5 Records That Inspired Jon Hopkins’ ‘Ritual’
Jon Hopkins’ new record is a massive journey that shifts from sound bath to subterranean earthquakes. And yes, it was influenced by ‘Crocodile Dundee.’
Jon Hopkins’ Ritual is meant to be a tool for spiritual transcendence. Similar to his other recent works Singularity and Music For Psychedelic Therapy, Hopkins’ new record is a massive journey that shifts from sound bath to subterranean earthquakes.
The eight-part piece, intended to be listened to as a single track, features a who’s who of electronic and sound healing artists: Clark, Emma Smith, Vylana, Ishq, 7RAYS, and more. What originally began as a short installation piece called Dreammachine, has evolved into a fully-realized portal deep into the inner mind.
Before the release, Hopkins reflected on the influences that helped subconsciously guide him on the path that led him to Ritual, from children’s theme songs to new age drumming.
Peter Best
“Theme From Crocodile Dundee” (1986)
When I was growing up, there was always the film that you had on VHS that you watched a hundred times. I don’t know why [it was that] film. I think it’s the Australian landscape and the fact that actually it’s edited and directed enough in a way that’s far more languid than it has any right to be in a way.
The movie has this enjoyable quality. The actors are likable, and the story is horrendous, but it doesn’t matter. But for whatever reason, it’s got this extremely cool theme. I think what happened is it went deep into my consciousness when I was very young. I heard it so many times that I wrote this album, I was like, “Wait a minute.” I listened back and thought, “Oh shit.” It’s hilarious. It’s almost in the same key. I think maybe a semitone different. After hearing these albums, you’ll see what I mean.
It has some digeridoo as well, which my record does, too. The digeridoo is a fascinating instrument. It was explained to me recently by a friend that a person playing the didgeridoo is playing it from themselves to feel the vibrations rather than a performance for others, which is the complete opposite way of experiencing music that we understand in our culture. These are themes that are key in [Ritual].
Byron Metcalf
“Fields of Intention” (2009)
This is an album I must have come across about four years ago when someone introduced me to Qigong shaking, where you shake your body in all different parts in sequence and then all together. The purpose is to release cortisol and let go of tension. In another way, you might say you’re releasing stagnant Qi in your body. Do about ten minutes of that, and you’ll feel amazing.
Someone suggested this album as a soundtrack for that. I don’t know much about [Byron Metcalf], but I think he’s playing all the drums in these pieces. As with anything kind of new agey and spiritual, there’s always this fine line. I’m very interested in that line. How can you [make something] comfortably sit in that genre without accidentally becoming terrible? So much of that music and that culture can be, which puts so many people off. [That music] is good at heart and very important, and I think this guy balances that.
I was almost trying to figure out how to mix this into a techno DJ set, and the reason it wasn’t possible is only because it’s very live. It drifts. It doesn’t sit with a synchronized techno rhythm, but musically it’s kind of doing the same thing. About halfway through Ritual, there’s a section where these drums come in. We weirdly made them. They’re played on an MPC, and they’re not supposed to sound like someone’s playing them so much.
7RAYS, which is my friend Dan, is one of the collaborators in the album, he’s responsible for playing that rhythm. He didn’t know I was interested in [Metcalf], but that’s the way it happens. You’re thinking about the same thing without knowing. That’s what the album needed, this surprising twist in the middle where it went somewhere I hadn’t ever gone before in my music. I didn’t want it to sound like a record tied to anything to do with modern popular culture. That’s just not where my head is.
Cluster & Eno
“Ho Renomo” (1977)
Again, to reference my friend 7RAYS, I started composing a piece for an installation called Dreammachine, which was two years ago. Then there was a long pause, and I started developing it into Ritual.
One of the ideas that we were both talking about was how to turn a 15-minute piece into a 41-minute piece, ideally without having a boring minute. We came to the concept of the listeners just floating down a river.
My understanding of [Cluster & Eno] is they rented a house by a river. All the music was informed by this endless passing river. [Ritual] flows like that for a bit, but then it has an enormous climax, which, at one point, we were trying to avoid and keep going at the same level. Something in me that wanted to tell a more dynamic or dramatic story. This piece It’s been a sort of influence on a lot of stuff I’ve done over the years, and that flowing river thing has some presence of it remaining in this album.
Weyes Blood
“Movies“ (2019)
The vocals in this song [by Weyes Blood] are extremely potent to me and have been for some years now. I have this thing where if I love something to a certain degree, I can’t listen to it too often. I don’t want to ruin it for myself. I don’t want it to get stuck in my head. I’m careful and intentional about how I listen to songs I love as much as this one.
There’s a very clear lead vocal that comes in towards the end of [Ritual], and when we recorded Vylana, who was singing, I wouldn’t say that at any point I had this song, “Movies,” in my head as I was directing her.
There’s quite a lot in common with how this melody rises and rises, particularly in the last section once the violin starts. It’s just one of the most beautiful voices I’ve ever heard, and I have had such a long-standing obsession with strong female vocals being at the forefront.
It was the addition of Vylana to this album that completely changed the character of it. She completely balanced and rounded it all and, in a way, made it so much less machine-like. It’s so much more real and feminine.
“Movies” has all those qualities and strengths, too. It’s one of the most extraordinary recordings that I’ve ever heard.
Elve
Emerald (2010)
On the record, you’ll see Ishq as an accredited artist, but he also records under the name Elve, and his real name is Matt Hillier. He’s one of my heroes in music, and I’ve talked about his albums a lot. I always point readers towards a particular album called Emerald.
He was one of the reasons Music for Psychedelic Therapy came into existence. That was a game-changing album for me in that it just feels much more like a place than a piece of music. It changed the way that I compose. So, to have him work on Ritual was an extreme honor.
He’s been collecting samples for many years without always having a home for them. He feels a strange drive to keep curating and gathering them. So whenever I was working on a section and needed input from somewhere else, I would say, “Can you just pick a few things?” And they would be so different from anything I would think of in that moment. The samples would come to me like seeds. Some of them would take off into something and germinate, some wouldn’t, but he changed the course of the record many times. I urge people to get familiar with his catalog.
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