Nils Petter Molvær “Khmer”

Nils Petter Molvær

“Khmer”
( LP ECM Records, 1997 )
Catalog # ECM 1560

Tracklisting:
01 Khmer
02 Tion
03 Access/Song of Sand I
04 On Stream
05 Platonic Years
06 Phum
07 Song of Sand II
08 Exit

Personnel & Credits:
Nils Petter Molvær – trompet, bass, gitar, perkusjon
Rune Arnesen – trommer
Audun Erlien – bass
Ulf W. Holand – sampling
Roger Ludvigsen – gitar, perkusjon
Morten Mølster – gitar
Reidar Skår – elektronikk
Eivind Aarset – gitar
===================================================
Eivind Aarset Guitar, E-Bow, Talk Box, Treatments, Sample Arrangements
Rune Arnesen Drums
Manfred Eicher Producer
The Herbaliser Producer, Remixing
Sascha Kleis Design, Cover Design
Roger Ludvigsen Dulcimer, Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar, Percussion
Mental Overdrive Producer, Remixing
Morten Molster Guitar
Nils Petter Molvær Bass, Guitar, Percussion, Trumpet, Guitar (Bass), Sampling, Sample Arrangements
Rockers Hi-Fi Producer, Remixing

Review:
Khmer is surely the most unusual album ever released by ECM — unusual because the label, which is best known for elevated chamber jazz, presents the solo debut of trumpeter Nils Petter Molvaer as a production that plays with modern electronica methods while not eschewing the well-known ECM aesthetic. Molvær’s music is somewhere between scary and majestic, and changes between ominous ambient sounds and hard breakbeats, along which atonal screeching guitars combined with melancholic melodies, create a fascinating mélange. Above all this thrones Molvær’s trumpet: lyrical, hectic, calm and sad, trembling and screaming. Molvaer is one of the most progressive and intelligent voices in jazz today, and with Khmer he’s recorded one of the best jazz albums of the ’90s.
By Chris Genzel (AMG)

Biography:
Avant-garde jazz trumpeter Nils Petter Molvær was born on the small Norwegian island of Sula in 1960, and though he learned a lot playing in local bands, in 1979 he chose to leave his hometown to study at the conservatory in Trondheim. As a member of the nu jazz group Masqualero, Molvær became associated with the ECM label, which later released his first solo material. In 1998, Khmer, which incorporated ambient, house, and electronic sounds along with his trumpet, came out, followed two years later by Solid Ether, an album that also saw a remix version in 2001’s Recoloured. In 2002 NP3 was released, and three years later ER, in which he allowed more space for programmers like DJ Strangefruit and Reidar Skår, was issued. In 2006 Thirsty Ear took the honors for Molvær’s An American Compilation, a record that was meant to introduce a United States audience to the experimental and genre-bending musician.
By Marisa Brown (AMG)

By Rob