Bryan Eubanks & Jason Kahn
Drums Saxophone Electronics
5:33 / 6:25 / 7:17 / 7:54 / 6:43
int013
CD, digisleeve, insert | edition of 200
1 September 2014
Заказать диск | Order CD
Брайан Юбэнкс и Джейсон Кан работают вместе с 2008-го года. Их дебютный альбом был выпущен в 2011-м году: в тот раз Юбэнкс использовал собственную систему обратной связи и аналоговую электронику, а Кан играл на модулярном синтезаторе. Intonema выпускает вторую работу, в которой Юбэнкс, помимо электроники, использовал сопрано-саксофон, а Кан пересел за ударную установку. И если барабаны Джейсона слышны во всей красе, то саксофон Брайана ещё нужно суметь отыскать в богатой фактуре нового саунда дуэта, продолжающего изучать микротона, динамические оттенки и работу по скрещиванию акустики и электроники.
Bryan Eubanks and Jason Kahn's debut album was released in 2011. Then Eubanks used his own customized open-circuit feedback system and analogue electronics and Kahn played his modular synthesizer. Intonema releases their second recording where Eubanks plays soprano saxophone with electronics and Kahn drums the kit this time. While you can hear Jason's drums in full scale, Bryan's saxophone takes a lot of effort to detect it in the rich texture of the duo's sound which continues its studies of microtones, dynamic shades and the work of hybridization of acoustic and electronic instruments.
Bryan Eubanks: soprano saxophone, open-circuit feedback, oscillators, radio
Jason Kahn: drums
Рецензии / Reviews:
"From September 2014, this release on St Petersburg’s Intonema records does exactly what it says on the tin. Khan’s on drums, which caused some ripples of surprise in contemporaneous reviews and Eubanks handles the rest. And very good it is too, chunky sounding, astringent in some places and downright groovy in others – particularly on the opening piece where Khan rolls around his kit like some free jazz veteran, Hamid Drake perhaps. Elsewhere he alternates between polyrhythmic attack and more cosmic higher register clangs and tinkles.
Meanwhile Eubanks brings forth a stormy of fuzz, uneasy rumbling drones and piercing tones in an evolving cloud of noise, like some continually scrolling screen of inscrutable data. On track five he lays down a bassy throb that’s as thick and meaty as an aircraft carrier’s engine room, before flicking the switch to some pebbledash granules of noise, a smidgeon of radio interference and a lovely migraine-inducing metallic oscillation.
Fresh as a bleedin’ daisy and twice as much fun."
(Paul Margree, We Need No Swords)
"Eine ebenfalls sehr fokussierte, hochenergetische Performance liefert das Impro-Duett Bryan Eubanks (Sopransaxophon, Electronics) und Jason Kahn (Drums), eingespielt im Herbst 2013 in Zürich. »drums saxophone electronics« bietet zwar wenige Überraschungen, kann aber aufgrund seiner spielfreudigen Kompaktheit über weite Strecken durchaus unterhalten. Wenn sich Eubanks mit seinen Oszillatoren spielt, kommt hingegen eher der Eindruck einer Soundauflockerung auf."
(Curt Cuisine, Skug)
"After the two preceding albums, this one will come as a surprise and a relief to Luddites. The reason is hinted at by its title, Drums Saxophone Electronics, which it lives up to by delivering the real sounds of real drums played (uncharacteristically) by Jason Khan and a real saxophone played by Bryan Eubanks. True, Eubanks does also employ open-circuit feedback, oscillators and radio, but the trademark sounds of the album are real instruments.
Across five medium-length tracks, Khan and Eubanks sustain a stimulating, high tempo, high energy duologue in which they both play continuously, filling out the space. In the main, the electronics are used to subtly complement and enhance the sounds of the instruments, notably in the lower register where they give a pleasingly solid bottom end. Ultimately, rather than there being any sense of real instruments versus electronics, the boundaries are blurred to the point where they become irrelevant. Only on the final track are the electronics obviously in the spotlight in their own right. But by then, that is of no interest; when music is this good, the means of production are of secondary importance.
