The N&G Listening Club V1 - Archive only

Dtknuckles said:
What's up everybody? Well this week you get subjected to my musical taste. A younger version of me would have strapped you down to a chair and cranked the most experimental and challenging music I could find. I was insufferable. Lucky for you guys I have wizened with age. What would be the point of after three minutes people would turn it off. This week's pick will be a stretch for some, but it will be politely so. It's quietness and intimacy will make the more experimental parts more palatable. It even features a familiar artist to most that have been VMP subscribers.

It will be Tag Eins Tag Zwei by the duo Nils Frahm & F. S. Blumm. Most people know who Nils is, but maybe less around here know who F. S. Blumm. He's a composer guitarist that from Germany, I believe. His music is a blend of contemporary classical, folk, and jazz. His music is kind of like Penguin Cafe Orchestra.

This is the third in a series of collaborations. The first two were albums that are completely digitally edited, but on this album they choose to use the guiding principals of those albums in a live setting. All these pieces are completely improvised duos, with the exception of My Funny Valentine. What makes this album so interesting is that it is so quietly experimental. The melodies are often small fragments, notes get stretched out beyond what they typically are, and form is often given a back seat to spontaneity. They play with sounds that put you in a place kind of like a movie. You hear maybe fabric rubbing together or items dropping into a container. These little sounds we ignore everyday become musical.


Well, I hope people can enjoy the album.

DT Knuckles
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Absolutely love it so far
 
Listening now and I like it. I love the delicacy in the sounds and textures, I find it calming but interesting, as opposed to "background music". I love Frahm's work, but especially his more playful stuff - I freaking love those Nonkeen albums and this is reminding me to dig them out and give them a spin soon. I somehow missed this when it was released though so thank you @Dtknuckles for showing me, it feels like the kind of calming vibe I need right now.
 
Really enjoyed this, its nice while working.
I had no idea what to queue after it though, felt like anything would spoil the calm vibe, so I put on Radioheads TKOL and was surprised at how seamless the transition was (I don't know TKOL very well either). Ended up listening to the other collaborative albums today as well, I prefer this one but all three are nice, the first one reminded me of The Books.
 
Tag Eins Tag Zwei is a really interesting/thoughtful piece. Definitely a time and a place selection (for me anyways). If I put this record on with the wife and kids in the room I would get weird looks (which is ok with me but I have to pick and choose those moments). There is a lot to be said for non-lyrical pieces in that they allow your interpretation and reflection while listening to do the talking. This listen has come at a great time for me as I am trying to adapt to new surrounding after a recent move. This has been great to listen to while working....listening on headphones at my desk. There are quiet and peaceful moments to get lost in and moments of madness that bring me back to reality. I hear something new each time I listen to it. This is a really cool pick and I'm glad to have experienced it. Day One One is my favorite track...but everything mixes together quite well. It is difficult to differentiate tracks. I image there are rewards to spinning over streaming (as is almost always the case) so maybe I can work this in to my buying queue that is always changing and out of control.
 
I really dug the Blumm/Frahm album. It was fascinatingly more ambient than I was expecting it to be, especially considering the more pulsing works of Frahm's that I am used to. In some ways it reminded me of Brian Eno and Bill Frisell's more experimental work. Definitely going to be pursuing more of Blumm's work, can you point me in a good direction?
 
I’m going to have to give Tag Eins Tag Zwei another listen later in the week. My first impression is that I like it very much(except for a couple of minutes during Day One Two). I need to listen again to determine whether I’m infatuated by the novelty of the sounds or if I truly love it.
 
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Great album choice @Dtknuckles . Really love this one. Random story, but a few years back, I came across someone on Instagram (of all places) selling vinyl. They were selling a bunch of the Late Night Tales compilations and I was trying to get my hands on as many as possible since I am such a big fan but came into it a bit late in the game for the earlier pressings. The seller kept adding new images every week or so of albums they were trying to sell. One week I see this bright orange vinyl cover with just some minimal text on it. I see Nils Frahm on it and had gotten the Frahm LNT comp earlier so decided to give it a listen. I listened to about three tracks and looked up the album to see if it was on vinyl and came across the Sonic Pieces label that it was on. They had a series of collaborations between Frahm and Blumm and so I ended up picking up two different records to save on some international shipping.

The vinyl pressing of this sounds amazing IMO. Dead quiet in terms of noise and it’s a mesmerizing record to sit down and listen to without distraction. I highly recommend turning off any sort of distraction and just sitting down and putting the whole thing on in one go. The version of My Funny Valentine might be one of my favorite versions of that song ever.

