Rival Consoles first appeared two years ago with a first EP released on London-based Erased Tapes. Since, Ryan Lee West he has delivered two more EPs spanning quite a wide sound world, from Aphex-like abstract drum’n’bass to razor-sharp techno. His debut album, released on Erased Tapes once again, expands greatly on the latter by collecting eleven thumping techno cuts with enough edges to last a lifetime. We took this opportunity to talk to the man about how the album came together, how he uses beats against melody, what it feels like to have his album out in the open and which console is the one. Continue Reading »

RIVAL CONSOLES
IO
ERATP16
Erased Tapes 2009
11 Tracks. 46mins05secs

Buy: CD

Behind Rival Consoles is Ryan Lee West, a relative new comer hailing from Leicester, who, in the space of just three EPs for London-based Erased Tapes, has confidently established himself as one of the most exciting new British talents. While his first two EPs, The Decadent, released two years ago, and Helvetica, which appeared earlier this year, showed West in a variety of moods, placing him loosely between Aphex Twin and μ-ziq, his latest delivery, coming as a split EP with Icelandic classical composer Ólafur Arnalds, operating under his techno alter ego Kiasmos, showcased a much more focused, sharp and dance floor orientated sound.

IO continues on the tone of the EP by collecting all three tracks featured on it plus another eight cuts of a similar calibre. Continue Reading »

PETER BRODERICK
Music For Falling From Trees
ERATP15
Erased Tapes 2009
07 Tracks. 28mins46secs

Buy: CD | MP3

In just over a year, Peter Broderick has gone from largely unknown to highly respected composer and musician. Beside publishing two albums last year, the classical-orientated Float, on Type, then Home, on Bella Union, on which he showcased his folk compositions, as well as an-all piano exercise, Docile, on Kning Disk, Broderick has been busy touring all over Europe and the US as part of Danish avant-folksters Efterklang.

His latest project sees him returning to modern classical composition. Music For Falling From Trees is a half hour piece written for a contemporary dance production created by London-based choreograph Adrienne Hart. Continue Reading »

RIVAL CONSOLES
Helvetica
ERATP12
Erased Tapes 2009
04 Tracks. 12mins51secs
Format: 7”/Digital

KIASMOS/RIVAL CONSOLES
65/Milo
ERATP13
Erased Tapes 2009
05 Tracks. 24mins36secs
Format: 12”/Digital

One of the most iconic type faces of our times, Helvetica celebrated its fiftieth anniversary a couple of years ago amidst a wide range of events across Europe, including the ABC123 EP by To Rococo Rot. Created in 1957 by designer Max Miedinger, Helvetica has since infiltrated just about every form of visual communication and become one of the most ubiquitous and versatile fonts, used equally successfully on public signage, record covers, advertising and art.

Versatile is an adjective that can also be applied to Ryan Lee West’s Rival Consoles, whose debut release, The Decadent EP, was published on Erased Tapes at the end of 2007. Released as a four track seven inch single and digital EP, Helvetica is a hell of an eclectic release. Continue Reading »

FINN
The Best Low-Priced Heartbreakers You Can Own
ERATP11
Erased Tapes 2008
16 Tracks. 49mins53secs

Finn is the project of German multi-instrumentist Patrick Zimmer, who also doubles as a fashion designer. Born in 1977, the man, who spends his time between his home town of Hamburg and London, has been releasing music since early 2003, when his first collection of delicate pop/folk songs, Expose Yourself To Lower Education, was released on German imprint Sunday Service. He has since delivered regular singles and albums, but his latest is the first of his records to be released on London-based Erased Tapes. Continue Reading »

Twenty one year old Icelandic musician Ólafur Arnalds first appeared last year with his debut album, Eulogy For Evolution, released in the UK on the excellent Erased Tapes imprint, and instantly gathered some impressive critical praises for his widescreen contemporary classical music tinted with discreet electronics and hints of indie. Earlier this year, Arnalds returned with a more minimal EP, Variations Of Static, on which he let electronics texture his work more prominently. With an opening slot for Sigur Rós during the summer and a major tour already in full swing, Ólafur took a few moments to talk about his musical background, the elitism in modern classical music and the challenges of taking the genre to a young audience, and being the next big thing to come out of Iceland.

Continue Reading »

ÓLAFUR ARNALDS
Variations Of Static
ERATP8
Erased Tapes 2008
05 Tracks. 21mins39secs
Format: CD/10″/Digital

Hailing from the small Icelandic town of Mosfellbær, situated just outside of Reykjavik, young classical musician Ólafur Arnalds released his debut album, Eulogy For Evolution, at the end of 2007. His approach shares with that of compatriot Jóhann Jóhannsson a taste for combining often melancholic piano or string compositions with found sounds and electronics and, more surprisingly, occasional elements of indie rock.

Variations Of Static, Arnalds’s second offering, was originally made available as a limited tour edition. Recorded at home, with Arnalds on the piano and a string quartet providing the accompaniment, these compositions feature more prominent electronics, while a recurring computerised voice appears at regular interval, evoking a similar use on Jóhann Jóhannsson’s 2002 album Englabörn. Continue Reading »

ÓLAFUR ARNALDS
Eulogy For Evolution
ERATP4CD
Erased Tapes 2007
08 Tracks. 39mins36secs

Ólafur Arnalds is a young musician composer hailing from a small suburban town just outside of Reykjavik, who, besides drumming in two separate hardcore bands, focuses on modern classical music, although his work can also occasionally include elements of indie rock. Eulogy For Evolution is Arnalds’s debut album. Released on rising London-based imprint Erased Tapes, it was recorded over four months in early 2006 and features eight tracks, identified only by numbers, most of them led by melancholic piano lines and beautiful strings brushes, evoking the work of fellow countryman Jóhann Jóhannsson or composers Max Richter and Nico Muhly. Continue Reading »

RIVAL CONSOLES
The Decadent EP
ERATP5
Erased Tapes 2007
06 Tracks. 20mins23secs
Format: 10″ / Digital

Rival Consoles is the project of twenty-one year old Leicester-based Ryan Lee West. Although this is his first outing as Rival Consoles, West has previously released an EP, already on Erased Tapes, in early 2007 under his Aparatec moniker. Claiming influences stretching from Debussy to Autechre, it is no surprise to find the Decadent EP combining orchestral and electronic textures into tight and angular pieces.

With The Decadent EP, West takes the listener on a journey ranging from the twisted electro of Seventeen and the elegant orchestral swathes of Juncture to the incendiary rush of Kitsch, the warm synthetic waves of The Decadent and the soothing tones of Vari. Continue Reading »