The Blue Nile are the most enigmatic band in pop. Releasing just four albums in twenty years. Yet fans of their melancholic perfection include everyone from Peter Gabriel to 2016's hottest act, The 1975. Ken Sweeney's In Search of The Blue Nile airs the 28th of December at 10pm on RTÉ Radio 1

In Search Of The Blue Nile

MIXES

VISIBLE CLOAKS - SANPO 100

First track from the new Jon Hassell album 'Listening To Pictures (Pentimento Volume One)' - Out now:
http://smarturl.it/listeningtopictures

pen·ti·men·to / noun
Reappearance in a painting of earlier images, forms, or strokes that have been changed and painted over.

Forty years since its creation, Jon Hassell's Fourth World aesthetic remains a powerful influence on modern electronic music. Continuing his lifelong exploration of the possibilities of recombination and musical gene-splicing, fragments of performance are sampled, looped, overdubbed and re-arranged into beguiling unexpected shapes. Hassell applies the painterly technique of ‘pentimento’ to the arrangements, teasing out texture by the overlaying of sound upon sound, or a carefully timed reveal of the delicate bones pinning the frame of a track together.

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.

FURTHER READING ON JON HASSELL:

Fourth World in the 21st century: https://www.residentadvisor.net/features/2984
Brian Eno on Jon Hassell: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2007/nov/09/jazz.urban
https://www.jonhassell.com/

Jon Hassell - Dreaming

During our time of self quarantine, a few friends decided to give ourselves a week to make a piece of music. The goal was simple: be creative and open. I've been working on my new album and with my humble setup, started noodling with a simple chord progression and built it up from there. 

The water sound is a recording I made at the 9/11 Memorial in June 2019. Visiting the memorial for the first time, I was overwhelmed by the sound of the site. The huge water fall, descending to the reflecting pool below, sounded like a chorus of grief to me. Listening back to the recording later, I started to hear more in the sheets of sound. I remembered standing there and looking up to the sky where the towers once reached and then over to where the Freedom Tower now stood. I knew there was more than grief present, there was hope. 

I've seen many people compare our current time to 9/11. Having lived in NY during 9/11 and now a global pandemic, there are certainly many similarities. The first responders then and those on the frontlines now remind me that we have to focus on helping each other and moving ahead. We have to hope, but not passively so. This is work and we are all responsible. 

This piece, 'Hope,' bridges two traumatic times in my life and the world's. I felt comforted while writing it and I hope that it calms you and offers you some sense of peace.

Hope

OUR 3RD INSTALLMENT OF IN THE MIX COMES ALL THE WAY FROM BRUSSELS, BELGIUM; THE PIONEERS OF INDUSTRIAL/TECHNO KNOWN AS FRONT 242. DUE TO THE GREAT PANDEMIC OF 2020, EVERYONE'S PLANNED WORLD TOUR HAS COME TO A HALT. PRESENTED HERE IS A UNIQUE TIME-TRAVELLER MIX RUNNING OVER 2 HOURS LONG. THESE TRACKS WERE PREPARED BY RICHARD 23 FOR THE BAND'S AUDIENCE PRIOR TO SHOWTIME INCLUDING CLASSIC ELECTRONIC MUSIC (PRE-DATING FRONT 242), TRACKS THAT HAVE INFLUENCED THE BAND & "CALM BEFORE THE STORM" SELECTIONS WHICH WOULD LEAD INTO 242'S HIGH ENERGY STAGE ATTACK.  PRIOR TO LISTENING, RICHARD EXPLAINS THE IMPORTANCE OF INDEPENDENT RECORD STORES, EARLY PURCHASES THAT HAD AN AFFECT ON HIM AND HOW THESE SHOPS WERE INTEGRAL TO THE BAND ITSELF. AN INSIGHTFUL AND DEEPLY PERSONAL TRIBUTE TO OUR CULTURE WHICH WE ARE HIGHLY THANKFUL FOR.
HTTP://WWW.WAXTRAXCHICAGO.COM/

Hope

definitely miami

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