I bring worlds together
in sound.

I've spent my career exploring new musical worlds and bringing them together. I played bass on the Tokyo acid jazz scene and on global arena tours with some of the biggest stars in the Chinese music world. Computer DJ battles in Hong Kong led me to LA's electronic underground.
Then the better part of a decade recording and performing with Jon Hassell, my lifelong inspiration, co-producing his final two albums.
I've always been experimenting and searching for fresh combinations of sounds and ideas.
Now I'm exploring new musical terrain with two forthcoming releases, continuing my own Fourth World explorations into the future.

The releases Get in touch
“A virtuosic bassist, electronic music producer, and sonic alchemist.”
Bass Magazine

Selected releases

Music Is Invisible cover: a Mati Klarwein painting of a hillside village under a crescent moon Latest release Jon Hassell Music Is Invisible Pentimento Volume Three Ndeya · out 2 October 2026 · live electronics My latest release is Music Is Invisible: the last concert Jon Hassell ever played, a trio with Rick Cox and me at St John at Hackney in London, 2015. It closes the Pentimento trilogy that began with Listening to Pictures and Seeing Through Sound, both of which I recorded and co-produced. Jeff Rona edited and mixed it. The cover is a Mati Klarwein painting and the liner essay is Jon's own. Jon has been my greatest musical influence since I was learning to play in high school. Working on this music with him through his last decade was a privilege. Pre-order on Bandcamp
Matt Piper & John von Seggern A Thousand Miles from Nowhere 2024 · Acoustic bass guitar, beats and electronics Banjo, resonator guitar, and kalimba folded into dark electronic textures. John von Seggern Ambient Bass Guitar 2023 · Solo album Solo bass guitar, played live. One take per track, no overdubs. Jon Hassell Seeing Through Sound 2020 · Recorded, co-produced and performed Pentimento Volume Two. Jon Hassell Listening to Pictures 2018 · Recorded, co-produced and performed Pentimento Volume One.

Hear it

Ambient Bass Guitar, streaming from Bandcamp. Press play.

A working life in sound

  1. 1988

    India

    Fall trimester of my junior year of college spent in India studying Buddhist philosophy and meditation in Bodh Gaya as well as Indian classical flute (bansuri) in Benares.

    R.J. Srinivasan seated on the floor of a whitewashed room, playing a long bamboo flute, a bookshelf and small shrine niches behind him
    R.J. Srinivasan, my bansuri teacher
  2. 1991

    New York City

    Full performance scholarship to the New School Jazz program in Manhattan; studied upright bass with Gary Peacock, Reggie Workman and Lonnie Plaxico.

    The New School's Arnold Hall seen from across the street, red banners for Mannes, Jazz and Drama hanging from its facade
    The New School, Greenwich Village
  3. 1991-94

    Tokyo

    Working jazz bassist across the city, playing Tokyo's jazz clubs with a wide range of players and getting involved in the city's burgeoning acid jazz scene.

    A trio playing in a dark room: a saxophonist, a conga player, and John von Seggern on bass guitar
    Playing Tokyo's acid jazz scene
  4. 1995-2001

    Hong Kong

    Bass guitar for some of the biggest Asian pop stars: five world tours and a long run of album sessions. Off tour, a fixture in Hong Kong's clubs and at the Foreign Correspondents' Club, often alongside US jazz musician Allen Youngblood or with HK composer/violinist Kung Chi Shing.

    Kung Chi Shing reading from a score while John von Seggern, bass guitar in hand, talks back across a rehearsal room
    Rehearsing City Inside a Broken Sky with Kung Chi Shing, around 2000

    Turned experimental laptop DJ around 2000 and formed Digital Cutup Lounge with British partner Stephen Ives: early innovators in live laptop performance, cutting styles of music against each other. Two albums, Cutup Mixdown and Network Effects.

    Two performers lit red and blue, bent over laptops and a mixer on a white table
    Digital Cutup Lounge on the cover of Asiaweek, 2000
  5. 2000s

    Los Angeles

    Experimental electro and ambient groove in LA's underground scene. Performed with Aaron Raab as Electro Tec Services and under my own name at warehouses and other underground venues across the city.
    Later I joined Native Instruments, where I trained artists including Herbie Hancock and Steve Vai and wrote the manual for the Massive synthesizer.

    Two performers behind gear at a dark warehouse event, graffiti on the wall behind them
    Electro Tec Services plays an LA underground event
  6. 2000s

    Film

    Sound design and effects for numerous films, including Thomas Newman's Oscar-nominated score for Pixar's WALL-E.

    Thomas Newman standing in a scoring stage talking to John von Seggern, who is seated at a laptop and MIDI keyboard
    At the WALL-E scoring sessions with composer Thomas Newman
  7. 2010s

    The Jon Hassell band

    Core member through the decade. Recorded, co-produced and performed on Listening to Pictures (2018) and Seeing Through Sound (2020). Also performed on two European tours, including Hassell's final concert, London 2015, released by Ndeya as Music Is Invisible.

    Jon Hassell band live on KCRW Santa Monica (2014)
  8. Now

    Ambient producer and performer

    Chapman Stick, bass guitar and live electronics, under my own name.

Work with me

Labels

Live at the Philosophical Research Society is finished and seeking a home. The next Fourth World record is close behind it.

Festivals and promoters

The Fourth World project live, and solo ambient sets on Chapman Stick and bass guitar.

Film and media

Sound design and score work, from the LA underground to Pixar's WALL-E. Commissions welcome.

Get in touch