''Khmer'' (released 1997 in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

ECM Records ECM (Edition of Contemporary Music) is an independent record label founded by Karl Egger, Manfred Eicher and Manfred Scheffner in Munich in 1969. While ECM is best known for jazz music, the label has released a variety of recordings, and ECM's a ...

(ECM 1560) – 537 798-2) is an album by the Norwegian trumpeter

Nils Petter Molvær Nils Petter Molvær () also known as NPM (born 18 September 1960) is a Norwegian jazz trumpeter, composer, and record producer. He is considered a pioneer of future jazz, a genre that fuses jazz and electronic music, best showcased on his most ...

. The album mixes elements of

electronica Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that started in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mostly used to r ...

and

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

. The album is based on sampled and artificially generated sounds, backed by beats from

house A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air condi ...

and

drum'n'bass Drum and bass (also written as drum & bass or drum'n'bass and commonly abbreviated as D&B, DnB, or D'n'B) is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by fast breakbeats (typically 165–185 beats per minute) with heavy bass and sub-ba ...

. However, the often very slow rhythms are played on acoustic drums.

Reception

Christian Genzel of

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

review awarded the album 4.5 stars. He wrote, "Khmer is surely the most unusual album ever released by ECM" due to the CD's then-unprecedented mix of jazz and

Track listing

# «Khmer» (4:59)
Drums –

Rune Arnesen Runes are the letter (alphabet), letters in a set of related alphabets known as runic alphabets native to the Germanic peoples. Runes were used to write various Germanic languages (with some exceptions) before they adopted the Latin alphabet, a ...

E-bow (guitar), sampler –

Eivind Aarset Eivind Aarset (born 23 March 1961) is a Norwegian guitarist who has worked with Ray Charles, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Ute Lemper, Ketil Bjørnstad, Andy Sheppard, Mike Mainieri, Arild Andersen, Abraham Laboriel, Dhafer Youssef, Django Bates, and Nils ...

Percussion, dulcimer –

Roger Ludvigsen Roger Ludvigsen (born 28 July 1965 in Alta, Norway, Alta) is a Samis, Sami guitarist, percussionist and composer from Kautokeino. Biography In the 1970s, he was part of Ivnniiguin, the country's first Sami-language rock band.Reidar Skår Reidar Skår (born 13 March 1964 in Øvre Årdal, Sogn og Fjordane, Norway) is a Norwegian musician (keyboards), composer and music producer, known from several recordings and cooperations with the likes of Karl Seglem, Jacob Young, Arve Henrik ...

Guitar – Eivind Aarset
Sampler – Ulf W. Ø. Holand
Trumpet, bass, sampler, guitar – Nils Petter Molvær #* «Access» #* «Song of Sand I» # «On Stream» (5:01)
Guitar – Eivind Aarset & Morten Mølster
Sampler – Ulf W. Ø. Holand
Trumpet, bass, sampler – Nils Petter Molvær # «Platonic Years» (6:33)
Drums – Rune Arnesen
Featuring (samples) –

Ab und Zu Ab und Zu (established 1987) is a Norwegian jazz band, originally named "Anne Marie Giørtz Quintet" (1982–1987), and presenting music written by Ole Henrik Giørtz. Biography The quintet comprised the siblings Anne-Marie Giørtz (vocals) a ...

Featuring (sample production) –

Bill Laswell William Otis Laswell (born February 12, 1955) is an American bass guitarist, record producer, and record label owner. He has been involved in thousands of recordings with many collaborators from all over the world. His music draws from funk, w ...

Guitar – Morten Mølster
Guitar (ambient), sampler – Eivind Aarset
Trumpet, bass, sampler – Nils Petter Molvær # «Phum» (3:39)
Acoustic guitar – Roger Ludvigsen
Trumpet, sampler – Nils Petter Molvær # «Song of Sand II» (6:10)
Drums – Rune Arnesen
Guitar – Eivind Aarset
Sampler – Ulf W. Ø. Holand
Trumpet, bass, sampler, guitar – Nils Petter Molvær # «Exit» (2:42)
Acoustic guitar – Roger Ludvigsen
E-bow (guitar) – Eivind Aarset
Sampler (percussion) – Nils Petter Molvær

Credits

* Composer – Nils Petter Molvær * Design – Sascha Kleis * Engineer – Ulf W. Ø. Holand* * Cover photography – John Gollings * Photography (liner photo) – Knut Strand * Producer –

Manfred Eicher Manfred Eicher (born 9 July 1943) is a German record producer and the founder of ECM Records. Life and career Eicher was born in Lindau, Germany. He studied music at the Academy of Music in Berlin. He started as a double-bass player of classic ...

, Ulf W. Ø. Holand * Production – ECM

Notes

* Recorded 1996–97 at Lydlab A/S, Oslo. * Track 5 contains samples from the albums: "Axiom Ambient: Lost In The Translation" Courtesy of Axiom / Island Records; "Totally" Courtesy of Curling Legs Productions * The cover shows the statue "Les Lutteurs". The photography was reproduced from the Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais exhibition catalogue "Angkor et dix siècles d'art khmer”, Paris 1997 * All compositions published by ECM Verlag
℗ 1997 ECM Records GmbH
© 1997 ECM Records GmbH * This CD was partly supported by "Fond for Utøvende Kunstnere” and NOPA

References

External links

Nils Petter Molvær Official Website
{{Authority control 1997 albums Nils Petter Molvær albums