Jon Hopkins - Insides

I feel saddened by the fact that I can only give this 3 out of 5. After the first two excellent albums and a string of brilliant remixes for other artists including the creeping crawling rumbling monster that was the remix of Leo Abrahams 'Spider', listening to this left me feeling deflated and somewhat cheated. The previous albums were clearly inspired by the likes of Eno, David Morley, Autechre and a host of other ambient/techno producers from the early to late nineties downtempo electronica scene

I was hoping for more of the same this time around and was even prepared to accept a subtle nod to the current trend of analog synth bashing retro electro crap that seems to have infected all other forms of dance music. Instead what we have is some sort of bastard child of Dubstep and IDM with a few ambient melodies and sensibilities thrown in for good measure. There are a few strong tracks on the album where Jon appears to go back to what he does best - lush melodies and subtle but intricate beats - but for the most it just seems to be an exercise in trying to out-program squarepusher/Aphex twin on the drums whist tryng to maintain sense of melody to keep people interested. Whist these skills are to be admired they do not reflect what Jon does best in my opinion and to be honest were done better by the aforementioned artists 10 to 15 years ago.


Overall Id rate this album as disappointing but with a few tracks of real quality to comand an overall purchase.