2X1=4, by F.S. Blumm & Nils Frahm

2X1=4

by F.S. Blumm & Nils Frahm

supported by

Henrik Sundqvist Reminds me of a mix between Aligning Minds and Bill Laswell. Favorite track: Buddy Hop.

Tim Heiler i like dub beyond cliche dub. this is nice.

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Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
"Frahm and Blumm shine as sparring partners, tapping into dub to expand their growing universe."⁠ Resident Advisor⁠

⁠'2X1=4' is the splendid fourth collab album by F.S.Blumm and Nils Frahm. The initial 2LP vinyl edition sold out quite fast. To celebrate the 2nd anniversary of the album’s first single 'Desert Mule‘, we are happy to offer a limited amount of copies of the 2nd pressing here for you.

Includes unlimited streaming of 2X1=4 via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

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1.	Desert Mule 05:24	buy track
2.	Presidential Tub 06:37	buy track
3.	Puddle Drop 06:25	buy track
4.	Buddy Hop 07:01	buy track
5.	Sarah & Eve 13:09	buy track
6.	Raw Chef 05:41	buy track
7.	Neckrub 05:31	buy track

about

F.S.Blumm and Nils Frahm return with their fourth collaborative album: ‘2X1=4’ finds the duo unexpectedly exploring a dub-influenced universe, though in truth it’s one already familiar to both. F.S.Blumm, for instance, is co-founder of Quasi Dub Development, whose 2014 album, ‘Little-Twister vs Stiff-Neck’, featured Lady Ann and Lee Scratch Perry, while Frahm’s music – not least 2018’s ‘All Melody’ – has occasionally betrayed a fondness for the form’s associated studio techniques, though he concedes wryly that his approach has always been “a little bit more German” than his influences.

F.S.Blumm, a revered mainstay of the German underground for over two decades, and Nils Frahm first met in the early 2000s. Frahm was a big fan of Blumm’s 2001 album, ‘Mondkuchen’– he refers to his fellow Berlin resident admiringly these days as “a vital brick in the Berlin Wall” – while Blumm was soon dazzled by Frahm’s studio set up. “Compared to mine,” he says, “it was like a space ship!” Soon they were working together on a variety of projects – including theatre pieces and animated films – and by 2010 they’d released their first collaborative album, ‘Music For Lovers Music Versus Time’. A second, ‘Music For Wobbling Music Versus Gravity’, followed in 2013, and a third, ‘Tag Eins Tag Zwei’, in 2016.

‘2X1=4’ is very different to its predecessors, but its final track, ‘Neckrub’, first took shape as they wound up work on ‘Tag Eins Tag Zwei’. “We had a certain sound in the back of our heads,” Blumm recalls, “which was influenced by these 80s rhythm machines, and we suddenly discovered a common love for dub.” Most of the album, therefore, was initially developed in 2016 during improvisation sessions recorded by Frahm to two-track cassette. “It was like we were running a combine harvester,” Blumm laughs, “so we could write our names on a single grain!”

Afterwards, they worked on editing and overdubs in Frahm’s new studio at Berlin’s legendary Funkhaus. “We kept on making new songs out of these sessions and starting over and over again,” Frahm smiles. “It was a process that was time consuming but really fun.” Not that either of them is eager to claim a purist approach. “I love ending up somewhere where I’m surprised by myself or the machine or the person with whom I’m making music,” Blumm concludes, while Frahm emphasizes that, “None of this is too serious. The record is only as much of a dub record as the ones before are jazz records…”

credits

released September 3, 2021

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about

Nils Frahm Berlin, Germany

Berlin-based contemporary composer Nils Frahm has built a steady reputation for his intimate, poignant piano recordings, yet they so far only showed a fragment of what to expect from a Nils Frahm concert. Frahm’s heart lies in improvisation, in the magic of a moment where, inspired by the space and the audience, his fingers can create new compositions loosely based around his familiar melodies ... more

shows

May 25

Brucknerhaus

Linz, Austria
May 26

Konzerthaus

Vienna, Austria
May 28

Teatro Duse Bologna

Bologna, Italy
May 29

Teatro Lyrick

Perugia, Italy
May 30

Fabrique

Milan, Italy
May 31

Le Cepac Silo

Marseille, France
May 31

Festival ECHO

Marseille, France
Jun 30

Brighton Dome

Brighton, UK
Jul 1

Bristol Beacon

Bristol, UK
Jul 2

Symphony Hall

Birmingham, UK
Jul 3

Cambridge Corn Exchange

Cambridge, UK
Jul 4

The Glasshouse International Centre for Music

Gateshead, UK
Jul 9

Usher Hall

Edinburgh, UK
Jul 10

The Bridgewater Hall

Manchester, UK
Jul 11

Barbican Centre

London, UK
Jul 12

Barbican Centre

London, UK
Jul 13

Barbican Centre

London, UK
Jul 14

Barbican Centre

London, UK
Sep 13

Freilichtbühne Großer Garten

Dresden, Germany
Sep 15

Burgess Park

London, UK

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