Jon Hopkins - Singularity

[Kane Jones]

Hopkins' latest album has been released today, his first since 2013's Immunity (which was hands down my favourite album of that year, and a strong contender for best of the decade so far). Listening to the new one for the first time and I'm pretty blown away by it. It's definitely cut from the same cloth as Immunity with organic sounding samples and fat, glitchy beats, swathes of synths and strange arpeggios, and a few gorgeous, beatless ambient tracks with delicate piano motifs. I wasn't really expecting him to change his style up that much after the success of Immunity, so if I were to level any criticism at it, I would say it's a little bit of a safe move perhaps. But on the whole it's fucking wonderful, and a strong contender for my favourite album of 2018.

Any other fans here? I seem to recall Immunity had a few naysayers here at the time.

Couple of vids from the album;

Emerald Rush
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sk0uDbM5lc

Everything Connected
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-w-XSbVDsI

[Head Gardener]

listened to the album lots this week in my cave but by crikey 6Music have been hammering it

[olliebean]

Brilliant, I was just listening to Immunity the other day for the first time in ages and had no idea this was coming. Now queued up on Spotify, and I shall be listening to it in bed tonight.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Need to give this a listen. I love immunity, but I love The Diamond Mine even more.

[Crabwalk]

On first play earlier, yes it's corking.

[mobias]

Yeah I'm loving this album. It definitely fits into that category of album that really has to be listened to at brain blowing volume through good quality headphones for full effect. Emerald Rush is utterly superb but it looses something if its not at skull crushing volume. Its all incredibly well produced music. I really love the way Hopkins is so different to so much other dance music out there. He doesn't fall for the usual cliches and whenever you think a track is going to go one way, it goes another. Its dance music as art I think. Very well considered stuff.

I really wish Radio 6 would give him a rest though. I hate hearing tracks on the radio so often that they loose their magic.

[Mrs Wogans lemon drizzle]

Yeah I'm loving this album. It definitely fits into that category of album that really has to be listened to at brain blowing volume through good quality headphones for full effect. Emerald Rush is utterly superb but it looses something if its not at skull crushing volume. Its all incredibly well produced music. I really love the way Hopkins is so different to so much other dance music out there. He doesn't fall for the usual cliches and whenever you think a track is going to go one way, it goes another. Its dance music as art I think. Very well considered stuff.

I really wish Radio 6 would give him a rest though. I hate hearing tracks on the radio so often that they loose their magic.

Just out of interest, what other "dance music" are you familiar with?  This isn't a loaded question, just interested.

[Twed]

listened to the album lots this week in my cave but by crikey 6Music have been hammering it

Yeah, I caught Emerald Rush playing on 6Music and liked it enough to find out what it was.

It somehow doesn't feel like it deserves to go down in history as great music, but it's good listening.

I dunno, like techno for people who mainly listening to Mercury Prize winners.

[Twed]

A bit obvious... it's a bit petrolly.

[gabrielconroy]

I've enjoyed it quite a lot the three times I've listened to it so far. I wouldn't say it's brilliant, more well put together and pleasingly inventive at times.

Going to see him in Brixton in November. I can imagine he's a good bet for a live show.

[Kane Jones]

Going to see him in Brixton in November. I can imagine he's a good bet for a live show.

I saw him in Brighton in 2014 and it was absolutely brilliant. Great visuals etc.

[wosl]

I got his first two albums, but found them a bit bland and antiseptic (there are some goregous little bits on both, but that's the problem: they're bits.  They don't sustain a tone or mood for long enough).  Listening to the above linked-to recent things, he's hefted and gritted up his sound, but it still seems to fall between all sorts of stools (others go colder or deeper or longer or more blissed-out or grubbier; they mine narrower seams more concentratedly and committedly).  I have to side with Twed; it's pleasant and well done, but it's a bit characterless and finally bounces off.

[olliebean]

Interesting podcast here about how the track Luminous Beings was made.

[itsfredtitmus]

it's good, but it could be worse. not as bad as you would think, but that's not what i was hoping anymore, i don't think.

[Head Gardener]

Jon Hopkins - live set @Villain: https://youtu.be/Zzf710s8QDw

[popcorn]

I too loved Immunity but found Singularity rather bland. I'm fascinated by his methods and listened to the Song Exploder thing twice - in both cases hearing him say how it was the best thing he'd made blew my mind a bit. It's just pleasant. That's it.

Saw him live 3 years ago in Tokyo and that was bitchin'.

[Kane Jones]

I too loved Immunity but found Singularity rather bland. I'm fascinated by his methods and listened to the Song Exploder thing twice - in both cases hearing him say how it was the best thing he'd made blew my mind a bit. It's just pleasant. That's it.

Saw him live 3 years ago in Tokyo and that was bitchin'.

I know what you mean. Singularity is no Immunity by any stretch, but I still think it's great. It's been knocked off my top spot of the year by 3 albums so far. I may start a thread on them at some point.

[Captain Z]

It's just pleasant. That's it.

And there endeth my contribution to discussing new music. I would like to add more to these discussions but so little impresses me these days, at least in terms of music that may attract interest here.

I will attempt to drag this out. I liked the tracks with beats much more than the ambient pieces, which were too numerous and forgettable, and I didn't like the way the album was split into the techno and ambient halves. Certain people coo whenever an electronic artist makes beatless music as if it's the pinnacle that all great producers should aspire to but I actually think any Tom, Dick or Harry can create atmospheric ambient, it's far more difficult to arrange beats and bass around a good composition. In fairness, Jon's production skills do come across on the first 4 tracks.

I also dislike it when 'you have to listen under x/y/z conditions to really feel it'. It's not a good album then, is it. The majority of listening is done through my car stereo, £20 headphones at work, laptop speakers, bluetooth speakers, and least frequently my home stereo. If I'm going to keep returning to something I'd like it to be enjoyable on all of them.

