RIP Mark Bell

So sad about this. I've been listening Frequencies and Sheath all day.

No, no no. Loss for words. Some great epitaphs in this thread already.

horrible news;

RIP, thanks for the legacy of wonderful tunes.

  On 10/13/2014 at 10:58 PM, Kavinsky said:

Why is everyone so surprised ? I´m sad too but humans die all the time, maybe its more dramatic for the people who bought his music from the beginning but I dont get that "WHY is he dead attitude" ! I mean in generall not only Mark Bell.

some of us interacted with him, and some of us listened to his music for 20+ years, viewing him as a fundamental part of the genre...

I think it's also that music is very personal to all of us. You listen to someone's music for 20+ years and it's not only a part of you, but also you feel like that person's your friend. They've been telling you funny things, serious things, emotional things for 20+ years.

Lastly he went too soon; lots of good years were ahead of him still.

RIP; great dude, great tunes, see you on the other side.

The whole thing with character and all..... People on my facebook feed and others who knew him personally, speak of him as the nicest person. Like really, really nice. I only know him for his music (for ~16 years), but for ~10 years, I've known his internet persona on xltronic. He was insightful and interesting, but in the past 4 years or so, he started to become a straight up troll. He was actually quite an asshole to so many people. Like if a new member would come in with some naive and blind general posting, it wasn't at all surprising for him to chime in and smash them to bits (granted, it was kind of funny). I don't know how many times he tried to troll me by calling me a "try hard", for spreading my hippy ass whatever. The point I'm trying to make... -or actually, the point I'm thinking over-- is what all that means. I mean, for all of us. We do one thing here, then another thing in another place. It's like... who the fuck are we?!

All I know is that this whole thing further made me realize that for the greater good, we have to be our best in all avenues of life. Cuz I look at my own life, and I do the same shit. I basically am nice to everyone online and in person- I want to spread peace and human strength ideals and all that jazz-- but then sometimes in person, I'm just really fucked up and hurtful. Being able to experience such duality in someone I didn't know personally- and who I knew mostly as a cold-hearted cunt (yet intelligent and funny)- made me see that despite our many faces-- people can only see the ones we show them. Even if Mark Bell was an angel in real life-- all the harsh vibes he gave online for yeeears... that shit is real, man. He WAS JivverDicker, just as much as he was LFO and a loving father and friend.

Buuuuut then in the long run-- somehow, his music makes up for any bad character online, cuz it wasn't like he was smashing granny heads with bricks. So I guess... I guess what is important, is to leave something good behind that is greater than all your sins?

Iiiii dunno, man..... Shit, dude. Man.

  On 10/14/2014 at 7:24 AM, peace 7 said:

The whole thing with character and all..... People on my facebook feed and others who knew him personally, speak of him as the nicest person. Like really, really nice. I only know him for his music (for ~16 years), but for ~10 years, I've known his internet persona on xltronic. He was insightful and interesting, but in the past 4 years or so, he started to become a straight up troll. He was actually quite an asshole to so many people.

I was discussing this with a friend on the phone and we realised that you could say the same thing about most of "the great idm masters" like afx, venetian snares, squarepusher as well.

  On 10/14/2014 at 7:24 AM, peace 7 said:

Like if a new member would come in with some naive and blind general posting, it wasn't at all surprising for him to chime in and smash them to bits (granted, it was kind of funny). I don't know how many times he tried to troll me by calling me a "try hard", for spreading my hippy ass whatever. The point I'm trying to make... -or actually, the point I'm thinking over-- is what all that means. I mean, for all of us. We do one thing here, then another thing in another place. It's like... who the fuck are we?!

I got to know that Jiv = Mark just yesterday. I actually started googling for topics where i was talking (arguing) with him and i realised that most of the times he was calling me a twat or worse was really well deserved. It's really embarrassing reading some of those topics.

RIP

Frequencies was one of the earlier Warp records I bought when I got into this music. The last track always reminds me of early Autechre. Dunno why.

