Jason Kahn’s sack of instruments features the basics: drums, wires, metals, room. Whatever he's using, he's using to explore the cavities and crevices of space. He'll
mic water glasses, record a stairwell, or play the cymbals live without ever touching the two discs. He's featured on collaborations and compilations with titles like
Popular Music That Will Live Forever,
The End of the Fear of God, and
Rural Psychogeography. Would you take a class entitled "Rural Psychogeography 300"? Would that class be bullshit? These are the type of questions inspired by those most elitist and elemental of musicians: noise artists. The answers are both "yes" and "no." With Kahn, potentials are exploited to such a degree that you are forced acknowledge just how much is there when you listen closely enough; you are forced to say, silently, "yes."
Kahn was recently in Seoul, playing at Relay (
"a series of collective perfomances of media art presented by SLOWALK"). He stormed out obtrusively mid-performance, apparently after becoming upset with the work of one of his improvisational collaborators. Dude was using samples or some shit—samples! What a fool. Point is JK takes this stuff seriously but has the goods and good taste to back it up. You can read his thoughtful survey of the Relay scene
here. Coincidentally, this weekend is huge for Relay, which will be featuring Japanese noise superstars
Otomo Yoshihide and Sachiko M. Come with boobs and a Sharpie.
"Sihl 4" is from 2005's
Sihl, named after the river in Zürich. "Timelines 3" is from 2005's
Timelines.
Kahn's site has tons more free sounds.
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