Can You Feel It vs. The Bells

Can You Feel It vs. The Bells

  • Total voters
    14
  • Poll closed .
Corpsey

Corpsey

bandz ahoy
Listening to the bells now — fucking banger!!!

1 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

2 A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;

3 A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;

4 A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to can u feel it, and a time to the bells;
 
Corpsey

Corpsey

bandz ahoy
Leo said:
are these polls best when they are:

a) which opposite thing do prefer (high or low, light or dark, Eno or Ferry)?

or

b) which of these two similar things do you think does a better job in achieving the goal that they share?
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I think you're wanting to draw out the distinctions in what different people feel the purpose of music should be. Or what the highest achievement of music should be. What emotional or intellectual state they are after. What type of artistry they admire the most.

Fine distinctions, rather than stark choices, because then it becomes "do you like house more or techno?" Less interesting a question (if ultimately the same one). Also the quality shouldn't be obviously imbalanced.
 
pattycakes_

pattycakes_

Can turn naughty
The Bells is a trojan horse of a groove combined with an earworm of a hook that when you hear it __--*in the club*--__ it can have its wicked way with you. Sitting at home reading dissensus is not the context that type of music was ever designed for, whereas, CUFI can be enjoyed in all sorts of environments.
 
craner

craner

Beast of Burden
I'm glad I'm not the only person who looked at this thread title and thought, what the fuck is 'The Bells'?
 
Corpsey

Corpsey

bandz ahoy
Techno like this seems to smash you in the face with its simplicity so much that you can overlook its subtlety. I think what makes The Bells not just a four-note + four-four thing is the way he plays with the filtration (and other effects) on the various minimal elements. So as you referenced earlier, there's a surprising sense of spaciousness, of elements drifting in and out, in front and behind each other.

The constant riff that comes before the one everyone knows, dunno what it is made with, it's not melodic, it sounds almost like five random notes, but it has a sense of disquiet to it, nothing really stable about it. I think with minimal techno its very important to have these disquieting/unstable elements because the massive pounding kick drum and syncopated hi hats are as stable and concrete as it gets. That's where the filtration and the structuring comes into play.

It's how you keep it from boring people (even a pilled-up techno raver needs some variety), how you keep a sense of momentum and drama to it. I feel like The Bells sounds like its hurtling towards some impending, possibly horrible, event. It's cocooning you in anxiety. And of course Can U Feel It is almost the opposite of this (although there is a sort of anxiety in the hi-hats/cymbals of that tune).
 
yyaldrin

yyaldrin

in je ogen waait de wind
Corpsey said:
Techno like this seems to smash you in the face with its simplicity so much that you can overlook its subtlety. I think what makes The Bells not just a four-note + four-four thing is the way he plays with the filtration (and other effects) on the various minimal elements. So as you referenced earlier, there's a surprising sense of spaciousness, of elements drifting in and out, in front and behind each other.

The constant riff that comes before the one everyone knows, dunno what it is made with, it's not melodic, it sounds almost like five random notes, but it has a sense of disquiet to it, nothing really stable about it. I think with minimal techno its very important to have these disquieting/unstable elements because the massive pounding kick drum and syncopated hi hats are as stable and concrete as it gets. That's where the filtration and the structuring comes into play.

It's how you keep it from boring people (even a pilled-up techno raver needs some variety), how you keep a sense of momentum and drama to it. I feel like The Bells sounds like its hurtling towards some impending, possibly horrible, event. It's cocooning you in anxiety. And of course Can U Feel It is almost the opposite of this (although there is a sort of anxiety in the hi-hats/cymbals of that tune).
Click to expand...

i also like the feeling of stress and paranoia the bells evoke, it could fit in my songs that reminds you of being followed or chased: https://www.dissensus.com/showthread.php?t=14153&highlight=chased
 
Corpsey

Corpsey

bandz ahoy

This doesn't sound (initially at least) a million miles from The Bells — though it's more radically stripped back. And again, it has some sort of anxiety written into it from the first second onwards. Part of the anxiety is losing a sense of where the loop begins and ends, not being able to pin it down to a chord sequence or whatever. And then you can introduce other sounds on an offbeat or whatever and the stuff that's already there is instantly recontextualised and complicated. It becomes hypnotic, too, paying such close attention to these tiny details and what's just happened to the track.

Not sure how this translates to dancing, presumably a similar mesmeric effect.
 
Corpsey

Corpsey

bandz ahoy
I don't generally go to music for anxiety and paranoia because I experience those things fairly regularly in my day-to-day life and I don't really enjoy them.

But OTOH I think I can lock in to music like this more easily than somebody to whom anxiety and paranoia are foreign concepts.
 
pattycakes_

pattycakes_

Can turn naughty
Sometimes when you have the blues you listen to music with that same feeling. Same with any emotion. Sometimes it's a way to take ownership and overcome it. That's why I think third is such a delightful character when he gets on a music riff. When he keeps the religion out of it, that's when he shines imo. He's got so much vitriol and passion that he has to dig into those sick and insane sonics to feel good. And yet, he also loves boogie and disco which makes it all the more charming.
 
Slothrop

Slothrop

Tight but Polite
I always feel like there's a bit of a parallel between that early nineties hard Detroit minimalism and a lot 94-ish jungle. Insofar as they're both heavily black-coded, tense, cerebral, percussive, urban, fiercely exclusive - strictly for heads stuff. The key difference being that in jungle the complexity is horizontal whereas in Underground Resistance or Jeff Mills it's vertical and all about the layers.

It's not a perfect comparison - jungle is a lot more sonically open ended and diverse and hence IMO more interesting - but enough to be striking.
 
version

version

Well-known member
Slothrop said:
The key difference being that in jungle the complexity is horizontal whereas in Underground Resistance or Jeff Mills it's vertical and all about the layers.
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I find the horizontal vs. vertical thing in music fascinating. It was partly what I was on about in the non-linear music thread.
 
M

mvuent

Void Dweller
Leo said:
aggro insane sonics is low-hanging fruit, though. any chump can press the harsh noise button and lay it over a 4/4 beat. "the bells" doesn't take that easy way out.
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but any chump can press a few keys and lay it over a 4/4 beat. even if you think the bells is a masterpiece, the basic formula it's working with is just as stupidly simple.
 
Slothrop

Slothrop

Tight but Polite
OTTOMH, I reckon Night Drive Thru Babylon would be the best Detroit contender here. Similar era, similar approaches in some ways, but Night Drive is all rain-flecked sci-fi romanticism where Can U Feel It is a big warm humanistic group hug. Can U Feel It would probably still win, though.
 
luka

luka

Well-known member
It would still win but it would win against virtually anything. I agree though. Night Drive presents a fully realised seductive vision a whole world rather than just a sensation so it's a more even contest.
 
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