Just Music Schallplatten & CDs

Review: It doesn't take much imagination to picture Hopkins' delight at positioning 'Light Through The Veins' smack bang in the middle of this album, which he first released in 2008. As rousing, life-affirming and inspiring as anything the producer has made, it arrived at a point when he'd been sharing studios and stages with a diverse range of artists - for example, Brian Eno, King Creosole, David Holmes and Coldplay. By this point he had cemented his status as one of those rare talents whose genre of choice is simply 'music'.

Of course Insides is Hopkins solo, so very much rooted in the post-club dance world he grew out of. Nevertheless, the evidence of his broad mastery is clear as day. Staccato stressed hi hats and sombre keys on 'Colour Eye', the most perfectly heartbreaking piano solo, 'Autumn Hill', and head-nodding dystopian downtempo on 'Wire'. Very good indeed, and very much worth returning to.