Rick Rubin Compiled A Star Wars Tribute Album Built With Samples From The Movies

Featuring originals from Flying Lotus, A-Trak, and more.

February 08, 2016

The new Star Wars movie is a box-office juggernaut, so it's not surprise that plenty of musicians consider themselves fans of the movie. Super-producer Rick Rubin got a group of those enthusiasts to put together new music for a compilation album titled Star Wars Headspace. The tracklist includes a wide variety of electronic artists: Kaskade, Breakbot, Baauer, Röyksopp, Shlohmo, and more. Rick Rubin also contributes a track, and one tune is a collaboration between Star Wars director J.J. Abrams and Hamilton star Lin-Manuel Miranda. Each of the musicians samples music from the Star Wars movies in their compositions.

ADVERTISEMENT

Zane Lowe premiered Flying Lotus's "R2 Where R U?" today. "It's funny," Flying Lotus told Lowe after the track played, "'cause we be usin' these sounds anyway… We already be doing that. So it was like ok, great, we got a home for it now."

According to FlyLo, someone involved with Star Wars gifted the musicians "a big old sound archive. They were like, 'Don't sample any John Williams' music. Do whatever you want with the sounds; don't mess with that John Williams though."

ADVERTISEMENT

"For me I think the coolest thing is to have my name near a Star wars logo officially," the producer continued. "It's not just some bootleg joint."

Listen below, and look for Star Wars Headspace on February 19.

ADVERTISEMENT
Rick Rubin Compiled A Star Wars Tribute Album Built With Samples From The Movies