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this album, repeat’s first (it predates «temporary contemporaryreleased by for4ears the same year) is quite different than the group or its individual members’ later efforts. the cd is comprised of 14 short pieces (49 minutes total), each focused on a single idea, well developed in the studio. toshimaru nakamura had not yet discovered the no-input mixing board. he is heard here on guitar, effects and sampling. the duo’s music retains elements of rock and jazz, but they are so exhaustively filtered that the only remaining element is a beat. the addition of acoustic drumming to electronic free improv could have been disastrous but instead it works convincingly. kahn’s agility gives the listener something to focus on amidst the layers of loops and textures (in «taidan keishiki?,» for instance). encountering joyous free improv of this nature is a rare event. the musicians don’t bury themselves in abstract concepts nor do they refrain from enjoying the act of creation. compared to kahn and nakamura’s stripped-down, microsonic approach ready to boot two years later, repeat sounds refreshing in the most charming adolescent way. >francois couture, all-music guide, 11.2002 repeat create unassuming sound mobiles that hang in the air and dance randomly in the light. as with jason kahn's last band, cut, the references of his new project are loosely based around one of the most interesting groups of the early 1980's--this heat. in 1979/80 they recorded an album named "repeat," which, though using the relatively simple technology of tape loops, has not lost its fresh and innovative quality, even in today's sweep of g3's. with his companion toshimaru nakamura, jason kahn has succeeded in capturing the elements of electronic and acoustic sounds and stretching them over long, gradually changing pieces--the length and evolution accounting for the effect of this music. the point here is not to discover strange sounds, but, rather, reducing conventional sounds down to their basic qualities and repeating these qualities over and over again with barely perceptible permutations. repeat's references to this heat don't include just structure but also the type of sounds used: metal objects, rattling drumming and the ever repeating analogue synthesizers mixed with today's electro-smog. kahn and nakamura have succeeded in taking old and time-worn musical ideas and giving them a new life in a new light. the cd, by the way, was mastered by stefan bettke, who as pole has already proved himself a master of repetition. le concert que la formation donna à strasbourg en avril fut un peu redondant, par sa propension à évoquer les fantômes du cosmic rock à l’allemande, qui noyaient quelques rares sons pétillants déstructurant le schéma trop conventionnel des morceaux. ce cd de repeat (toshimaru nakamura à la guitare, aux divers efets et échantilonnages, jason kahn aux percussions et échantillonnages)rectifie le tir, à travers près d’une quinzaie de pièces, dans lesquelles les longues envolées se font discrètes, à peine susurrèes, laissant toute la dynamique percussive et bruititste envahir l’espace sonore de multiples effets surprenant conférant ainsi davantage d’individualisme à chacune des cellules sonores proposées par ce recueil. ce dernier reste toutefois très expressionniste, si on le compare à l’enregistrement que toshimaru nakamura réalisé en compagnie de sachiko m. “un” (meme 011--dist. metamkine), à l’approche plus subtile et plus impressionniste. named in a tribute to uk avant rock legends this heat, repeat are toshimaru nakamura, who has survived previous encounters with blixa bargeld and architectonic guitarist taku sugimoto, on guitar and electronics; and jason kahn, a graduate of minimalist composer arnold dreyblatt, on drums and electronics. like the trio that inspired them, they pile on layers of metal-on-metal percussion, chugging tape loops, real drums and scrawny bodiless guitar in a series of semi-improvised sound snatches, which they organise into hypnotic yet resolute rock blasts. |