Breaks & Samples

Got some new tunes for all you music heads out there, hope you enjoy the originals as much as I do.


The Cyrkle - "Turn-Down Day"

The Cyrkle is a 1960s band that arose from the minds of two college student guitarists, Don Dannemann and Tom Dawes, who later teamed up with Marty Fried and Earl Pickens to create one groovy band. Formerly known as the fratrock band, The Rhondells, The Cyrkle went into a series of hardships and eventually fell apart until the creation of their first big hit, "Red Rubber Ball," which can be found on the b-sides of this 45. Under the management of Brian Epstein, who was also manager of the Beatles, the Cyrkle was a hit until Brian's death which devastated the band and cursed them to their financial downfall and failure to provide song hits. "Turn-Down Day" is a song that symbolizes the "free spirit of teenagers" in the 1960s and 60s rock n roll music. It particularly fits well as a sample used by People Under The Stairs for their version of a "Turn-Down Day."



Chuck Brown & the Soul Searchers - "Bustin' Loose pt. I"

Chuck Brown, aka the Godfather of the 1970s funk soul subgenre, Go-go, is the mastermind behind this 1978 national hit. His music and creation of go-go led the way for many go-go successors of the genre and would later become a major influence to RnB and Rap scene. Although not the first group to sample it, the neptunes-produced beat for Nelly's "Hot in Heree" frames the rhythm section and bumps the track up with heavy kicks and crispy snares. Nelly even shouts out the chuck brown hook at 1:00, then compare it to the "Bustin Loose'" hook, get it? (sigh, 2002... time flies...)



Evelyn "Champagne" King - "The Show Is Over"

If you were at the Break the Silence open mic back in January, you may recognize this song as being one of the last numbers for me to drop. Although she's most remembered from her classic 1980s hit "Love Come Down," I find "The Show Is Over" to be one of my personal favorite tracks, and is notably remembered by its nice groove. To my knowledge this song is sampled as the recurring vocal chant of RJD2's "Final Frontier" and is especially sampled in Ice Cube's "You Know How We Do it."




Bob James - "Blue Lick"

It's always nice to carry a Bob James collection, and even if you don't like easy listening, his album covers of enlarged objects make hilarious props for picture taking. Bob James' music is nothing but chill chamber music. This song is sampled in Digable Planets "Jettin'", catch it in the last 46 seconds of the track and you'll know what I mean.



Bob James - "Angela" (live)

I figured that since I stepped into my Bob James collection, I might as well step down memory lane on one of my personal favorite. The theme song for Taxi, aka "Angela," is just another classic song that remains embedded in my childhood as I glimpse at reminiscing sketches of the multi-voice talented comedian Andy Kaufman (thank you Nick At Night for all the sitcom classics).