arnalds and frahm

Order 7"/DL here: www.erasedtapes.com/store/index/ERATP073
or via iTunes: http://snip.ftpromo.net/lifestoryloveandglory

Erased Tapes artists and friends Ólafur Arnalds and Nils Frahm have separately carved out a musical career that defies genres both with their unique live shows and a loyal fan base that’s always eager to hear what their prolific output will bring. 

Their latest collaborative 2-track release ‘Life Story Love and Glory’ is a live improv affair on two pianos, recorded in 2012 at Nils’s Durton Studio in Berlin. Fans may wonder why they have waited until 2015 to release these tracks, but having revealed a new website www.arnaldsfrahm.com you may think this may not be the end to their musical story this year. 

“We would meet in Reykjavik or Berlin with the intention to share some days off work, hiking, swimming or eating pizza. That is great for a couple days, but after a while we would always end up back in the studio, fiddling with synths or pianos.” – Nils Frahm 
“You can hear in the beginning of ‘Life Story’ how I have already started playing the piano whilst Nils is still moving microphones around and preparing everything. It was all kept in!“ – Ólafur Arnalds 

‘Life Story Love and Glory’ will be released as a 7” on Erased Tapes – exclusively through record stores only on August 21, 2015 ahead of its digital release later on – as an ode to this classic and beloved format. 

More info: www.arnaldsfrahm.com · www.erasedtapes.com

Life Story Love And Glory

Life Story

Buy 7"/DL

Ólafur Arnalds & Nils Frahm – Life Story

‘Loon’ will be released on Erased Tapes as a 12” vinyl as well as digitally on October 2nd. 
Pre-order it here: www.erasedtapes.com/store/index/ERATP072
or via iTunes: http://snip.ftpromo.net/loon

Containing five synthesiser-led pieces, ‘Loon’ was recorded in autumn 2014 across five days at Nils’s Durton Studio in Berlin, and continues on from the ambient sounds of ‘Stare’ but with the addition of more percussive elements and dub influences. For this new EP the duo wired an Oberheim 4 Voice and a Korg PS3100 to the mixing desk and performed live takes on both instruments. With all four hands on its pots, all mixes were recorded straight onto 2-track ½-inch tape.

Like on ‘Stare’, their first collaborative affair in 2012, they simply followed what was laying in front of them, and this time they were driven by some new synths, a kick drum and tape effects. Indulging in dub, the tracks where all performed rather than engineered, with Ólafur riding a few elements on faders and Nils bringing effects in and out. After running several mixes, they went for the five strongest moments from this session. The release was announced on a joint website www.arnaldsfrahm.com together with the launch of an intimate 45-minute studio film titled ‘Trance Frendz’, featuring another seven improvisations.

“Nils got some new synths and we thought we’d try them out. We loved them so much that we didn’t actually end up using anything else to make these songs.” – Ólafur Arnalds

“When I was young I was smuggled to Goa parties by my brother. The music played there in the late nineties had a somewhat deep effect on me. ‘Loon’ is almost a blurry memory of these times. In other words, it is what I’d like to remember that music sounded like back then. In fact it sounded probably really cheesy.” – Nils Frahm

Loon

Four

Buy 12"/DL

Ólafur Arnalds & Nils Frahm – Four

Pre-order 'Trance Frendz' on LP/DL: www.erasedtapes.com/store/index/ERATP081
or digitally iTunes: snip.ftpromo.net/trancefrendz

Having been available exclusively as the second disc to 2015's 'Collaborative Works', Ólafur Arnalds and Nils Frahm's improvised audio recordings 'Trance Frendz', taken from their 45-minute studio film of the same name, have been given their own vinyl release – out March 4th, 2016.

Prior to a string of collaborative Erased Tapes releases, which include 2012's 'Stare' 10” and last year’s 'Life Story Love and Glory' 7” and 'Loon' 12” – compiled on the 'Collaborative Works' 2-CD set, Ólafur Arnalds and Nils Frahm spent many hours together in their studios across Berlin and Reykjavik. Both have carved out genre-defying musical careers and formed unique live shows, creating a fan base loyal to their prolific output.

