The following list was written by bassist Colin Edwin, whose extensive resume includes O.R.k., Porcupine Tree, Metallic Taste of Blood, and Random Noise Generator. O.R.k.'s new album Screamnasium is out now and available here.
Porcupine Tree – "Hatesong"
I co-wrote "Hatesong" with [Porcupine Tree frontman Steven Wilson] and he'd worked some other parts around the pieces of the song that I'd already contributed when I recorded the bassline for the main groove of the song. It came to me very spontaneously and seemed to fit right away. For me it doesn't matter how simple something is, if you've integrated a part successfully, you've probably found the right part.
"Hatesong" became a real mainstay of the live set for a long time and often the point in the set where, when playing to a fresh audience unfamiliar with the band became the moment where we won them over.
Porcupine Tree drummer Chris Maitland and I didn't always share the same influences, but he loved the bassline, and sometimes he used to sing it to me as a sort greeting.
Metallic Taste of Blood – "Schizopolis"
Metallic Taste of Blood is Eraldo Bernocchi and myself exploring dissonance and mixing it in with some moments of deep ambience, odd rhythms. A review once described the band as "Killing Joke meets King Crimson" which was a great complement. Eraldo did a fantastic job on the mix but I had to tell him that I thought the bass way too loud, his reply was simply "I always mix the bass loud" – OK then!. This is perhaps the oddest ostinato I've ever come up with, but I think it all hangs together really well, Jamie Saft's intense harpsichord is a great, unexpected touch too.
Metallic Taste of Blood – "Murder Burger:
I listened back to this track recently and enjoyed it's unpredictability, my choice of effects and the overall space in the bass dept., there's a small moment where the bass part is reversed too, I think the odd "WTF was that?" moment can be a good thing. Ted Parsons laid down a serious but restrained heavy beat which was great to play to.
Obake – "Infinite Chain"
Obake was a band I had together with O.R.k. vocalist Lef before we had O.R.k. as a going concern. It was a mix of heavy doom riffs with spacious ambient textures and I used a downtuned bass exclusively, easily the heaviest and loudest band I've ever played in. There was something very cathartic about the gigs, at a certain point the audience usually lost all inhibitions and drove us into somewhere special. We often closed the set with this tune as it really peaks at the end – skipping the piano outro of course. I am particularly fond of the filter effect sound I had going on the first verse and the main part of the song has perhaps the the heaviest bass sound I've found to date.
Porcupine Tree – "Halo"
I think my best ideas either come really quickly or after a lot of effort, this one came quickly during a group writing session and I'm glad I didn't overthink it. The tonality of the main part of the song is kind of ambiguous so I was able to throw in some odd notes and fills and I think that's maybe what lifts the bassline into being something really integral to the song and makes the whole thing more memorable than it might have been.
Gaudi – "Die Ballade Von Frosch"
I recorded a bunch of ideas on this track for Gaudi's Magnetic album at his studio in London and the brief was kind of a krautrock meets dub vibe. As we were recording, Gaudi encouraged me to play sparser and leave more space with each take, so I was super surprised to hear the finished version which used mostly the earlier, busier takes and features the bass as a really upfront element throughout the whole track.
Twinscapes – "Perfect Tool"
I have to give a little nod here to the late great Mick Karn, he was too unique to copy but I do sometimes try and think of something quirky which I later realise is the result of hours of having listened to his unique approach.
I love to play the fretless bass of course and "Twinscapes" is usually me on fretless and top Italian bassist Lorenzo Feliciati on fretted, although he plays fretless in the middle of this track too. We both handle ambient sounds in our own way, myself with an Ebow and Lorenzo with a delay and volume pedal set up.
Finding a complementary bass part to fit around Lorenzo's delay part was a real creativity test and Roberto Gualdi's drum parts shift around the electronic beats, but in the end, we all fit together jigsaw style.
Iamthemorning – "Chalk & Coal"
This was a guest spot for me a few years back. Being so well developed it was a real challenge to create a bass part which fit in with the intricate piano part and the equally intricate drum part and hopefully still manage to be both supportive and also give enough character and personality to enhance the song. I played one of my fretted Wal basses and I think it shows off the unique sound of a Wal really well.
O.R.k. – "Unspoken Words"
All credit to Machine who mixed O.R.k.'s latest album Screamnasium and made the whole band sound fabulous. Despite the fact we all recorded our parts in different places, it sounds like we are all in the same room together throughout.
I'm choosing this track because its probably the liveliest on the new album and my old Wal bass played with a pick cuts through and sounds great. Taken as a whole it also feels to me like this song really captures the spirit and energy of the band.
He's really let me shine out on this one, giving the fretless phrases a nice prominence and keeping the riffs nice and fat.
Tim Bowness – "I Go Deeper"
I've had a long association with Tim and his music always offers me a great context and lot of space to work in but I think this song in particular allowed me to play something a little unusual with hopefully quite a good hook as a counterpoint to to the main vocal.
The eBow effect came out exactly as I'd hoped, haunting and a little bit of a surprise when it first comes in.
Bonus mention: O.R.k. – "Kneel to Nothing"
Someone told me Kneel to Nothing has a disco bassline, which I actually consider a serious complement, danceable progressive rock! – if indeed it is prog rock. It's one of O.R.k's most popular tracks so disco is obviously still fertile territory for sure.
