Jon Hassell - Seeing Through Sound (pentimento Volume Two) - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Hailed as one of the 50 best ambient albums of all time by Pitchfork, Vernal Equinox was the first commercially released work by Jon Hassell, originally put out by Lovely Music in 1977. It is also the debut of a pioneering new form of music that would become known as 'fourth world' a subtle blend of field recordings, electric jazz, ambience and global music influences. Hassell's trademark FX-soaked trumpet is carefully embellished by a studio ensemble including the master Brazilian percussionist Naná Vasconcelos and David Rosenboom on synth. The result is a quiet, meditative and highly original work of outstanding beauty.

The leap that Beethoven makes from his first violin sonata compared to his last is huge. InchOn a personal level, I've always felt that Beethoven is the composer to whom I feel the closest to; the first sonata I ever played was a Beethoven sonata, and so I immediately became enthusiastic about this project. I decided to ask Michael Schoch if he would be interested, and that's how all of this came about.Inch Annedore Oberborbeck

Listening To Pictures Pentimento Volume One is the first new album in nine years by a musical visionary and hugely influential figure in new music. Forty years since it's 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 of this new album also sees the launch of Jon's own tag, Ndeya (pronounced Inchin-day-yaInch), 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.