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In Kahn’s nominal soundworld, noise begats texture begats structure begats substantiality. Or something like that. I’m loathe to summon up any pat categorical rubric to file Fields under, as such branding would likely be unwieldy and fairly inaccurate, so suffice to say that on this, one of Kahn’s few solo missives, he’s stretching any bourgeois ideas regarding “electroacoustic” music constructs to the breaking point. Simultaneously subverting much of what one defines as sound (let alone “music”), the seven works here comprise a twisting of established foibles, a submission to elasticity and alacrity that has few if any antecedents, autopsying ossified idiologies maintained by their artist’s idiocies. Blurring the contrails of his analog synth, various percussive devices, shortwave radio and location recordings made during his travels around the world, Kahn’s recast these global impressions into distinctly etched landscapes—indeed, nonplace (sub)urban fields. Track one blasts out of your tweeters with the cacophonic gusts of noonday air-raid sirens, a rush of white noise not usually associated with Kahn’s more mannered creations; just this side of abrasive, it’s a blast of supercharged air that decays into scabrous signal distortion and bell-tones, made that much more satisfying by its creator’s decision to make it the disc's opening piece. Successive tracks peek inside the maelstrom to view the component parts: Swiss watch rhythms trade motorik fancies with vaporizing battery scrawl on track two; track four’s initial waveband strangulations eventually coalesce into a strikingly subtle gamelan photo-negative; the ambience of track five embraces the new African diaspora, erecting the foundations for a “fifth-world” music that somehow sounds as preternaturally indigenous as it does topically cyber. All in all, a stunning piece of sound art, uncategorizable by any standard. >Darren Bergstein, e|i Magazine, 8.2007 You can tell the releases on Jason Kahn’s low-
key Cut label amongst their brethren: Cut’s
thick cardboard fold-over sleeves are housed
in sturdy plastic slips, yet they still all but
disappear among the towers of scuffed jewel
cases surrounding the stereo. Dressed in
simple yet effective abstract colour patterns,
the packaging is a perfect fit for the music
contained inside. Unassuming yet far from
diffident, Kahn searches for works that
diligently explore a few different aspects of the
one thing, with his own music the guiding light,
perhaps, of the Cut aesthetic.
Fields is a further refinement of the powerful
take on near-stasis and incremental
development that had begun to be defined on
his earlier Miramar and Sihl albums. Indeed,
these recordings slot together as an
unintentional triptych, the documentation of an
ongoing obsession with pinprick focus.
Typically, Kahn will zoom in on two or three
sound events, sourced on Fields from
percussion, synthesizer, radio and field
recordings, and carefully tend to their
interplay, patiently waiting for the interaction to
reach its natural endpoint before gradually
weaving new elements in as the old
disappears in a terrifically slow cross-fade.
It would be easy to resort to the theatrical
flourish to grab the listener’s attention, to
enlarge the basic building blocks of
compositions – there is something undeniably
panoramic about the general approach. One of
the real strengths of Fields, however, is its
ultimate denial of ‘largeness’ and the sense of
intimacy in these meticulous pieces. The other
strength goes hand in hand with that intimacy
– the undemonstrative, non-cliched beauty of
Kahn’s compositional touch, his gentle caress
of the sensitised ear.
