Frogtoon Music

The Bells (Album) by Nils Frahm

Artist Biography For Nils Frahm

Nils Frahm Born 20 September 1982 Is A German Musician Composer And Record Producer Based In Berlin. He Is Known For Combining Classical And Electronic Music And For An Unconventional Approach To The Piano In Which He Mixes A Grand Piano Upright Piano Roland Juno-60 Rhodes Piano Drum Machines And Moog Taurus. As Well As His Solo Work Frahm Has Released Collaborations With Such Notable Performers As Anne Müller Ólafur Arnalds F. S. Blumm And Woodkid. Together With Frederic Gmeiner And Sebastian Singwald He Records And Performs As Nonkeen. Frahm Had An Early Introduction To Music. His Father Klaus Frahm Was A Photographer Who Also Designed Covers For ECM Records. He Grew Up Near Hamburg Where He Learned The Styles Of The Classical Pianists As Well As Contemporary Composers. At School He Used Mixing Boards And Was Very Interested In The Quality Of Recorded Sound Frahm's Earlier Solo Piano Works Wintermusik 2009 And The Bells 2009 Gained Him Attention But It Was His 2011 Release Felt That Was Met With Critical Acclaim. It Was His First Studio Album On Erased Tapes Which Has Been Releasing His Music Since. The Album Was Followed By The Solo Synthesiser EP Juno And By Screws 2012 Recorded While Frahm Was Recovering From A Thumb Injury And Offered As A Free Download To Fans On His Birthday. His Follow-Up To Juno Titled Juno Reworked 2013 Featured Guest Reworks By Luke Abbott And Chris Clark. Frahm's Album Spaces 2013 Was Made Of Live Recordings From Various Venues Spanning Over Two Years. In December 2013 Frahm Released His First Music Book Sheets Eins Published By Manners McDade. In 2016 The Follow-Up Sheets Zwei Was Released. In 2014 Frahm Announced His New Piano "Una Corda" Specially Designed And Made For Him By David Klavins. The Piano Weighs Under 100 Kg And Has One String Per Key Rather Than The Commonly Used Three Strings. 8 His Album Solo 2015 An Improvisation Single Take Without Any Overdubs Was Later Recorded On The "Modell 370" A 370cm High Vertical Piano Also Made By David Klavins. It Was One Of The 19 Records Nominated For The IMPALA Album Of The Year Award. A Condensed Version Of His Single "More" Was Featured In The Assassin's Creed Unity Gamescom Trailer. In 2015 Frahm Composed His First Original Score For The German Film "Victoria" Which Is A 140-Minute Continuous Take Directed By Sebastian Schipper. Nils Frahm Also Collaborated With Woodkid On The Critically Acclaimed Short Film ELLIS Directed By JR Which Was Released In October 2015. In The Same Year Nils Frahm Created The "Piano Day" Which Is Celebrated At The 88th Day Of The Year Due To The 88 Keys Of A Standard Piano The First Project Was The Construction Of The "Modell 450" Together With David Klavins. It Is The Successor Of The "Modell 370". In February 2016 Frahm Released The Gamble Followed By Its Companion Release Oddments Of The Gamble In August 2016. Pitchfork.Com Described The Album "as Charmingly Patched Together And Messy As It Is Well-Paced And Dynamic". The Material Was Recorded Over Eight Years While The Artwork Was Produced By Frahm's Father. Frahm Has Said "I’m Interested In How Human Beings React In Certain Situations And What Music Does To People’s Emotions. How We Can Change People’s Attitudes With Tones. After I’ve Played A Good Concert People Leave The Room Happy. This Is Something We Can Give Back To The World. When People Feel Down And Like It’s All Going To Shit At Least We Can Give Them Some Music And Change Their Attitude So People Don’t Think It’s All Shit.... That’s My Religion."

