How much do I love Jon Hopkins? Let me count the ways. First, let me tell you a story… Gather round gather round…

I’m a visual artist. I have no skill in making music. I’ve tried a little but… the universe just kinda told me that it’s not what I’m here to do. That’s fine… I can’t do it all, nor do I have any need to be poly-artistic across sensorium realms. The visual stuff keeps me more than busy enough. But, like YOU, I’ve always loved music and I know what I like. From very popular stuff to very “niche” stuff… I just kinda know what I like when I hear it. There is nothing unique about my experience, and I bet you feel the exact same way… but that is a little amuse-bouche for the story.

Now, I happen to run in some very interesting circles and meet people from all walks of life. I met this cat, Chris Craker. He’s from the music industry… kind of a big deal with like a billion records sold from Sony, Universal, Warner, blah blah blah then he got sick of that whole thang and started up his own zen serene music studio situation in Thailand. He was the producer with Hans Zimmer on Interstellar and has done all kinds of crazy stuff… I won’t get into it all – but let’s just say I ran into a guy that knows more about music than JK Rowling knows about bathrooms. Not the best analogy, but you get the idea. 🙂

Anyway, to make a short story longer, I talked to him for a few hours. We got to know one another, and he saw my… errr… quirky ways? And then I said, okay, well dude, you’re the music man… I don’t know if you are good at psycho-analyzing people, but I have a feeling you ARE. Let’s test it. Give me the name of a musician that you think I would like. Without hesitation, he recommended an artist named Jon Hopkins, someone I was yet to discover, so I loaded it onto my iPod… did I have an iPod at the time? I can’t remember… too many drugs… or not enough drugs… anyway… HE WAS RIGHT.

I think this is one of the first songs I fell in love with… I can go on and on and tell you all sorts of reasons this music resonates with me. There are layers that are so intricate, and the storytelling is absolute genius. It’s completely fine if others don’t connect with this music the way I do—it only enhances its unique appeal to me. Similarly, I understand that not everyone grasps my art, and that’s perfectly okay too.

Enjoy.