Jon Hopkins is a masterful producer. His sound design is nuanced and deliberate and complex. You could spend minutes picking apart the textures of short fragments and individual sounds, and he keeps it evolving the entire time. The "he pushes buttons" debate comes from people who are hung up on the aesthetics of his live performance -- they don't think the music looks right. I get the prejudice in the sense that you see a guy in front of electronics and you don't understand the huge amount of technical skill that goes into making it -- but there's a lot to listen to here. His performance is to take his craft, which happens in his studio, and manipulate it live. He's changing variables on the fly, re-sculpting something he meticulously crafted to the extent that it's impossible for him to literally re-create live. Should he not play to a live audience then? No, this is music, people dance to it live, and the real value of this music is to actually listen to it.

Came across Jon Hopkins when I was flying with icelandair from Reykjavik to Toronto. The planes entertainment system had his Immunity album. Wow what a flight it was, I had his album on repeat. Best part was listening while watching the sun rise. Amazing!!

KEXP has the best taste in music

I saw Jon Hopkins live in Brooklyn once and it was one of the most transcendent experiences I've had in my life. This is beauty.

I bought his album on a whim. Never looked back. My wife and I drove round the Scottish highlands listening to it. Mind bending visuals and music. Epic

Comparing Jon Hopkins's with David Guetta's performance during shows is like comparing a pianist with an ipod.

oh my, collider... I went to another dimension, to another time, another life, everywhere

imagine listening to this on board the international space station

First of all, this is really good stuff, although not my favorite genre, I can certainly appreciate the musical & technical skills that are displayed by Mr Hopkins here. For anyone that thinks this does not take mad skills, you should give it a try and see how far you get. I was classically trained on a several standard instruments growing up and have a very good knowledge of music theory, etc. Not only do you have to have that but you have to learn a completley new world of synths, computers and electronics and put it all together. It is tremendously challenging to even create something like this (as a recording), but so manipulate live and on the fly as he does here is a true musical talent and should be appreciated. I always have to laugh at those who call themselves "music purists". They asset that if you're not playing a traditional orchestral instrument, you are not a true musician. Well, nothing could be further from the truth. I submit that learning all this stuff is at least as difficult as learning a standard instrument, if not more so. Even playing piano, yes, you have both hands going doing different things but they are all on the same string of 88 keys. Here, he is jumping between a ton of different pieces of different equipment... very impressive indeed!

"I like the idea of starting from a point of reality, and then sort of twisting it into something more abstract, rather than than just starting in the void of computers..." Jon Hopkins will go down in history as one of the very most innovative electronic musicians of all time.

Music is such a beautiful way to cry.

Electronic music that keeps inventing and rediscovering itself over and over again.. Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything.

Listening to artists like this and trying to fathom the complexity and layers of sound, and how much is controlled, and how much is simply left to evolve on its own-- it makes me feel the same enthralling anxiety when I consider how large the universe and how improbably and infinitesimal our existence is. Sheer cosmic luck.

0:22 Open Eye Signal 8:56 We Disappear 15:45 Collider

lol. all these people saying that this isn't as good as live instruments. b***h his songs are composed of random melodic sounds, like the door to his studio shutting, a garbage truck reversing, fireworks at the olympics opening ceremony. how do you expect him to recreate that live? you want him setting off fireworks in the studio? bring in a garbage truck?

Artists like jon Hopkins, autechre, and many more are the legend of the legends, they are the musical scientists. You understand and connect to their work only when you have listened to almost every kind of music out there, almost every style, every genre, in the end the summit is the music like this, the artists like them, genre like IDM and techno. The genre doesn't matter particularly, but it's always about the the creator, what he creates, legends like him deserve to be called the father of electronic music. People would study their works after a 100 years.

i have no idea what his hands are doing but i feel like its epic

Very very strong. I've never heard of him or his music and find this performance to be very powerful. It reminds me of driving through Downtown Los Angeles at 4:00am with all of its complexity, humanity, power and chaos suddenly transformed into a cerebral maze of random beauty and mechanized movement. It's deeply touching in it's pulsing, granular, heartbeating, organic randomness. I like this guy - I like this performance.

God, this guy is genius

THIS IS THE MUSIC OF THE FUTURE!!!!

Cameras guys, you rock!

I've listened to these songs a hundred times off the original album and these performances still gave me goosebumps. Whatever he's doing with the kaos pads etc. it's adding serious emotional weight to the tunes and that qualifies as performance.

So much emotion in this. Ive never heard anything quite like his music.

Didn't think the Open Eye Signal music video could be surpassed, but this is mind-boggling, to see him up close, making all the sounds by hand, live.

I watched this video with my 7 year old to show her how all of Hopkins' "space music" I play in the evening is made. Wonderful shooting and very inspiring to see the work and energy he puts into each track. His Viper Room set video is a jam, but this goes further and gives great insight into his technique. Thank you!

SOOOOO GOOOOOOD!!!!!!!! KEXP always brings the best artists from all over the world. MEGA respect to you!

This is one of my faves right now. I keep coming back to this performance. As someone who aspires to make electronic music with this sort of sound, I'm taking notes, haha! 📝

I read lots of these comments about whether he is truly playing "live" and its super clear that he is NOT simply pushing play and then adding effects. Its clear as day, especially on the "Collider" performance, that he is triggering parts of the song as it progresses, meaning if he did just hit "play" and sat back, not much would happen. If you've ever seen Ableton, each little piece of a track can be broken up into parts and triggered with a controller, which he is doing. It takes a lot of skill and musicianship to make it into such an affecting and epic song.

