Nils Frahm – All Melody
By Mark Dohmann
| Label: | Erased Tapes Records – ERATP106LP |
|---|---|
| Format: | 2 x Vinyl, LP, Album |
| Country: | Europe |
| Released: | 2018 |
| Genre: | Electronic |
| Style: | Modern Classical, Abstract |
Berlin Calling
As a Krautrock fan and of German heritage I can make fun of ze Germans a little. Yes, I am for a good time having, no? Whilst my English sense of humour has been heavily influenced by the Goon Show (thank you ABC for playing this on Saturday afternoons in the 1980’s), Monty Python, Kenny Everett, The Goodies, Smith & Jones, Not the Nine O’clock News it turns out Germans do have a sense of humour. It is allowed for one to laugh between the hours of 2PM and 3PM…
Perhaps less known is the city of Berlin is recognised among Germans as having a more playful sense of humour. This “Berliner” sense of humour stands out from the more traditional German fare and is more self-deprecating and situational than “gastro-intestinal”.
So how does this detour fit into an album review? Well, if you ever get the chance to see Nils Frahm play live you will experience his humorous monologues in between the analogues. You see Nils operates a patchwork of analog instruments from resurrected Roland Juno’s, Moogs, Oberheims, Korgs, Mellotrons, Doepfer with hand-built pipe organ, Horugel Hof harmonium and piano grands provided by the concert facility on tour such as Yamaha and Steinways. Oh, and I forgot the toilet brushes he commandeered as percussive implements.
To configure this array of boards and gear he is like a modern-day spreadeagled Rick Wakeman surrounded by tiers of keyboards and patch cables and dials to setup the right oscillation patterns and waveforms and build sequences of arpeggios and bass and drum rhythms over which to play freeform melodies.
It would take any competent engineer some considerable time to do this. Nils makes it look like child’s play. He tells the audience how he thought about a tone or a note and then designs a soundscape around that note to build a melody. He can make a huge audience laugh out loud as he tells them about the corners, he backs himself into with technology and the inventive leaps he made to extricate himself from these conundrums.
He is a warm gentle and fun-loving individual and a master of the gentle punchline! He is an engineer who can fix the instruments he plays. He accessed the technical assets and facilities of the famed Funkhaus in Berlin to record this album All Melody. The whole thing was recorded in the Funkhaus, a 1950s-era recording complex in the former East Berlin where he spent two years painstakingly building his dream room, right down to a custom-built mixing desk.
All Melody is Frahm’s first major work since 2015’s Solo, has been seen as his biggest statement yet. He has filled out his usual array of keyboard instruments—piano, synthesizer, pipe organ, etc.—with strings, trumpet, tympani, gongs, even bass marimba.
It is a progressive build of tones and sounds to highlight his inquisitive, playful spirit.
He has been referred to as neoclassical, post-techno. He showcases the “restraint” and “control” to deliver a minimalist almost contemplative style. It has some sombre moments.
The album’s rich dynamics are drawn from the Funkhaus building’s organic acoustics. He availed himself of the Funkhaus’ natural reverb chambers—concrete rooms into which sound is projected and re-recorded. There is even a choir (London’s Shards) and a blend of the Roland Juno’s choir sounds. You will struggle to see where one stops and the other starts.
Across 12 songs and 74 minutes, All Melody functions as a single, cohesive piece of music, with recurring themes interwoven throughout.
How did I find out about Nils Frahm? I was introduced to his music by a good friend Mark O in Sydney one night as we listened to music. A nice glass of Chablis no doubt helped me access the music more that evening but having been programmed in my youth to explore Krautrock pioneers I could readily accept the waves as they washed over me.
When I got home, I raved about the artist to my son who told me he’d been a fan for ages. It is not music for “old people”. It’s All Melody for “All people”. No matter where or how you arrive at this album it can provide a pathway for exploration. Recently another friend asked for some recommendations on lockdown for new music. I pointed him to Nils Frahm and he is now a new fan. It is that word of mouth that means if Nils is in town you need to book within minutes of the ticket box opening as several thousand other music fans will fight you for it. I could try to explain each track individually, but it would be somewhat futile. Everybody experiences this music differently. I guess no one I have played it to has not become a fan.
Oh, and the album also provides a unique system workout where “fat” analogue keyboard sounds explode on to black backgrounds. These analogue instruments have a knack of filling out the tonal corners of a single note to make you want to play that track over and over.
This album must be added your collection, even before Nils other albums (which are All Good).
Now back to my German humour… Did you hear the one about a German who walked into a telecommunications mainframe billing software company to service an IBM 1403 high speed ribbon printer… you know the one with the 240 character chain that could print a line in 0.4 seconds on fan folded paper…
Track listing
The Whole Universe Wants To Be Touched 1:57
Sunson 9:10
A Place 7:01
My Friend The Forest 5:16
Human Range 6:59
Forever Changeless 2:47
All Melody 9:30
#2 9:40
Momentum 5:20
Fundamental Values 3:50
Kaleidoscope 8:16
Harm Hymn 4:10
PS. For those engineers among us the IBM 1403 was able to be programmed to print text which created harmonics from the key strikes to play melodies. For those of us who endured 12-hour nightshifts in the bunkers where the print and tape rooms were located, the fun and frivolity may have included a few “I wonder if we did this what would happen to that”. Making a 3278 (3180) display graphics and be able to be controlled by a mouse was fun on MVS. We Germans find such things amusing 😉.
I so miss Oktoberfest, Schniztzel, Apple Strudel and Weisbier…