Deconstructing UNKLE - Rabbit In Your Headlights

[@trakzerak735]

Hands down! UNKLE is one of the most underrated bands ever!

[@MatthewNWilliams]

Psyence Fiction will hold a special place in my heart as one of the albums that lead me to trip hop as a kid. Its unlike anything you can and will hear. Its tracks are phenomenal and also middling at times so its rarely an album ill listen to end to end. I agree with your points that it would of been better trimmed down. Im glad UNKLE are still going, James Lavelle having grown more confident as an artist. The last two albums have been great listening.

[@robgreenlandMusic]

This song is in 9/8, Most of the time, when the break happens the time shifts to 6/8, you can write it out however you want it just depends on what you want it to look like. If I were re-sequencing it I would either be in 3/4 or add changes from 9/8 to 6/8, but with a dotted note for each 8th note. From a drummers perspective I need to count 9 in the first section and then 6 in the second, it swaps feels but you can can count 3, 6 or 9. It's THE best example of a 3, 6, 9 polyrhythm I've found!

[@KarlBoltzmann]

Neat! Thanks for the breakdown Rob. This really is a fascinating track from a rhythmic perspective.

[@RustinChole]

@@KarlBoltzmann thom likes to make things sound impossible to figure out. Obscuring the one is something that’s really cool but also a little infuriating, with songs like the Butcher, I can’t catch the one till like 2.5 mins into the song. And I’m a life long fan and classically trained musician.🤦🏻‍♂️ Another one where he really obscures the one is the new “Last I Heard” release from last year. It sounds like the time changes but if you count the four right it runs through.

[@ThatBonsaipanda]

Interesting. As I'm assuming it's made with the MPC, the base tick behind the scenes is 4/4 running at 150BPM, but the rhythms in the samples make it sound more complex than what it actually is.

[@iamsneddon]

I think the album has its ups and downs. Bloodstain is incredible and just pips this song as my favourite.

[@GLDNSCTN]

Thanks Man! This came out when I was in college and was massive in my musical education. I recently watched the movie Jacob's Ladder, and thats where the Angels/ Devils monologue comes from- a Mystical Chiropracter!

[@KarlBoltzmann]

Awesome, thanks!

[@peteypete1984]

Ur breakdowns and the songs you select are amazing. I love to see this early sampling techniques get some shine, because they are the foundation of what we do today in so many ways

[@KarlBoltzmann]

Absolutely! These tracks have always meant the world to me and to be able to reconstruct them with the original samples is wild. I have unlimited respect for how hard it would have been to create these tracks with the technology they were using. So much dedication to the craft.

[@wolframselling6757]

For me it's the BEST ALBUM ever! I have listened to it about 1000s of times and it never gets boring. Thanks for the Video!!!

[@KarlBoltzmann]

Without a doubt. This album contains a few of my all time favourite tracks. Rabbit In Your Headlights is a masterpiece.

[@CarrieAnne45]

Lol bunny head in your studio! The piano really stood out for me on this track, driving the rhythm.

[@KarlBoltzmann]

I agree! Love that piano loop

[@theblowupdollsmusic]

Really impressive break down and re-creation here. Thank you for taking the time to put this together.

[@KarlBoltzmann]

Cheers

[@blackboogaloo]

My favorite channel by far

[@shalerims4566]

God! I’m gonna break the like button! This is the most entertaining song deconstruction ever!

[@KarlBoltzmann]

[@socky2469]

this is incredible! I would love to see something similar for Be There, that guitar line has had me entranced for days now

[@KarlBoltzmann]

Thanks! I love 'Be There'! I'm working on a deconstruction of 'Unreal' (the instrumental version of 'Be There') Hopefully I can track down a couple more samples and finish that one up soon.

[@Kilamdapro]

This was an amazing deconstruction, one of my favorite songs ever. Thank you for this video

[@KarlBoltzmann]

Thanks! It really is such an amazing song.

[@refraktr6223]

Really glad you made a video on this song. Listening to psyence fiction for the first time was a mind blowin’ experience for me (especially after hearing the song lonely soul) and after seein the mo wax documentary this album impressed me even more.

