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Time for the eighteenth instalment in the "Skrillex Book Club".
ICYMI, we're taking a listening journey through the discography of the great Sonny Moore and sharing some of our thoughts along the way.
Last week,we mixed it up.
And this week, things finally draw to a close. We come full circle and listen to...
Bells (2007)
Back sometime in 2007, the freshly solo Sonny Moore embarked on the "Alternative Press Tour". On this tour, he would sell homemade burnt CDs housed in an envelope with hand-drawn artwork on the front. On those CDs were a configuration of these tracks; an album (or something resembling such) called "Bells". I actually only this morning found out that a proper lossless version of this LP leaked last year. I'd been listening to a pretty mediocre-quality MP3 selection of these tracks up until now. That selection also didn't have track numbers. But I really do like some of those tracks and I feel like it wouldn't be right to leave them out. So I've made an attempt to compile some of them in addition to the album proper.
Starting off with the LP, it's kinda all over the place. Earlier versions of tracks from his unfortunately titled EP, some tracks that would get sampled on later Myspace Era works, alternate versions of tracks that are already on the album themselves. There really isn't one single way to describe this collection. I hesitate to call this laidback. It is and isn't at the same time. A lot leans less towards the harsh and more towards the dreamlike. I think I might actually like the version of 'Copaface2' on here more than the one that came out with the Twipz samples. On that topic, the first 'Copaface' is also on here. It's cool. Not much to say about it. There's this little piano motif that makes an appearance a couple times throughout the album which is cool. 'I Know Where You Are' is a weird one. The Sonny Moore Tracker got it marked with a trash can emoji so I guess they don't fw it but I think it's neat. The 'Cusp (Remix)' on here is cool though it's missing the vocals from the other demo (which I'll get to). I wonder how it'd sound with them. I think 'Signal' might be the best track on here. The super bit-crushed and reverbed guitar are really doin' it for me here. I think a later demo of this is where the "I won't forget you" on 'Slats Slats Slats' comes from. Kinda wish there was a little more going on with the drums though. 'Glow Worm' is a lovely track. I love those dreamy muted bells (real haiipara-heads may have already known that I love those dreamy muted bells). The acoustic version of it is also great as are the rest of the acoustic tracks. The guitar is just so nice and bright. In like a sparkly way though, not a bad way. 'MortL' has some shared lyrics with 'Oceans' which are interesting to hear in this different context. There are a lot of points on this album where Sonny's line delivery almost reminds me of Bjork. The way he tends to kind of stretch out or hold syllables. Kinda neat.
The "second disc" I cobbled together has some tracks that I'd consider favourites. 'Bells' (which is funnily enough missing from the LP tracklist) is a standout and quite an important track in the greater Skrillex history. Not only was it sampled in 'Scatting', one of my favourite Myspace-era tracks, it was also sampled and interpolated on 'Scary Monsters & Nice Sprites'. The version on those was definitely more developed than the one here, but this demo is still a nice little twinkly dreamy tune. It's just really hopeful sounding. The 'Concentrical' demos on here, while in lower quality than the one on the initial tracklist, are further along as well. The drums here just make me think of 'The Devil Went Down To Georgia' lol. The random Windows XP-era mouse clicks on the rip of 'Moss' here are kinda funny. This selection also has the non-remix version of 'Cusp' which is another favourite of mine. So much to love with this one. The beautiful piano line, those huge low-passed kicks, Sonny's vocals. That's followed by another fave which is 'Equinox'. Love the chopped drums on here. And those bit-crushed guitars are back. This track pretty heavily inspired one off the album I've been working on myself (see if you can tell which one when it comes out
). I've noticed that I don't have much to say about these tracks themselves that isn't analytical because I think most of my subjective thoughts lie with what they are as a whole. These tracks are someone finding their sound. The sound of development. The abundance of demos with various changes between versions, sometimes huge, sometimes minuscule. Passages shared between songs. The occasional plosive or the de-esser that's on just a little too hard so it makes it sound like Sonny has a lisp sometimes. There's just a lovely amateur quality about it all. A thought process in audio form. That's part of the reason why I wanted to ignore the chronological order and end things on this one. Why not go back to where the seeds were sown? After everything we've listened to over the past few months; the rise to stardom, the dark years, the rebirth. To see and hear where it all sprouted from. Every "Crazy Lady" scream, every reused lyric, every spliced acapella.
Doesn't it bring you back to the beginning?
Now it's your turn!
What are your thoughts on these tracks? Do you love 'em/hate 'em? Have you even heard 'em? (if not, go listen, I linked my little deluxe version of the album above
)Speak your mind!
And thank you so much to everyone who participated in the Skrillex Book Club. I honestly didn't think we'd be this consistent when we started all those weeks ago and I'm glad to have been proven wrong. mwah mwah lots of love to you all :3
