Krom Monster

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5...according to our Phil on Thu 20 Oct, 2011.

Here's an interesting one. Cambodian instruments with modern day electronics and it's all for charity as the profits raised from the sales of this go towards supporting further musical activity on Phnom Penh after the Khmer Rouge regime killed approx 90% of musicians and artists over a 4 year period. I did go to Cambodia once and I saw many street musician there and I totally fell in love with the music. Lots of mental massive spiders as well but I won't go into that... oh I almost trod on a snake too. Here you get some surprisingly melodic electronic music with a far Eastern twist. It's absolutely gorgeous as well. Exotic sounding bells and chimes, strange sounding stringed instruments all carefully swathed with modern electronics. Mixing the 2 genres works astonishingly well and it makes me wonder why this hasn't been done before? Well I guess there's the Congotronics gear but that's a different part of the world. I'm waiting for someone to tell me it has... Some of the tracks have a dubby feel, some are more beaty than others, some are more ambient but whatever they are they're all fucking ace and I'm having me one of these suckers. Woohoo!

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Krom Monster are a new experimental quintet combining traditional Cambodian instruments with contemporary electronics. Khmer melodies collide with dubby electronics and free improvisation, offering a more contemporary take on the current resurgence in Cambodian music led by the psychedelic rock of Dengue Fever and Cambodian Space Project.

Krom Monster emerged from an ongoing project in Phnom Penh led by UK-based organisation Incidental. During the Khmer Rouge regime, Cambodia suffered an almost wholesale destruction of its cultural heritage, with an estimated 90% of all musicians & artists killed in four years, casting a long shadow over subsequent decades. Incidental's work in Cambodia is one attempt to work with the effects of this, collaborating with local artists & musicians to develop skills and explore new forms of artistic expression. This project is ongoing, with all profits from the record being used to support future activity in Phnom Penh.

Krom Monster are: David Gunn, Sour Vanna, Lun Sophaneth, Pov Punisa & Phon Chamroeun

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