[@KarlBoltzmann]

Lonely Soul is definitely on the list. It's such a great song, it'll be a lot of fun to figure out how Shadow made it. What's the name of the doc?

[@Matisto1]

@@KarlBoltzmann I think he's referring to "The Man from Mo'Wax"

[@refraktr6223]

@@Matisto1 yep thats the one

[@KarlBoltzmann]

Cool thanks!

[@cdk]

oh man, i love this song., another great video.

[@SendyTheEndless]

You picked the three tracks I listen to regularly from this album, and did a fantastic job recreating them!

[@KarlBoltzmann]

Thank you!

[@cliffsnyder3078]

Considering how well Thom Yorke and DJ Shadow worked together on this song, it's too bad that they didn't do more music together at some point. I haven't listened through the Psyence Fiction album in a long time, but I remember the general feeling of "not really liking it" even though it had some outstanding tracks on it like this one.

[@KarlBoltzmann]

Definitely worth another listen if it's been a while. Most of the music really holds up. Yeah, I wish they had made more music together. Especially consider that Thom is pretty active with with his own musical projects. The Eraser is a great album. kzbin.info/www/bejne/bnKZYWd4j5aMkLc

[@RustinChole]

I know Thom was a HUGE fan of the 1997 releases like DJ Shadow’s “Endtroducing....” Bjork’s “Homogenic,” and Aphex Twin’s “Come To Daddy” - they’re basically the foundations for what Radiohead did on Kid A.

[@danjwalker]

@@RustinChole Exactly

[@chrisjhart]

That was really incredible! Thanks for your hard work in sussing this out, it was very interesting

[@franciscosoares965]

Right after I created a playlist with those songs, I found this video... what a coincidence :) Keep up the good work. Shout out from Portugal!

[@KarlBoltzmann]

Portugal is a beautiful country. Thank you for saying hey!

[@colindickson697]

Love it all the way through, and it was and still is such an important album for me, 97/98 I was searching for something thati needed to hear, but wasn't there, then this appeared. Classic in my eyes and it was my introduction to dj shadow. I was a strange tme in my life I was turning 22 and in an odd place this helped me.

[@jaspermiddleton6399]

These videos are amazing

[@semyonboyk0]

Great stuff, thanks for sharing

[@KarlBoltzmann]

Cheers, thanks

[@justinskomarovsky3546]

First of all bravo to your own sampling skills. You have a phenomenal ear to first unpack Shadow's cut-into-3 beat, and then to recognize that the C# minor piano melody during the drop does *not* exist in the original sample; that Shadow must have composed that layer from scratch -- now unsurprising given how that melody always felt rhythmically in unison with the beat. I would never have learned this if not for your deconstruction. Now onto your question about the better, shorter tracklist: for me, it's this song and that's it. I really like some of the album's other songs, but this track is a masterpiece of sampling, sonic aesthetic, and songwriting. For me it's far and away in a league of its own. The music video is what originally drew me in, but with perspective it's my favorite trip hop beat ever, speaking especially of the drop. This being Shadow's only swung beat in 3, it's really something special. With the 9/8 and 3/4 -- to me just '3' but with tighter and looser swing -- there's an element of anticipation that simply doesn't exist in 4/4 trip hop. Each upbeat makes me *need* the downbeat; each downbeat is relief. Cutting the pattern after 3 beats somehow reinforces that tension further. And something I realized only years after first hearing the song: at the 2nd drop Shadow goes on a fucking 32-bar kick drum journey of his own that never loops. It's a level of nuance and passion for the craft that'd be absurd if it didn't sound so good. Other than what went into constructing 'Angel,' I don't know of that same level of love and detail existing at the core of another trip hop song. (Glory Box is like the polar opposite, effortlessly perfect.) I want to say that with this beat Shadow really fucking lived up to his premise of building steam, from that unremarkable sample's four-bar, 4/4 grain of salt. My apologies for that sentence. I'd love to know the order of ideas. My gut tells me it was the piano chords, then the drum beat, then Thom's bass line. What do you think? Either way it's just a perfect groove when all three come together. The bass line has a melodic drop of its own when the beat itself does. It'll never stop blowing me away that Thom Yorke was the *addition* to a foundation already built so creatively, seemingly unrestricted by samples that would restrict anyone else than DJ Shadow. Thanks for dedicating a deconstruction to this song. I hope it reaches every fan of the song and the genre.