Recorded using "analogue synthesizer, percussion, short wave radio, and location recordings", "Fields" is another impressive addition to Kahn's discography, and can be loosely associated to his more electronics-based works like "Miramar". Don't expect any background ambient, though: while featuring the subtlety expected from the artist, the seven tracks, clocking in at 39 minutes, are also harsh and uncompromising. Each one shows great care in assembling different sound layers from the - often unrecognizable - sources, and the end result is so thick that it gives the impression of some mysteriously amplified machinery boiling over. While using raw material which by now is commonplace in electroacoustic music, Kahn manages to obtain something which is totally his, and this unique quality is the same you'll find in his improvised collaborations. As usual, the percussive element, reminding of Kahn's background as a drummer, is often present, disguised as a glassy rattling (track 1), a tinkling metronome (track 3), or the pulses of track 5; but you'll have to find it buried in layers of distorted frequencies and grey drones, which dominate the compositions giving them a sense of troubled stasis. The most impressive results probably come with the last two pieces, with bird chirps floating above low-end currents (track 6), and a magnetic storm of high-pitched cricket buzz. Possibly one of Kahn's noisiest endeavours, "Fields" is a though one to digest in a row, but that's true with most experiences that mark you in any way. Noise,
development and layering: Small miracles encapsulating various variations
of the same idea. Austerità. È questa la prima parola che mi viene in mente
pensando a Jason Kahn e alla sua label Cut, che grazia ogni uscita con
questi artwork minimali e di una bellezza formale algida quasi perfetta.
Realizzati dallo stesso Jason, tra le altre cose ex tipografo, spesso
sembra di osservare l'istantanea dell'elaborazione di un qualche algoritmo
complicatissimo, ma semplicissimo nei suoi patterns, che scorre fluido
ed imperturbabile: input-output, margine d'errore zero (ma crash possibile).
Tutto amabilmente confezionato con colori splendidi, e materiale cartonato
robusto e resistente. Packaging che solitamente ben rappresenta la musica
del musicista americano, ma trapiantato in svizzera, persa dietro ad un'idea
di astrazione e parcellizzazione del suono, minimalismo quasi zen, “the
great into small”. Dalla quasi stasi splendente e liquida di “Miramar”
e “Sihl”, agli incastri vagamente industrial dei Repeat, alla
fisicità dei metalli di "Drums and Metals", passando
al lavorio in background di quel disco bellissimo che è stato il
recente “Breathings” con Gabriel Paiuk. “Fields",
come da titolo, utilizza campionamenti effettuati in varie locations (Croazia,
Libano, Egitto,...), accostate ai soliti mezzi espressivi di Kahn, ovvero
percussioni, radio ad onde corte, sintetizzatore analogico. Dire che i
field recordings sono accostati al resto, è abbastanza sbagliato,
sarebbe meglio dire incorporati o assorbiti, dato che sono affatto ovvi
o immediatamente identificabili. Sette composizioni, abbastanza brevi,
che esplorano il lato più grezzo e massimalista di Kahn: direi
meno forme geometriche elementari e maggiore texture. Suoni quindi più
sporchi, anche dissonanti ed aggressivi, e molto stratificati. Quello
che sembra il passaggio di un treno allungato all'inverosimile caratterizza
la prima traccia, con le percussioni come affogate in flussi d'energia
elettrostatica che tutto spazzano via. Molto d'impatto, quasi violenta,
ascoltata in cuffia sembra scavare tra i neuroni per puntare dritta al
cervello. Andando avanti nel cd, si nota come ogni composizione rappresenti
un qualcosa assolutamente a se stante, un blocco di suono autosufficiente
che poco dipende dal resto. Forse deriva dalla brevità di ogni
traccia, ma è come se ognuna esplorasse una singola idea/ sensazione
con pochi sviluppi e variazioni, ma esposta e sviscerata con insistenza.
