DURRR

Their signature sound consisted of layers of found sounds and samples, album graphics and promotional material would frequently be used to make philosphical and artistic statements and the masks they would insist upon wearing for photographs and live performances would eventually become their trademark, but they released their first record almost 15 years before Melody Maker were calling Darlin’ a bunch of “Daft Punk”.

Legendary producer Trevor Horn, along with fellow studio engineers Anne Dudley and Gary Langham would, as the Art Of Noise (with or without the definite article), definine the sample-heavy, genre-bending style later adopted by art-collage superstars such as Coldcut, 2ManyDJs and the KLF. You can read more on them on their wikipedia here, or check out their discography on allmusic.com here.

In the meantime, check out this fantastic video directed by Andy Morahan, one of three versions produced for their 1984 single ‘Close To The Edit’. One of my favourite music videos ever made, it has a vitality and cheerful honesty that is hard to find in todays super-slick graphical environment.

P.S. in a wonderful moment of sampling coming full circle, the track was itself sampled by 2ManyDJs on the brilliant As heard on Radio Soulwax Part 5.

Oh, one more sample related tidbit: does that “Hey!” in Close To The Edit sound strangely familiar?

By david