  On 10/14/2014 at 7:24 AM, peace 7 said:

The whole thing with character and all..... People on my facebook feed and others who knew him personally, speak of him as the nicest person. Like really, really nice. I only know him for his music (for ~16 years), but for ~10 years, I've known his internet persona on xltronic. He was insightful and interesting, but in the past 4 years or so, he started to become a straight up troll. He was actually quite an asshole to so many people.

Yep. He was really mean to some of the people over at XLT, and I never understood why. I chatted with him on Soulseek several times, and he seemed like a very friendly, helpful and relaxed guy. Terrible News, especially for his kids.

Mark Bell, electronic music pioneer, dies aged 43 (BBC)

  On 10/14/2014 at 3:05 AM, modey said:

mark bell tribute watmm comp, imo

this

Terrible news. Gutted, shocked and saddened.

  NME said:

Bell worked closely with Bjork, co-producing a number of her albums, starting in 1997 with 'Homogenic'. He also released music under the name Clark.

 

http://www.nme.com/news/lfo/80357

Ummmm... wat

  On 10/14/2014 at 7:24 AM, peace 7 said:

The whole thing with character and all..... People on my facebook feed and others who knew him personally, speak of him as the nicest person. Like really, really nice. I only know him for his music (for ~16 years), but for ~10 years, I've known his internet persona on xltronic. He was insightful and interesting, but in the past 4 years or so, he started to become a straight up troll. He was actually quite an asshole to so many people. Like if a new member would come in with some naive and blind general posting, it wasn't at all surprising for him to chime in and smash them to bits (granted, it was kind of funny). I don't know how many times he tried to troll me by calling me a "try hard", for spreading my hippy ass whatever. The point I'm trying to make... -or actually, the point I'm thinking over-- is what all that means. I mean, for all of us. We do one thing here, then another thing in another place. It's like... who the fuck are we?!

 

All I know is that this whole thing further made me realize that for the greater good, we have to be our best in all avenues of life. Cuz I look at my own life, and I do the same shit. I basically am nice to everyone online and in person- I want to spread peace and human strength ideals and all that jazz-- but then sometimes in person, I'm just really fucked up and hurtful. Being able to experience such duality in someone I didn't know personally- and who I knew mostly as a cold-hearted cunt (yet intelligent and funny)- made me see that despite our many faces-- people can only see the ones we show them. Even if Mark Bell was an angel in real life-- all the harsh vibes he gave online for yeeears... that shit is real, man. He WAS JivverDicker, just as much as he was LFO and a loving father and friend.

 

Buuuuut then in the long run-- somehow, his music makes up for any bad character online, cuz it wasn't like he was smashing granny heads with bricks. So I guess... I guess what is important, is to leave something good behind that is greater than all your sins?

 

Iiiii dunno, man..... Shit, dude. Man.

I can tell you as a matter of fact (he told me enough times) that it was all a game to him. He just did it for a bit of fun and for every xlt member he was playing at being mean to, he'd give the shirt off his back for another. He sent loads of members of xlt presents, gear, guestlist entries etc... He even said he'd buy everyone a cake after Dove ripped off his music for a commercial and he got a load of money from them because of it! We all have our silly internet personas, but in the 5 or so years I spoke to Mark (almost every day) his actual personality couldn't be further away from his Jivverdicker antics. So I know that some people there will have a hard time letting go of that, but please don't think it's an accurate judgement of his real character, because it couldn't be further from the truth.

Either way, his musical legacy speaks for itself. Between that and his twins, I think they were the most important things to him, and it's what we should really remember him for.

  On 10/14/2014 at 2:09 PM, jasondonervan said:

 

  NME said:

Bell worked closely with Bjork, co-producing a number of her albums, starting in 1997 with 'Homogenic'. He also released music under the name Clark.