Non è un fatto negativo, da forse un senso di frammentarietà
e di incompiutezza, ma anche l'idea di un qualcosa di molto materiale,
tattile, come se ogni brano fosse un singolo oggetto di cui toccare ed
esplorare la superficie e le parti costituenti. È una sensazione
che emerge soprattutto ad ascolti successivi, in cui si ha come la voglia
e la curiosità di tornare ad esaminare meglio e più da vicino
un determinato dettaglio, sia esso il pulsare aritmico e i campionamenti
non risolti della terza traccia (sarà la mia impressione, ma capto
da qualche parte come l'eco di una melodia orientaleggiante), la fissità
ritmica del quarto brano, le interferenze inquiete e i sottili deragliamenti
della sesta traccia, o gli scintillii metallici controllati a vista dal
rombare misterioso che li sovrasta dell'ultima composizione. Jason Kahn breitet bei Fields vor dem inneren Auge der Imagination sieben
Dröhnscapes aus, die er mit Analogsynthesizer, Percussion, Kurzwellenradio
und Field Recordings designte. Zischelnd, dröhnend, grummelnd wölbt
sich eine Hügellandschaft aus flirrenden Klangmolekülen. Wie
mit impressionistischer Pixelpointillistik aus Tausenden von Pünktchen
hingetüpfelt, nur dass diese ‚Felder‘ keine Sonnenaufgänge,
Heuhaufen oder Strandszenen nachbilden, sondern abstrakte, sprich konkrete
Klangfarbflächen bleiben. Mehr noch als ‚Farbe‘, wie
immer man die auch synästhetisch besetzen mag, drängt sich bei
diesen ‚Feldern‘ allerdings der Eindruck der molekularen Konsistenz
des Materials auf und seine Insich-Bewegtheit. Es sind quasi ‚lebende‘
Bilder, ein minimalistisches Flickern, eine repetitive Perkussivität,
oft leicht metalloid, aus Partikeln ohne glatte Oberflächen, aus
körnigen Substanzen, die als Niederschlag auf die Trommelfelle auftreffen.
Die spezifische Dimension dieser Soundscapes ist keine Dritte, so dass
man imaginär darin spazieren könnte. Kahn suggeriert vielmehr
ein Ambiente, das umgekehrt in den ‚Spaziergänger‘ eindringt,
als Luft, als Strahlung, als Impuls oder ‚Teilchen‘. Vogelpiepsen
wirkt entsprechend nicht als Bestätigung von ‚Natur‘,
eher wie ein Trompe d’oeil, das das Vexieren von ‚Wirklichkeits‘-Ebenen
zu betonen scheint. Developing previous concerns with the static quality of sound, a reflection
on the ear of the ‘beholder’. Out of a concern fully in keeping
with sound art, rhythm apparently provides a backbone around which the
various pieces are organized. Their extreme minimal nature, the ongoing
concern with the rhythmical appears as a deceitfully simple stratum under
which lies a interest in the attention paid to perspectives, to the subjective
quality of perception literally portrayed trough the ‘contemplation’
of unique events from simultaneous, varying angles as well as a reflection
on the overlaying of experience along time and on the nature of memory. With an almighty hiss and tone, Fields highlights Jason Kahn's growing
body of work concerned with field recordings and electronics. It's a bold
way to commence proceedings, a mediated soundscape that brings to mind
a train calling last passengers to an imaginary platform, impatient hissing
clouding the stereo field in layers of sonic steam. As various tonal sections
and pulses emerge, these visions evaporate and in their place a more developed
compositional framework takes hold as spluttering synth-lines interconnect. “Fields” comprises seven tracks that Jason Kahn recorded
using analogue synth, shortwave, percussion and location recordings from
various parts of the world. While treating the receivers with the same
“Kahn vibe” to which the connoisseurs are anxious of being
submitted every time that one of his releases hits the desk, this album
is somehow different from our man's most recent output. For starters,
"Fields" features various moments in which several strata of
digital and/or analog dirtiness blur the visual, although after just a
few minutes of attentive scrutiny the typical stigmata of the composer
become evident, one of them being the customary regular cymbal pulse generated
by his soft-handed playing. The field recordings, the use of shortwave
and, in general, the album's overall mix point to a sense of unadorned,
sometimes even muddy definition that orients these soundscapes towards
slightly more "earthly" territories, where the sounds surge
and glide according to models of behaviour that are scarcely collocable
in terms of aesthetic, something halfway through sheer experimental documentation
and chemical reaction; but, let me stress it, everything sounds unquestionably
Kahn, complete with those involuntary analyses of the inward parts of
the psyche that he's able to elicit with just a couple of masterful layerings.