Of these three releases, Eubanks and Khan is the best by a nose, but the three are different enough to make direct comparisons meaningless. Intonema is in good form. "
(John Eyles, All About Jazz)
"Jason Kahn & Bryan Eubanks’ Drums Saxophone Electronics sports a title which does the dirty work of listing the instrumental sources so you don’t have to. Convenient, yes; and, furthermore, indicative of a generous spirit that abideth and only becomes more manifest as you frizz the disc into the appropriate slot and the aforementioned do their respective things with the previously listed. Kahn, as you may be aware, is the percussionist, Eubanks the electronical-Saxophonist.
So and thus and then as it spins, Kahn’s limber limbs in whirlwind windmill motion clatter in a corner and thud softly underneath emphasising sprung membranous rotund qualities of his drums and fizzing metal rains of his high frequency cymbals’ agitation free. Subtle tone-weaving from Eubanks’ saxophone/electronics set up meshes with the frequencies in the upper registers, scintillating yonder stereocilia before dropping some Hz and taking aim at the trunk and gut areas to softly tear and rapturously rupture the fabric of the sound in delightfully immediate and un-ostentatious ways.
Thee document doth partake of a most appealing clarity and indicates body/space human activities in a simple yet roomy, electronic, dynamic, spry, playful, subtle, muscular, bouncy, nervy manner. Yielding skins, pressing drumheads with beaters, pressing fingertips to physical materials, warm-blooded, loosely clasping at a clattering of pots, with a sympathy for materials and what’s (if you’ll excuse the expression) to hand a twinkling of the wonder of a cosmic Kitchen-Sync. Sax-a-groans, wisps of unadorned feedback ring the room, patters of percuss, and like the presence of the instrumentalists, intuited but (you see) not pictured, as such (this is an auditory medium, folks) there pulses a deeply implied melodicism in the surrounding aura that invites the listener (that’s you) to kick back and soak it up in an integrated, trans-Cartesian, holistic, multi-pointed, live-action, real-time kind-of-way which elicits a whole-body pleasure response. D.H. Lawrence’s solar plexus could dig those kicks. Foist and foremoist. Which is to say, it’s fun, more immediate than you may or may not expect, and although possibly abstract in one sense, is the opposite of abstract in many important others.
Verily, far from ascetic renunciation through instrumental reductionism sans concurrent mental expansionism ‘tis a thoroughly wide-eared and embracing sound due to nimble fascination with innate qualities and potential of instruments meeting humans to generate sounds that travel in air. No sour grapes involved, but an intoxicating draught of water and sunlight, clear, infinitely subtle and intimately linked to life n’ living, making noises n’ listening."
(Thomas Shrubsole, The Sound Projector)
"Two CDs of electroacoustic improvisation on Intonema (a label whose gatefold cardboard sleeves are very classy). The Eubanks/Kahn is a quite successful: five improvisations in the 6 to 7 minutes range, music both vivid and thoughtful. Eubanks on sax, but also on feedback circuit, oscillators and radio, three instruments often used by Kahn in other projects – here Kahn sticks to the drum kit. In comparison, Tri is a disappointment: 72 minutes of quiet noise, discreet interventions, bits of monologues that don’t coalesce into a three-part dialogue."
(Francois Couture, Monsieur Delire)
"Le titre donné au disque et le dessin utilisé pour sa pochette disent précisément l’un et l’autre de quoi retourne ce nouvel échange de Jason Kahn et Bryan Eubanks : retour à la batterie pour le premier, au saxophone soprano pour le second, qui « tissera » aussi au moyen de dispositifs électroniques personnels des fils parés pour la brouille.
Les conditions sont donc différentes de celles d’hier (Energy (Of)), mais l’élan est le même, qu’expliquait Guillaume Tarche en parlant d’ « assaut sonore », de « progression » et de « transition entre les phases du jeu ». Les fils cités plus haut sont en fait des câbles et des filins de différentes natures (acoustique du saxophone, électronique de la machinerie) et de couleurs variées, qui fondent sur le batteur et l’obligent à la réaction.
