French-born David Letellier (aka Kangding Ray) is one of the new-guard of musicians on German experimental minimal label Raster-Noton, which has thus far released all of his works, starting with 2006’s full-length “Stabil” and most recently with the well-received OR (2011).
 
Having completed studies in architecture in Berlin, the musician decided to adopt the city as his home, from which he now works on different complementary projects crossing over the disciplines of music, architecture, performance, and installations. Experimenting first as a guitarist and drummer in bands whose influences ranged from noise-rock to jazz, Letellier moved onto electronic music when he bought his first Akai sampler. His music can best be described as architectural soundscapes, reflecting his scholastic background, as he combines sounds from real and electronic instruments as well as field recordings and voices into slowly evolving, rhythmic compositions. While drawing influences from other minimal experimentalists such as labelmate Monolake, Ray’s creations remain distinctly unique as they tend towards more traditional arrangement territory; the music remains an abstract experiment, but stems from a certain dark, emotive quality that is not always heard in other Raster-Noton artists.
 
Kangding Ray will be bringing his dark vision of the future to CTM.12 by presenting a live show in support of his recent album OR. Through a play on words between the French word for “gold” (the only element that seems to keep a stable fiscal value over the long term), and the English grammatical conjunction “or” (representing the possibility of another choice), Ray’s current work depicts the disillusions of modern civilization while initiating a positive reflection on crisis as a creative state.  
 
› kangdingray.com
 
 
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