Therefore, we can define "Fields" as a means for the conveyance
of transfixed emotions, its compositions carriers of messages that our
body recognizes as familiar after a short period of adaptation. It takes
only a few listenings before we can use it as a source of concentrated
self-awareness, which indeed seems to be Jason Kahn's music's most evident
quality. The title of Fields, Jason Kahn’s fifth solo full-length for his
own Cut imprint, while perhaps not inspired by it, conveniently identifies
the disc’s addition to Kahn’s usual arsenal of percussion
and synthesizer, a collection of international field recordings. The disc
may not represent Kahn’s first work with such pre-recorded media,
but it’s hard to tell, as with the majority of Kahn’s percussion,
the recordings are melded seamlessly into the music, with little evidence
of their origin. Kahn’s music typically explores the characteristics
of the space in which it was recorded, encouraging an active (if abstract)
integration of physical surroundings into the music. While some simply
play in a room, Kahn often plays the room itself. Fields, however, isn’t
noted as being performed in any specific space, but, in a sense, the integration
of Kahn’s location recordings into the music is an interesting twist
on his work with the sound of a particular place. His music is like take look to surface of abstract painting. Jason Kahn, the owner of swiss based label "cut", created seven
compositions for analogue synthesizer, percussion, shortwave radio, and
location recordings made in Croatia, Egypt, Japan, Lebanon and Switzerland.
Best known for his improvisation inside collaborations, he presents a
solo cd here, which basically consists of slowly evolving drones, skilfully
arranged layers and embedded field recordings. Kahn presents seven compositions that were created for analogue synthesizer,
percussion, short wave radio and field recordings from Croatia, Egypt,
Japan, Lebanon and Switzerland. In much of his work, solo and improvisation
wise, Kahn loves the stretched fields of sound: long blocks of drone like
sounds that only evolve minimally over the course of a piece. On 'Fields'
this is no different, but throughout it seems as if he uses many layers,
as opposed to just a few. All the sounds start at once and then through
clever mixing and filtering changes are made. Subtle changes in the work
of Kahn, but nevertheless a trademark of his work, a very fine disc. "Fields" ist bereits das neunte Solo-Album des in Zürich
wohnhaften Amerikaners Jason Kahn und meines Erachtens nach eines seiner
besten. Für diese Arbeit hat er sein übliches Instrumentarium
(Perkussion und Synthesizer) um zusätzliche Klangquellen erweitert
(Kurzwellen-Radiosignale und Field Recordings). Die Musik beinhaltet viele
der für Kahn typischen Markenzeichen – oft besteht sie aus
langgezogenen Flächen, welche ein Gefühl von Zeitlosigkeit vermitteln
oder aus kleinen pulsierenden Soundfragmenten, die sich über eine
längere Zeitspanne linear entwickeln – allerdings ist das in
"Fields" verwendete Klangmaterial roher und dichter geschichtet
als in früheren Arbeiten Kahns. Der Ansatz des Künstlers kann
zwar in gewissem Sinne als "minimalistisch" bezeichnet werden,
da sich die Musik durch eine starke Fokussierung auf das Detail auszeichnet
und Kahn die Geduld aufbringt, jedem noch so scheinbar unbedeutenden Klangelement
den ihm gebührenden Platz im Mix zuzugestehen, der Ausdruck "minimal"
wird jedoch spätestens dann obsolet, wenn man sich die schiere Fülle
an Material uns das hohe Mass an Aktivität von "Fields"
vor Augen führt. Two solo recordings from our Swiss contingent (OK, OK, Kahn’s a
US ex-pat, but still), both using processed sounds from original recordings
either self-made or taped in the field. Neither exactly kicks you in the
gut on first blush, but both insinuate their way into your aural grasp
if given extended, concentrated listens. |