Entangleland by Andi Otto & F.S.Blumm

F.S.Blumm enters Andi Otto’s studio with a bag of strings and a mission to create quirky, peaceful soundscapes. The two artists intertwine acoustic and electric guitars, harps, electric bass, psaltery and cello in eleven electronica compositions ranging from neo-classical gravity (“Entangleland”) to spaced-out dub jams (“Active Fault Map”). “Yukiyama” evolves in multilayered patterns braided over warm tape-noise. “Kilani” reminds of Rabih Abou Khalil’s ECM recordings, with its oriental scale and a beat that counts to seven. The tunes shine most when silence takes over, when the sounds find space to unfold and decay. Far from being trivial ambient lullabies, these compositions burst with detail. Bells rattle, a kalimba resonates, and vintage synths induce their voltage into the acoustic framework.

Andi Otto and F.S.Blumm have been BFFs and musical collaborators in the studio as well as on stages between Berlin and Tokyo for more than a decade now, the heyday being their previous duo album “The Bird And White Noise” in 2014.
On “Entangleland”, Andi Otto contributes the cello, harp and synth recordings and takes care of the mixing. Compared to his recent releases on Multi Culti or Shika Shika, these tracks are less dancefloor oriented. The calm of this album is a prolific environment for Otto to pluck the acoustic cello which we usually hear in a more processed way in his solo works.
F.S.Blumm contributes guitar and bass recordings as well as saturated percussion echoes from his self-made spiral box. Blumm is famous for his acoustic solo productions since his early outings on Morr Music or Tomlab, he has also appeared on Pingipung a few times, for example with his album “Up Up And Astray” or as a Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry collaborator with the “Quasi Dub Development” project. He recorded three duo album together with Nils Frahm and is a member of the mighty “Jeff Özdemir & Friends” collective in Berlin.

“Entangleland” sees the two artists weave together a mass of acoustic motifs, synthetic melodies, riddims and improv jams where the magic emerges from the sum of the parts. “It’s not about accompanying a cello theme with the guitar or vice versa.”, Andi Otto says. “Entangling sound means letting go of hierarchies, that no one is first. Our studio is not a control room, it’s a place of imagination where we take things apart and make things whole.”

In this surreal pause of our entire infrastructure, we’ve had to consider twice if we continue with the Pingipung schedule as planned. There is no “business as usual” in corona times… record shops are closed, concerts are cancelled, crazy times to release a vinyl album. But we decide to release this wonderful, peaceful album as announced. May it create some smiles on our worried faces and encourage solidarity in the lockdown. Stay safe!

released April 3, 2020

All tracks written and composed by Andi Otto & F.S.Blumm.
Andi Otto plays: cello, fello, drum machines, percussion.
F.S.Blumm plays: guitars, bass, his selfbuilt box of spirals, delay machines.
Percussions on “Kilani” by Manuel Chittka.
Artwork by Total Eclipse Of The Heart.

Pingipung 070
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