Unfortunately, the vinyl is a bit tricky to buy in the US since it’s a German label (I only see one copy on discogs right now) but the label has some awesome records and I’d recommend checking out some of the other albums they have pressed too. I seem to recall the shipping from the label not being crazy but it was a few years ago that I bought it.
 
MadLucas said:
I really dug the Blumm/Frahm album. It was fascinatingly more ambient than I was expecting it to be, especially considering the more pulsing works of Frahm's that I am used to. In some ways it reminded me of Brian Eno and Bill Frisell's more experimental work. Definitely going to be pursuing more of Blumm's work, can you point me in a good direction?
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I’m not extremely familiar with Blumm. I’ve listened to one album of his, but it’s been a while. F. S. Blumm - Summer Kling. The album is less decomposed and much more melodic, but still has some moments of subtle experimentation.
 
MikeH said:
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Great album choice @Dtknuckles . Really love this one. Random story, but a few years back, I came across someone on Instagram (of all places) selling vinyl. They were selling a bunch of the Late Night Tales compilations and I was trying to get my hands on as many as possible since I am such a big fan but came into it a bit late in the game for the earlier pressings. The seller kept adding new images every week or so of albums they were trying to sell. One week I see this bright orange vinyl cover with just some minimal text on it. I see Nils Frahm on it and had gotten the Frahm LNT comp earlier so decided to give it a listen. I listened to about three tracks and looked up the album to see if it was on vinyl and came across the Sonic Pieces label that it was on. They had a series of collaborations between Frahm and Blumm and so I ended up picking up two different records to save on some international shipping.

The vinyl pressing of this sounds amazing IMO. Dead quiet in terms of noise and it’s a mesmerizing record to sit down and listen to without distraction. I highly recommend turning off any sort of distraction and just sitting down and putting the whole thing on in one go. The version of My Funny Valentine might be one of my favorite versions of that song ever.

Unfortunately, the vinyl is a bit tricky to buy in the US since it’s a German label (I only see one copy on discogs right now) but the label has some awesome records and I’d recommend checking out some of the other albums they have pressed too. I seem to recall the shipping from the label not being crazy but it was a few years ago that I bought it.
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I got my copy at Amoeba records in LA. Totally was not looking for it. I knew the album from streaming. Kind of had a hunch that it was unusual to find, so I bought it. Glad I did. You are right it is a really quiet record considering how low volume the song are.
 
Dtknuckles said:
Come on people there must be some negative reactions!? It can’t all be positive. I like to hear why people don’t like music just as much.
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There are a couple of minutes in Day One Two that just sounds to me like a band tuning their instruments and warming up before a show. I didn’t like that part so much. But otherwise, I quite liked the album.
 
Dtknuckles said:
Come on people there must be some negative reactions!? It can’t all be positive. I like to hear why people don’t like music just as much.
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I HATE IT! THIS IS HOT GARBAGE! HOW DARE YOU MAKE ME LISTEN TO THIS?!?!?! WHERE ARE THE VOCALS? IF I WANTED TO LISTEN TO SOMEONE PLAY THE PIANO, I'D PUT MOZART ON!

Not really, I love Nils. I've seen him live. I have listened to this album but not in awhile. I was just trying to give you some negativity.
 
I listened to this on the plane yesterday. It's not a vibe I try to get into very often and to some extent I was resistant to going there for the prolonged period this album demands. I wasn't following tracks or names but there was distinctly a relatively upbeat part. The way the album ends is appropriate; it is so dangly I wasn't sure if the album was over for a minute after it was. I definitely did not dislike this album but to say I liked it would be some sort of overstatement.

I think I would have preferred more alien sounds and/or more jarring or angular ones. I felt like there was always too much cooperation between the instruments and rarely any real flamboyancy to the obviously skilled playing. Ultimately this led to a degree of homogeneity that left me waiting for the next track in hopes it would do something different. Ironically the whole album is exactly something different and for that I can appreciate it.
 
Teeeee said:
I HATE IT! THIS IS HOT GARBAGE! HOW DARE YOU MAKE ME LISTEN TO THIS?!?!?! WHERE ARE THE VOCALS? IF I WANTED TO LISTEN TO SOMEONE PLAY THE PIANO, I'D PUT MOZART ON!

Not really, I love Nils. I've seen him live. I have listened to this album but not in awhile. I was just trying to give you some negativity.
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I have this blue variant of a Radiohead album, would you be interested?
 
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