You can't hide beat: a collection of David Bowie cover versions created using samples from his own famous recordings

Taking inspiration from hip hop styles, where artists and their producers regularly re-appropriate samples and looped sections from known musical recordings and use them to construct new compositions, I became interested in the communicative power and cultural meaning of famous sounds. In You Can't Hide Beat, I set out to create a project with a specific audience in mind: the online Bowie fan community. In creating these covers, I used Bowie's other recordings to provide the sounds; this was done by utilising looping sections (in the manner of the hip hop model) as well as triggering one-shot samples and creating entirely original pitched instruments. To the average listener, who might be indifferent to or unaware of Bowie's work, it would work on a certain level (as it remains a song produced in an accessible electro-pop style). However, to the experienced listener/fan these materials hold more cultural power ÔÇô the listening experience deepens with layers of meaning and suggestion, a treasure hunt for familiar and beloved sonic artefacts