Jenkins, Jon

Artist: David Helpling + Jon Jenkins
P: 2013
The dramatic final chapter of the award-winning three-album collaboration from David Helpling and Jon Jenkins, FOUND follows the path set by the duo’s previous genre-defying releases, TREASURE and THE CROSSING, blending cinematic electronics with rock power and spacemusic sensibilities to deliver a tremendously moving and meaningful resolution to the Helpling/Jenkins trilogy. Melodic and deep, powerful and atmospheric, FOUND is an epic work that plays like a big movie.  Highlighted by thundering drums and percussion, shimmering electric guitars, intimate pianos and lush synth textures, the album leads the listener through sweeping sonic vistas and deep intimate soundworlds where intricate and compelling rhythms drive the music to majestic heights, and then recede into soundscapes both serene and poignant.  The entire journey culminates in the emotionally charged title track, featuring a beautiful wordless vocal by virtuoso Miriam Stockley. “This is a record that’s meant to be listened to from start to finish in order to appreciate the full experience,” explains Jenkins, “but the album also plays a crucial role in the bigger picture, because it completes the trilogy, and we really wanted this to be a fitting close to the emotional arc that unfolds across all three albums.” While FOUND may be the third episode of a trilogy, this carefully crafted new release is not merely a rehashing of the two earlier works. Helpling & Jenkins pushed themselves to take their distinct sound to a new level where the deep, three-dimensional quality to the recording is instantly recognizable. Helpling explains, “Since this record is the conclusion to a trilogy, we felt a major responsibility to make something bigger and deeper, both musically and emotionally. I think all of that drive within us even went into technical things like the recording and mixing.” From the irresistible opening through the bold conclusion, FOUND completes a three-album six-year chapter of the Helpling/Jenkins collaboration on a grand scale, with deep emotion and unmistakeable style.  Filled with powerful rushes of adrenaline, beauty, loss and triumph, FOUND is an album for the ages, that discovers uncharted territory in the expanding world of electronic music.
 

Artist: David Helpling + Jon Jenkins
P: 2010
Since the release of their first collaboration, Treasure, David and Jon have spent the past two years in the depths of deep exile carefully crafting a new recording, and are now ready to resurface with THE CROSSING. With this latest collaboration, Helpling and Jenkins embark on a fresh sonic expedition - a cinematic, powerful and deeply melodic triumph that lifts their music to new heights. More than just a follow-up to Treasure, The Crossing is a climb, a challenge and most of all a continuation of the journey; a deliberate sequel that launches from the very place that Treasure so gently released the listener three years earlier.
Jenkins explains, "We wanted to take all of the the ingredients that make a great movie or book sequel - more action, more intensity, and somewhat darker with more daunting challenges - and express them through the music on this record."
According to Helpling, "The Crossing is a title with more than one meaning. Not only is it a metaphorical representation of an arduous and inspired journey across an unfathomable hardship and distance, but it is also a crossing of two paths, of two currents; the result of which is complex and beautiful as well as powerful and intangible."
The Crossing is a project which ignores current trends in ambient and electronic music, and Helpling and Jenkins are fearless in their pursuit of the lush and monumental sound that dominates their artistic vision. All the essentials for an epic journey are here: compelling and expansive multi-layered drum elements contrasted by alluring yet elusive textures, strong melodies appearing over powerful percussion, synths and guitars, all of which give way to vast spaces of deep and mystifying ambience.
From grand melodic vistas to enveloping sonic clouds of textural mystery, The Crossing leads the listener to the ends of the earth...and beyond.

Artist: Jon Jenkins
P: 1995
This is a great album of classical and space music influences which treads a fine line between both genres throughout. One aspect that reminded me of classical structure was the continuity of the opening and closing pieces.
The last piece, Continuum is a reprise to the opening string swells of the first piece, Tugging at the Cloud. As a whole, the album reminds me of the work of Dutch Emusic composers, John Kerr and Ron Boots, leaning more towards John Kerr's symphonic synth excursions. Two pieces, Behind the Mask and Adrift even feature the labels head honcho, Howard Givens on keyboards and guitar respectfully. Teeto Cheema adds a great deal of atmosphere to The Vision with some well placed flute riffs in crucial spots.
This collection of eleven compositions, is a successful marriage of classical, ambient, and world music that defies classification. Along with the added touches from their guests, Jon and Paul combine a variety of eclectic hues to create a compelling musical canvas.

Artist: Jon Jenkins
P: 2005
Immersed in mysterious ambience, and alive with compelling energy and powerful grooves, BEYOND CITY LIGHT offers the first taste of new music from Jon Jenkins since his landmark release, FLOW (a Billboard Magazine Critics Choice).
Joined by a host of guests, including Erik Wøllo, David Helpling, and Greg Klamt, among others, Jenkins embarks on a sonic sojourn through sparkling city lights and beyond. Floating on deep rivers of textural ambience, piano tonalities, guitar textures, atmospheric loops, percussion, and ethereal vocalizations, journey through vast and scenic spaces, to a realm of deep sleep and dying embers.

Artist: Jon Jenkins
P: 1998
Delving deep into the viscosity of life, Jon Jenkins masterfully engages the metaphor of water to ponder the fabric of existence with his powerful second release. Delicately crafted and sculpted soundscapes of sublime keyboard textures combine with the ambient electric guitars of Jeff Pearce, David Helpling, and Howard Givens, which along with occasional percussion create moments of subtlety and power that suggest the very process of life from beginning to end, like the flow of water from the spring to the sea. This is a profound listening experience that is dramatic, introspective, and ultimately inescapable.
David Helpling - Ambient electric guitar on From The Spring
Jeff Pearce - Ambient electric guitar on Night Drifting Through Black Canyon, Breathing In The Deep and Part Of The Solution
Howard Givens - Ambient electric guitar on Cross Over.

Artist: V/A
P: 2001
A collection of ambient and textural pieces from previous releases by David Helpling, Deborah Martin, Jon Jenkins, Mark Rownd, and J. Arif Verner.

Artist: Various Artists
P: 2002
For more than fifteen years, the artists of Spotted Peccary have combined the modern timbres and textures of electronic and acoustic styles with some of the conventional structures of classical music to define a new and unique sound that embodies the essence of this vast land.
Now, award-winning videographer Bill Francis provides the perfect tableau of images to accompany an array of musical selections from the Spotted Peccary Music catalog.
Filmed on location in the wind carved canyons of Bryce Canyon National Park, the White Mountains of Arizona, the rugged coastline of Oregon, Antelope Island, the Great Salt Lake, and many other scenic locales from across the American West, Visions is an artistic fusion of stirring music and spectacular imagery.
Majestic landscapes, ancient ruins, and scenic wildlife are beautifully filmed and exquisitely edited to the music of Brain Laughter, Deborah Martin, Greg Klamt, Jon Jenkins, Mark Rownd, David Helpling, John Flomer, and others - all available for the first time on this special DVD collection.