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Frogtoon Music Album Info: The Bells

Nils Frahm Born In 1982 Had An Early Introduction To Music. During His Childhood He Was Taught To Play Piano By Nahum Brodski – A Student Of The Last Scholar Of Tschaikowski. It Was Through This That Nils Began To Immerse Himself In The Styles Of The Classical Pianists Before Him As Well As Contemporary Composers. Today Nils Frahm Works As An Accomplished Composer And Producer In Berlin. In Early 2008 He Founded Durton Studio Where He Has Worked With Peter Broderick And Dustin O' Halloran Amongst Other Fellow Musicians. As The Curator Of The Swedish Boutique Label Kning Disk's Piano Series Peter Broderick Invited Nils To Record A New Album Of Piano Improvisations – The Result Is 'The Bells' Which Will Now Be Released On The London-Based Label Erased Tapes Worldwide. Perhaps The Most Stunning Aspect Of What On The Surface Appears To Be An Entirely Pre-Planned And Composed Body Of Work Comes With The Discovery That These Pieces Were In Fact Improvised. These Two Friends Share A Common Affinity In That They Both Possess An Absolute Mastery Of Melody Composition And Performance – Able To Deliver With Devastating Effect. The Modest Mr. Broderick States 'I Remember Thinking To Myself As I Lay There Stunned That I Could Spend Ten Years Trying To Write An Amazing Piece Of Piano Music And Still It Would Never Be Half As Good As These Improvisations!' Recorded In A Rented Beautiful Old Church In The Heart Of Berlin Over Two Nights Nils 'just Played' With The Occasional Instruction From Peter 'I Spouted "Make A Song Using Only The Notes C E And G" Or "Make A Song That You Could Imagine Me Rapping Over The Top Of" Track 8 – 'My Things' . At One Point I Was Even Inside The Piano Laying On The Strings Asking Him To Make A Song Called 'Peter Is Dead In The Piano'. The Resultant Work 'The Bells' Shares The Same Excitement And Air Of Playfulness. "I First Met Nils After Playing A Concert In Berlin In Early September 2008. We Had Exchanged A Few Emails Prior In Which We Had Agreed To Swap Some Records In The Mail. He Came Up To Me After The Show With A Beaten Brown Package Which He Had Tried To Post To Me Two Times But Both Times It Was Returned To Him Because I Was Out On Tour When The Postman Tried To Deliver It. At Any Rate That Night He Handed Me The Package Containing His First Lp Streichelfisch And Four Cd-R’s Of Unreleased Material. Later When I Was Getting In Bed At The Hotel I Pulled Out My Discman And Popped In A Disc Of His That Was Labeled »Tonalagia Piano Improvisations«. I Laid Back And Pressed Play Thinking I Would Fall Asleep To The Sound Of Some Nice Piano Music. But The Sound I Heard Was More Than Just Nice. It Was Absolutely Breathtaking And It Kept Me Awake Staring At The Ceiling Until The Cd Was Finished. Then I Pressed Play Again. I Had To Hear It Again. I Think I Managed To Drift Off At Some Point In The Middle Of The Second Listen But I Remember Thinking To Myself As I Lay There Stunned That I Could Spend Ten Years Trying To Write An Amazing Piece Of Piano Music And Still It Would Never Be Half As Good As These Improvisations! The Next Day I Wrote To Nils And Told Him That Very Thought And Proposed The Idea Of Him Contributing To The Solo Piano Series On Kning Disk. A Couple Months Later In Mid November I Flew To Berlin To Meet Up With Nils And To Witness The Recordings Of What Was To Become The Bells. We Rented A Beautiful Old Church In The Heart Of Berlin For Two Nights With A Wonderful Old Grand Piano And The Most Amazing Natural Reverb I’ve Ever Heard. We Set Up Actually Nils Did Most Of The Work While I Ran Around The Church Trying Out The Huge Pipe Organ And Harpsichord Two Microphones On The Piano And Three More Out In The Room To Capture The Sound Of The Church. And Then Nils Just Played. I Laid Down On A Pew In The Middle Of The Big Room And Listened To His Playing In The Same Position I Had Heard It For The First Time On My Back Staring At The Ceiling. Occasionally I Arose And Asked Nils To Amuse My Ears By Making Him Improvise With Different Rules I Spouted Out Off The Top Of My Head Such As »Make A Song Using Only The Notes C E And G« This One Will Be Available As A Bonus Download Track Or »Make A Song That You Could Imagine Me Rapping Over The Top Of« Track No. 8 – »My Things« . At One Point I Was Even Inside The Piano Laying On The Strings Asking Him To Make A Song Called »Peter Is Dead In The Piano«. Those Two Amazing Nights In The Church Left Us With Five And A Half Hours Of Recorded Material And Together Nils And I Have Compiled What We Think Are The Best Pieces Into This 40 Minute Collection. The Role I Played In Putting This Album Together Was A Very Small One And Yet Somehow I Feel More Proud Of This Music Than Anything I Have Ever Created On My Own. I Hope You Will Enjoy It As Much As I Have." Peter Broderick
February 9 2009