Defected’s Ben Lovett examines both the history and continuing appeal of the disco loop.
What is it about the disco loop, that sample of Seventies goodness, that has so inspired house music production over the past 25 years or so? Sampling of disco records, both classic and obscure, has become a firmly entrenched part of club culture - even if today’s orbiting of the mirrorball is less pronounced that it was during the heyday 1990s. The technique first reared its funky head through a handful of adventurous producers during the latter half of the preceding decade but if we are to fully understand its evolution, then it is probably wise to wind back to the 1970s themselves and disco remix revolutionary Tom Moulton.
It was Moulton who effectively introduced the 12” disco single, the disco break and extended disco remix, all in one fell swoop. Of his experiences at legendary Long Island nightclub Fire Island he once commented: “All the songs were 3 minutes long and I went ‘It’s a shame because the minute the song is over they start mixing in this other song and they [the crowd] don’t know whether they should dance to the new song or keep dancing to the old one’. And then people would just walk off the floor.... I said ‘there’s got to be a way to make it [the records] longer where you don’t lose that feeling’.”
Subsequently, Moulton became the go-to guy for extended remixes of key disco tracks and, in the process of lengthening Don Downing’s Dream World for Scepter Records, used an extended drum break to tackle the problem of key changes on the original master. Such experimentation pandered increasingly to an audience keen to string out the elusive dancefloor groove for as long as possible.
According to Master At Work Kenny ‘Dope’ Gonzalez that same desire would, in turn, fuel house music’s disco sample culture. House had, of course, evolved from disco, steering its uniquely uplifting, uptempo sound towards technological innovations that made beats and b-lines more intense; all whilst adding the precise, programmed rush of synthesizers and a wealth of other atmospheric ‘black box’ audio. “House’s ties to disco have always been strong” Gonzalez suggests. “The sampling thing came in for much the same reason that those long disco remixes did. It was for the clubs...it was a way to extend those records where, otherwise, there was no break. At the same time, the amazing feeling of those disco records, and the instrumentation.... As kids, back in the day, we didn’t access to instrumentation, so being able to sample these rich sounds from older disco records allowed us to take our music to the next level...to be really creative and enhance the groove.”
Brit-based disco-house don Dave Lee (AKA Joey Negro) was one of the first artists to incorporate disco samples into house music when his career began in 1988. Together Forever, released as Raven Maize, sampled Exodus’ 1982 disco-stomper of the same name and promptly ignited Lee’s reputation as a DJ-producer. Lee himself flags Dem Niggas’ (AKA Basement Boy Thomas David) Modern Romance-sampling Git The Hole, recorded in 1987, as the first true disco loop cut, before highlighting Dance, Pal Joey’s 1990 foray as Earth People, as the genre’s (if it can be called that) major breakthrough moment; what with those swaggering excerpts from Carl Bean’s I Was Born This Way. Already in the mainstream, Black Box had sampled Loleatta Holloway for 1989 chart-topper Ride On Time, but just vocals rather than any wider passages of original groove.
“House records were easier to make around a disco sample containing so many musical riches” Lee says. “It was simple to take something from a major disco record, add the kick drums, add the hi-hats and there you were. You had all that musicianship and quality instantly at your disposal; the challenge, of course, was to do the thing right and do it creative. Not everyone could.”
Parisian Robsoul chief Phil Weeks, renowned for his sampling dexterity as both DJ and producer, points towards track tempos. “It was easier [to sample] because disco sped up during the Seventies and then with house at a similar speed...sure the drums were really good and disco records had those nice acoustic and microphone sounds but it was the speed that appealed to a lot of producers. I like to sample a variety of different music, like soul, funk and hip-hop, but I will do disco, still, if the idea and original record is really good.”
The disco loop whirled with far greater intensity during the Nineties; the earlier pioneering exploits of Joey, Lee, and producers including the Basement Boys, Roger Sanchez (The Underground Solution’s Loose Joints-lifting Luv Dancin’) and MAW paving the way for significantly heavier use of the sample over the next few years. Gonzalez and MAW partner ‘Little’ Louie Vega would push house music to all sorts of soulful limits throughout the Nineties, not least via disco loop jams including Odyssey (stylishly tapping Ashford & Simpson’s Bourgie Bourgie), and Just Believe. However it was Gonzalez’ confident marriage of horn-y blasts from Chicago’s 1979 lick Street Player to snaking house beats, resulting in The Buckethead’s smash The Bomb!, that would really make waves in 1995 – a perfect reflection of the decade’s thirst for retro sampling.
