Portishead’s Geoff Barrow Says Phantogram Ripped Him Off, Too
Last year, Geoff Barrow accused Abel Tesfaye of sampling Portishead track “Machine Gun” on the Weeknd’s “Belong To The World” (which he denied) and brought it up again in May when he shared a sampling clearance letter that Tesafaye’s label had sent the artist. Now, Barrow has also accused Phantogram of sampling him without permission. He tweeted at the band twice over the past week, both times linking to a WhoSampled page that claims that on the 2009 song “When I’m Small,” Phantogram sampled a Jimi Ently Sound track called “Charlie’s Theme” that Barrow played drums on. Barrow also points out that they’ve licensed the song to Gillette. Phantogram has not responded to the accusation yet. Compare the two tracks below.
The Jimi Ently Sound track, alleged sample starts at 0:12:
Phantogram track, which uses the alleged sample throughout the song:
@Phantogram hi Pantogram
Just wondering why I'm playing the drums on one of your tracks ?
http://t.co/OmvtyWsut3
Any thoughts ?
— Geoff Barrow (@jetfury) September 6, 2014
@Phantogram hi Pantogram
Just wondering why I'm playing the drums on one of your tracks ?
http://t.co/OmvtyWsut3
Any thoughts ?
Cheers
— Geoff Barrow (@jetfury) September 6, 2014
You see @Phantogram have just sold it their tune to a Gillette advert so I hear my drums about 6 times a day and it got me wondering….
— Geoff Barrow (@jetfury) September 9, 2014
Barrow address the band as “Pantogram,” which is pretty funny.
UPDATE: Phantogram respond…
@Phantogram so you are saying that they are NOT my drums and my playing on your "when I'm Small" they are yours?
Correct?
— Geoff Barrow (@jetfury) September 10, 2014