MKM: JASON KAHN / GÜNTER MÜLLER / NORBERT MÖSLANG
teplo_dom
BUY CD €12 + SHIPPING
1. dom_1
2. teplo
3. dom_2
CATALOG: mikroton cd 66
FORMAT: CD
EDITION: 300
RELEASE: April 2018
Norbert Möslang cracked everyday-electronics
Jason Kahn analog synthesizer, radio
Günter Müller ipods, electronics
Recorded by Maxim Haykin in DOM Cultural Center
on September 28, 2017 in Moscow and Kurt Liedwart
in Art Space Teplo on September 29, 2017 in Yaroslavl
Mixed and mastered by Norbert Möslang
Producer and designer: Kurt Liedwart
Thanks to Pro Helvetia, Evgeniya Diamantidi, Serge Kolosov
Jason Kahn, Günter Müller and Norbert Möslang, all from Switzerland, comprise MKM trio, spontaneously founded in 2006 in Tokyo during their Japanese tour. They immediately achieved very fine results and collaborate since then. Their sound hovers between the at times harsh rhythmic noise of Norbert Möslang’s cracked everyday electronics and the rich sonorities of Günter Müller’s percussion-based samples and electronics. Jason Kahn’s work on analog synthesizer bridges these two worlds, adding high frequency interference and processed short wave radio input. Mikroton released numerous albums with their participation and “teplo_dom” is their sixth album on our label and third release after “Instants // Paris” released in 2016.
Discomfortingly solacing “teplo_dom” works like a treatment in the harshness of contemporary human life, sometimes soothing you with clusters of abstract timbres, sometimes poking you with distorted maelstrom of sound masses. If the tracks recorded in dom which means “home” in Russian, were mixed, “teplo”, in Russian meaning “warmth” or “cosiness”, remained without manipulation and you can hear how the trio builds a foggy psychoacoustic mass that lies between dynamic yet patiently treated drone music and industrial howl.
REVIEWS
This is technically the 3rd album by MKM, the acronymic band made up of Günter Müller, Norbert Möslang and Jason Kahn, but these three Swiss artists have a long collaboration history. All three gents recorded a chapter of Müller’s “Signal to Noise” series, they also comprise 3/5 of Signal Quintet (leaving out Tomas Korber and Christian Weber), they’ve broken off into duos and have taken on additional collaborators over the course of more than a decade. The familiarity these folks clearly have with one another explains why “Teplo_Dom” hardly sounds like a group effort at all; rather, one might believe this anxiety-inducing electronic noise was the work of a single person. It’s a unified exhale of sci-fi cough syrup ooze, gooping out into the world like warm alien molasses. “Teplo_Dom” is a three-part slab of deep, menacing music with an intermittenly insistent throb that belies that percussive background of both Müller and Kahn. The first track, “Dom_1”, sets the bar with a staccato rhythm grounding some Tudor-esque unstable bleep. The lengthy middle track, “Teplo”, very slowly ramps up from relatively sparse squeak to a massive short-circuit stormcloud. The final track, “Dom_2”, is the most upfront with its metronomic pulse, surrounding it’s rhythm with harsh feedback blasts before pulling back everything except uncomfortable high tones.
Trio Suisse actif depuis une dizaine d’années, MKM n’a pas sorti énormément de disques : un premier en 2008 sur le label de Günter Müller For 4 Ears, un deuxième huit ans plus tard sur Mikroton, et celui-ci. La formation n’a pas changé ni l’instrumentarium composé de sources électroniques variées allant de l’ipod à la table de mixage en passant par les synthés analogiques et du circuit-bending. Alors ce n’est pas étrange pour qui connaît un peu ces musiciens, et pourtant, avec les mêmes outils, ce trio parvient toujours à se renouveler et à explorer de nouveaux territoires sonores. Quant à savoir si c’est composé ou improvisé, comment c’est structuré ou pensé, je ne pense pas que ce soit la question, ici, tout n’est qu’affaire de timbres, de timbres et de textures. MKM navigue sur des fréquences parfois très aigues et disruptives, sur de lourdes basses pulsées, sur des nappes granulaires, des larsens filtrés et nuages numériques étonnants. Au fil des minutes, ce trio nous plonge dans des territoires à moitié ambients et suaves parfois, avant de plonger dans des masses plus harsh pour finir dans un tourbillon de fréquences craquelées. Aux frontières de la noise et de la musique électronique, de la musique électroacoustique et de l’improvisation, du réductionnisme et du piratage sonore, MKM se moque des barrières et explore les environnements et les textures qu’ils veulent. Des timbres parfois inouïs résultant à d’expérimentations électroniques personnelles, parfois bien connus comme certaines modulations analogiques mais utilisées complètement en-dehors de nos habitudes. MKM semblent se jouer justement de nos attentes et nos habitudes dans un subtil détournement et c’est en grande partie ce qui fait l’intérêt de ce trio.
