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Just Music, 2008
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'Contact Note' sees 24 year old Hopkins creating some epic soundscapes that can be listened to as comfortably out of the speakers of Café Del Mar as at a Royal Festival Hall concert, its accessibility not preventing 'Contact Note' from being a serious and challenging musical creation.
Intricate beat patterns, deep driving basslines, guitar riffs, gorgeous piano melodies and ethereal vocals lushly produced and pristinely mixed give an instant appeal to his music, from the intense 'Circle', the infectious 'Symmetry' and '100' drenched in beautiful vintage techno effects, to the melancholic piano of 'Searchlight' and the crystalline acoustic guitar of 'Glasstop'.
Divided in three distinct movements, 'Contact Note' slowly evolves into a deep, compelling musical experience concluding with the stunning third part where Jon masters to perfection his skills as a classically trained musician, to give his most abstract work delicate impressionist touches. Classical piano contrasts with drifting atmospheres and twisted rhythms on the dark, edgy and gripping 'Black And Red' - to culminate with the waving synths and sumptuous vocals of the blissful 'Luna Moth', the perfect end of a glorious sonic adventure.
Reviews
He really drives you through a set of tracks blending boundaries and raising and lowering the mood with ease. 9/10
Future Music
Would be as much at home at Cafe Del Mar as as a Royal Festival Hall concert, its accessibility not preventing it from being a serious and challenging musical creation. A very impressive album. 4/5
Klub Knowledge
This album represents a further development of his knack for creating enthralling and detailed rhythmic passages that have melody seamless sown into them in a manner that is becoming his hallmark. With Contact Note Jon has consolidated his position as a composer of blissful rhythmic ambience cum electronica that sometimes has a curious quality of being both lively and chilled out at the same time. I have no hesitation in recommending it
Wind And Wire
Further evidence of his talent for the sublime and wonderful. The tracks are varied enough to be distinct, yet they possess a seemingly natural cohesion that makes the album work as a whole. These expansive, dynamic soundscapes will relax, inspire and induce a feeling of life-affirming purity, and should be indulged in far more often. The term 'chill-out' is grotesquely over-used to describe bland, watered-down dance music, but rest assured: this is how real down-tempo 'chill-out' should sound. 4/5
Epigram
A truly magnificent record. Jon Hopkins remains the best kept secret in the chill out/ ambient genre. A truly brilliant record that deserves to rocket Hopkins to great success and acclaim - beautifully melodic, haunting and atmospheric - Contact Note is a sublime achievement and brings with it that insatiable appetite for more. And this, with only two records to his name, is my only complaint!!! 5/5
Music Review Index
An Ambient God - Jon Hopkins is one of the quiet talents of the UK music scene and creates music which can take you through many different emotional states in 60 minutes. An outstanding second album, buy this now. If you haven?t purchased either of his CDs do so now and support underground British music at its finest. 5/5
Music Review Index
New Artist re-awakens love of borderline chillout music. Really lovely. Highly recommended. 4/5
Music Review Index
Makes us mere mortals feel a little inadequate. A complex mix of sounds with impeccable production values that eloquently blends older and newer schools of musical thought. Deep enough to justify repeat listens.
Pulse
