Working together since 2004 in a trio with Günter Müller, the duo project of Christian Wolfarth and Jason Kahn signals a return to their collaboration – this time with Jason Kahn singing and not on electronics. Though both musicians use acoustic sound sources, together their music might seem electronic. Wolfarth's cymbal work often resembles a multitude of oscillators buzzing in and out of phase and Kahn's use of the voice could be mistaken for white noise or a failing distortion pedal. The duo is not just about sound but a direct approach to listening, immersive yet also raw and direct, the music unfolding in realtime, structure and flow changing with each breath and stroke of a cymbal.
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Christian Wolfarth / percussion
Jason Kahn / voice
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Recorded February 7th 2016 in Zurich, Switzerland by Jason Khan. Mixed and mastered by Jason Kahn.
Available as 16bit FLAC or 320kbp MP3
Tracklisting:
1. Untitled - 17:32
2. Untitled - 14:47
Christian Wolfarth is a Swiss Percussionist. Born in Zurich in 1960 and moved to Bern in 1981 where he studied under Billy Lewis Brooks at Swiss Jazz Schoolfrom 1982 to 1986. Then, he studied under Pierre Favre at Konservatorium Luzern (1992–96) and had an education in the field of composing under Siegfried Kutterer in Basel (1995).
He worked with musicians like Christine Sehnaoui, Burkhard Beins, Urs Leimgruber, Jacques Demierre, Enrico Malatesta, Ingar Zach, Evan Parker, Albert Mangelsdorff, Werner Lüdi, Paul Lovens, Norbert Möslang, Alexander von Schlippenbach, Hans Koch, Simon Picard or Jürg Solothurnmann and participated in interdisciplinary projects in the fields of theater, movies, videos, contemporary music and dance (such as Dance-Company of Nina F. Schneider). In 1996, he published his first solo album 3-3-2. After the For4Ears, he published his second solo album Wolfarth in 2005. In 2009, he established his own label hiddenbell records. His later solo albums were published under this label. In duet formations, he collaborated with Irène Schweizer, Donat Fisch (Circle & Line), Michael Vorfeld (Vorwolf) and also Joke Lanz (Tell). In trios, he played with Jason Kahn and Günter Müller, with Michel Wintsch und Christian Weber (WWW), and also with Tomas Korber and Christian Weber (Mersault). Besides, he worked in a duet with the guitarist Christian Buck.
Born 1960 New York. Moved to Europe in 1990 and is currently based in Zurich, where he is active as a musician, artist and writer.
Kahn's work with electronics involves chaotic feedback systems and placing his body in the circuit flow. Grabbing open leads with his hands makes and breaks circuits, causing the synth to overload or collapse. Various contact microphones and electro magnetic inductors and the synthesizer's own output via a mixing board are used to modulate the parameters of the synth, which oscillates between saturation and a brittle sputtering, like the death rattle of a machine on its last gasp. Live radio captures during the concert and recordings made in the performance space and its environs provide further working material for each concert. These performances are essentially site-specific works, improvising with the space at hand, both in the sense of its physicality and the sounds found there.
Among many others, Kahn has collaborated with Kevin Drumm, Jason Lescalleet, Norbert Möslang, Günter Müller, Axel Dörner, Tetuzi Akiyama, Toshimaru Nakamura, Magda Mayas, Mark Wastell, Oliva Block, Chris Abrahams, Arnold Dreyblatt, Alan Courtis, Ulrich Krieger, Sainkho Namtchylak Z'ev, Shelley Hirsch, Peter Kowald, Taku Sugimoto and Elliott Sharp.
