Jon Hassell -- Classic Or Dud?

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.

The end of Picnic sounds like Zawinul! Marvellous.

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.

― Hideous Lump, Saturday, June 9, 2018 12:38 AM (eight hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

My wife has the same reaction to this record, and uses the same words ("panic attack") to describe it. She also refers to it "anxiety music" despite liking or at least being indifferent to everything else by Hassell she's heard. The only other thing that inspires such a reaction from her is Wolfgang Voigt (solo, not GAS), whose music she loathes

What do people think of surgeon of the nightsky

I love it

this thing is great! reminds me a bit of the ambient electronic jazz that Justin Walter has been putting out on Kranky

Received mine yesterday. Wonderful and quiet pressing except for an annoying defect at the end of side 1, a very audible ticking / scuff sound. Anyone else experience this?

Got this in the mail today and just finished up my first listen now. Wow, what a wonderful turn in sound from Last Night the Moon Came Dropping its Clothes in the Street. That was essentially beatless, where this new one definitely has a rhythmic base, but not quite as defined as Maarifa Street. First impression is that it strikes a perfect balance between the funky backbeats of Maarifa Street and the impressionistic wash of Last Night the Moon Came Dropping its Clothes in the Street. Fantastic.

I like this but the drum sounds on "Pastorale Vassant" sound distractingly dated where everything else sounds unattached to any time.

They don't bother me, but I see what you mean. They're mixed pretty low though, and used subtly throughout, so it's not like you're listening to "Come To Daddy" or something

It's a mid-90s Wire Magazine wet dream ;-)

I really like it, first four tracks especially so far. Breezes by at <37 minutes.

For those that hoped for more in the *Last Night the Moon Came Dropping Its Clothes* vein, some of that itch may be scratched by Sly & Robbie Meet Nils Petter Molvær feat. Eivind Aarset and Vladislav Delay - *Nordub* (2018).

Caveat, Nordub is really is more of an African Head Charge type album than Fourth World (though I think it would be great at -30% tempo). NP Molvær's past work is closest to a Hassell protege I'm aware of.

This Sly and Robbie is fantastic - thanks for the heads up. Have added to the Sly & Robbie thread.

On my first listen, this is wonderful.
Lovely liner notes from Hassell himself. Good to read this: "Finally, I'm pleased to note that this record also marks a valued moment of reconnection with my longtime friend, Brian Eno."

What is the connection to Eno here?

No actual/musical connection with this particular album. There's some background on the reconnection in this candid interview with Billboard (and a not so subtle diss on David Byrne :)

https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/8463129/jon-hassell-interview

But anyway, my lingering scars of being left off any mention of My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, that was the clearest evidence that the backroom boys – Brian's managers and David's managers of the time – [were like] "Hold on here, that guy could come after you with a big lawsuit." And I was still in the ivory tower frame of mind and didn't have a structure there. If I had been Ry Cooder and had a management structure, that would have been my harpoon to lance this appropriation. So I wrote a 50-page letter a couple years ago when I was way down on my luck, and I made a big reconnection with Brian, and I would say we're brothers now. And that was a rough patch for me. But that's ironed itself out. I've had zero contact with David, but he's not exactly in the same intellectual class with Brian, so that's not surprising.

Yikes