Deconstructing DJ Shadow - Stem/Long Stem

[@domnelson5063]

These decinstructions should have 100x as many views. Great work

[@meatsuit6922]

What?????? The drums on this track make the whole song!! Some of the most inventive drum production of the whole era

[@KarlBoltzmann]

100% the drums are really innovative and fresh for the time. They just never spoke to me the way his other drum edits did.

[@djweego]

I love the fact that the original Osanna sample is re-recorded backwards. I mean if you listen to it backwards you will hear the strings fall down naturally. Osanna plays the tape backwards on their song. Great job Karl I'm a big fan of Endtroducing myself since 1996 and I would be very happy to hear your reconstructions in their entirety. Peace from France!

[@KarlBoltzmann]

That's an awesome piece of info! I had no idea. It's such a unique track. And thanks for that suggestion. I have considered putting my reconstructions out there just for the heck of it. I've also got a plan to do some Endtroducing sample mashups/exploration in the near future!

[@cliffsnyder3620]

I always try to guess where the rest of the song is headed when you start up a familiar sample. In the case of Osanna, I never would have guessed flute prog! Agreed about the Mother Mallard track. I've never heard of them before, but I love 70s synth explorations, so I've got my listening set for the morning while I check them out. Thanks for another great video!

[@KarlBoltzmann]

Thanks Cliff! That Osanna track is equal parts awesome and hard to listen to. Mother Mallard's Oleo Strut is an amazing piece but unfortunately I couldn't find much more of their work and the few tracks I did find didn't compare.

[@thekassette]

I’m not a producer or engineer, but these videos are still some of my favorite content on the internet. Much appreciation. Do you have plans to make your final reconstructions available anywhere just for kicks?

[@KarlBoltzmann]

Thanks, I really appreciate that! That's a good question. I don't have any plans to post the reconstructions, but I am working on a project involving the samples and tracks from Endtroducing.

[@JamesOversteer]

Another fucking phenomenal video Karl. You deserve FAR more views.

[@KarlBoltzmann]

Thanks James!

[@nxtseq]

First of all, amazing job with the deconstruction. This is one of my favourite Shadow tracks (with High Noon being the absolute favourite). You deserve way more views!

[@KarlBoltzmann]

I appreciate that, thanks! I am actually working on deconstructing High Noon right now. It's one of my personal favourites too.

[@nxtseq]

​ @Karl Boltzmann wow, really cool! too bad there are still a lot of samples which aren't found yet in that track. i've studied that track by listening to it with different stereo-tricks. slap on the "Difference" preset in Ableton's utility on the track and listen to the part with the organ in the start. after two loops, a hidden sample appears under it all which sounds like vocals, strings and more elements combined. when I first heard this I was like wow, there is even more stuff going on under here! what a tune. I can definately see why that song was hard to mix. there is so much stuff going on gathered from so many recordings!

[@KarlBoltzmann]

@@nxtseq Very cool! If you can hear that, you've got a great ear! I'm definitely having a tough time with High Noon. Even the drum samples were manipulated in a very strange, re-amped/distorted/eq'd way that I can't replicate. Plenty of noises in that track that are hard to pin down. I might have to re-record some of it in order to reconstruct. We'll see. Maybe I can find some of the lost samples somewhere.

[@nxtseq]

@@KarlBoltzmann Thanks! I’m not sure if you know this but I think the drums are a combination of both «Flashing» and Hendrix’s «Day Tripper» , so i’ve heard and it seems right if you listen to Day Tripper. Hope that can be of help

[@KarlBoltzmann]

@@nxtseq That's wild! I didn't know about "Day Tripper". Out of curiosity, where did you read/hear about it? From what I've deconstructed so far, I'm not exactly sure where it would fit in HN (maybe it's a resampled snare or something?), but I'm looking forward to checking it out later! Thanks for the help

[@cdk]

probably the best dj shadow song there is (excluding colabs)

[@redsagan7188]

Thank you thank you thank you! For making these video.

[@KarlBoltzmann]

[@Flexystentual]

awesome video, always assumed there'd be way more samples. Always thought that the drums on this were awesome. Definitely one of my fave Shadow tracks and gives goosebumps everytime, but especially the cops'n'robbers remix

[@Matisto1]

Thanks for the vid Karl, this has some awesome samples!