 

http://www.nme.com/news/lfo/80357

Ummmm... wat

 

It's true actually, and it's really fine music, from before the Clark we know:

http://www.discogs.com/artist/3254-Clark

  On 10/14/2014 at 2:17 PM, Herr Jan said:

 

  On 10/14/2014 at 2:09 PM, jasondonervan said:

 

  NME said:

Bell worked closely with Bjork, co-producing a number of her albums, starting in 1997 with 'Homogenic'. He also released music under the name Clark.

 

http://www.nme.com/news/lfo/80357

Ummmm... wat

 

It's true actually, and it's really fine music, from before the Clark we know:

 

 

http://www.discogs.com/artist/3254-Clark

 

Well well, that one's new to me!

fak. shit. 43 yrs old!

regarding xltrnc, lots of cunts over there. it was the reason i left. watmm is the best place on earth.

too bad bell's version didn't end up on the album...

Damn...Advance is one of my favorites. RIP.

Never knew about those Clark tracks, beautiful...

I was familiar with his XLT persona over the last few years but didn't know anything about him IRL, it seems pretty unanimous that he was a great fella. An especial tragedy seeing he has a young family

While I didn't know him, I certainly knew his 3 albums - cheers Mark for the joy they have brought me over the years. Through those he will live on

Sheeeeeeeeeeit. Found out about this earlier today, totally ruined my Tuesday.

Thanks for all the cracking tunes Mr. Bell (yes I know LFO was more than Mark Bell).

Fav LFO moments?

I love the Warp Records Memorial Mix where it's Freak mixed with Olson, Moby's " next is the E", and Leftfield's "double flash". (starts at 21:10 in the mix, lasts until about 27:50 -

A Salute To Those Who Say Fuck You is one of my favourite tracks, ever - and was the absolute best way to end the WAP100 album.

Another favourite - Freak - ranks up there with Windowlicker as another all-time favourite:

Damn, I completely forgot about that WAP100 track until Chen posted it (thanks!) and it's on repeat again. I blasted that one out so many times!

I kind of forgot about LFO these last few years, but thinking about it how many times I listened to it, at work, at school, etc. It had such an influence on my taste and totally chilled me out. Of course it wasn't all Mark Bell, but a huge part of it was, so I owe him a lot. Actually, LFO is one of the first house tracks I ever heard - I have two brothers who listened this compilation series almost religiously for the first years of my conscious life:

http://www.discogs.com/Various-House-Party-The-Ultimate-Megamix/release/22340

LFO was one of the most impressive tracks on there for me as a kid and always reminds me of my early youth. And even though I didn't hear Frequencies until 2003, I have huge nostalgic feelings for that album. Anyway, I'm really lucky I got to see him this summer, after him cancelling two times I was at a festival (STRP 2009 and Dour 2013? I think), seems like a proper but unfortunate way to close the chapter. Thanks Mark.

  On 10/13/2014 at 11:15 PM, Kavinsky said:

 

  On 10/13/2014 at 11:02 PM, StephenG said:

 

  On 10/13/2014 at 10:58 PM, Kavinsky said:

Why is everyone so surprised ? I´m sad too but humans die all the time, maybe its more dramatic for the people who bought his music from the beginning but I dont get that "WHY is he dead attitude" ! I mean in generall not only Mark Bell.

 

I don't see anyone saying "why is he dead"...? Only people saying that it's sad. Partially because he has 2 young kids.

 

I'd say that is sad even about a complete stranger, nevermind an artist I had grown up listening to... I don't know.

 

I dont mean this thread in particular more facebook, twitter stuff like that, and yes its very sad especially with 2 young kids.

it just strucks me everytime people writes things litke that.

 

btw: dont want to start a discussion, just sayin.

 

I agree wholeheartedly with you Kavinsky, all of this started with the social media bandwagon of which I also have nothing to do with, but I stay quiet, which is best in respect both to the thread and to the person who has died. I don't want to start a shitfight especially with someone to do with Warp. I just don't quite get it. And I'll leave it at that. Maybe this would be better discussed out of this thread?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5iJb_0Nxyo