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Letter from Daniel Bell

Making it's way though illegal MP3 sites, BBC Radio 1 and being
played by world famous dj's such as Richie Hawtin and Dj Hell is the new
release from Josh Wink "Freak" (or sometimes listed
as "Superfreak" or "Phreek").

If it sounds familiar when you hear it is because it bears more than a
passing resembelence to Daniel Bell aka DBX "Phreak" that was
originally released on Accelerate records in 1992.

Says Bell "I've heard many records copy my sound but this is
ridiculous. I've known Josh for over 11 years and in my opinion, this is
his lowest he's ever gone."

He stands to sell hundreds of thousands of records of this release
without giving any credit to the original . Please help us make the
techno community aware of what is going on.

Enclosed a lettter (with minor changes) that was sent to UFA (Daniel
Bell's publisher for "Phreak"):

It's a difficult thing to establish when an artist is influenced or is
in effect copying another artist. I'm aware that in this age and that in
my specific genre of music making that the issue of copying another
artist's work has become an even more black and white issue mostly due
to the frequency of digital sampling and more specifically the clearing
of digital samples.

And while digital sampling has made the idea of copying musical ideas
less ambiguous and more easily detected than ever before, I find
myself in the situation where I feel I have become the target of good
old-fashioned copyright infringement.

I am writing this in the sincere hope that you will listen without
prejudice to the evidence I'm providing to you.

Introduction

I believe that the recording artist Josh Wink (aka Winx) has
knowingly copied arrangements, sounds and production techniques from my
own copyright protected work and has failed to acknowledge the source of
his success. It is my belief that Wink has developed a
pattern of loosely basing his musical structures and arrangements on my
own original work. I also believe that his next release "Freak" is his
most daring copy yet of one of my arrangements. [...]

2
History:

I have met Josh Wink several times. The first time was in November 1990
in Detroit where I was scheduled to perform as Cybersonik with Richie
Hawtin at a nightclub called "1515 Broadway". The performance was
canceled hours before it was to start and we only found out when we
reached the venue. There was no line-up or crowd waiting to get in, only
two people were waiting when we arrived. One of them was a disappointed,
then unknown, Josh Wink, who I remember had traveled from Philadelphia
to see us and was a "big fan" of our music.

I saw Josh Wink again in 1992 in either Rochester N.Y or Philadelphia PA
while on tour again as Cybersonik. The DBX "Phreak" (the track in
question) was released weeks before on my label Accelerate. He was sent
a copy of this record from the +8 label directly (the label
pressed and distributed my label Accelerate). He said he "loved" the
track "Phreak" and that he "just wished the track was longer" - it's
approx. 3 and half minutes long (his "Freak" approx. 5 mins).

The next time I had an encounter with Josh Wink was in 1995 just
months after I had released my "Losing Control" record. The record was a
huge underground success most notably because it featured a monotone
voice repeating the words "I'm Losing Control" on every bar faded in and
out of the song. The effect was similar to a melodic hook in popular
music. The entire song was based on the manipulation of the vocal. At
the beginning of the arrangement the vocal is
introduced with the high frequencies muted and only the audible
frequencies are the lower frequencies. As the song progresses more of
the high and mid-frequencies are revealed until the whole phrase
of "I'm Losing Control" is audible. The vocal is then manipulated and
echoed and then disappears by subtracting the frequencies in the
reverse way they were added. To my knowledge, this way of slowly
manipulating a frequency filter over a repeated vocal phrase, over the
course of an entire track was never done before in dance music prior to
this record

Josh Wink called, he told me he had a similar track called "Don't Laugh"
that had a "laugh" instead of the vocal "Losing Control" that was
manipulated and arranged in a similar way. It was strange that Wink had
phoned me about this because I had never received a call from him before
or since that day. "Don't Laugh" was released in 1995 and was licensed
to several high profile record companies who were able to promote the
single into mainstream markets that were not
familiar with "Losing Control". In contrast, Peacefrog records of the
U.K., the original label to release "Losing Control" froze sales at
10,000 copies in order to make the release rare and in-demand to
develop prestige for the label. Even though the release was the
biggest seller on the label to that point, no promotion was done. In the
end, 500,000 copies of "Don't Laugh" were sold worldwide. Despite the
similarities and the overwhelming feeling that he was trying to
capitalize on my ideas, I felt that that there was no recourse for me
because his track still had some differences.

3

In 1995 Josh Wink released a successful mix-c.d. on the DMC label
entitled "United DJs of America Vol. 3 " in which he licensed "Losing
Control".

In 2000 Josh Wink released "How's Your Evening So Far" a track that
featured a digital loop of Lil Louis' 1988 hit "French Kiss" . The track
also featured a voice repeating the title - similar again
to "Losing Control" - only this time the way the vocal was
manipulated in almost the exact same way, as if 7 years later he
finally figured out the specific technical approach on how the
original was done.

Regarding the Lil' Louis aspect of the song the New Music Express
reported on July 4th 2000:

"JOSH WINK has run into a legal wrangle with PETE TONG's label ffrr over
his version of the LIL LOUIS' acid house anthem `FRENCH KISS'. The
record is due to be released in the US on Ovum label at the end of July,
but a worldwide release is not likely until an agreement has been
reached over how the Wink version will be credited".

Josh Wink reportedly resisted the Lil Louis co-writing credit that he
was eventually forced to put on his release. Many reviewers noted that
the release sounded like a remix of "French Kiss" rather than a new
song.

In December 2001, Josh Wink showed up at a club in Philadelphia PA that
I was djing at and told me that "I have a track called "Freak" that's
going to be really big" and that it was inspired by early
tracks. The track has been tentatively titled either "Freak"
or "Superfreak" (I also have a track entitled "Superphreak" a 1993
release on Peacefrog) and has been played on Pete Tong's show on
Radio 1 in London.

This track "Freak" sounds like a remix or remake of my track "Phreak"
from 1993. It features a pitched-down robotic voice saying "Freak" on
every bar. The arrangement is sparse like the original Also the main
musical repeating notes are very similar and may even be samples of my
track cut up.

There already is a big buzz in several countries regarding this
release and I believe it is slated for release on the Ovum records in
the summer months. I feel that this is the last straw and that this
track is too close to my own. Please help to publicize this
situation. His New York lawyers claim there are no similarities. Let the
people judge for themselves by supplying them with all the
information.

Thank-you for your understanding and attention,
Daniel Bell

www.7thcity.com
http://home.earthlink.net/~seventhcity/index.html

Say what?

it dont mean a thing if it aint got that swing

Insane!