[@jamesreid8840]

Good work again Karl 😉 keep it up fella 👍

[@SamlaleoSingh]

Awesome

[@VictorPM1550]

There is a striking difference between your copy of Mother Mallard's and DJ Shadow's copy 😊 He used a notably eccentric vinyl pressing. Yours is such a relief to my ears now finally after all these years 😎

[@KarlBoltzmann]

Whoa, really? I had no idea. Do you have a rip of the copy he used somewhere I can hear? I absolutely love Oleo Strut

[@VictorPM1550]

@@KarlBoltzmann A rip? No, why? I only have the Endtroducing CD. Just by listening to Long Stem you can see the needle sway, so to speak. In typical 33 rpm. What do you call it in English, wow, flutter? In dutch we have the spot-on expression: we call it "janken", translated: "whining".

[@KarlBoltzmann]

@@VictorPM1550 Oh I see. Just a misunderstanding! Yes, with a lot of the Deconstructions I do, I can notice little details like that. Differences between the version of the recording (a rip) and the record Shadow used for the his sample. It's subtle but it's there. Good ear!

[@felicismoon9999]

Great video!! I totally agree with your comment concerning the drums at 9:21. I’m not that fond of them. I still really like the song though!

[@meggaultraglobalcomnet3713]

Those are my favorite drums ever btw.

[@redsagan7188]

This album is audio theatre for me

[@wallacehardiniii9038]

And that's just it. You'll never be able to do what Shadow does. The mystery still lives!!!!!!

[@KarlBoltzmann]

No no, I will never be able to do what he did! I just want to show some of the roads he would have walked down with these samples and how he used them.

[@wallacehardiniii9038]

@@KarlBoltzmann I didn't mean you personally. My bad. Could have worded that better. I love this video. You did your thing on this. Shadow is just something of another universe.

[@KarlBoltzmann]

All good! His ear and ability to mash together interesting sounds is amazing.

[@kazzykasborne]

I always loved the string sample ! very interesting original song too though

[@KarlBoltzmann]

Yeah, it's such a great sample from an unlikely source.

[@zackbarton7859]

Wonderful video. Do you have any idea where the “RETROACTIVE” sample in this song is from? I’ve been wondering for years. Thank you.

[@KarlBoltzmann]

That's a great question and I wish I knew. It is known however that the next vocal sample in that sequence that sounds like "decide" (KRS-One's lyric is actually "suicide") is from Just-Ice & KRS-One's track Moshitup kzbin.info/www/bejne/rn_LeoSDqJZ7r7s

[@dredder9325]

awesome fucking channel

[@KarlBoltzmann]

Thank you!

[@g323g]

I agree about the drums

[@KarlBoltzmann]

I think you're the first person to agree with me on that.

[@Cameron-c2p]

Hey what other samples wouldve worked perfectly with this Im talking about samples that weren't sampled in stem long stem but wouldve worked

[@KarlBoltzmann]

There are a million and one different sample combos that could work. I've done a few mashups of different Shadow samples from around this period to see what they might sound like together. Here's an example with the harp from Stem. soundcloud.com/user-524898025/karl-boltzmann-unrealstemorgan-donor-mashup?in=user-524898025/sets/dj-shadow-mashups-and-re-imaginations

[@Cameron-c2p]

Thx bro I appreciate it

[@Cameron-c2p]

14:52 sounds like minecraft music

[@kevbomb]

I always thought that voice sample was Elliot Gould for some reason, taken from a film or something

[@sooperheep]

what about the bass thing at the end? always wondered about that

[@KarlBoltzmann]

Do you mean this drone bit at the end? That is "Mother Mallard's Portable Masterpiece Company - Oleo Strut". An incredible track in its own right. kzbin.info/www/bejne/nZbPiIeAqJaAitk Go to the 6 min mark to hear the sample that Shadow used.

[@sooperheep]

no its just a few bass notes at 6:14 as the Dennis Linde riff comes back in, that was always my favorite part@@KarlBoltzmann

[@KarlBoltzmann]

I checked through Dennis Linde's - Linde Manor, where the guitar is sampled from because there is a bass playing, but those bass notes don't show up in that track. I'm not sure, sorry.

[@sooperheep]

Yeah that bass part just hasn’t been discovered yet I guess, I checked the sample sites. Who knows, Shadow could’ve played it himself😄 it’s just such a transcendent part that I’d love to know more about it@@KarlBoltzmann

[@Atlas65]

These drums that you are not a fan of, reminds strongly of SquarePusher or Aphex Twin drums, Drill 'n Bass, which is a recurring theme from Aphex. I don't know who came up with this style for the first time. Them or DJ Shadow

[@Nome_utente_generico]

both Justice and dj Shadow sampled music from the soundtracks of seventies Italian cinema: Goblins and Osanna (Milano calibro 9, meaning Milan cal. 9 mm) is pronounced Meelano qaleebro noveh 🤓 . Cheers from Italy

[@KarlBoltzmann]

Cheers, thanks!