“When I made that record it took a while to edit and chop the samples the way I wanted” Gonzalez picks up. “I spent time with it, y’know? I wanted to make the sample work on another level. It’s great that it got that reaction and introduced a new generation of people to disco music. A lot of us were experimenting with samples at the time - Dave Lee, Carter [Derrick], Sneak, Louie. We chopped those samples so much into these crazy edits that, in the end, it was a game to trying to identify them. There was a lot we could use, some samples had up to 20 instruments playing and the original records weren’t always in key which added a great organic edge.”
Matthew Styles, who this month masquerades as Boe & Zak for his own disco-loop gem Looking For Love (inspired by Vincent Montana Jr’s 1979 Goody Goody project), fondly remembers DJ Sneak’s mountainous 1995 house workout You Can’t Hide From Your Bud, built upon tightly wound snatches of Teddy Pendergrass’ You Can’t Hide From Yourself. The track (like Looking For Love also released via Classic) was another apex for the disco sample. “That was classic Sneak” he enthuses. “He was so clever with those heavily filtered disco loops. I think he sold 60,000 copies of You Can’t Hide. I can believe it, his combination of texture, soul and energy was amazing.” There was equal success for disco-referencing licks by Soulsearcher, Disco Elements’ Rob Mello and Zaki D, Subliminal trio Erick Morillo, Harry ‘Choo Choo’ Romero and Jose Nunez, and emerging French housers Daft Punk, Alan Braxe and DJ Falcon (all connected to the renowned Roulé imprint).
Mark Summers at Scorccio ‘replayed’ the Montana Jr. sample on 'Looking For Love'. “I love Goody Goody” says Styles. "I did something with it for my live set because I needed something to effectively change the mood. My friends loved it and urged me to release an edit, but I didn’t want any [sample] clearance issues. By getting Scorccio Sample Replays to remake and produce what we needed, we had the multi-tracks and could be even more free and creative. For me, the disco era was the peak of dance recording. There were so many talented people involved and such energy and variety of influences. When you loop and concentrate that fusion you get something even more hypnotic and soulful.”
The loop, perhaps inevitably, faded in the Noughties through sheer over-saturation. “It got heavily overdone,” Lee comments. “You had some shockingly predictable retreads of the same records.” The same disco records are still being sampled today, yet Gonzalez remains optimistic: “My girlfriend said to me only yesterday ‘I can’t believe they’ve released another Street Player dance record!’ It’s not enough I worked that record to death! But, no, it feels like house has returned to the Nineties...that we’re starting over again, but are way smarter now. That’s dope for the veterans but it’s also totally new for the younger generations. The technology today is amazing; today, I could sample Street Player the way I want in seconds rather than hours. Some of the kids are doing some great stuff because they’ve got a lot more options and flexibility now.”
Weeks also acknowledges the up-and-coming talent but retains some scepticism. “The newer digital technology isn’t right; the machines are cleaning the samples up too much” he argues. “Maybe people like this clean sound but, to me, it’s less rounded and more aggressive. That warm analogue swing is missing.”
Weeks continues: “Many artists today can buy multi-track samples on the internet for €200 a time but that money would also buy an Akai S950 sampler and give them a much wider creative platform for a lower investment. It’s what Sneak uses... I do too. Last month I live streamed myself recording a track so people can see the full range of possibilities with a sampler. The sample is another form of expression; it’s totally art. I can edit, filter, change the pitch and mould a sample to sound like keyboards, horns or even violins. The sample is another instrument and my main pleasure as an artist is in using it to create something really different. Of course, you can just simply loop some disco up, or whatever, but today you’d need to loop that shit good!”
Gonzalez is looking forward to making some fresh disco-loop tracks, though today he works as much with sampling software as he does live orchestras. “It’s on my list of things to do. I love that disco is back, not just through sampling but through this whole disco edit thing and acts like Daft Punk collaborating with Nile Rodgers on brand new songs. It’s a positive, educational time for the kids coming through.”
Styles, synonymous with all manner of underground house and techno, would also consider further disco shakes beyond Looking For Love. “It depends if the idea is there” he concludes, “and the sample. Artistically it’s fine if the ideas are good.” Would Montana Jr approve of Looking For Love if he were still alive? “Yes, I think so. He once gave an interview to DJhistory.com and said he loved sampling, and the fact other people were exploring and using his music. That and the fact he was getting paid for doing nothing!”
Words: Ben Lovett
Boe & Zak’s Looking For Love is out now – buy from Beatport
