Songs Like Open Eye Signal by Jon Hopkins — 60/7/126 Across Five Decades
By Dan Cohen · Published 2026-09-09
Eight records in our catalogue return intensity 60, dynamic range 7, and a tempo within ten BPM of Open Eye Signal’s 126. They span 1966 to 2015 and include a post-punk album track, a Black Sabbath song, and Michael Jackson. None of them is techno.
The shape being matched
An intensity of 60 with a dynamic range of 7 describes a record that pushes hard but is not flat — there is still a long way between its floor and its ceiling. Our sudden-changes reading here is moderate, and the texture is complex. Put together: a driving track, around 126 BPM, that keeps changing shape while it drives. We tag it cathartic, energetic and transcendent.
Same three numbers, different decades
- Colony — Joy Division, 1979. Intensity 60, dynamic range 7, 128 BPM. Two BPM apart and the nearest match in the catalogue.
- Fairies Wear Boots — Black Sabbath, 1970. Intensity 60, dynamic range 7, 130 BPM.
- We Take Care of Our Own — Bruce Springsteen, 2012. Intensity 60, dynamic range 7, 123 BPM.
- You’re Gonna Miss Me — 13th Floor Elevators, 1966. Intensity 60, dynamic range 7, 120 BPM. The oldest entry, and it holds the band exactly.
- Smooth Criminal — Michael Jackson, 1987. Intensity 60, dynamic range 7, 118 BPM.
- Shut Up and Drive — Rihanna, 2007. Intensity 60, dynamic range 7, 120 BPM.
- We R Who We R — Kesha, 2010. Intensity 60, dynamic range 7, 120 BPM.
- Adventure of a Lifetime — Coldplay, 2015. Intensity 60, dynamic range 7, 116 BPM.
Reading a list with no electronic music on it
The absence is worth stating plainly rather than hiding: a page about a techno record has returned eight matches and none of them is techno. That is not because the catalogue lacks electronic music. It is because at this exact combination of pressure, range and tempo, the records that qualify happen to be rock and pop.
Taken as a claim about sound, this list is wrong — nothing here will scratch the itch that Open Eye Signal scratches. Taken as a claim about behaviour, it is accurate, and it is a fair description of what a 126 BPM record with room to move does to a listener regardless of what it is made of.
Figures are our own measurements, read from the public API at build time. The genre and era spread is a consequence of measuring sound rather than style — it is not a claim that these artists resemble each other in any other way. No lyrics are reproduced.