It may seem a relatively modern phenomenon, but musicians have been sampling material from other musicians for over 30 years now, and the results remain enormously varied. For every clever, creative bit of sonic recycling there's a commercial dance producer looping a famous old chorus and driving radio listeners to distraction. When you do hear something familiar in a club track it shouldn't automatically be assumed that the producer has done the borrowing, however. Two singles by German DJ André Tegeler, aka Moguai, may sound oddly recognisable to followers of British pop, for example, but he didn't sample Girls Aloud and the Sugababes. They sampled him.
"The Sugababes' track In the Middle, that was based on one of my songs," admits Tegeler. "It was three or four years ago. [Sugababes' producer] Brian Higgins gave me a call because my You Know Why track, he heard it and asked for something similar. "So I produced one thing and he said, 'No, I want it exactly the same,' but they couldn't make it sound exactly as my record sounded, so I went over to London and we produced this track together. But I've never met the Sugababes. They'd already sung it before I came."
A small disappointment, but then Tegeler never really expected to become a pop producer. The Dusseldorf-based DJ began making music in the early 1990s, and was happy to remain an underground presence on the techno-trance scene. His usefulness to the pop world is clearly still a source of some amazement and amusement, but does also highlight the more inclusive methods now being utilised by the latter industry, a trend that can loosely be traced back to 2002.
This was something of a golden age for edgy, modern pop. While cutting-edge producers Timbaland and the Neptunes began working with the likes of Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears in the US, girl band the Sugababes were unlikely UK pioneers. Their huge comeback hit Freak Like Me was produced by Richard X - a rework of his own Gary Numan-sampling bootleg - and the aforementioned Brian Higgins came on board for the even better follow-up. Round Round was actually based on an obscure track by German producers Dublex Inc, and the influential Higgins then repeated the trick, borrowing more material from Tegeler to beef up the sound of another girl group.
"The Girls Aloud thing was similar," explains the DJ, "but I wasn't in the studio there, they took the instrumental from my single Get On for the track Something Kinda Ooh. They'd heard it on radio and said 'Ah, it's you again!'" Tegeler is now taking a more hands-on role, collaborating with Higgins' production team Xenomania on material for several promising young artists, and it seems that club DJs currently have the Midas touch. Two of the past year's biggest critical and commercial hits emerged from unlikely urban/dance collaborations.
Dizzee Rascal's enormous single Bonkers was produced by US DJ Armand Van Helden, despite the grime-pop star previously professing a dislike for traditional dance music. He does like hit records though. And US rapper/singer Kelis turned to European dance culture for her worldwide smash Acapella. The original producer was French club veteran David Guetta, whose releases have usually been rather less memorable, but the singer was so impressed by a remix from Italian DJ Benny Benassi that she often performs that version live too.
For dance producers such crossover successes can be career-altering, greatly enhancing their profiles and, indeed, their finances. "That's right," laughs Tegeler, "but for me it's not so much a money thing. I'm very, very proud that tracks work really well in the clubs and then guys like Brian [Higgins] - who produced Cher's Believe, and also Franz Ferdinand and the new Kylie Minogue album - they appreciate the sound too."
But what do fans of Moguai's own records make of his pop links? Can you still be 'underground' while working with Girls Aloud? "It's funny, when the Sugababes track came out, I got e-mails saying 'Hey, they stole your hook, and your chorus!' and so on. But it's cool, my tracks are all made for working on the dancefloor, so it makes sense for me to make it bigger, to spread it to other genres. I'm fine with it."
Indeed, pop producing can lead elsewhere. Take Stuart Price, who was best known for making 'big beat' records under the faux-French moniker Les Rythmes Digitales until Madonna hired him as producer for her 2003 album American Life. Since then Price has worked with everyone from stadium rockers The Killers to the legendary New Order. His next project will be the new Scissor Sisters album. For Tegeler, these forays into other territories remain a part-time concern for the moment, as he remains devoted to his original path: making music for the more discerning dancefloor. Methods from other sources are beginning to seep into his regular work too, however. After two decades as a DJ he is only now releasing his debut album, a decision heavily influenced by a more mainstream associate.
"A good friend of mine is a popular songwriter in Germany," says Tegeler. "He had sometimes 10 tracks in the top 20, and he asked me 'What do you want to say, what's your message with the album?' I said 'I don't know, I just want to make an album' and he said 'Well then, you are not in the position right now to make an album'." The DJ finally began work on a long-player last year, temporarily dropping all other remix and production assignments to focus the mind. The result, We Ar Lyve, will come as a surprise to anyone expecting a record full of potential girl-band backing tracks, as it's minimal, sometimes dark and definitely not easy-listening. Unfortunately, several interested record labels were also hoping for something rather more radio-friendly.
"There was a pressure," sighs the DJ. "Some guys said: 'If you make an album you need to make big co-operations, with [Coldplay's] Chris Martin' and so on. And I said: 'Why do I have to do it like this?' I didn't want to make a hit album, I wanted to make an album that's the right sound for me." He eventually became the first signing to Canada's Mau5trap label, founded by the hugely popular producer Deadmau5, who didn't insist on any famous collaborators.
Tegeler has again been persuaded to allow samples of his work to be re-used, however, although Moguai devotees should be less dismayed this time, as they are the beneficiaries. The component parts of his track Nyce have been uploaded to the internet and the best fan-made remix will get an official release through the label. Tegeler suggests that such ideas are "the way forward" when it comes to publicising a new release, so it pays not to be too precious about your material, whether pop stars or the general public end up using it. One further question does occur though, for the working DJ: with all those fan-generated remixes to wade through, each using the same source elements, surely he won't want to play that particular track ever again?
"No, I'm looking forward to hearing what they do with it," he insists. "We chose a hard track. We're really testing them!" Recycled music is often anything but a lazy option.