[@KarlBoltzmann]

Amazing comment! Thanks for sharing your thoughts. We're in the same boat when it comes to interesting time signatures being used well. This track is a masterpiece in every single way. It's the overall creativity that blows me away. Nothing like this had been made before and I can't think of anything like it since. Even without the drop, this track would be one of my favourites, but then the drop kicks in and the track finds a whole new dimension. As for the order of ideas, I can almost guarantee that Shadow found and stashed away the piano sample some years before the rest of this would have come together. He probably tried a lot of 3/4, 6/8 drum samples over the piano sample before settling on the drums he used. Thom's bass line was definitely recorded after the track was mostly put together. Likely at the same time they recorded the vocals. Getting to the bottom of where that C# change in the drop came from would be amazing, but I doubt we'll ever know if it was re-recorded or pitch shifted (as I did in the video) or from another piano sample. Who knows if Shadow would even remember where that change came from. You've got a great appreciation for and understanding of this music. Thanks for dropping by!

[@justinskomarovsky3546]

@@KarlBoltzmann You're absolutely right that there was nothing like it before the track, and probably nothing like it since. There was an adaptation of trip-hop beats into indie rock in 2003... it's notable to me because the band Menomena took the style of drum sampling and performed them live on a drum kit, as part of the band. Kind of like when the beat in Pink Floyd's Echoes settles into that vibe. There was also the not-so-veiled trip-hop in Radiohead, such as the end of Optimistic and probably many others I'm not remembering. But Shadow's beat was, as you said, just so damn creative. You'd never expect that kind of groove to hit so well in 3. Of course he'd figure that out though. Also that track that sourced the piano chords is so obscure and freaking long, you must be right too, that he found that bit in his remarkable crate digging years earlier and saved it.

[@KarlBoltzmann]

In terms of interesting time signatures and trip-hop, the other track that comes to mind is Shadow's Changeling. It a very different vibe to Rabbit in Your Headlights, but it shares in it's creativity. I did a deconstruction of that too a while back. kzbin.info/www/bejne/fZSmq3xsmbl1ppI

[@samaantree]

This album is nothing short of a masterpiece. I remember in a documentary DJ shadow and James Lavelle created this album like a journey or a story so each track leads into the other in sequence. Sure you can pick & choose which track you like but I think the idea is to listen to the whole album from start to finish 😊

[@KarlBoltzmann]

Without a doubt, this album is phenomenal. And certainly I'm sure that Lavelle achieved the vision he had for the album. To each their own, but I still feel like it could be more focused and trimmed down. The great tracks sound so good and were produced so well (Shadow) compared to the so-so tracks that they almost don't deserve to be under the same umbrella.

[@vzmol]

Psyence Fiction, where do I start? It was one of the few CDs I bought for the hard earned money back in the day. Be there, Rabbit in your headlights totally convinced me I need it :) And it blew me away. The album is a masterpiece. From the art - those aliens, used font, colors, even the title "psyence fiction" is so cool. I got sucked in, immersed into that mysterious world. I don't know to this day who DJ Shadow and James Lavelle are. But they rock! Haha. The album, the songs... just out of this world. And while the album may seem oddly put together, to me it's one compact piece. It opened my mind to a whole new universe and concepts. For me it represents total creative freedom. Intense songs mixed with dumb "ball buster" commercial. 8 minute songs together with 3 minute ones. Rap, samples, live instruments. Explosive pieces and almost nude ones living on the same record. The album is special to me, but there is so much to appreciate on it even for a new listener. Would definitely recommend listening to it as a whole

[@KarlBoltzmann]

It is a fantastic album, without a doubt. One of my personal favourites! Shadow's contribution is some of this best music to date. There are just a few production details that I would have changed if I was in charge of the album.

[@adamwallacefineart3407]

Nursery Rhyme ft Badly Drawn Boy was always a personal favourite of mine. One of the most played albums of my youth inc Dig your own Hole, New Forms and Extmatr.

