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Ankern . F.S. Blumm

 

staubgold 36
2002. cd . dl . lp

“Certain albums have a unique ability to transcend their physical space. A rock album might convey a sentiment of excitement, a noise album crazed instability, but rarely can an album suggest something tangibly beyond itself or really pervade the physical space of the listener. (…) You will be hard-pressed to find a more apt album to invade and adapt to your space during the winter months, and I imagine that ‘Ankern’ will stand up equally well in springtime.” (Marc Gilman, Dusted Magazine)

On his second solo album after "Mondkuchen" (Morrmusic) multi-instrumentalist Frank Schültge aka F.S. Blumm from Berlin presents again a multitude of lovely instrumental pop songs. Guitar, horn and trumpet (Harald Sack Ziegler), vibes (Patrick Leuschner), mbira, kalimba and toy piano being the favourite ingredients of his sound kitchen.

The musical result is original in a way that the popular namedropping doesn’t help that much to describe F.S.Blumm´s music. Nevertheless bands and projects like Gastr Del Sol or others who work on the combination of improvised elements with pop-approved structures come to mind, as well as American folk pioneer John Fahey or minimal music representatives Pauline Oliveros and David Behrman for their similar sense of poise and release.

“Albums of this unique tactile character usually catch me off guard, and F.S. Blumm’s Ankern is one such album. I was expecting something sparse but staid; a typical melding of analog synthesizers and live instrumentation. (…) The successes of Ankern reside in its limitless variety of sounds and diverse instrumentation. Whereas most instrumental albums find a distinct pace and stick to it, Blumm constantly shifts from deep, orchestrated Berlin-meets-New-Orleans arrangements to sparse Arctic sounds. These descriptions themselves evidence the density of the music – the need to describe it in terms of place, the shifting intangible emotions that the songs encompass. In practice, the music adapts to any variety of environments, and I leave it to the listener to experiment with this at will.” (Marc Gilman, Dusted Magazine)

F.S. Blumm

Berlin resident and multi-instrumentalist Frank Schültge Blumm describes himself as an "ear worker." Born in Bremen on July 16, 1968, Blumm studied music art, educational science, and classical guitar. His early projects focused on noise (Blumm's way of rebelling against the classical guitar), but his work became more structured once he became interested in radio plays.

A move to Berlin in 1997 found Blumm collaborating more, most notably with Harald Sack Ziegler for the Sack & Blumm project, and his radio plays were being broadcast across Germany. Having already released records on the Staubgold, Gefriem, and Audio Dregs labels, Blumm came to most people's attention in 2001 when he released Mondkuchen, one of the only "acoustic" records on the generally electronica-leaning Morr Music. In 2002, Staubgold released his dreamy Ankern album, followed by 2005's Zweite Meer and 2006's Summer Kling on Morr. (David Jeffries, All Music Guide)

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