Remuant toujours, celui-ci passe de toms en caisses et de cymbales en percussions : escrime, piège puis capture telle ligne électronique lâchant un peu de lest ; provoque aussi des avalanches capables d’en anéantir de plus vaillantes et par paquets. Or, sous couvert de lutte, Eubanks et Kahn composent un ouvrage électroacoustique dont les nombreuses dérivations subliment la cohérence. "
(Guillaume Belhomme, Le Son Du Grisli)
"An odd set, this and one with a strong sense of pushing the music with an unlikely (in terms of contemporary improv) instrumental pairing. If I've ever heard Kahn on a regulation drum set before, I can't recall it, but that's where he is for the better part of this session. I guess it's been a while since he's wielded the hyper-intensely struck gongs and metals, in recent recordings that I've heard opting instead for electronics or field recordings, so this is a surprise not only for him, but also in the context of working with Eubanks. Again, my experience is doubtless incomplete, but I've almost always encountered Eubanks in a more abstract or "broken" electronics environment, one where a drum kit would generally seem out of place. Here, in addition to his electronics, radio, etc., he wields soprano sax, evoking, almost reflexively, jazz-oriented sets from Coltrane/Ali onward. And Kahn's drums do indeed often--by no means always--refer to that tradition, risky behavior in some circles. Managing to skirt the imitative "dangers", if you will, that lie along that route while still progressing along an ideally non-idiomatic pathway is no small feat and I'd say the results are mixed here though by no means uninteresting. There's good variation in density levels, welcome timbre fluctuations from the electronics and each of the pieces (six, between five and eight minutes in length) all flow very well, again in a manner somewhat akin to good free jazz. Not what I would have expected coming in, but perfectly enjoyable. "
(Brian Olewnick, Just Outside)
"Мои питерские друзья и коллеги из лейбла Intonema любят не только издавать странную музыку, но и странно называть издания, как в этом случае перечислены использованные инструменты: ударные, саксофон, электроника, а еще использовать странное оформление — сами видите. На ударных, конечно, играет Джейсон Кан (Jason Kahn), почти на 10 лет забросивший ударную установку ради электроакустического и звукового ресерча. Кан начинал с игры в джаз-роковых и пост-панк группах, что прекрасно слышно по создаваемому на этом альбоме драйву и снежной лавине из наработанных за все эти годы разноплановых манер игры, в том числе на протяжении нулевых, когда он сосредоточился на электронике, звуке и психоакустических феноменах. Здесь он также сочетает два своих слоя: быстрого и неудержимого, медленного и тихого. Брайан Юбэнкс (Bryan Eubanks) своей биографией похож на Кана: изначально он саксофонист, сильно увлекающийся электроникой и новыми актуальными звуковыми исследованиями, паяющий свои собственные электронные инструменты, на этом альбоме — открытые схемы для извлечения фидбэков, осцилляторы, а также радио. Юбэнкс умеет прятать саксофон: то он звучит как осциллятор, то как фидбэк, то как шум, он почти не использует ни мультифоники, ни другие известные конвенциональные техники звукоизвлечения. Постоянно переключается с саксофона на электронику и обратно, то использует их вместе, все пикает, булькает, шипит, кликает. При этом хорошо, что ребята не слушают друг друга, а слушают не слушая, каждый занимается своим делом, но звучание остается таким же слаженным и как будто сочиненным, хотя все это импров, даже электроакустический импров новой, более шумовой волны. И главное — альбом можно переслушивать несколько раз, я с каждым разом открывал новые его грани."
(Курт Лидварт, Современная Музыка)
"It's perhaps Bryan Eubanks here, whom I don't seem to know very well, but in his duo recording with Jason Kahn he brings out a side of Kahn I haven't heard in a long time. Kahn is a drummer - that we know - but we hardly ever him bang the kit. Much of his work is more subtle and sparse and hardly ever seems to be about playing the kit, even in an improvised manner. He usually takes credit for drums, analogue synthesizer but here its just drums. Eubanks plays soprano saxophone, open-circuit feedback, oscillators and radio. Five pieces recorded in September 2013 in Zurich (where Kahn lives) see him rattle and shake the drums, the cymbals, the floor toms and all of these things, while Eubanks waves together an interesting brand of sound around it. Sustaining sounds, sometimes feedback like but never really, truly noise like; it fits the sustaining drum rolls of Kahn very well. It's not as careful as some of Kahn's other work, or rather: not at all, but these five concentrated outbursts are very nice in itself. Louder, grittier and somehow more direct in your face. A big surprise, I'd say. At thirty-four minutes also with the right length for such a thing."
