Tuesday, September 14, 2010: TWOfer Tuesday - The Amen Break Edition

I love learning about music.  And music history.  And pop culture.

And today, good neighbours, is a huge, heaping plateful of learning about all three. And then some. Today is all about the "Amen Break".

Even if you don't know what the Amen Break is by name, you've most certainly have heard it before.

It originally comes from this track, "Amen Brother" by The Winstons, the B-side to their 1969 Top 10 hit "Color Him Father".




So, did you hear it? Go back and listen from approx. 1:27 - 1:34. Actually, never mind.

Scratch that.  Go straight to the next clip.

It is not the second selection for our TWOfer Tuesday, rather it is the lesson for today, brought to you by the wonderful writer and archivist Nate Harrison.

This comes from his 2004 project Can I Get An Amen, a complete history about the Amen Break.




Nate Harrison is the writer I long to become. Don't let his deadpan delivery turn you off, his 18 minute history of the Amen Break is filled with wit, humour, sarcasm and insight I would give my right arm for. Pay attention especially around 7:08 - 7:38 in the commentary to see exactly what I mean.

The story of the Amen Break deals with issues of copyright law and questions about creative ownership, it looks at the constantly changing face of the music industry and music culture, and even touches upon what exactly is art anyway? It is a fascinating and hugely relevant tale.

If you care at all about music, you owe it to yourself to spend the 18 minutes and listen to Nate Harrison tell the tale of the Amen Break.

And now, here is the CSOTD track I've chosen to illustrate one way the Amen Break has been used; Dillnja's classic track, The Angels Fell



Sure, it helps that he's also using samples from Vangelis' iconic and unparalleled Blade Runner Soundtrack.

But for me, what Dillinja does here with The Angels Fell is that he makes the Amen Break come alive. And I don't mean that he just surrounds it with enough razzle dazzle to make the sample "pop" out of the track. Instead, he instills it with a life of its own; it fades and jumps, it comes to the forefront and slips and trips backwards.  It is as if the Amen Break is a living, breathing part of the music.

Listen to it yourself, especially after the drop, at around 1:48, that drop that still sends shivers down my neck when I hear it. This track has an essence that is unique; certainly among most drum and bass, jungle, and even electronica tracks in general. But maybe even larger than that.

While most producers have just sampled the Amen Break as a simplistic cut and paste exercise, I believe that Dillinja has transcended his genre to create something unique, something rarely heard either before or since.  Electronic music with real life and real soul.

And that, friends, is very cool indeed.