MKM, das ist der eingespielte Elektroverbund von Norbert Möslang, Jason Kahn und Günter Müller. Auf teplo_dom (mikroton cd 66) ist ihr unfrisierter Sound aus Yaroslavl zwischen zwei nachbearbeitete Tracks gesandwicht, deren Stoff aus dem Moskauer Dom tags zuvor herrührt. Kahn spielt Analogsynthie & Radio, geht damit aber ebenso wie seine Partner auf in einem Wir mit sechs Händen. Ähnlich wie auf "Ground" erklingt Rhythm'n'Noise, Sonic Fiction als "Ijon Tichy: Raumpilot"-Spaß aus tuckerndem Groove und jaulig düsendem Glissando, mit relativistischen Effekten, analogen Halluzinationen und genialen Erfindungen wie von Professor Tarantoga. Wobei es Zwitschermaschinen schon vorher gab, und Raumkapseln, durch die der Wind pfeift, ihre Herkunft von pfeifenden Feuerwerksraketen nicht verleugnen. Lautlos im Weltraum? Von wegen. Die Hülle aus Silberpapier rauscht, der Uhrwerkantrieb tickert, und ohne Geräusch lassen sich weder Meteoriten umsausen noch der Müll wegkehren. 'Dom_2' bringt nochmal rhythmische Kaskaden und zischende Impulse zu einem monotonen Pochen, das in einem Rauschfeld havariert. Ein Abenteuer, von dem zuletzt wieder nur der Wind sein Lied erzählt.
MKM is the fairly long-standing trio of Norbert Moslang (cracked everyday electronics), Jason Kahn (analog synthesizer, radio) and Gunter Muller (ipods, electronics), heard here in a pair of live recordings from 2017.
All three of the titles here display fairly thick masses of slowly shifting electronic textures covering a wide frequency spectrum. Low throb adhering to upward spiraling vines with occasional crackle or tin plate clang. Quiet beep supplanted by odd warbly chords and cheesy Casio-like noodling. The longest, central improvisation "teplo", takes its time ladling wind and whistle over a very low churning, before building into a coruscating howl. Silence often gnaws at the edges of this music, but rarely completely takes over. Occasionally a sound or texture hangs around for a bit, accruing weight while being pummeled or caressed by its partners (listen around 16 minutes into that same piece as an example).
I've often marveled at how many drummers turn to electronics as a main instrument, and here we have two of them with fine sensibilities and carefully loaded pallets mixing it up with a veteran instigator. I cannot for sure say who's doing what here, which is always a good thing in my book.
On teplo_dom (MIKROTON CD 66) we have the trio MKM appearing at the Dom and the Teplo Art Space in Russia in 2017. Norbert Möslang, Jason Kahn and Günter Müller create exciting electronic sounds with a decidedly bold “space adventure” feel. Plenty of blank space and sudden eruptions of thrilling electric whirl-a-gigs and space-rockets. Broadly the sound canvas divides between grey, fuzzy grinding tones and the more fluid “swoopy” elements added like so much cake decoration. Hard to say exactly who to credit with which noise, but our man Kahn is on the analog synth and the radio set, and pilots his section of the craft with the assurance of a seasoned cosmonaut.
I’m enjoying all the white space in the arena and relishing the way the players don’t feel the need to back-pedal into constant drone. At the same time, the alien-ish factors are judged to a nicety, without over-doing it; there is just the right amount of green fluid under the skin, and the undiscovered galaxies look mysterious, but still inviting, as we peer through a frosted window. Rich in atmosphere yet still summons a chilling, tense mood. The spectacular ending to the long track ‘teplo’ is especially rewarding, a celestial payoff of grand proportions. From 30th October 2018.