(Frans De Waard, Vital Weekly)
Bryan Eubanks and Jason Kahn's debut album was released in 2011. Then Eubanks used his own customized open-circuit feedback system and analogue electronics and Kahn played his modular synthesizer. Intonema releases their second recording where Eubanks plays soprano saxophone with electronics and Kahn drums the kit this time. While you can hear Jason's drums in full scale, Bryan's saxophone takes a lot of effort to detect it in the rich texture of the duo's sound which continues its studies of microtones, dynamic shades and the work of hybridization of acoustic and electronic instruments.
Bryan Eubanks: soprano saxophone, open-circuit feedback, oscillators, radio
Jason Kahn: drums
Рецензии / Reviews:
"From September 2014, this release on St Petersburg’s Intonema records does exactly what it says on the tin. Khan’s on drums, which caused some ripples of surprise in contemporaneous reviews and Eubanks handles the rest. And very good it is too, chunky sounding, astringent in some places and downright groovy in others – particularly on the opening piece where Khan rolls around his kit like some free jazz veteran, Hamid Drake perhaps. Elsewhere he alternates between polyrhythmic attack and more cosmic higher register clangs and tinkles.
Meanwhile Eubanks brings forth a stormy of fuzz, uneasy rumbling drones and piercing tones in an evolving cloud of noise, like some continually scrolling screen of inscrutable data. On track five he lays down a bassy throb that’s as thick and meaty as an aircraft carrier’s engine room, before flicking the switch to some pebbledash granules of noise, a smidgeon of radio interference and a lovely migraine-inducing metallic oscillation.
Fresh as a bleedin’ daisy and twice as much fun."
(Paul Margree, We Need No Swords)
"Eine ebenfalls sehr fokussierte, hochenergetische Performance liefert das Impro-Duett Bryan Eubanks (Sopransaxophon, Electronics) und Jason Kahn (Drums), eingespielt im Herbst 2013 in Zürich. »drums saxophone electronics« bietet zwar wenige Überraschungen, kann aber aufgrund seiner spielfreudigen Kompaktheit über weite Strecken durchaus unterhalten. Wenn sich Eubanks mit seinen Oszillatoren spielt, kommt hingegen eher der Eindruck einer Soundauflockerung auf."
(Curt Cuisine, Skug)
"After the two preceding albums, this one will come as a surprise and a relief to Luddites. The reason is hinted at by its title, Drums Saxophone Electronics, which it lives up to by delivering the real sounds of real drums played (uncharacteristically) by Jason Khan and a real saxophone played by Bryan Eubanks. True, Eubanks does also employ open-circuit feedback, oscillators and radio, but the trademark sounds of the album are real instruments.
Across five medium-length tracks, Khan and Eubanks sustain a stimulating, high tempo, high energy duologue in which they both play continuously, filling out the space. In the main, the electronics are used to subtly complement and enhance the sounds of the instruments, notably in the lower register where they give a pleasingly solid bottom end. Ultimately, rather than there being any sense of real instruments versus electronics, the boundaries are blurred to the point where they become irrelevant. Only on the final track are the electronics obviously in the spotlight in their own right. But by then, that is of no interest; when music is this good, the means of production are of secondary importance.
Of these three releases, Eubanks and Khan is the best by a nose, but the three are different enough to make direct comparisons meaningless. Intonema is in good form. "
(John Eyles, All About Jazz)
"Jason Kahn & Bryan Eubanks’ Drums Saxophone Electronics sports a title which does the dirty work of listing the instrumental sources so you don’t have to. Convenient, yes; and, furthermore, indicative of a generous spirit that abideth and only becomes more manifest as you frizz the disc into the appropriate slot and the aforementioned do their respective things with the previously listed. Kahn, as you may be aware, is the percussionist, Eubanks the electronical-Saxophonist.
