Classic Albums: Quantic Mishaps Happening
Tru Thoughts, 2004
International super producer, DJ, and label boss Will Holland really cranked up the dial for his third album as Quantic. Recent additions to his record collection had inspired him to experiment with wilder rhythms, and incorporate more musicality to his beats than ever before.
“I’d started collecting Afro Latin, Caribbean, spiritual jazz and Afrobeat,” he says. “They were big influences, and made me change things up a lot more, rhythmically.
“I’d made Apricot Morning – the second Quantic record, which started to encompass sampled elements and live compositions, with vocalists, and jazz harmonies. But that was the prototype. And now I was doing it proper.”
With this new blueprint and zeal Mishaps Happening became the best version yet of the Quantic ideal – to find that perfect balance between sampling and live music.
“I was really trying to get a... I don’t want to say ‘fusion’,” he says. “Because I don’t like that word. But, more of a meeting point between those two worlds.”
He brought in players to handle live strings, flutes, vibraphones, and organs. While picking up the sax, bass, and guitar himself. And a move from Fruity Loops to the far more sophisticated world of Logic meant his tracks got bigger in scope, and easier to assemble.
“That upgrade in software let me make far more complicated arrangements,” he says. “As well as being able to quickly bring all the musical elements together.”
Holland was also going the extra mile when it came to recruiting guest vocalists for the album, too.
Besides UK soul icon Alice Russell, he tracked down the legendary funk diva Spanky Wilson in LA. Headed to Toulouse to record rapper Trinidad. Then met up with East Nigerian conga legend, Sonny Akpan, in London.
“This album was the first time I went out to record,” he says. “I felt a lot of confidence in this record, doing that. Just getting to collaborate with people outside of my home.
“I think that led me to what I do now, just rampaging across the world to work with people!”
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Will Holland’s Selva record label celebrates its first birthday this month, with the brand new compilation Selva Selects: Thunderclaps out now
Mishaps Happening
“This was the first thing I wrote for the record. It started with a bossa nova loop, then I added guitar and bass. There’s an A and a B section. Then I recorded a guitar lick, which is the main melody.
“Then Alice Russell, the singer extraordinaire, who was also living in Brighton at the time, came over and doubled the guitar lines with vocals.
“We were getting into a lot of Brazilian music where they have that style. People like Baden Powell, and Flora Purim. Stuff where there’s a scat element with the guitar.
“The concept for this song was to have ‘India versus Brazil’, with those musical styles facing off at the end. Dunno if I pulled it off [laughs].”
Use What You Got
“This features Sonny Akpan from [Afrobeat legends] the Funkees. I saw them play live and it really got me into West African music. Sonny was their main percussion driving force guy.
“I went up to London and we set up in his basement. I laid the guitar and bass down. Then his congas. He also wrote some words down, which is where the ‘Use What You Got’ stuff came from.
“He was very methodical, and I was just taking his lead. He really knew how to put together rhythms.
“If you listen to the track it’s not him doing conga solos. He’s just holding it down in an amazing way.
“You can hear that it’s really roomy. You can tell it’s just one mic in a basement in East London.”
Track by track with Will Holland
“This album definitely opened up America for me. It was the first one that was licensed to Ubiquity Records out there. It got me interest in the West Coast. And then I started travelling to California and playing there. It really opened up a lot of that territory for me. Without making this record, and touring it in The States, I don’t think that I would have got as deeply into Caribbean music as I did, and got to travel to Puerto Rico, and eventually South America to make music.”
Sound Of Everything
“Alice Russell again. And Dave Woodhouse on keys. He sadly passed away a few years ago. He was a friend of mine from Kidderminster college, where I went for sound engineering.
“We recorded his Rhodes – not a real one. To be honest I was entirely working with Logic plugins. I didn’t have any third party stuff. And all the drums and the beat programming were done in ReCycle.
You’d put in a break and chop it up into single hits.
“Conceptually I wrote it for Alice, and it was based around spiritual jazz like Sun Ra. I’d been getting into that and Pharoah Sanders.
“This also has piano recorded in my mum’s house. And I played sax on this, which I don’t do anymore.”
En Focus
“This features a rapper called Trinidad, who was based outta Toulouse. He’d been on a Pilooski track [‘Systeme Piloo’], and I really liked his style, so went over there to record him.
“I didn’t really know about mics and stuff [laughs]. I would love to say I had a vintage Neumann U47 and had a secret echo chamber, but it was always quite simple.
“This was on an Afrobeat tip. I’m playing sax, guitar, bass. The rest is samples, and Trinidad rapping.
“I never worked with him again. We kept in contact, but I think he kinda retired.”
Trees And Sea
“This is the track where I began to share a studio in Brighton on Jew Street with the Lo Fidelity Allstars.
“It was like a rabbit warren of little rooms that weren’t insulated properly, and very sweaty. I rented a producer room, and constantly had people banging from upstairs. The soundproofing was terrible. It was just like an office building [laughs].
“It was dark and dank, and a lot of music came out of there. From me and the Lo Fi’s, and Si Little, who produced under the name Hardkandy. He did Rhodes on this track, too.
“A lot of these instrumental tracks are on a spacey, futuristic tip. A lot of synth pads. I was just trying at the time to experiment with more future-looking break-based stuff.”
Angels And Albatrosses
“This has two segments. The first is almost an intro-y motif. I play some guitar and piano on it. And I think there’s some bassoon in there. [Listens to the track] There is! Cool.
“It’s a very vibey song. John Hughes plays flute on this. He’s a really talented singer from Worcestershire, where I was from. He came down to Brighton and we made music. I actually lived with him at one point.
“I remember recording cymbals on this. The beats are kind of programmed, and then the ride is side-chained to the kick and snare. I put the ride through a rubbish Peavy guitar amplifier. It gave me a phaser effect. I guess I was trying to get double-tracking.”
Furthest Moment
“This is built for the dancefloor. It’s the era where we’re all playing out a lot of broken beat. It sits a little bit with that. I like this track.
“On this record I used a lot of percussion loops. I would scoop the low end out of them and keep a high pass on them. I liked that energy. Especially when you looped it with some one-hit drums beneath it.