was mastering it and they did the final EQ Master bus compression. That’s just my opinion. 🤙

[@KarlBoltzmann]

With any luck, maybe one day I'll get to chat w Shadow or Dan the Automator and get an answer to that.

[@suspect86]

You’ll have to include me on those interviews. 😏😂

[@paulserret8599]

Why not try to deconstruct Daft Punk featuring Todd Edwards - Face To Face

[@KarlBoltzmann]

It's definitely on the list.

[@andrzejdudzinski190]

I am pretty sure DJ SHadow used fruity compresor

[@KarlBoltzmann]

Which compressor is that? Do you have a link?

[@andrzejdudzinski190]

@@KarlBoltzmann i was just kidding

[@KarlBoltzmann]

Ah dang! @@andrzejdudzinski190

[@nic3939]

Hi Karl. Recently a lot of the samples from the High Noon track by DJ Shadow has been found, and I've spent the couple last days getting a remake going. Could this be something of interest to you, even maybe something to collaborate on? EDIT: Sent you an email!