[@KarlBoltzmann]

Exit Planet Dust and Dig Your Own Hole will always be special albums for me too. I actually did a deconstruction of The Chemical Brothers - One Too Many Mornings kzbin.info/www/bejne/inqpn6KcobN_hqc

[@adamwallacefineart3407]

@@KarlBoltzmann Yes I've now watched all your deconstructions. Very good stuff. I'm sure your channel will do gangbusters in the coming months. I wonder if you could upload your full deconstruction tracks without drums? As a novice drummer I would really enjoy playing along with them. Cheers.

[@cm5754]

Lonely soul holds up as well.

[@KarlBoltzmann]

Lonely soul is still one of my favourites.

[@DjTripmasta]

Only addition I'd make to your list is "chaos". I've loved that song since I heard Psyence Fiction for the first time back in middle school.

[@KarlBoltzmann]

For sure! I like that track too and it fits well with the mid 90s aesthetics of the album. I was more talking about which tracks would have made for an amazing follow up to Endtroducing and although Chaos is a solid track, it is definitely not Shadow.

[@scottking7186]

Oh man, I like this album! I've always been a big fan of 'Be There' ft. Ian Brown from the Stone Roses. Such a cool album to look at. And the UNKLE main theme, what an interesting tune.

[@KarlBoltzmann]

The chords are interesting in 'Main Title Theme'. It's almost like a transitional track to me, like an introduction to the album. Be There is so good!

[@FrancisNewman-j5k]

Karl thank you this is an amazing breakdown, though I don't know how to only sample the right side of the speakers for the piano sample, how can I do that?? Thank you once again

[@KarlBoltzmann]

Thank you! If you're using Ableton Live, in the Audio Effects tab, find the Utility plugin and add it to the track. Then click where it says "Stereo" and select either the right or left channel. You could also pan the track all the way left or right and render it down as a mono render in order to get the same result.

[@FrancisNewman-j5k]

@@KarlBoltzmann thank you karl!!!! you r the best

[@MrPlannery]

The thing i find fascinating about the samples used in DJ Shadow, UNKLE and massive attack songs is the total obscurity of many them. I thought i was 'into music' but these artists must have a bottomless depth of knowledge.

[@DonnyKirkMusic]

well, think of it this way: when they were crate-digging, they probably got a lot of albums that they, themselves, didn't know about as well, and were surprised at the music that lay within. Also there used to be the whole indie idea of picking out samples from obscure sources because that was kind of what was in at the time. This was the late 90s/early 2000s after all...the style was to be truly underground and to try to capture a part of the past and bring it toward the future, and that meant taking pieces from music from 30 years ago (at the time) and manipulating it

[@theneonchimpchannel9095]

I always thought that piano sample was from a film soundtrack, I don't know where I got that idea. It does sound like something from a thriller though. As for the album, it was the first time I ever gave this kind of music a chance. I wasn't into rap or hip hop, but I love Richard Ashcroft and Radiohead so I gave the album a chance purely because of their involvement. It opened a whole new world to me that I probably never would have given a chance otherwise. I'm still not keen on most rap, but I do like trip hop a lot, especially the unusual cut up drums that DJ Shadow is so good at. Where as rap and hip hop tend to be a bit more aggressive, trip hop is more mellow, atmospheric and emotional. It's taking the tools of hip hop and dance music and making something almost otherworldly. So I have this album to thank for introducing me to trip hop, DJ Shadow in particular. I'm now starting to get into Massive Attack and Portishead.

[@KarlBoltzmann]

Glad you stumbled on this album! it's one of the best of the genre. IMO Shadow was really hitting his stride around this time.

[@DanHendricks]

Celestial Annihilation sounds a lot like some of the stuff shadow is making in 2023 on his new record

[@KarlBoltzmann]

Yeah, I wonder what his creative process is these days.

[@Matisto1]

Hello Karl, thanks for the vid and great picks on the songs that you would feature. I've had Lonely Soul in my favorites list on Spotify for years now, this is by far my favorite Unkle song. I think it has to do with the drums, violin parts (dramatic :)) but I think it mostly resonates with people because of the lyrics. Oh and btw the song by supersister "Pudding en Gisteren" litteraly translates to "Pudding and Yesterday".

