Retro vocals with modern accompaniment?

August 11, 2006 10:02 AM

What songs/artists are out there that use older vocals over a modernized background track?

Two examples of songs I'm thinking of in this vein are the first minute or so of Loo & Placido's Black Beatles and Away Team's Where Do I Begin; what else is out there in terms of this musical style?

posted by Hot Like Your 12V Wire to Media & Arts (19 answers total)

The first Vast album, Visual Audio Sensory Theater, has a song called Dirty Hole which includes a recording of a chain gang as a tempo-setting device. There are few more songs on that album that do something similar, notably I'm Dying. There are other lyrics over the chanting, so it may not be exactly what you're looking for
posted by hoborg at 10:09 AM on August 11, 2006

Portishead tended to use samples from 1950's singers over 1990s trip-hop. Western Eyes from their second self-titled album might be a good example of this.
posted by randomination at 10:14 AM on August 11, 2006

Moby did a lot of this on Play.
posted by BorgLove at 10:19 AM on August 11, 2006

Enigma's "Callas Went Away" features Maria Callas among other sources. "Sadeness," also on MCMXC A.D., includes Gregorian chant -- recorded recently, but still sounding very old. Both draw from many sources and just incorporate these older recordings -- even if it's not exactly what you want (I can't listen to your example now), it should be interesting.

There's also always the Grey Album, but again, it's a mashup thing.
posted by booksandlibretti at 10:21 AM on August 11, 2006

All the Verve Remixed albums are like this. The amount of the original music they use varies, but they all use the original vocals.
posted by smackfu at 10:22 AM on August 11, 2006

Elvis vs. JXL
posted by unknowncommand at 10:23 AM on August 11, 2006

Venetian Snares use samples from Billie Holiday's cover of Gloomy Sunday on ÖNGYILKOS VASÁRNAP (mp3 sample) from the ROSSZ CSILLAG ALATT SZÜLETETT album (I think there's some other examples on this album, too) and some unknown (to me) samples of a female jazz singer on this single.
posted by nTeleKy at 10:33 AM on August 11, 2006

I'm starting to see a lot of BT vs The Doors and Crystal Method vs The Doors lately, I hope that keeps up.
posted by neilkod at 10:38 AM on August 11, 2006 [1 favorite]

"Standing Outside a Broken Phone Booth with Money In My Hand" by Primitive Radio Gods comes to mind.
posted by kindall at 10:40 AM on August 11, 2006

De Phazz (jazz), RJD2 (jazz), Danger Mouse's White Album (bootleg Beatles samples), Coldcut (heavy sampling from all over), Thievery Corporation's recent remix of the Doors' Strange Days.

Among downtempo and avant garde electronica, you could count it as a genre convention -- there are too many to count. Verve Remixed, Science Fiction Jazz, and other compilations are just where it's organized as such.

Many many hundreds of examples. ; - P
posted by cowbellemoo at 11:06 AM on August 11, 2006

Check out the Kleptones, particularly their album "From Detroit to J.A."
posted by headlessagnew at 11:34 AM on August 11, 2006

I assume you're not looking for manipulated snippets a la Danger Mouse or RJD2, etc., but rather for anachronistic blends? Not that it's such an old melody, but I've heard a version of the "Sesame Street" theme song over a driving techno beat. And x amounta people have used that crazy part of Carmina Burana.
posted by LDL_Plackenfatz at 12:09 PM on August 11, 2006

Baz Luhrman's "Happy Feet ", from his movie Strictly Ballroom. I have the version on the CD "Something For Everybody"
posted by dr. fresh at 12:29 PM on August 11, 2006

"Of My Native Land" by Clothesline Revival mixes plain old guitar etc. covers of oldtimey songs with more modern orchestration. Delicious.
posted by amery at 1:45 PM on August 11, 2006

Check out the song "Boll Weevil" by Greg Hale Jones (RIP). This interview talks about some of his other songs that do this old/new thing.
posted by Kloryne at 5:07 PM on August 11, 2006

King Britt Presents Sister Gertrude Morgan. Fabulous album.
posted by misozaki at 5:21 PM on August 11, 2006

The Verve Remixed series are a little inconsistent but wonderful in spots.
posted by bink at 8:28 PM on August 11, 2006

...as smackfu already said.
posted by bink at 8:28 PM on August 11, 2006

"The Child" by Alex Gopher. According to IMDB, it's the song that was playing in the peep show part of Amelie.
posted by dmo at 8:56 PM on August 11, 2006