
An extended improvisation interweaving acoustic and electronic instruments in a beautifully coherent evolution of mysterious and approachable sources, from the trio of Jan Bang, David Toop and Mark Wastell, combining tam tams, gongs, flutes, lapsteel, live sampling, gongs, brushes, elastic, paper and more to captivate the curious listener.
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Sample The Album:
Jan Bang-live sampling, samples
David Toop-lapsteel guitar, flutes, whistles, small percussion, harmonica, elastic, paper
Mark Wastell-tam tam, gongs, beaters, brushes, sticks, bow, autoharp
Click an artist name above to see in-stock items for that artist.
UPC: 5904224870591
Label: Confront
Catalog ID: core 23
Squidco Product Code: 31590
Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2022
Country: UK
Packaging: Cardboard Gatefold 3 Panels
Recorded in London, UK, on November 22nd, 2019, by Shaun Crook.
"From the moment I heard that this trio had spent a day in a London studio I have been anticipating the results. Three distinctive musical minds and voices: each familiar, never before together.
Jan Bang's sound environments are deeply affecting, created with an Akai sampler and interwoven with the work of collaborators in both studio and live remix situations. There's a sensitivity and respect in David Toop's sound-making borne from his insatiable curiosity about the evolution of music in cultures across the world. Mark Wastell's use of acoustic percussion and his explorations into the potential of simple instruments result in nothing short of a spiritual communion with sound.
No parameters were set for the sessions. Three improvisations of around thirty minutes duration were recorded. Afterwards, every sound played in those performances was brought together to create a unified whole.
There are moments where each player's voice is distinct: the resonance of Wastell's tam-tam caresses, the bursts and trills of Toop's woodwind, the pitch-altered looping of Bang's manipulated samples. But the triumph of this collaboration is the sound world of their combined creation.
There's an openness in the mix that allows each expression to breathe. It's like being encircled by some elaborate gossamer sculpture, flashes of colour and light glinting through as it catches the breeze.
The trio's music creates a strong sense of place, yet you can't quite put your finger on the exact location. There are crescendos that remind me of the vibrant frenzy once experienced in the Amazonian rainforest. Jan Bang injects into the mix both snippets of his co-creators' performances and samples collected over time for deployment in just the right context. We hear faint orchestral swells and then voices, both spoken and sung, the recordings degraded so far as to be barely recognisable. These add a strange authenticity to this imagined territory, the acoustic purity of Toop and Wastell's instruments providing a counterpoint that expands the stage.
Deep listening reveals some beautiful passages where all else subsides but for the elegance of a simple motif. None is more perfect than the gentle melody that emerges to bring resolution in the final moments.
A Compound Full of Bones, Translucent Thousands has an eloquence that transcends both the circumstances of its creation in a small London studio and the finely-honed technique of each individual artist. Expressive, alluring: music with which to share your time and imagination."-Confront Recordings
Artist Biographies
• Show Bio for Jan Bang "Jan Bang (born 21 August 1968 in Kristiansand, Norway) is a Norwegian musician and record producer, known from several albums and collaborations with musicians like Morten Harket, Sidsel Endresen, David Sylvian, Nils Petter Molvľr, Arild Andersen, Bugge Wesseltoft, Arve Henriksen and Erik HonorŽ. Bang played with Erik HonorŽ in ÇWoodlandsČ (EP, 1988), and they have released two albums (2000, 2001). He has also contributed to albums with Bertine Zetlitz, Bel Canto, and has written music for the film Ballen i żyet (2000). In recent years he has played with Dhafer Youssef, and in 2004 he received the Gammleng Award i klassen studio, and together with musician colleague, Erik HonorŽ, he initiated ÇPunktfestivalenČ in 2005. He is one of NorwayŐs most accomplished and influential producers and the epithet electronics guru has stayed with him for a long time and with good reason. Bang is the kind of musical innovator and bridge-builder who consistently manages to balance progressive thinking with popular appeal. He is always looking for ways of moving music and people forward, and by creating new meeting places and musical intersections he is the kind of person who makes events like ÇScene NorwayČ possible. In addition to hosting ÇPunktČ, Bang will also contribute to the opening concert where he will perform with one of his many musical collaborators, the celebrated Norwegian trumpet player Arve Henriksen. John Kellman of the All About Jazz magazine, recognized Jason Moran & Jan Bang at the Moldejazz and Arve Henriksen/Jan Bang Double CD Release Show at the Punkt Festival, Kristiansand, Norway, September 2013, as one of his 25 "Best Live Shows of 2013". Bang has also appeared live at Music Tech Fest Berlin in 2016 with Mercury nominee Eska in a unique one-off improvised performance." ^ Hide Bio for Jan Bang • Show Bio for David Toop "David Toop (born 5 May 1949) is an English musician, author, and professor and chair of audio culture and improvisation at the London College of Communication. He was a member of the Flying Lizards and a contributor to the British magazine The Face. He is a regular contributor to The Wire, a British music magazine. Soon after his birth, his parents moved to Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire, where he grew up. He was educated at Broxbourne Grammar School, which he left in 1967 to study at Hornsey College of Art. Toop published his pioneering book on hip hop, Rap Attack, in 1984. Eleven years later, Ocean of Sound appeared, described as Toop's "poetic survey of contemporary musical life from Debussy through Ambient, Techno, and drum 'n' bass." Since the 1970s, Toop has also been a significant presence on the British experimental and improvised music scene, collaborating with Max Eastley, Brian Eno, Scanner, and others. He is a member of the improvising, genre-hopping quartet Alterations, active from 1977 to 1986 and reforming in 2015. In 2001, Toop curated the sound art exhibition Sonic Boom, and the following year, he curated a 2-CD collection entitled Not Necessarily Enough English Music: A Collection of Experimental Music from Great Britain, 1960Đ1977. More experimentally, Toop has also actively engaged with 'sounding objects' from a range of museums." ^ Hide Bio for David Toop • Show Bio for Mark Wastell "Mark Wastell, born 1968 and London based, is a versatile musician who has played a central role in the British and European improvised music scene for thirty years. He has performed and recorded extensively and his varied resume includes projects with Derek Bailey, Phil Durrant, John Butcher, Lasse Marhaug, Rhodri Davies, Simon H. Fell, Burkhard Beins, John Tilbury, Mattin, Tony Conrad, Evan Parker, Tim Barnes, Bernhard Günter, Keith Rowe, John Zorn, Peter Kowald, Joachim Nordwall, Otomo Yoshihide, David Toop, Max Eastley, Hugh Davies, Julie Tippetts, Alan Skidmore, Mike Cooper, Chris Abrahams, Stewart Lee, Clive Bell, Arild Andersen, Jan Bang, Erik Honoré, Maggie Nicols, Will Gaines, Thomas Lehn, Thurston Moore and David Sylvian. Mark has also run the Confront Recordings label since 1996." ^ Hide Bio for Mark Wastell
10/14/2025
Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.
10/14/2025
Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.
10/14/2025
Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.
Track Listing:
1. Compound Full of Bones, Translucent Thousands 35:53
Improvised Music
Free Improvisation
Electro-Acoustic
Electro-Acoustic Improv
London & UK Improv & Related Scenes
Trio Recordings
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