Kant $2.40

About Kant

The first notes of Kant probably emerged in Peter Clasen’s head the first time he and visual artist Annick Nölle (aka NickyNoise) visited the St-Joseph-quarter in Bruges, some time in January 02. On the occasion of 'Brugge 2002, Cultural Capital of Europe', they were commissioned an artefact featuring this particular part of town as 'subject matter'. In august 02, Neven & Annick presented the film at the open-air party in St-Joseph, playing live music to it. Kant is in many ways the recorded result of their work for Brugge 2002.

As usual Peter Clasen worked with other musicians to forge Kant.

His brother Johan Clasen, who plays altclarinet & classic guitar, and bassist Tariq were intensely involved in the Brugge 2002-project.

So was, in a way, Bruce Ellison, who figured in the video as 'TV-presenter', and whose comments are cut-up & scrambled in the utterly engaging song 'Gladys'.

Together with Marc Huyghens, singer of Venus, Peter completely reshaped 'Relax', which would surprise even Frankie himself!

Misty dreamvoice on 'Damme' is Anne Buys, who already featured on Rocket Girl, Neven’s glitch version of Elton’s Rocket Man.

On 'Sacré Bruxellois', Arnaud Gsell, painter, singer but also exquisite impersonator, let himself go as party-animator à la française.

Elvis Peeters is on 'De Nacht niet aan de Merrie' a jazzy remake of a song he and Peter Clasen concocted for a Euro-top countermanifestation in Oct 01. This was besides the start of their renewed collaboration, resulting in 'literary concerts'.


..some words about neven...Peter Clasen grew up with Top of the Pops, Les Enfants du Rock and Dizzy Gillespie 45singles. Yes, that million facetted popculture has always fascinated him.

Thanks to a 'modern' priest, he discovered he loves to mess about with music equipment: it was his task to tape & edit the musical soundtrack for the mass and make it work during the service.

Then punk arrived. It affected him, maybe less the music than the attitude: DIY, DIT (do it yourself, do it together).

Enter the 80s, the age when every single artist embraced electronics - for better or for worse. Peter was impressed: Public Enemy, New Order, Mark Stewart & the Mafia, Front 242, LKJ in dub, TechnoTronic, Kraftwerk of course. It was something else!

Clasen got his first electronic equipment: first a TR606, then a TR808 rhythm box, soon the now vintage Atari cpmputer and the S700 Akai sampler. He uses them in a 'band' set-up in combination with others musicians – or in a 'bedroom-music' set-up - or a combination of both.

The Neven-project (literally: side-project) came to life in 1995. Neven has always been a kind of melting pot.

Although Peter Clasen has his own style of mixing & arranging tracks, every Neven- record turns out to be quite different from the other, because his skills ever get better and, even more so, because the ingredients have changed: first of all, new experiences with fellow musicians contribute greatly to the face of a Neven album, but also Peter’s environment & state of mind (cities, moods, equipment, even the weather).