DREAM THEORY IN MALAYA
by JON HASSELL

Hassell's high point: rhythmic variety

By Rick Hines, Sept. 30, 2005

If you are looking for a good introduction to the incredibly original work of Jon Hassell, this is a great place to start. For the uninitiated, Hassell is a trumpet player who uses the instrument more as a sound-generating device than in the usual sense of playing trumpet. He uses a lot of vocal techniques when he plays, then further runs his sound through a barrage of processors to get very un-trumpet-like sounds. A truly unique musician and composer.

Just before recording this LP, Hassell had been working with Brian Eno and Talking Heads, and he absorbed their ability to craft strong world-rhythms. This gave his meandering compositions a grounding and propulsion they heretofore lacked. Eno and company's influence can be heard in the slight-of-hand backing tracks here, where the percussion and bass play shifting melodies that constantly intermingle like cards being shuffled.

What makes this stand out from his other work, however, is the way each song's rhythm creates a unique sound world for that particular song. Some of his other work tends to have a sameness of sound over the entire project (with each project sounding different from the others). Here, each track shifts into its own thing, and each song takes you on a sonic voyage and leaves a unique melodic imprint on your brain. Yes, there is a sort of overall feel, a psychedelic swirling of processed trumpet sounds set against rhythms at once earthy and primitive, yet urban and experimental. Yet you can feel each track stretching in a different direction, giving the album a variety that results in an easy-to-digest listening experience.

Still under the influence of Eno's production, Hassell also shows us his ability to create using post-production and sound-shaping techniques. I dare anyone to find me something that sounds like "Chor Moire!" The texture of the music here reminds me of the best of Eno's ambient work, but with more of a rhythmic thrust and organic feel to it. Yet the studio manipulations never take away the warmth of what is essentially a live-in-studio, greatly improvised jazz recording.

I recommend this highly for anyone who likes music that is subtle, innovative and beyond category. If only Miles Davis had been listening to Jon Hassell instead of Michael Jackson before he died, he might have kept his position at the forefront of progressive trumpet music.