XIX

The second full release from the legendary bass player, Kev Hopper. Stuart Maconie, Stereolab and Sean O'Hagan (High Llamas) are huge fans. Composed, played and arranged by Kev, he would describe his sound as wonky, wobbly, electronic, surrealist Pop. XiX explores Euclidean rhythms (overlapping, complex patterns) and is a mixture of modern electronic experimentation and Pop with extremes from Music Concrete tracks to modern electronica and featuring the distinctive use of ‘faux vocals’, modified vocals and sampling techniques. The dominant aesthetic is still melodic and rhythmic so this is a hybrid album of sorts building on Kev's past recordings. The majority of the material is instrumental but there are also four songs on it exploring topics as diverse as lancing prawns and economic collapse. After forty years as a musician, Hopper is probably Still best known as the bass guitarist and co-founder of Stump, an Irish-English indie/experimental/rock group formed in London in 1983. Since then he has released 14 solo albums of diverse, experimental and melodic pop with his distinctive bass playing often to the fore. He co-formed the electronica group,Ticklish in the late 90’s and was composer/bassist with Prescott in the 2010’s. He is also a visual artist (painter) and runs a Youtube site, HopperArts, interviewing artists.