Jon Hopkins is an electronic music producer whose been nominated twice for the UK’s Mercury Prize. Along with his frequent collaborator, Brian Eno, he co-produced Coldplay‘s Grammy-award winning album, Viva la Vida. In May 2018, Jon Hopkins released his fifth album, Singularity. It was named Best New Music by Pitchfork. In this episode, Jon Hopkins takes apart the song “Luminous Beings,” which was inspired in part by the meditative and therapeutic effects of psilocybin, the psychedelic compound found in magic mushrooms. Jon talks about his own experience with drug, and how it shaped this song. He also details the less magical moments where he hated the music was he making, and had to destroy it as part of the creative process.
Buy or stream “Luminous Beings” here. And click here to try Ableton Live 10 for free.
For a transcript of this episode, click here.
Illustration by Carlos Lerma.
footnotes
Korg Trinity synth
Ableton Live
Echo Boy plugin
Korg MS-20 synth
Joshua Tree National Park
Altiverb plugin
Una Chorda plugin