[@KarlBoltzmann]

Oops, thank you for the correction! Lonely Soul is my second favourite track from the album. That composition is crazy good and I will definitely be deconstructing that in the near future. LOVE those strings!

[@Matisto1]

@@KarlBoltzmann I get why you thought it ment "songs for ballet" because normally when people put stuff in brackets after the title it's the alternative or translated title. Supersister apperently didn't really like sticking to the norm :p

[@KarlBoltzmann]

No they didn't! Gotta respect the musicians who push boundaries. Opens up new creative doors for the rest of us.

[@gimmypih]

I was all set to argue with you about how there are other good tracks on Psyence Fiction, but after a quick flick through I have to concede to the fact that you're probably right. 'The Knock' is kinda cool, and the version of 'Nursery Rhyme' isn't as good as the one used in that Unkle Vs Scratch Perverts BBC Breezeblock mix, which is something I'd totally forgotten about and now need to listen to again!

[@KarlBoltzmann]

Hey, thanks for bringing that up! I was going to mention 'Nursery Rhyme' because it is a great track, but its greatness is hidden under that terrible mix. 'Drums of Death pt 2' is close but it just doesn't speak to me in any way. It feels forced. Is this the version of 'Nursery Rhyme' you were talking about? kzbin.info/www/bejne/epW3lIyHp7V7ick that's a cool mix.

[@gimmypih]

@@KarlBoltzmann Yeah, it is that one. It's weird because I'm sure I remember hearing another version of it that was less guitar-heavy and a bit more melancholy, but after spending a while trawling across the Internet I'm starting to think that I'ce imagined it.

[@KarlBoltzmann]

I get that. Let me know if you run into the version you're thinking of.

[@victorchapa6307]

I gravitate towards the instrumental versions of both songs. Shadow can never go wrong; also, Jason Newsted's bass playing in The Knock is superb. 👌

[@MarkusAudio]

Headlights and Be There/Unreal, Psyence's finest moments :-) Eye For An Eye, follow up!

[@secretsunofficial]

Filla Brazillia - Spill The Beans and Swedish band Koop did some 3/4 beats

[@musicfreaksco]

I agree with your EP take The tracklist that I think would have done the album better is Intro (Optional) 1. Guns Blazing drums of death pt. 1 2. Unkle main theme 3. Unreal 4. Bloodstain 5. Lonely Soul 6. The knock drums of death pt. 2 7. Chaos Outro (Mandatory) Just my take on it Note: I added Chaos purely for the intro that sorta makes sense with outro

[@KarlBoltzmann]

Great list! The album is a classic no matter what, but I still feel like it could have been organized better. Maybe it's simply a product of it's time than anything else.

[@edjwise]

Speaking about the timing... I remember shadow talking about the private press and how some old dude was talking about how your music will never be new if you are using 4/4 timing like everyone else.

[@KarlBoltzmann]

Great comment! Music is so much more than 4/4. From my experience, utilizing interesting time signatures is a bit like opening a new musical dimension. Combine that with some creative rhythms and sounds and there is a whole universe of new musical ideas available. Producing it in a way that is understandable and palatable can difficult however.

[@haythamfpv]

thanks m8!

[@hihihi8447]

Great video. As a recommendation for another Shadow deconstruction. You should do Changeling. I’ve tried to recreate it before. And there’s a lot of weird cool stuff going.

[@KarlBoltzmann]

That's a great tune, thanks for the suggestion! Did you have any luck with recreating it?

[@hihihi8447]

@@KarlBoltzmann Not entirely. But the chopping up of the drum sample was a fun exercise.

[@JohnNumber1]

Is there any version that is just instrumental? I’ve tried for finding it before but with no luck.

[@KarlBoltzmann]

As far as I know, they never released an instrumental version of this track.

[@JohnNumber1]

@@KarlBoltzmann Gotcha, well thanks for commenting👍.

[@MrPlannery]

​@@JohnNumber1this isn't correct afaik. The original CD release (which I have somewhere and need to check) contains a few versions and remixes, including an instrumental. It's even here on KZbin.

