Jon Hassell -- Classic Or Dud?

I would listen to Monkey Christ - the album!

I can't stop listening to the new album, I think it's wonderful. Think I might prefer it to Volume 1. Fearless, Moons of Titan and Delicado are up there with his greatest works IMO. I love the smokey, late-night textures dissolved in layer upon layer of electronic processing.

I have no idea whether it is better or worse than vol 1 yet but it is certainly not a disappointment.

have any of you ever listened to Motohiko Hamase? 80s minimalist/ambient composer, new to me, who was reissued by WRWTFWW earlier this year. very big jon hassell RIYL. i'm still getting a handle on his music, but Anecdote (a live 1987 recording) is one that i can recommend for people on this thread:

https://wrwtfww.com/album/anecdote

(#Notes of Forestry and Technodrome are the other two being reissued - if anyone has thoughts about them, or knows anything about Motohiko Hamase, i'd love to hear it!)

New one is pretty different from Vol.1 at first listen but gorgeous all the same!

finally getting to this. strikes me as a lot different from listening to pictures on first impression. much more doodley and. . . idk, jammy? is that an okay word to apply to this music? in any case, i'll need to sit with it a bit more, but it's new jon hassell music, so i'm happy.

Notes of Forestry is super good as are Reminiscence and Intaglio. These latter two were re-recorded in 2018 and are excellent but I think the original versions eclipse the remade ones. I'm just getting to know Technodrome. It's slightly indebted to house / techno records of that era but actually is perhaps the most Hassell-esque of them all imo.

good lord, i listened to technodrome and notes of forestry back-to-back, and i am ruined. what a night

Listening to this now. FWIW, Andy Beta's (nice) review on Pitchfork says this:

Back in April, Brian Eno started a GoFundMe for Hassell, who as a cancer survivor is at high risk of severe COVID-19 infection. Hassell is now out of intensive care, but he’s still well short of his fundraising goal, and one wonders how much more music lies ahead for the octogenarian artist.

https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/jon-hassell-seeing-through-sound-pentimento-volume-two/

Just to say that I think that the new album Seeing Through Sound - Pentimento Volume Two is absolutely brilliant. To me it sounds as if Brian Eno's organic ambient masterpiece On Land had been crossed with Nils Peter Molvaer's groundbreaking electric jazz album Khmer.

it's the first time a jon hassell album has done anything for me. it has not a lot to do with the first part. in-between a quantum leap has happened. there are these objets trouvès here and there (eg in rejkjavik). those haunting parts like in cool down coda. it's like another green world without the tunes. which obviously is better as it does not use itself up. my album of the year for the time being.

have any of you ever listened to Motohiko Hamase? 80s minimalist/ambient composer, new to me, who was reissued by WRWTFWW earlier this year. very big jon hassell RIYL. i'm still getting a handle on his music, but Anecdote (a live 1987 recording) is one that i can recommend for people on this thread:

https://wrwtfww.com/album/anecdote

― The GOAT Harold Land (Karl Malone), Wednesday, July 29, 2020 11:12 AM (one week ago) bookmarkflaglink

(#Notes of Forestry and Technodrome are the other two being reissued - if anyone has thoughts about them, or knows anything about Motohiko Hamase, i'd love to hear it!)

― The GOAT Harold Land (Karl Malone), Wednesday, July 29, 2020 11:14 AM (one week ago) bookmarkflaglink

New one is pretty different from Vol.1 at first listen but gorgeous all the same!

― SQUIRREL MEAT!! (Capitaine Jay Vee), Wednesday, July 29, 2020 12:35 PM (one week ago) bookmarkflaglink

finally getting to this. strikes me as a lot different from listening to pictures on first impression. much more doodley and. . . idk, jammy? is that an okay word to apply to this music? in any case, i'll need to sit with it a bit more, but it's new jon hassell music, so i'm happy.

― Totally different head. Totally. (Austin), Wednesday, July 29, 2020 3:42 PM (one week ago) bookmarkflaglink

Notes of Forestry is super good as are Reminiscence and Intaglio. These latter two were re-recorded in 2018 and are excellent but I think the original versions eclipse the remade ones. I'm just getting to know Technodrome. It's slightly indebted to house / techno records of that era but actually is perhaps the most Hassell-esque of them all imo.

― stirmonster, Wednesday, July 29, 2020 6:10 PM (one week ago) bookmarkflaglink

good lord, i listened to technodrome and notes of forestry back-to-back, and i am ruined. what a night

― The GOAT Harold Land (Karl Malone), Thursday, July 30, 2020 2:51 AM (one week ago) bookmarkflaglink

I have yet to hear Notes of Forestry or Technodrome but Anecdote is beautiful. Favorite recent discovery.

Trying to support my local so I ordered Seeing Through Sound from them but there's no telling when it will arrive

i didn't get around to listening to Seeing Through Sound until after my Motohiko Hamase binge. and when i finally did, it ruined me as well. these musicians are ruining me in the best way. the last track on Seeing Through Sound, "Timeless", is just incredible.

this new one is superb, it reminds me of VLadislav Delay in places!