[popcorn]

will attempt to drag this out. I liked the tracks with beats much more than the ambient pieces, which were too numerous and forgettable, and I didn't like the way the album was split into the techno and ambient halves. Certain people coo whenever an electronic artist makes beatless music as if it's the pinnacle that all great producers should aspire to but I actually think any Tom, Dick or Harry can create atmospheric ambient, it's far more difficult to arrange beats and bass around a good composition. In fairness, Jon's production skills do come across on the first 4 tracks.

I agree that his beatmaking stuff is far more interesting. He can make texture and crunch better than any other electronic thing I know of. It sounds urgent and driving.

It's a bit of a crass observation but hearing him talk about doing mushrooms in the desert kind of made me go "well, that explains why this track is so bland". You loop some piano notes and mix in some strings and make an acceptably pretty noise and then do loads of drugs and of course you have a transcendent experience.

[popcorn]

I read an interview with Jon Hopkins a while ago where he talked about how he recorded things like dropping keys and sampled that to make rhythms. So I had a go at doing that, but it just sounded like someone dropping keys.

[Kane Jones]

I read an interview with Jon Hopkins a while ago where he talked about how he recorded things like dropping keys and sampled that to make rhythms. So I had a go at doing that, but it just sounded like someone dropping keys.

Yeah, it's his organic sounding beats that I most enjoy about his work. I can't recall which track from Immunity features it but there's a kind of maraca rhythm running throughout, which if you listen closely, is actually a little aspirin tub being shaken.

[alan nagsworth]

And there endeth my contribution to discussing new music. I would like to add more to these discussions but so little impresses me these days, at least in terms of music that may attract interest here.

I will attempt to drag this out. I liked the tracks with beats much more than the ambient pieces, which were too numerous and forgettable, and I didn't like the way the album was split into the techno and ambient halves. Certain people coo whenever an electronic artist makes beatless music as if it's the pinnacle that all great producers should aspire to but I actually think any Tom, Dick or Harry can create atmospheric ambient, it's far more difficult to arrange beats and bass around a good composition. In fairness, Jon's production skills do come across on the first 4 tracks.

I also dislike it when 'you have to listen under x/y/z conditions to really feel it'. It's not a good album then, is it. The majority of listening is done through my car stereo, £20 headphones at work, laptop speakers, bluetooth speakers, and least frequently my home stereo. If I'm going to keep returning to something I'd like it to be enjoyable on all of them.

I can get behind a fair whack of this. I'd like to counter slightly though by saying that I have a pretty naff attention span and I'm always more impressed when an electronic artist can wow me with ambience and there's not a driving beat to keep me plugged into it. However, in Hopkins' case, I agree that his big techno stuff is far more dazzling on the whole.

Deffo also agree about the second paragraph. One of the ways I'll check out new music is before I go to work of a morning. While I'm eating breakfast I'll go through what Spotify's recommending (and to their credit, they're very good at that), have a quick listen on my iPhone speaker to an artist's top rated tracks, and see what grabs me. I'll then download the album and give it a spin on my commute, on my lovely big cans. I've landed on quite a few slept-on/undiscovered gems through that method, and whilst it obviously can't qualify for all types of music (like minimal or classical which can have quiet nuances lost entirely on small speakers) I think what you say counts for a lot.

I agree that his beatmaking stuff is far more interesting. He can make texture and crunch better than any other electronic thing I know of. It sounds urgent and driving.

Have you ever listened to Clark? He's the best, most consistent thing on Warp Records right now, I think, and it's largely for that "texture and crunch", which he's absolutely a master of. He also has a stunning ear for abstract whirling melodies and pulsing arpeggios that set him miles above his peers. There's an immediacy to the beats and a vast, howling space to his instrumentation that is dizzying.

Unfurla

Com Re-Touch/Pocket for Jack

Penultimate Persian

Vengeance Drools

[gabrielconroy]

Agree that Clark is the real master of the crunchy beats, even if some of his tracks are too compressed to enjoy. I saw him live a while back and he was pretty, pretty fookin slamming.

[popcorn]

Yeah I've loved Clark since Body Riddle. He's a crunchy one for sure. I was speaking too soon when I bombastically declared Hopkins by far the crunchiest.

[Kane Jones]

I think Clark may be a bit too crunchy for my taste, although I do love his self-titled album from 2014. His Death Peak album from last year wasn't so good though.

[alan nagsworth]

I think Clark may be a bit too crunchy for my taste, although I do love his self-titled album from 2014. His Death Peak album from last year wasn't so good though.

I've not listened to Death Peak yet, to my shame. I'm glad more people dig him though! He's definitely one of those "why is the wider world sleeping on this guy when he's eight albums into his career?!" artists.

[Kane Jones]

I've not listened to Death Peak yet, to my shame. I'm glad more people dig him though! He's definitely one of those "why is the wider world sleeping on this guy when he's eight albums into his career?!" artists.

I've got a compilation by him that's really cool too; Feast/Beast. That's definitely worth sticking your snout into.

Death Peak is a good album, to be fair. I was just so blown away by the 2014 album that I found it disappointing. The soundtrack he did for the TV show The Last Panthers is definitely worth a listen if you haven't heard that though. It's excellent (although is more ambient/atmospheric and less 'crunchy' I would say).

[alan nagsworth]

The soundtrack he did for the TV show The Last Panthers is definitely worth a listen if you haven't heard that though. It's excellent (although is more ambient/atmospheric and less 'crunchy' I would say).

Yep, I'm a big fan of that. Regarding the above discussion, it's a good example of an artist proving they can stretch to (and not limit themselves to) a more spacious, ambient sound.