During a session at Durton Studio in Berlin last summer, Nils and Ólafur invited Alexander Schneider and his camera to document it. The recording continued long after the first take, stretching out into the next day until, eventually, several new improvisations had been recorded in 8 hours with no overdubs or edits. The unexpected nature in which these pieces had been created was reminiscent of their first on-stage improvisation many years ago. It became immediately clear how special these songs were.

"At the end of the night we had all this music that sounded unfamiliar even to us, loudly asking to be included in this collection.”

Originally made available as a 45-minute film on their joint website (www.arnaldsfrahm.com) last September, 'Trance Frendz' will be available to own on vinyl from March 4th, 2016.

Press for their 'Collaborative Works':

'A particularly joyous wash of slinky percussion and juddering layers' (8/10) – Clash

'An enchanting listen. The bar for a Lads' Night In has just been raised a few notches' (7/10) – Drowned In Sound

‘This is music for slowing down the pace of modern life... An immersive listening experience is guaranteed, while we must hope Frahm and Arnalds go on ‘holiday’ together more in future, and don’t forget to take their musical instruments.’ ★★★★ – MusicOMH

'A collection of gorgeously intimate piano compositions and eye-opening synth pieces, each never aggressive but always powerfully poignant' (8/10) – Under The Radar

'What Collaborative Works offers is something strange: a shared world created by two mad geniuses. Long may Arnalds and Frahm tinker' (8/10) – PopMatters

'Collaborative Works further proves just how natural a fit Ólafur Arnalds and Nils Frahm are together' – Resident Advisor

Trance Frendz

20:17

Buy LP/2CD/DL

Ólafur Arnalds & Nils Frahm – 20:17

‘Loon’ will be released on Erased Tapes as a 12” vinyl as well as digitally on October 2nd. 
Pre-order it here: www.erasedtapes.com/store/index/ERATP072
or via iTunes: http://snip.ftpromo.net/loon

Containing five synthesiser-led pieces, ‘Loon’ was recorded in autumn 2014 across five days at Nils’s Durton Studio in Berlin, and continues on from the ambient sounds of ‘Stare’ but with the addition of more percussive elements and dub influences. For this new EP the duo wired an Oberheim 4 Voice and a Korg PS3100 to the mixing desk and performed live takes on both instruments. With all four hands on its pots, all mixes were recorded straight onto 2-track ½-inch tape.

Like on ‘Stare’, their first collaborative affair in 2012, they simply followed what was laying in front of them, and this time they were driven by some new synths, a kick drum and tape effects. Indulging in dub, the tracks where all performed rather than engineered, with Ólafur riding a few elements on faders and Nils bringing effects in and out. After running several mixes, they went for the five strongest moments from this session. The release was announced on a joint website www.arnaldsfrahm.com together with the launch of an intimate 45-minute studio film titled ‘Trance Frendz’, featuring another seven improvisations.

“Nils got some new synths and we thought we’d try them out. We loved them so much that we didn’t actually end up using anything else to make these songs.” – Ólafur Arnalds

“When I was young I was smuggled to Goa parties by my brother. The music played there in the late nineties had a somewhat deep effect on me. ‘Loon’ is almost a blurry memory of these times. In other words, it is what I’d like to remember that music sounded like back then. In fact it sounded probably really cheesy.” – Nils Frahm

Wide Open

Ólafur Arnalds & Nils Frahm - Wide Open

Part of the "Trance Frendz", recorded live in Berlin and included on the 2CD "Collaborative Works" by Erased Tapes Records.
Performed live with Oberheim 4 Voice

Ólafur Arnalds and Nils Frahm - 23:52

ÓLAFUR ARNALDS & NILS FRAHM - 'a2' from their forthcoming collaborative EP 'STARE'.

