Hot Wax: R.I.P. Mark Bell

When I first heard LFO, I instantly thought this might be the first music to really challenge the legacy Kraftwerk left behind. Meaning, a legacy based on game changing achievements in sound and ideas, and much else beyond. I never really felt the need to revise that first impression in the years to come. Hardly any music of that era has aged so well, and still sounds so unique, and particularly Mark Bell followed it up with a whole lot of comparably superior music, either as collaborator, or on his own. I always had this feeling he might drop a release that would shatter a whole scene again, at any given point. But now he very untimely passed away. There will be young, determined and insanely talented producers again, but Mark Bell’s legacy will be really difficult to match. R.I.P.

Playing Favourites: Shed

White Noise – Black Mass: Electric Storm In Hell

This is very early electronic music, from White Noise’s first album from 1969. They were among the first to use synthesizers in a rock context and their music became very influential later on. This particular track seems indeed way ahead of its contemporaries, and it is pretty wild.

I didn’t know that at all. I had problems listening through it, it is almost disturbing. From today’s point of view it maybe is not that overtly experimental anymore, but setting it into the time of its production, it is very cool.

There certainly was not much comparable music back then.

The sound is very good. They already had synthesizers? There is a lot of space in the production. If you would not have told me, I would never have guessed that it is so old. The arrangement and the noisy parts reminded me of destructed Amen breaks, totally distorted. Very interesting.

Quartz – Chaos

The next one is by Quartz from France . Also early synthesizer music, but within a disco context.

I was not into that at all. My calendar does not really start before 1990 or so. Even stuff like early Model 500, Cybotron, it is ok, but it’s not mine. I also can’t get into Kraftwerk. What has been called techno from 1990 on was what got me to listen to music consciously for the first time. I was never the one to check the influences on music that I like. I know Disco only from TV, Saturday Night Fever and such. I was never really interested in it.

Is that based on a basic antipathy towards the sounds of disco music?

There was a short period I found it exciting, around the time the filter and cut-up disco house arrived with DJ Sneak, all the sample stuff. But that was over pretty soon when all the records started to sound the same. So yes, it is based on principle that I don’t like the sounds too much.

So you were more interested in how a track was built on samples than where they came from?

Exactly. It was fascinating to me how all could be said in a loop that went for three minutes, if it was a cool one. Longer than that it could get boring. Of course you can’t compare that to what happens in the original disco track, there was more happening there than in house tracks, which only used bits. It was interesting that many people used the same samples and you became aware that there must some source for it. But sample based productions are not my philosophy. I never wanted to just use bits of other people’s music.

Those disco house records also did not always pay tribute to disco, they deconstructed it, and often in a not very respectful manner.

Not at all. It’s strange how American producers often deal with each other, all that stealing amongst themselves. But in the end we all benefited from that (laughs). Read the rest of this entry »