click to enlarge - Luke Awtry
- The High Breaks
Though sometimes derided and often controversial, sampling has become a bedrock of modern popular music. It had its birth in hip-hop in the '70s, when producers took drum breaks from soul, funk and R&B records, especially anything by the Godfather of Soul, James Brown, who has been sampled more than 9,000 times to date.
In 2024, samples are a bigger part of pop music than ever, with rappers now sampling other rappers — young stars Ice Spice and Juice Wrld have sampled Diddy and Eminem songs, respectively. Maybe it's a nod to nostalgia, or maybe it's just in keeping with modern society's need to rehash everything. (Hi there, Hollywood. What's the remake this week?) But modern sampling has a bit of a snake-eating-its-own-tail vibe, as artists take hooks from songs that were already built on other songs.
That's not to say some cool music isn't coming out of the changing practice, as musicians try out new ideas. Take Burlington mainstay Matt Hagen, who wants to cut out the middleman and make brand-new, sample-ready tunes for local rappers to use. As he explained by phone last week, the guitarist was in the studio with his surf-rock act, the High Breaks, when he had an epiphany of sorts.
"The band has all these songs I call 'one-line rides,'" he said. "It's music with a single lyric recycled throughout the song, what I like to think of as a palate cleanser — little, mostly instrumental grooves."
Hagen and his bandmates realized the songs made for perfect sample fodder and hatched an idea: a series featuring the High Breaks playing live backing music for local hip-hop artists to freestyle over.
High Break Beats is a weekly residency at Nectar's in Burlington, running on Wednesdays from March 13 to 27. The band will play sets of its own tunes followed by a different crew of 802 rappers every week, including Boxguts, Humble Among, Eskae and Big Homie Wes.
"I used the Metal Monday format to set it up," the ever-busy Hagen said, referring to the metal series he has hosted at Nectar's. "As soon as I came up with the idea, I reached out to DJ Kanganade. Kanga's one of the best turntablists around, and he'll be the backbone of the night."
Hagen sees the fusion of local bands and rappers as a natural extension of a scene he believes is more collaborative than ever.
"Any time I think of these weird little ideas for things, I'm so blown away and grateful for the support I get from the community," he said. "And from Nectar's, who always seem down to try out new things."
The series is sponsored by cannabis growers and dispensaries such as Blue Sage, Winooski Organics and Forbins. Hagen wants the shows to "raise awareness of the Vermont cannabis industry through collective sponsorship and collaboration.
"Alcohol sponsorship has always been an industry standard," Hagen continued. "This is a way to show that the cannabis industry can fill that role, too. And, hey, if you ask me, cannabis and music historically vibe a lot better than booze, especially when you talk about hip-hop."
The shows will also host live recordings of Kris Brown's "Cannasations," a podcast featuring Brown, a voice-over artist who narrated the High Breaks' Smirk of the Dolphin live show, talking with different area cannabis figures.
Hagen hopes the series will foster interplay among musicians of different genres and spur his band to take its sample-ready tunes beyond the Green Mountains. His San Mateo collaborator Matt Burr, former drummer for Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, works with young rappers at his Puerto Rico recording studio, San Juan Sound.
"Matt has an opportunity to expose a lot of those young artists on a global scale," Hagen said. "So I sent him some of the tracks the band and I recorded — I'd love to make this a cross-cultural bridge. That would be wild."
For Hagen, it's the latest endeavor in what seems like an endless procession of projects. Whether he's singing murder ballads at the 126 downtown, strumming jazz guitar at Hotel Vermont, rocking out in a Rage Against the Machine cover band or playing Pink Floyd songs for the upcoming solar eclipse, Hagen is the hardest-working man in (Vermont) show business. Maybe that's why he's trying to get in on James Brown's sample crown?
"It's a little crazy, I know. But when I do things in batches, I always have problems with the projects sort of stacking up," Hagen said. "Last week I was in the studio with the High Breaks for a few days, then I was in there myself for a few days afterwards, recording my Christmas album."
Uh, Christmas album, you say?
"Yeah! It's all originals, 10 new holiday classics," Hagen said. "It's kind of weird to pivot from recording surf rock to making Christmas music, but if I want this record ready for the holidays, I have to do it now."
Stay tuned to see if any of the Christmas songs involve fucking a dolphin, as the High Breaks' last record did. In the meantime, get down to Nectar's next week for the start of High Break Beats. Even better, the shows are free! Find more information at liveatnectars.com.