ORDER the Ltd. Edition 10" Vinyl/Download HERE and receive an Erased Tapes 5th Anniversary sticker with it:
http://www.erasedtapes.com/store/index/ERATP042

'A hazy slow-builder that sits nicely equidistant between Arnalds’ solo work and his excellent Kiasmos project' – The Line Of Best Fit

CONTENT

Erased Tapes label mates Ólafur Arnalds and Nils Frahm record and mix their first collaborative record between Reyjkjavík and Berlin as a surprise release for label founder Robert Raths.

The ambient/electronic work ‘Stare’ is a true family effort from Ólafur Arnalds and Nils Frahm with Anne Müller joining in on cello and all graphics by close label-friend and now in-house designer Torsten Posselt of Feld Studios.

This release will be strictly limited and exclusively available on Record Store Day 2012, April 21st. Coinciding with the 5th Anniversary of Erased Tapes, it’s also available from the official Erased Tapes online store and sure to become a must-have for fans of the label and these two artists.


CONTEXT

Words by Nils Frahm: 
‘I heard ‘Eulogy For Evolution’ for the first time 6 years ago and I was totally captivated. Impossible to know back then that I was supposed to meet Ólafur many years later as my label mate. Later when he took me along a tour of his we also noted that we kind of like hanging out together, doing important things like cover versions of long forgotten songs or eating veggie pizza. Also he would join my live set for a jam and I would return the favour by playing along with his set. 

All in all, I fell for Óli and after one memorable jam session we had in Berlin at Roter Salon in 2011, he finally proposed the idea to visit me in my studio in Berlin to work on 'some music'. I was happy and delighted about that idea, so we got together in April 2011 and after having a big pizza, I plugged in some old analogue synths and we played for four days until late in the night. Also queen Anne Müller stopped by after a show with Agnes Obel to record some cello at 5 am in the morning for ‘b1’. Making music together with people is lovely! 
 
The time I spent with Óli in Berlin made me very happy and the music wasn't like anything I have heard before. It was all very reduced and minimal and I felt like I couldn't have done this alone. So we decided to do another 4-day jam at Óli´s E7 studio in Reykjavik. So I flew there in the end of October to repeat the trick and record some out of this world ambient music. It didn't take us too long to write ‘a1’ and ‘a2’.  I can’t wait for the follow up!’

Words by Olafur Arnalds:
 ‘After having toured together and having had many inspiring late night conversations, I decided to visit Nils in his Durton Studio in Berlin for a weekend. We didn't have anything specific in mind, we just wanted to hang out, jam and eat some falafel. That's what we did, but somehow we also made 25 minutes of ambient bliss that weekend. 

After that we quickly decided we had to do the same in my studio in Iceland. Just hang out for a weekend and possibly make some music. So the album became kind of an Iceland vs. Berlin thing. I think you can hear it very well in the sound (side a vs. side b) and that is the most interesting thing about this record for me: that subtle but significant different in the characteristics of the music two people made in Iceland against what the same two people made in Germany. 

I'm not sure why we decided to keep it secret, it just happened. But it sure was fun! I remember a party at Robert's (Erased Tapes founder) flat in Berlin, where me and Nils stood in the corner the whole night whispering about the project. We then delivered the fully mastered record with finished artwork to Robert around the 5th anniversary of the label. It would have been nice to be there to see his face…"

The live video of Nils and Ólafur’s spontaneous improv live set in Berlin last summer won them many fans since, including UK electronic music producer Max Cooper who is now remixing two of his “absolute favourite artists”. Nils and Ólafur will be touring together throughout Europe this spring.

You can watch it here: http://vimeo.com/28631568
 


LABEL: ERASED TAPES RECORDS    UK RELEASE DATE: APRIL 21, 2012
CAT.NO: ERATP042 EP/DL   EAN: 4050486068137

TRACK LISTING:  1. a1  2. a2  3. b1

OFFICIAL WEBSITES:   OLAFURARNALDS.COM   DURTONSTUDIO.COM   ERASEDTAPES.COM 

arnalds and frahm

BeforeWeWereBorn