Sasha Frere-Jones on Timbaland

Timbaland = Thief
 

Money makes people dumb ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6PYMyJp9Wo&NR=1
 

When you hear a sample that can be easily identifed ripped off because it was a sample the ripper wished he owned, you are hearing Timbaland.
 

When you hear a 40-year-old making an observation about music that may have been relevant 10 years ago, you are hearing Sasha Frere-Jones.
 

Wow, no love for Timbaland here.
 

yes this news is so exciting, relevant and poignant

now lets go listen to some black eyed peas and get our groove thang on, my g money homies!
 

Timbaland's awesome, but his attitude of "I'm such a big producer, people should feel honored when I steal their ideas" sucks.

And knowing that some of his great sounds and beats aren't his makes him a lot less awesome.
 

I subscribe to the New Yorker and I just don't read Frere-Jones articles anymore because of the generally fawning tone.
 

He stole his name from shoes, and didn't even spell it right.

Call me "Nyke."
 

Timbaland = dirtbag
 

Weren't expecting this, were you.
 

"Weren't expecting this, were you"

No, I'm surprised. I expected the flow of indie kid whining about chiptunes to be a bit more vitriolic this time round...
 

Timbaland is what is still wrong with the music industry and Radio.
 

Timbarland!! Perfect lol..
 

I think this blog just jumped the shark. Anyone have suggestions for my electronic music fix?
 

You can't be serious!!!
 

Whitwell, have you ever composed a chiptune? Or anything?
 

"I think this blog just jumped the shark. Anyone have suggestions for my electronic music fix?"

Any other blog out there you can name. This one went to c**p a long time ago and especially since it became predominantly twitter-ized and post frequency dropped to practically nil.

Defending/condoning Timbaland chiptune theft and taking the p**s out of your readers responses?

Buh-bye Tom.

Shame too, this used to be a good blog.
 

<:strike>"Nyke"<:strike> Nice
 

Wow, you guys. I've been reading this blog for about a year and have never been compelled to comment anything but a "thanks" for the great links and articles. There's a LOT of flack being thrown around for some reason, and it's really bringing me down. Not once in his article did he say "OH MY GOD OH MY GOD, I LOVE TIMBALAND, TIMBALAND IS GOD." He just posted a link to an article he thought might be interesting to this crowd. It's almost as if you were waiting to pounce on him the minute he agreed with a general consensus (that Timbaland is a great producer). I'm not a big fan of him, personally, but come on!
And I agreed with a lot of the comments criticizing Timbaland, but not those directed at Tom.
 

When you hear a non-imaginative simple timbre forming part of a cliche and basic beat forming the rhythm for a soulless corporate pop song THEN you are hearing Timbaland.
 

Take a gander up and to the right on this page, under 'Music Thing Heroes'.

Yep.
 

Music is not only about the source of your sounds and melodies but also the composition of your tracks. Timbaland has a good ear for catchy hooks and uses them well within his music. Anyone can steal a bass line, Timbaland successfully turns them into best sellers.

I'm not saying I support plagiarism in the music industry. Musical work using samples should be significantly different to the original. A composition of different samples still takes a good ear to get right.

Most creative work begins with a stolen idea, adapted to the artists tastes. Even the mighty daft punk sampled release the beast.
 

"Most creative work begins with a stolen idea..."

I'm sorry you feel that way.
 

When you hear a bunch of jealous amateur musicians anonymously slagging off the work of one of the most distinctive, innovative and successful pop music producers of the last decade, you're reading the Musicthing comments pages.
 

distinctive = hardly, it is the same sh*t you hear in the radio all the time.

innovative = What are you talking about? Borrowing beats from middle eastern artist are hardly innovative.

successful pop music producer = This is true.
 

And the rest?

Jealous = ?

Unsuccessful = ?

Wish you were as good as Timbaland = ?
 

And the rest?

Jealous = Sure

Unsuccessful = Not at all

Wish you were as good as Timbaland = Of course
 

Think I'm becoming a sick person...
just because I "enjoy" reading this post's comments.

Some comment are so wisely sarcastic.
 

Oh, please. If you know exactly how did they made that tune the first time you hear it, well, that's Timbaland.

Good producers leave you wondering "how the hell did they do it?". I still haven't heard anyone replicating Daft Punk's "Faster, Better, Stronger" sampled~lead line trick in any other song.

Timbaland? Well, i have the brass sound he used in Madonna's "Four Minutes" as a PRESET on my Roland MC~909. That's all the innovation he can come out with.