Jon Hassell -- Classic Or Dud?

so classic

Possible that I like Aka/Darbari/Java: Magic Realism the best. It's like he sat in Lanois' Hamilton studio with the goal of making imaginary pygmy music out of a trumpet, a sampler, a harmonizer, and a cardboard box.

i've said it before -- i want to live in the imaginary world that music comes from

I am really slow on the uptake, never realized it was his incredible muted horns on those David Sylvian albums. Just picked up "Possible Musics" and have flipped for it. What should I sample next?

The ECM discs (Power Spot from '86 and Last Night the Moon Came Dropping its Clothes in the Street from '09) are probably going to be the easiest to track down and both are damn good records.

Shame his back catalogue is so fragmented as far as availability. Some of it is on the good ol' Spotify, I guess.

Which reminds me, I need to fill the holes in my own collection.

"Alchemistry," from the City live set, is a pretty neat little reworking of "Chemistry" from Possible Musics.

& it's not online yet but I'll just put this here for now

http://www.kcrw.com/music/shows/morning-becomes-eclectic/jon-hassell-2014-07-16🔗

this was a very good recommendation upthread:

There's also a cool Sub Rosa thing from '87, Myths 3. La Nouvelle Serenite, that has a great Hassell piece along with stuff by Harold Budd and Gavin Bryars.

http://alycesantoro.com/jon%20hassell%20-%20map2/jon_hassell1.jpg

http://alycesantoro.com/MAP2.html

linked from this, also good

http://www.alycesantoro.com/politics_of_sound_art.html

Hassell's new Ndeya imprint seems to be up and running, with digital reissues of Vernal Equinox, Earthquake Island, Sulla Strada and Maarifa Street. These have also turned up on streaming services at last. (What with ECM, YMO and now early Hassell up on Spotify/Apple Music, it's been a good few weeks for stuff I like being put out there.)
https://boomkat.com/labels/ndeya

I think Ndeya is being run as an imprint of Warp, rather like All Saints is these days? I've heard a lot of talk that there's a new album in the offing too, and I hope he cracks on with this rather than his very dubious sounding book.

Also, I hope this leads to a vinyl reissue of Vernal Equinox - that record is a bit pricey for my liking these days.

New album coming out 8th June on his new Warp imprint Ndeya:
https://jonhassell.bandcamp.com/album/listening-to-pictures-pentimento-volume-one

The preview track, Dreaming, is the one he played on the Gilles Peterson Words & Music podcast a couple of years back (in a slightly restructured form). It's, er, very dreamy. Looking forward to this.

"The release of this new album also sees the launch of Jon’s own label, Ndeya (pronounced “in-day-ya”), which will be a home for new work as well as well as selected archival releases, including re-presses of classic sides and some astonishing unreleased music."

Thanks, this sounds really promising. It's also kind of awesome to see a musician launching a new label and releasing new music in his 82nd year.

streaming: https://www.thewire.co.uk/audio/tracks/preview-jon-hassell-s-new-album

Very excited for this new one.

Between this and the new record from Steve Tibbetts, it's a great year for aging guys who make totally unique and wonderfully soothing music.

New Tibbetts is magnificent, easily one of my favorite albums of the year, and maybe his best!

oh shit!!!

Listening now. Three songs in, this is fantastic. Like the Jon Hassell album for Kompakt you never knew you needed. Incredible to me how he keeps his (very distinctive, very recognizable) sound so fresh. Sounds very much like Jon Hassell, but somehow sounds very "now," too.

End of "Picnic" sounds Necks-y. I love the Fender Rhodes! (assuming that is what it is)

Like the Jon Hassell album for Kompakt you never knew you needed.

fuckin

this train can’t take me home soon enough

haha <3 u Brad

this record is wonderful

Fuuuuuuuk

A cynic might say this is just a Hassell record crossed with '94 Diskont', but against that proposition I would proffer that this is also a Hassell record crossed with '94 Diskont'.

