Browse by Artist: BANG, JAN

Artist:	BANG, JAN
Title:	...And Poppies From Kandahar
Label:	SAMADHISOUND
Format:	CD
Price:	$15.00
Catalog #:	SAMAD 018CD

"Jan Bang's first album under his own name evokes a powerful sense of place -- but it's not a place you would recognize, or ever expect to find. A descendent of Jon Hassell's 'fourth world' concept, it sketches scenes of struggle and malice, in locales both primitive and urbane. As a producer, Bang stitches it together like a patchwork atlas and then makes the seams disappear: live recordings and studio constructions, old samples and new solos come together to form an exquisite whole. Bang recruits a cast of collaborators from Norway and beyond, who will be familiar to anyone who's followed his recent productions: trumpeter and vocalist Arve Henriksen, whose albums Cartography and Chiaroscuro were co-produced by Bang; the stunning vocalist Sidsel Endresen, whose captivating turn on 'The Midwife's Dilemma' grows out of a moan and a half-croak; and samadhisound founder David Sylvian, who wrote the titles for each piece and the album as a whole, setting these abstract scenes in a disruptive context. The sounds on ...And Poppies From Kandahar come from the studio and the stage, close-mic'd instruments and field recordings, the clank of a bottle and the grandeur of an orchestra. Says Bang, 'As a 'samplist' I collect sounds that may become useful in other situations. It“s much like collecting sand shells without knowing how to use them -- just keeping them because of their pure beauty.' The result transcends idiom or genre. A sample of guitarist Eivind Aarset clicks over humble handclaps on 'The Midwife's Dilemma'; trumpeter Nils Petter Molvęr solos over a melody by Robert Schumann. 'Self Injury' is a hybrid of live and studio tapes, where upright bass casts a pall over Arve Henriksen's monastic falsetto. And 'Passport Control' excerpts 'Gammler Zen + Hohe Berge' by Germany's Kammerflimmer Kollektief, marrying its urgent tempo to wary brass. The conclusion, 'Exile from Paradise,' is a performance of Sidsel Endresen's 'Undertow' that was taped at Punkt Festival 2008 -- and that features Jon Hassell on trumpet. 'To me, Jon is one of the most important philosophers of our time. I can hear his influence in a lot of peoples work, including my own.'"

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