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Further Fictions
Artist
Jon Hassell
ReleaseProduct
Further Fictions
Label
Ndeya
Catalogue Number
NDEYA10DL
Release Date
February 10, 2023

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Genres

The Living City

Bringing the fourth world to our physical domain, Jon Hassell and Brian Eno teamed up for an elaborate and explorative set of performances at the World Financial Center Winter Garden in 1989. Amidst Eno’s “tropical rainforest sound installation” of recordings from Colombia and Japan (inspired by the Aka people of Cameroon) were Hassell and his band, imparting three nights of entrancing, “futuristic sci-fi funk” jams. Such a convergence of musical innovators and ideas must have been a real treasure to witness; now the magic can be rediscovered on this reissue of The Living City.

A shimmering wall of chirping crickets, distant birds squabbling, and the array of musical fauna played by the band sets the scene. Described as “music made to float [to]”, these performances ride a deep, enchanting groove, depicting rituals under the cloak of night with the whizzing sighs of Hassell’s shapeshifting trumpetry guiding us through the haze. Deft bass plucks drive the instrumentals, and Eno’s live mixing of cut and paste voices and sonic transformations add to the ethereal atmosphere.

‘Alchemistry’ continues the mystical vibes with attention grabbing trills, flitting sounds, and watery thunks of tabla, while the ephemeral structures of ‘Mashujaa’ (meaning “heroes” in Swahili) zip and spiral into a dense smokiness. Sauntering organ-like bass drones loom throughout ‘Nightsky’, chimes twinkling like the births of stars, and trumpet howling like hyenas or gushing air currents. It’s a celestial soundbath so immersive that you could easily mistake the audience’s cheers for the sonic creatures scurrying throughout the performance.

Seemingly existing outside of time and space, The Living City remains totally timeless and transportive over thirty years after its recording.

Psychogeography

The bombastic explosions of worldly sounds in Jon Hassell’s City: Works Of Fiction dropped in 1990, depicting an imagined future of thought provoking oxymorons: urban ancients living everywhere and nowhere blasting hypermodern folk hymns from their speakers. Over thirty years later, it still sounds far out yet totally familiar. It was a fruitful time for Hassell, who later drew a map of the city with alternate takes, demos, and studio jams in the form of Psychogeography, released in 2014 and reissued here in all its glory.

Charting this oneiric metropolis, Hassell and co wander aimlessly through sonic highways where global architectures meld seamlessly together. “Psychogeography” stems from Situationist philosophy, where one disregards the designed layout of a city and instead moves through its “zones of feeling”. Combined with Hassell’s fourth world concepts, this companion album to his 1990 epic forms an even deeper melting pot of times, spaces, moods, and places, drifting through hypnagogic ambience and electrified sensory overloads.

‘Aerial View’ conveys a vastness with its windily morphing passages, overlooking the kaleidoscope of sounds to come: from the nocturnal dub of ‘Neon Night (Rain)’ to the maximalist whirlwind bop of ‘Cityism Superdub’, a landslide of fuzz and wah. ‘Freeway’ portrays the rhythmic chugging of vehicles and the soporific feeling of long, long drives, “a blur of taillights” drawn in sunset coloured chords. The abstracted jazz visions of Hassell’s signature trumpets on ‘Waterfront District’ go from foggy murmurs to forceful yodels in seconds, while the gnashing drums, blues inspired guitars, and “limping bass groove” on ‘Favela’ wouldn’t be out of place in the most experimental of grunge jams.

Fusing infinite influences, Psychogeography is a necessity for anyone looking to broaden their musical horizons.

Digital Tracklist

Disc 1

  1. 1 Ituri 10:45 Buy

    Ituri

  2. 2 Alchemistry 9:43 Buy

    Alchemistry

  3. 3 Adedara Rising 10:14 Buy

    Adedara Rising

  4. 4 Mashujaa 13:32 Buy

    Mashujaa

  5. 5 Paradise Now 5:01 Buy

    Paradise Now

  6. 6 Nightsky 18:38 Buy

    Nightsky

Disc 2

  1. 1 Aerial View 2:33 Buy

    Aerial View

  2. 2 Neon Night (Rain) 5:20 Buy

    Neon Night (Rain)

  3. 3 Cityism Superdub 4:34 Buy

    Cityism Superdub

  4. 4 Harambe 3:46 Buy

    Harambe

  5. 5 Freeway 4:49 Buy

    Freeway

  6. 6 Cuba Libre 3:28 Buy

    Cuba Libre

  7. 7 Midnight 0:29 Buy

    Midnight

  8. 8 Waterfront District 5:22 Buy

    Waterfront District

  9. 9 Favela 5:55 Buy

    Favela

  10. 10 Emerald City 5:08 Buy

    Emerald City

Show All Tracks 17

Jon Hassell

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Jon Hassell

Ndeya

1980s

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Ambient and Modern Classical

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Electronic and Electronica

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