So and thus and then as it spins, Kahn’s limber limbs in whirlwind windmill motion clatter in a corner and thud softly underneath emphasising sprung membranous rotund qualities of his drums and fizzing metal rains of his high frequency cymbals’ agitation free. Subtle tone-weaving from Eubanks’ saxophone/electronics set up meshes with the frequencies in the upper registers, scintillating yonder stereocilia before dropping some Hz and taking aim at the trunk and gut areas to softly tear and rapturously rupture the fabric of the sound in delightfully immediate and un-ostentatious ways.
Thee document doth partake of a most appealing clarity and indicates body/space human activities in a simple yet roomy, electronic, dynamic, spry, playful, subtle, muscular, bouncy, nervy manner. Yielding skins, pressing drumheads with beaters, pressing fingertips to physical materials, warm-blooded, loosely clasping at a clattering of pots, with a sympathy for materials and what’s (if you’ll excuse the expression) to hand a twinkling of the wonder of a cosmic Kitchen-Sync. Sax-a-groans, wisps of unadorned feedback ring the room, patters of percuss, and like the presence of the instrumentalists, intuited but (you see) not pictured, as such (this is an auditory medium, folks) there pulses a deeply implied melodicism in the surrounding aura that invites the listener (that’s you) to kick back and soak it up in an integrated, trans-Cartesian, holistic, multi-pointed, live-action, real-time kind-of-way which elicits a whole-body pleasure response. D.H. Lawrence’s solar plexus could dig those kicks. Foist and foremoist. Which is to say, it’s fun, more immediate than you may or may not expect, and although possibly abstract in one sense, is the opposite of abstract in many important others.
Verily, far from ascetic renunciation through instrumental reductionism sans concurrent mental expansionism ‘tis a thoroughly wide-eared and embracing sound due to nimble fascination with innate qualities and potential of instruments meeting humans to generate sounds that travel in air. No sour grapes involved, but an intoxicating draught of water and sunlight, clear, infinitely subtle and intimately linked to life n’ living, making noises n’ listening."
(Thomas Shrubsole, The Sound Projector)
"Two CDs of electroacoustic improvisation on Intonema (a label whose gatefold cardboard sleeves are very classy). The Eubanks/Kahn is a quite successful: five improvisations in the 6 to 7 minutes range, music both vivid and thoughtful. Eubanks on sax, but also on feedback circuit, oscillators and radio, three instruments often used by Kahn in other projects – here Kahn sticks to the drum kit. In comparison, Tri is a disappointment: 72 minutes of quiet noise, discreet interventions, bits of monologues that don’t coalesce into a three-part dialogue."
(Francois Couture, Monsieur Delire)
"Le titre donné au disque et le dessin utilisé pour sa pochette disent précisément l’un et l’autre de quoi retourne ce nouvel échange de Jason Kahn et Bryan Eubanks : retour à la batterie pour le premier, au saxophone soprano pour le second, qui « tissera » aussi au moyen de dispositifs électroniques personnels des fils parés pour la brouille.
Les conditions sont donc différentes de celles d’hier (Energy (Of)), mais l’élan est le même, qu’expliquait Guillaume Tarche en parlant d’ « assaut sonore », de « progression » et de « transition entre les phases du jeu ». Les fils cités plus haut sont en fait des câbles et des filins de différentes natures (acoustique du saxophone, électronique de la machinerie) et de couleurs variées, qui fondent sur le batteur et l’obligent à la réaction.
