MFSP pres. "Sampled From ... " with Tim Beuckels

Ghent based restaurant-cum-dancefloor Amigo has invited some of their extended family members to curate a series of mixtapes, dedicated to make you feel just that little bit more hungry. And willing.

Our January issue is created by Tim Beuckels. Labelboss, food lover and most of all a great musical mind. We’ll let him do the talking..

My name is Tim and I started Ghent based indie label Unday Records (Trixie Whitley, Millionaire, Dijf Sanders, Mauro Pawlowski…) almost ten years ago. 

Although I mostly listen to sad folk and weeping country when I’m alone, I often turn to jazz, grooves, funk, brazilian stuff from the Seventies and African music when there’s people around. As no one cares for a depressing or ultra weird soundtrack to his dinner party with friends, I dug up this comforting, upbeat selection from my record collection. This is probably the most happy and danceable version of myself, hope you like it. 

Oh man, this made me realise how I long for a carefree germ free and curfew free dinner with friends.

Ever since I started digging Dj Shadow in the nineties, I have been captivated by sampling. Before whosampled.com was launched (a brilliant online database of sampled tracks), me and some friends were geeking out on originals, keeping lists and exchanging cd-roms (google it kids) 

Below is a list of 10 originals that I discovered through the tracks that sampled them. You know that AHA moment when you realise that the epic hook or break was in fact sampled in its entirety. This list is an homage to that AHA-feeling. It could be 100 tracks but I only had time for 10.

Listen to Tim’s mix for Music For Sharing Plates, aired on 13.01.21 at 13h CET via wearevarious.com

Pretty subtle sample to kick off. Drake used the drum machine beat from Timmy Thomas’ anti Vietnam anthem for his 2016 smash ‘Hotline Bling’. Timmy Thomas said at the time: “I want to meet Drake one day and just give him a big hug (…) I was so deeply honoured in my heart that he used my original music.”

One of the most epic samples of all time. Brilliant orchestral groover, produced by legendary David Axelrod, it later became the hook of The Next Episode by Dr Dre and Snoop. (and a dozen other hip hop tracks)

Ok not a hidden gem anymore, but the first time I heard it, I couldn’t believe it. The iconic sample starts 2.09’. No spoilers, just hit play.

The bassline was sampled in Stetsasonic’s ‘Talking all that jazz’ from ‘88 (and 15 other songs), but this sample introduced me to Lonnie. Next to the memorable bassline, this is probably the best triangle playing I’ve ever heard 🙂

Written by Burt Bacharach, first classic version by Dionne Warwick, covered by king Isaac Hayes. Hooverphonic (then Hoover) used the entire hook of this version for their single ‘2 Wicky’. That makes three legends (plus Alex Callier)

Fatboy Slim’s sample may sound a little outdated, the original most definitely does not. Yarbrough stated that the song was written for “all the people who had come through the black civil rights movement, who had stood up for truth and righteousness and justice, because human beings need to praise and respect one another more than they do” Sounds pretty relevant today.

Listening to Portishead in their heydays introduced me to a lot of originals. Portishead slowed this one down and made it the hook of their ‘Sour Times’ single from ‘94. Lalo Schiffrin is an Argentinian composer, he wrote this for the ‘Mission Impossible’ TV series. 

Odd one out maybe, but such a cool track. I only recently realised that this is like the entire loop from MIA’s Paper Planes. Always ahead of their time, these guys. 

This is the main hook of Dj Shadow’s ‘Midnight in a Perfect World’ from 1996. To me, Dj Shadow is the master of using inventive sampling to make the ultimate collage music. It’s a tribute and a completely new work at the same time.

Ok not a sample, but really nice to find out that Mac Demarco’s Chamber of Reflection was actually an interpretation of a track by this Japanese Electone player from the Seventies.