Jon Hopkins is a whole new level!

Feel like this guy's been hiding in plain sight my whole life, this is some good stuff!

That's quite an impressive array of fantastic electronic devices.

Collider is sick!

Been a year now and still can not find anything as good as Collider.

The sounds are much more vivid on this live mix. Definitely worth a listen if you enjoyed the album.

One eye signal has to be my favorite track

What a performance - this guy is the real deal, no question about it!

Colliderrr just killlin meeewee

Its so good to see the artists perform live like this

Музыка к которой возвращаешься снова и снова! До мурашек

Absolutely INCREDIBLE!! One of the best instrumental pieces of sound/music/noise I have ever heard.

God this is amazing, such a talented musician!

"can you play another song" *accidentally plays Emerald Rush and summons aliens*

I really love KEXP for introducing new musicians!

Fuck he's good. Coming back to this vid, and be amazed again.

You're a wizard, Jon!

Stunning. The sound he produces is just amazing.

Jon Hopkins live show in Mutek Mexico City three years agos was one of the most amazing musical experiences of my life. Anyone I ever bump into who happened to be at that show ends up telling me the same thing

Jon Hopkins, give me a new feeling, a new thought. ❤

Lo increíble de sus piezas artísticas, en particular la de este disco, es que cierras los ojos y puedes visualizar como empieza a hablar a través de una melodía de capas y mixturas de colores pintadas como en un cuadro impresionista vivo.

Immunity is a masterpiece.

He is FINALLY going on tour in the US!! I have been waiting 4 years to see him live!!!

Still one of my favourites to watch ❤

Shit... I just sold my KP3

It's amazing how he does this. I really want to get into that. One day

oohhhhmyyyy life this is just amaaazing!!!!!!!! my next order in the store is this!!!!

i remember when Dominik Eulberg play a set in 2016 making a compilation of several artist and between them was Jon Hopkins i love his music...

i loveeeee the feeling i get from listening to this music, its like im ingesting it into my soul

wow,the amount of skill it involves to time those stutters,lo-fis and cuts to make it sound like he did it in a studio,on a KP3...skill....period...

His voice is so soothing 💜

Love some Jon Hopkins. So amazing.

beauty.

Now this is music !!1!

Both him and his music = beautiful & hypnotic

seeing him tomorrow LETS GOOO

I wish someday i'll have the 1/10th of his talent.

You guys should put Jon Hopkins and Amon Tobin in the same room, speaking of A.T, isn't about time you invite him to KEXP :D ?

Thank you

I'm so glad this happened and we get to hear and see this performance.

I think alot of people on here don't realize how hard it is to put a "band" together with "reliable" members. Jon is obviously a talented musician and knows how to manipulate equipment that we all probably have, but he just uses it in a better way. I'm sure he could work to find members to play all these layers as a group, but it's probably much easier for him to work the set out to be played solo. It makes touring and sustaining you music alot easier I'm sure. Most of us are probably super impressed with Bonobo and Tycho for having actual bands but they probably took years to create that band and I know for a fact they both started as laptop guys.

good man jon!

Thank you so much for sharing this gem, man!

awesome performance, thank you KEXP

This is really good

Magnificent music. Magnificently awkward interview.

I need to see him live! Beautifully done, he is amazing! 🔥🖤🔥

So great to have you here.... thanks for having me haha

Reading the comment section made me breakout, but listening to this cured it.

I would love to show this video to every single person who calls artists like him "People who push buttons" How about you stand there and make that incredible music happen by just 'pushing buttons'

It's amazing how he is doing a lot of stuff live! i just love it!

I think this guy is staying across the street from me in Oakland, California for the second sky festival.it’s either him or Jacob collier

Instrumentalist and Composers are two different things. If someone like Jon Hopkins does not play an instrument (which I think it really does) does not mean he is not a musician. If you're looking that way, go for those creepy guitar players (Instrumentalists). You don't deserve the real music. Jon Hopkins is the Music!

JH always blows my mind.. Shame the recent tour was called off - but hopefully should be seeing the Polarity show in December at Royal Albert Hall 😎

Absolutely incredible

you need to be extremely talented to create such wonderful music. collider is one of the best tracks Iv heard. thanks for creating such masterpieces

I've heard some clubs here and there are starting to demand that DJs play actual vinyl and not work from a laptop. But what about stuff like this? They've made no room with such a blanket statement for how the genre can evolve and become something entirely extraordinary!

Can you imagine this guy cooking with those hands? Please check out his Chill music as well.

First time watching him live. Wow!

We Disappear is absolutely one of my favourite ever tracks. When that bass drops in...

Pffffff -- so, so good.

just......enorme !!!!!

I still love this so much.

I love this album so much. He is an amazing producer.

I wish that for performances like this there was some sort of documentation that reveals what he's starting with, what's he actually doing etc. so that viewers have the option of comprehending what's actually being shown here and then watching it again.

DAT GEAR.

I could listen to this on repeat for the rest of my life

Ah! can't believe I never watched this, but I was at The Crocodile for his set that night! Just an all round amazing musician

This is very creative and phat !!!

its a kind of magic

So clean and pure, best producer

Wish he would have continued after 12:35 :D Genius!