The electronic-music producer, who died last week, was an innovator of electronic sound, from his huge influence on the early club scene to Radiohead remixes and groundbreaking collaborations with Björk
Musicians react to Mark Bells death
Mark Bell was an electronic-music innovator throughout his career, which was tragically cut short last week. Riding the wave of the early-90s dance-music revolution, the Leeds-born Bell and longtime friend and partner Gez Varley defined the northern English bleep techno sound found in LFOs music especially on the groups bass-heavy self-titled hit. Along the way they helped put Sheffields Warp Records (home to Aphex Twin, Boards of Canada and countless others) on the map, and remixed Radiohead, Sabres of Paradise and their hip-hop heroes Afrika Baambaataa & Soulsonic Force.
When Varley left the group in 1996, Bell maintained a solo career as a respected underground techno producer. In 1997, his transformative work on Björks epochal Homogenic album brought him into the pop sphere and established a long-running and fruitful partnership. Other collaborations followed, most notably with Depeche Mode, as well as movie soundtracks and more acclaimed productions under the LFO guise. The shock of Bells death casts a sudden light on a considerable discography, which was marked by adventurism and a consistently recognisable approach to funk-infused, melodic, wonderfully bleepy electronica. His best productions put him in a league with better-known peers like Andrew Weatherall and Aphex Twin. Here are 10 of them.
Continue reading...
by Jim Poe via Electronic music | The Guardian
No comments:
Post a Comment