Remuant toujours, celui-ci passe de toms en caisses et de cymbales en percussions : escrime, piège puis capture telle ligne électronique lâchant un peu de lest ; provoque aussi des avalanches capables d’en anéantir de plus vaillantes et par paquets. Or, sous couvert de lutte, Eubanks et Kahn composent un ouvrage électroacoustique dont les nombreuses dérivations subliment la cohérence. "
(Guillaume Belhomme, Le Son Du Grisli)
"An odd set, this and one with a strong sense of pushing the music with an unlikely (in terms of contemporary improv) instrumental pairing. If I've ever heard Kahn on a regulation drum set before, I can't recall it, but that's where he is for the better part of this session. I guess it's been a while since he's wielded the hyper-intensely struck gongs and metals, in recent recordings that I've heard opting instead for electronics or field recordings, so this is a surprise not only for him, but also in the context of working with Eubanks. Again, my experience is doubtless incomplete, but I've almost always encountered Eubanks in a more abstract or "broken" electronics environment, one where a drum kit would generally seem out of place. Here, in addition to his electronics, radio, etc., he wields soprano sax, evoking, almost reflexively, jazz-oriented sets from Coltrane/Ali onward. And Kahn's drums do indeed often--by no means always--refer to that tradition, risky behavior in some circles. Managing to skirt the imitative "dangers", if you will, that lie along that route while still progressing along an ideally non-idiomatic pathway is no small feat and I'd say the results are mixed here though by no means uninteresting. There's good variation in density levels, welcome timbre fluctuations from the electronics and each of the pieces (six, between five and eight minutes in length) all flow very well, again in a manner somewhat akin to good free jazz. Not what I would have expected coming in, but perfectly enjoyable. "
(Brian Olewnick, Just Outside)
"Мои питерские друзья и коллеги из лейбла Intonema любят не только издавать странную музыку, но и странно называть издания, как в этом случае перечислены использованные инструменты: ударные, саксофон, электроника, а еще использовать странное оформление — сами видите. На ударных, конечно, играет Джейсон Кан (Jason Kahn), почти на 10 лет забросивший ударную установку ради электроакустического и звукового ресерча. Кан начинал с игры в джаз-роковых и пост-панк группах, что прекрасно слышно по создаваемому на этом альбоме драйву и снежной лавине из наработанных за все эти годы разноплановых манер игры, в том числе на протяжении нулевых, когда он сосредоточился на электронике, звуке и психоакустических феноменах. Здесь он также сочетает два своих слоя: быстрого и неудержимого, медленного и тихого. Брайан Юбэнкс (Bryan Eubanks) своей биографией похож на Кана: изначально он саксофонист, сильно увлекающийся электроникой и новыми актуальными звуковыми исследованиями, паяющий свои собственные электронные инструменты, на этом альбоме — открытые схемы для извлечения фидбэков, осцилляторы, а также радио. Юбэнкс умеет прятать саксофон: то он звучит как осциллятор, то как фидбэк, то как шум, он почти не использует ни мультифоники, ни другие известные конвенциональные техники звукоизвлечения. Постоянно переключается с саксофона на электронику и обратно, то использует их вместе, все пикает, булькает, шипит, кликает. При этом хорошо, что ребята не слушают друг друга, а слушают не слушая, каждый занимается своим делом, но звучание остается таким же слаженным и как будто сочиненным, хотя все это импров, даже электроакустический импров новой, более шумовой волны. И главное — альбом можно переслушивать несколько раз, я с каждым разом открывал новые его грани."
(Курт Лидварт, Современная Музыка)
"It's perhaps Bryan Eubanks here, whom I don't seem to know very well, but in his duo recording with Jason Kahn he brings out a side of Kahn I haven't heard in a long time. Kahn is a drummer - that we know - but we hardly ever him bang the kit. Much of his work is more subtle and sparse and hardly ever seems to be about playing the kit, even in an improvised manner. He usually takes credit for drums, analogue synthesizer but here its just drums. Eubanks plays soprano saxophone, open-circuit feedback, oscillators and radio. Five pieces recorded in September 2013 in Zurich (where Kahn lives) see him rattle and shake the drums, the cymbals, the floor toms and all of these things, while Eubanks waves together an interesting brand of sound around it. Sustaining sounds, sometimes feedback like but never really, truly noise like; it fits the sustaining drum rolls of Kahn very well. It's not as careful as some of Kahn's other work, or rather: not at all, but these five concentrated outbursts are very nice in itself. Louder, grittier and somehow more direct in your face. A big surprise, I'd say. At thirty-four minutes also with the right length for such a thing."
(Frans De Waard, Vital Weekly)