Heh, sold.

lol tim otm

This is an amazing record. Maarifa Street and Last Night... (both of which are great) suggested he was moving gracefully towards a kind of dubby ambient jazz - but this is something else, wilder and far less smooth. Seriously heavy low end on it too.

pvmic but i think this is my album of the year (it's been an extremely rich year)

mine too honestly, haven't been blown away by anything new this instantly in a bit

(although this is my first hassell; what are the recommended starting points?)

imo you can go backwards but i loooove last night basically as much as the new one

i think most would recommend either of the fourth world records though

Fourth World, Vol. 1: Possible Musics (with Brian Eno), Power Spot and Last Night the Moon Came Dropping Its Clothes in the Street are all classic in my book.

I've actually never heard Dream Theory in Malaya. Time to remedy that.

I think Hassell's discography is so consistently brilliant and unique, pretty much any way is a good direction. Some of the availability of his catalogue is a bit spotty, unfortunately. But, it's all worthwhile. Maybe the only thing that isn't as immediately akin to the rest of his stuff is Bluescreen; but that's pretty good.

I haven't heard the new one yet, so I can't really comment on how it stands in regards to the rest of his work.

Iiiii neeeeed tooooo heeeaaaarrrr thiiiiiiiiiiisssssss

Aka/Darbari/Java is my favorite solo rec of his fwiw

spare, evocative, kinda mesmerizing

I've actually never heard Dream Theory in Malaya. Time to remedy that.

― pomenitul, Friday, June 8, 2018 11:09 AM (twenty-two minutes ago)

I really like that one. Weird follow-up to the original Fourth World album, but a very good record all the same.

Aka/Darbari/Java is probably my favourite as well.
and this new one is incredible. maybe the best thing i listened this year.

thanks y'all :+)

Today is its release date so it's on Spotify now. Presumably the other streaming svcs as well.

Ha, pfork says 7.3.

I think Hassell's discography is so consistently brilliant and unique, pretty much any way is a good direction. Some of the availability of his catalogue is a bit spotty, unfortunately. But, it's all worthwhile.

― (V) (°,,,,°) (V) (Austin), Friday, June 8, 2018 2:15 PM (three hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I have everything he's ever released and I agree with this statement. Even City, which I didn't connect with at the time, sounds brilliant and ahead of its time to me now

I think I took City: Works of Fiction for granted because it was the first album of his I got and it was hilariously easy to acquire (especially in comparison to the lengths I had to go to get some of his other records). The three disc reissue from a few years back was a great way to get to reintroduce myself to it.

I think I need to revisit the Bluescreen album. I remember it being the other one of his, besides City, that was most common in used bins. I bought it the first time, when I was just kind of exploring new things in college and it was played maybe twice. I either traded it or gave it away, don't remember. But then I reacquired it about a decade ago, right around the time Last Night the Moon Came Dropping Its Clothes in the Street came out and the majority of his back catalogue was out of print and second hand copies were rising in price. I may have listened to Bluescreen three times since then. So, yeah: it's due for a reassessment, I think.

I've never managed to fall in love with the Bluescreen album but it does contain one of my all time favourite Hassell tracks in "Blue Night (live)" which is literally and metaphorically lumped on the end of the cd. It's totally out of step with the rest of the album and more akin to something from "Power Spot", but is so, so sublime.

I've not listened to the new one enough to really formualte an opinion yet.

i just listened to "Listening To Pictures" again and oddly, I'd swear the track "Ndeya" samples the track "Blue Night (live)" mentioned above.

so happy I am home and listening to this new one, sounds great so far

Also, if you guys don't know it, this one is terrific:

https://www.discogs.com/Jon-Hassell-Fascinoma/master/527072

oh my god "Picnic" - I can see where y'all are getting the Oval vibes from

Dream Theory in Malaya is good (especially the last 3 tracks), but the relentless fluttering of "Chor Moire" and unsettling squelchy loop on "Datu Bintung at Jelong" both make me feel like I'm about to have a panic attack.

Didn't expect *this* Jon Hassell at all. A lovely surprise.