Did Aphex Twin cross the line? 'XTAL' How was it made?

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[DelFlo]

The foundation of the track is that chord progression, which wasn't even in the original sample. So yeah it's obviously heavily relying on the sample but Steve saying that it is basically the same track is just nonsense.

[Uncontrollable_Sphere]

0:12 bros gonna be so mad when he listens to hiphop 😭

[Skanking-Corpse]

Bleeps and Bloops did a hardware only cover of the song and there is so much more to that track than just that short sample. It's easy to recreate it now, but think about the work involved when Richard made it 30 years ago on equipment that wasn't as user friendly as today. Evil at Play is basically just a short ambient track you would hear for maybe ten seconds in a movie or tv show, there's no real structure to it. Richard turned that short sample into a full song that is way more complex than the source.

[hiddentechno]

Apart from the fact he was likely a teenager at the time, that's basically how samples were used at that time. It was only after a few high profile rap artist were sued it became more of an issue and people started trying to hide the source of the samples. The 80s were different.

[atommachine]

No line was crossed, creativity was marinated with More creativity of the highest order. Different Times.

[flyingsteaks]

that guy is just mad that Xtal is 1000x better than Evil at play

[guitarmogul]

And Evil at Play is basically someone singing the Star Wars theme tune over a pad ..

[hvyhttrs]

many folks say it's pronounced as "crystal"

[KeithWilsonUK]

I absolutely love these videos. I was never a huge listener to Aphex Twin, but I'll happily watch amy video like this and learn more of the trade and craft! Respect to the original artists, and I agree with you about the positive aspects of sampling! Maybe its because I've been doing this as a hobby since the 90s on my old Atari ST! Love your work and effort sir!

[WhenIWasAKitten]

A track can still be based around a core sample and yet be transformative enough as demonstrated by Xtal and countless others to stand up in their own right.

[knastvogel]

“All the good music has already been written by people with wigs and stuff.” —Frank Zappa.

[cuevable]

Nothing wrong in my book, the sample is used in a creative way and there are othere elements contributing to the final delivery. The ripoff argument tastes of salt

[joechapman]

Non-issue. This is just standard sampling, nothing even close to crossing some theoretical line, and arguably doing a lot more than other sampling we accept as totally legitimate.

Xtal isn't a substitute for Evil At Play. The context is changed, it means something different, it is something different.

[RegebroRepairs]

"Our tune?" It's literally just two notes.

Should he have cleared the sample? Legally, yes. Morally I think it such a good example why copyright is stupid.

[paultapping]

XTAL is my morning alarm, nice to get so much indepth info on a tune I am now very familiar with!

[christianvictor]

Great video!

AFAIK the copyright dispute was settled about 2 years ago and the original artists got 50% credit for the song.

[sevendaughters]

there's a difference between 'the morality of sampling' and 'who gets paid after a song is made using samples'. Work has been based on other work in every artform ever, literally no one thinks 'sampling', 'paying homage', 'putting text into use', etc is immoral.

[bbcocallaghan]

as someone who is both a traditional musician (eg playing instruments in bands) and an electronic producer I always feel conflicted about this. 40% of the music i heard in my teens had the amen in it (in fact i am listening to it now) and the drummer (Gregory Coleman) died homeless .i can't help but feel that is wrong no matter how many great tunes it gave us

[AllieHorban]

"aphex twin stole my song!"
-someone whos song was about to be forgotten about forever.

[jammerchan]

Vocal melody is also basically humming the star wars theme melody haha. You nailed it on that bongo sample