[@JohnNumber1]

@@MrPlannery Found it last night👍, heard it before months ago but couldn’t find it since till yesterday.

[@JohnNumber1]

The channel that had the full CD release got terminated so it’s gone from KZbin again, unless someone else uploads it again.

[@Trendyflute]

I enjoy this album a lot and can listen to it from beginning to end, though there are some tracks I skip more often than others. My favorite tracks from this album are this and Nursery Rhyme/Breather. Can't forget Lonely Soul either.

[@KarlBoltzmann]

Lonely Soul will always be a personal favourite. I looked into deconstructing it, but a lot of the elements including the beautiful strings were composed and recorded and not sampled.

[@RustinChole]

Thom didn’t just sing - the piano and bass riffs are his. All the same, DJ Shadow makes it a masterpiece - what a beautiful, perfect collaboration.

[@KarlBoltzmann]

An amazing collaboration indeed! I know that the bass was played by Thom, but I'm pretty sure (as I think I demonstrated in the video) that the piano was all sampled. Maybe around the 3:30 mark the piano might have been overdubbed? I don't know for sure.

[@RustinChole]

@@KarlBoltzmann nope - you’re right about the piano. That’s crazy cause there is a pre-UNKLE version from Thom....... gonna have to find that and the Shadow interview now. Good ear btw!!!

[@KarlBoltzmann]

Thanks! And if you do find that alternative version, please pass along a link, I'd love to hear it!

[@RustinChole]

@@KarlBoltzmann here’s one alternate version I don’t know the recording date of: kzbin.info/www/bejne/i3mld4KYo66jjZI

[@RustinChole]

@@KarlBoltzmann this is a way better quality live version where they punch the end. Both recorded long after Unkle tho - figured you might enjoy it if you’re a superfan like me. kzbin.info/www/bejne/pZ7EqmV5irmDabc

[@calebkammerer1645]

Cool video! Your information is awesome. You know your stuff and did your homework. I’m not as musically inclined. I just know what I like. I have to disagree that it would be better as an EP with just the tracks featuring vocals. I think it’s one of the best albums ever from beginning to end. Removing any of it greatly depreciates the genius that is DJ Shadow. He is maybe the greatest sampler and best producer of all time.

[@KarlBoltzmann]

Thanks for the comment! In many ways I agree. I think it's shadow at his creative peak and honestly, it's lucky this album with these collaborations was made at all. That being said, I will die on the hill that there is unnecessary bloat that shouldn't have made the cut and a few tracks that just don't hit. However, the good on Psyence Fiction is so incredibly top tier that they could have added 100 more bloated/mediocre songs and it would still be a classic 10 out of 10.

[@danjwalker]

I'm only 9 minutes deep and I've exclaimed out loud "no shit!" several times. To clarify, "no shit" is an expression I use when I'm surprised by new information I never expected.

[@KarlBoltzmann]

Had me in the first half :) Glad you enjoyed it!

[@DD_Franks]

Haha Karl... Your face turned rabbit made me smile. You made my day. Hearing you speak about prog rock reminded me of this Canadian band: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gKamomykbc-Kbqc Give it a listen, especially the last song 'les porches'. The french vocal begs to be sampled. So beautiful. Take care! DD

[@KarlBoltzmann]

Thanks DD! Interesting that you brought up this French Canadian band. These tracks are really beautiful and could contain some material to sample no doubt. If it were me, I would probably sample some of the piano riffs, maybe from the second to last track. I often find myself drawn to QC production styles. There is a certain melancholy that is unique to QC and the music they produce. It's genuinely lovely. At least from the relatively small sample size I've heard. Thanks for sharing this

[@kevinadams6036]

Sounds very much like Eric Satie

[@kevinadams6036]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/iV67nmqpbsp6rrc

[@KarlBoltzmann]

I agree. It was probably inspired by Satie

[@paolom4038]

Ti amo cazzo

[@KarlBoltzmann]

[@hookback]

UNKLE, not Unkle.

[@KarlBoltzmann]

Oops. Thanks for bringing that to my attention.