Diamond Mine

Beautiful, poignant, and whimsically catchy, Diamond Mine is one of the best albums that I've listened to this year,

Incredible.

This album may someday become as influential as Talk Talk's "Laughing Stock". I was struck by Kenny Anderson's voice initially. It could have come out of the Celtic folk revival of the late 70s-early 80s. A quality and emotion I thought was just about lost. Then I heard what Jon Hopkins was doing to support Kenny's voice. It is never intrusive, but creates a visual and aural space for the stories to inhabit. And he isn't stingy with the space. I find myself losing time inside these songs, utterly engaged with every little ambient noise or synthesized echo. The overall feeling is sadness to my ear. I know it is a portrait of a certain area of Scotland, and maybe even certain people, but it feels bigger than that to me. My mind will fill in the spaces they so generously provide. I am now officially hooked, Kenny.

havent' t heard his music before but will be listening to this for a while also plan to get the latest from domino that collects some of his music from the past several years.boring review for interesting music......

Hauntingly Beautiful. The lyrics alone are reason enough to buy this album. Put Jon Hopkins on the same record as such an outstanding folk artist and you have yourself a masterpiece. Just buy this. This guy's voice was annoying for about ten minutes, and then I realized this was the best album I had heard in about two years. Best impulse purchase ever.

I like Hopkins, but this doesn't seem like its up to his usual effort of excellence. The album doesn't take you anywhere -- its muddled in mediocre vocals and rhythms that feel lifeless. The first track is wonderful and you get the feeling like its about to build into track #2 but it doesn't quite happen. The album really never takes off. From track 3 on, the blandness sets in. I don't think King Creosote is the right partner in this project. I think the mellowness of Anderson's voice, sound prevents Hopkin's from building complex layers of sound that he's known for. I would recommend tracks 1-3, and thats it.

Just a brilliant flowing album with everything you would expect and more. Jon and KC have done an amazing job here. Touches the inner soul.

Though I wasn't familiar with King Creosote prior to this album, I was a fan of Jon Hopkins' "Insides" as well as his work on Brian Eno's "Small Craft on a Milk Sea." The addition of Lisa Lindley-Jones of Dark Horses doing backing vocals (known for her appearances on UNKLE's "The Runaway" and "On A Wire") is what sealed my interest. I wasn't sure what to expect entirely, but after more than enough listens, I'm confident that King Creosote and Jon Hopkins accomplished exactly what they set out to do, if not more, with superb execution. The flow of the songs creates a satisfyingly singular experience that only emphasizes how great some of the individual tracks are. The highlights for me are probably "Bats in the Attic" and "Bubble", the latter being particularly affecting. When Lisa's amazing harmony comes in, you may be fighting tears. I consider this the most beautiful album I've heard so far this year. Highly recommended.

I was bored and just looking around all the different sections of iTunes trying to find some good music to listen too. Now I have never heard of Jon Hopkins but I can honestly say that this is just what I was looking for. It's been a while since I've listened to an album that was meant to be listened too straight through (think dark side of the moon, not music wise but how the album tells the story). I love the storytellling on in these songs too, so needless to say I think if you just want some good new music you should get this, or if youre a fan of this guy you probably already have it.

I had not heard about this collaboration until about a week ago. Jon Hopkins has been one of my favorite artists for a little while now, but I had not listened to King Creosote before. Needless to say, I was thoroughly impressed with him, and I am still overwhelmingly impressed with this collaboration. Creosote's lyrics and guitar go wonderfully with Hopkin's piano and synths, creating a true musical experience it is difficult to come across in most mainstream music. The album opens with the sounds of life as it is in what appears to be a coffee shop with business being conducted an people chatting and soon morphs into a gentle instrumental piece, which leads straight into "John Taylor's Month Away," in which King Creosote greets us with a story. From there to the end, the album flows beautifully together, definitely designed to be listen to as a whole. There's not much more I can say than that you must get your hands on this album, as it is definitely worth the time and money (which isn't much, anyway), and shows what seven years of freely collaborating on a work of art with no deadline can truly produce (yes, this album was written over a span of about seven years). I hope everyone who listens enjoys!