*googles furiously*

sorry:
https://jonhassell.bandcamp.com/album/seeing-through-sound-pentimento-volume-two

the delay comparison makes sense to me. they both seem to form some esoteric nocturnal logic of their own, and i enjoy dozing off to them both.

whistleblower is the album i have in mind in particular

some of the tracks on this new one have that bubbling, percolating feel that I associate with classic Vladislav recs

"Timeless" in particular

xposts with sleeve

oh, i meant googling Vladislav! i know nothing about him, but i will definitely be checking them out too (heeding whispering karl's whistleblower recommendation!)

this thread rules imo

WHAT

OK you gotta go listen to Multila ASAP

Just checking Vol. 2 out right now for the first time, and hard agree re: V. Delay, esp on "Timeless"

(Hey Sleeve, I rushed into commenting without seeing you type the same)

Those long-tone strings combined with the stuttered choppy Sasu-y/Delay textures on that track are sounding really sweet to me, and nicely distinct in terms of Hassell himself seemingly laying out/no harmonized trumpet

Agreed on the Delay comparison - this album reminds me in part of ‘Nordub’, his recent collaboration with Nils Petter Molvaer and Sly & Robbie.

His WHAT

oh yeah, Nordub is amazing

thread delivers!

so, hey yeah: jammed seeing through sound again this morning and it does get better with every play. i can't say which of the more recent ones i prefer at this point. both are stellar in their own respective ways.

but to the present topic, i was curious and decided to check the nordub album and mist concur: this is also very good.

so, yeah:

thread delivers!

― sleeve, Tuesday, August 11, 2020 3:18 PM

i love when the thread delivers

loving nordub as well! and looks like vladislav delay released another album with sly + robbie today!

kings

loving nordub as well! and looks like vladislav delay released another album with sly + robbie today!

― diamonddave85​​ (diamonddave85), Friday, August 21, 2020 8:49 AM

dude what

hahaha

_thread delivers_

info

spotify

Per a statement from his family, Hassell passed this morning.

Oh no. :(((

RIP

I was naïvely looking forward to his next album – it didn't even occur to me that Seeing Through Sound could be the last.

damn RIP

RIP

Oh shit no way

that’s a big one - RIP to a total legend

RIP, boo, loved those last few

Rest In Peace. He was on top to the very last, just a legend

rip. great last album

The one before that, too! And I haven’t even listened to the one before that, yet. But still clearly on top of his game and exploring new territory to the very end. That’s all I could hope for anyone

no!!!!

This was the statement, BTW:

PRESS STATEMENT from Jon Hassell's Family
JULY 26, 2021
Family Statement:
Our beloved Jon M. Hassell - iconic trumpet player, author, and composer - has passed away at the age of 84 years on June 26th 2021. After a little more than a year of fighting through health complications, Jon died peacefully in the early morning hours of natural causes. His final days were surrounded by family and loved ones who celebrated with him the lifetime of contributions he gave to this world– personally and professionally. He cherished life and leaving this world was a struggle as there was much more he wished to share in music, philosophy, and writing.
It was his great joy to be able to compose and produce music until the end. We thank all those who contributed to ensuring that he was able to continue expressing his ideas through his final days and maintain a quality end of life.
Jon Hassell was able to leave behind many gifts. We are excited and committed to sharing those ongoing with his fans across time and support his enduring legacy. All donations to Jon Hassell’s GoFundMe will allow the tremendous personal archive of his music, much unreleased, to be preserved and shared with the world for years to come. We also hope to provide philanthropic gifts of scholarship and contributions to issues close to Jon’s heart, like supporting the working rights of musicians.
As Jon is now free of a constricting body, he is liberated to be in his musical soul and will continue to play in the Fourth World. We hope you find solace in his words and dreams for this earthly place he now leaves behind. We hold him, and you, in this loss and grief.
FOURTH WORLD IS
A KIND OF PHILOSOPHICAL GUIDELINE, A CREATIVE POSTURE, DIRECTED TOWARDS THE CONDITIONS CREATED BY THE INTERSECTION OF TECHNOLOGY WITH INDIGINOUS MUSIC AND CULTURE.
THE UNDERLYING GOAL IS TO PROVIDE A KIND OF CREATIVE MIDWIFERY TO THE INEVITABLE MERGING OF CULTURES WHILE PROVIDING AN ANTIDOTE TO A GLOBAL "MONOCULTURE" CREATED BY MEDIA COLONIZATION.
THE UNDERLYING PREMISE IS THAT EACH INDIGENOUS PEOPLES' MUSIC AND CULTURE - THE RESULT OF THEIR UNIQUE RESPONSE TO THEIR UNIQUE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT - FUNCTIONS IN THE SAME WAY AS, AS AN "ELEMENT" IN THE PERIODIC TABLE OF CHEMISTRY: AS PURE BUILDING BLOCKS FROM WHICH ALL OTHER "CULTURAL COMPOUNDS" WILL ARISE.
IN OTHER WORDS, THESE CULTURES ARE OUR "VOCABULARY" IN TRYING TO THINK ABOUT WAYS TO RESPOND TO OUR PLACE IN THE NEW GEOGRAPHY CREATED BY OUR MEDIA WORLD, AND MUST BE RESPECTED RELATIVE TO THEIR IMPORTANCE TO OUR SURVIVAL.
Jon Hassell
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