Jason Kahn

[jon abbey]

"Strongest work" and "epic piece" in regard to Kahn's record are a bit of a stretch, even if I feel like an ass saying so due to the inspiration.

I said "among the strongest work by the musicians involved" for Vanishing Point, and I'll stick by that, it's in his top handful IMO. and "epic piece" was about The Pilgrim, not Vanishing Point.

ATW just feels too controlled to me, the wild energy I expect/hope for from those two isn't there. maybe that's on me as a listener, just my perspective.

[bedouin]

As far as Jason Kahn goes I would have to disagree with most "best of" choices here.
Excluding the meeting at Bar Aoyama contributions, my favorite is by far the Luwa disc which carries echoes of Aoyama despite lacking some of the fire. Kahn + Akiyama + Kawasaki are brewing some masterful sounds there and it is a most eai represantative disc. A long distance behind I would place Repeat | Pool (with Nakamura), Breathings (with Paiuk, and a bit of a diversion for Kahn) and the wonderfully sweet solo Miramar.

[jon abbey]

Breathings would also be in my top Kahn, same with the duo part of Till We Meet Again.

but this doesn't really belong in a Lescalleet thread...

[Dan Warburton]

So let's have a Kahn thread!

[Jesse]

Breathings would also be in my top Kahn...

+1

[William Hutson]

it's interesting that kahn seems to get pigeonholed a lot around here (i am guilty of this as well). his stuff is actually pretty diverse. and he's really been reaching out to younger, stylistically varied players-- in the last year he's recorded duos with asher thal-nir, takefumi naoshima, ryu hankil and richard francis (who's not particularly young i suppose). that's really impressive. who else is seeking out such challenging playing partners these days?

[jon abbey]

Toshi's got quite the range also, and he seems to reinvent himself more from context to context than Kahn. aside from the ones we all know, he has three discs just out or almost out with different Scandinavians, a duo with Havard Volden on Another Timbre, a quartet with Tetuzi Akiyama, Erik Carlsson and Henrik Olsson on Bombax Bombax, and a quintet with Tetuzi Akiyama, Martin Taxt, Eivind Lonning and Espen Reinertsen on Sofa.

and yes, we've changed topics again there.

[Jesse]

This thread has sent me back to my Kahn collection-listening through Papercuts [duo w/Jon Mueller, very good, if of modest means and aims], np: Blinks [duo w/Gunter Mueller].
Not saying there is a conscious/overt scotoma about Swiss [based] musicians here, but Kahn/Korber/Weber/Wolfarth see scant discussion/reference on IHM. And these are musicians with, to expand William's point, considerable range and flexibility.

[nhennies]

Aside from "Miramar" and "Sihl" which are both extraordinarily beautiful, "Drums and Metals" is the one I come back to more than anything else that I suspect a lot of people may overlook. It's obviously a lot different from most of his work but there's something about his combination of rudimentary rhythms and impeccable choice of timbres that's endlessly satisfying/fascinating.

Also, as a percussionist, it's refreshing to hear rhythmic music that isn't total crap... if you've ever spent any time in a university percussion studio.

[bedouin]

it's interesting that kahn seems to get pigeonholed a lot around here (i am guilty of this as well). his stuff is actually pretty diverse...

i am sure this subject has been discussed here before, but it is true that he does tend to drone quite often, which makes it hard to listen to (hard in that it requires too much attention to follow the subtle nuisances and variations, which IMO is a kind of an antithesis to free/experimental music).

anyway, just finished reading his interview with Dan here:
http://www.paristransatlantic.com/magaz ... /kahn.html
such an adventurous life - inspiring.

worth reading is also his notes on the Aoyama gig, here:
http://jasonkahn.net/text/aoyama.html

[nhennies]

i am sure this subject has been discussed here before, but it is true that he does tend to drone quite often, which makes it hard to listen to (hard in that it requires too much attention to follow the subtle nuisances and variations, which IMO is a kind of an antithesis to free/experimental music).

WHAT?!

Are you really arguing that having to pay attention is an antithesis to experimental music?

[kp*]

A lot of what Jason does, live at least, really is, engaging with and articulating the acoustical space, and therefor can vary quite a bit depending on the performance situation. That's how it goes when you work so much with feedback and resonance.

I had the chance to open for Jason and Jon Mueller on consecutive nights. We arranged shows for them in the UVa chapel and then a house gig the next night in Richmond. They were wonderful in Richmond, but were phenomenal at the UVa chapel. They just absolutely killed it in chapel. The sound was massive and complex. I am looking forward to hearing him this weekend in Seoul.

-kp--

[kcorcoran]

Not being someone who was following Kahn's work closely, but hearing him on collaborative discs here and there, I would say it was not until I had the chance to hear his performance in San Francisco last year that I really understood what he is working with, how the sound fills a room and builds upon itself and engrosses the space, listener, performer. I like his mention of his setup as a system in regards to Miramar and I think that is the best description of how I felt hearing his music live in a small ampitheater. From that point I appreciate the recordings a bit more, and have come to especially enjoy his solo Fields and his duo with Asher on and/oar Vista. I would echo Nick as well to say that I enjoy Drums and Metals greatly as a percussionist listening to a record of solo percussion which does not tend toward the exuberant and dramatic (which I also enjoy with Nakatani, Ishizuka, Park and others), but has closely focused intentions on timbre and timing with a very sober sensibility to it - it is refreshing in a subdued way for me.
Thanks for calling up that PT interview a few posts up, it made for an inspiring afternoon rereading.

[MRS]

From that point I appreciate the recordings a bit more, and have come to especially enjoy his solo Fields and his duo with Asher on and/oar Vista.

Two favorites of mine, anyone heard and have any thoughts on Timelines Los Angeles?

[bedouin]

i am sure this subject has been discussed here before, but it is true that he does tend to drone quite often, which makes it hard to listen to (hard in that it requires too much attention to follow the subtle nuisances and variations, which IMO is a kind of an antithesis to free/experimental music).

WHAT?!

Are you really arguing that having to pay attention is an antithesis to experimental music?

no, for sure attention is essential. i mean with drones the attention span required can get far too long, and i loose the flow of the music.

[Nim Chimpsky]

a quintet with Tetuzi Akiyama, Martin Taxt, Eivind Lonning and Espen Reinertsen on Sofa.

Interesting. Do you happen to know if this is from the same sessions as Varianter av Døde Trær in 2007 or something more recent?

[jon abbey]

I don't know for sure, but I assume it's more recent, I know they're playing Victo this year and working on a US tour.

[mshiflet]

I find myself listening to his "Fields" disc more than any other. It's a bit grittier and more synthetic (-sounding, at least) than a lot of his other work. Or his work up until then. I haven't really kept up, but when I first heard "Fields" it felt similar to a couple things I was doing at the same time and was quite inspirational.


And a big ditto to what Kevin said about the acoustic space. His set from the same day that yielded Christian Weber's "Osaka Solo" 3" was unbelievable. You can hear the what the room did for Christian's bass on that disc, and Jason's snare/synth rig sounded so lovely and all-encompassing in there.

[Dan Warburton]

From that point I appreciate the recordings a bit more, and have come to especially enjoy his solo Fields and his duo with Asher on and/oar Vista.

Two favorites of mine, anyone heard and have any thoughts on Timelines Los Angeles?

I got it two days ago but haven't had time to spin it yet. Too busy trying to find out what "anti-teleological jouissance" means for this Mattin book review. Odd that it came out on CS.. but it's not JK's first outing on that label.

[washline]

Too busy trying to find out what "anti-teleological jouissance" means for this Mattin book review.

Oxymoron.