Excerpt from Debbie Millman's <i>Design Matters</i> interview with cartoonist Chris Ware. 

Full interview: https://soundcloud.com/designmatters/chris-ware

Related article about his incredible <i>Building Stories</i>: http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/11/05/building-stories-chris-ware/

Chris Ware on Design Matters with Debbie Millman: Excerpts

Kindly recorded for Brain Pickings. Poem text and context: https://www.brainpickings.org/2021/07/26/david-whyte-the-truelove

POEM TEXT / CONTEXT

David Whyte reads his poem "The Truelove"

Flux by Garth Stevenson

Veteran Erased Tapes recording artist Peter Broderick set to release new studio album 'Partners' on 19th August 2016.

Order it on LP/CD/DL here: www.erasedtapes.com/store/index/ERATP088

In an email to Robert on February 3rd 2016: 

Dear Robert.

There’s a lot I’d love to tell you about this music.

The inspiration really came when I decided to learn to play John Cage’s In A Landscape on the piano . . . I listened to a recording I had over and over again, five seconds or so at a time, picking out every single note. Then cross referencing what I’d learned with other versions of the piece as well as the original score. The feeling of playing this piece really brought me close to the piano again, and brought new life to my own piano songs.

Beyond Cage’s music, his life and practice have interested me more and more, after having read about his love for foraging wild foods and using chance operations to compose music, in a sense taking his ‘self’ out of the music. I love his so-called ‘mesostics’ and began to write several poems using that method, around this phrase:

I    
N

A

L
A
N
D
S
C
A
P
E

When it came time to record in the studio, I rolled two dice to decide how many poems to read. I rolled 5. Then I assigned a number to each poem and rolled the dice to see which five poems would be read and in which order. That’s the first track Partners, which is also the last word of the last poem I selected through this chance-based process. Track two is my version of In A Landscape. I love playing that piece so much. Carried  is a piece I wrote in Berlin which I’ve played live from time to time. There was a soft vocal loop playing out through an amplifier in the room while I played the piano.

Under The Bridge is my first ever chance-based composition, written by assigning different numbers to different notes and then rolling dice to decide in which order to play those notes. Conspiraling is another piece I’ve been playing for a while. Actually a version of this was recorded in the session that became ‘How They Are’, but it didn’t quite feel right. I like to pretend my voice is like a synthesizer in this song. Then there’s Up Niek Mountain which is a piece I finished composing while in residence at a farm in the Netherlands back in 2010, and is named after one of the family farmers there, Niek, who passed away shorty after I was there. We miss you Niek. The last song is a cover of Brigid’s Sometimes. Brigid to whom I dedicate this recording.

And then there’s Tucker, Mr. Martine, who agreed to record this album without me ever hearing the mixes. We talked about all the sounds and he set up several devices with which to manipulate the sound live, as it was being recorded and mixed down to tape. Francesco also agreed to master the record without me hearing it. I like to imagine maybe one day, five or ten years from now, I’ll walk into a café or roadside diner and hear it for the first time, playing as background music while people eat.

OK surely that’s enough for now! Sorry for blabbing, Robert. Your support has really meant a lot to me. I’ve loved having you in mind while working on this project, knowing it could very well have a home on your sweeeeeet label. Hope all is well.

With love,
Peter

Partners

Carried

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Peter Broderick - Carried

To coincide with Piano Day 2017 we share a cover of an old Penguin Cafe Orchestra song by Penguin Cafe from their upcoming new album 'The Imperfect Sea' - out on Erased Tapes 5th May 2017.

"This piece by my father has always been a favourite of mine and when we were playing in the studio last year with making rocks resonate through the soundboard of the piano, the drone on F# made me think of it immediately. The transition between free-form and structure allows for space and some more expressionist moments and then the simple yet rather beautiful melody creates a sort of profound optimism I think." — Arthur Jeffes

Pre-order 'The Imperfect Sea' on Vinyl, CD and DL here: phonofile.link/the-imperfect-sea

The iconic Penguin Cafe join the Erased Tapes family and open a brand new chapter to their unique world with new album The Imperfect Sea.

A penguin stands in the middle of a scorching desert, far away from its natural habitat. This mirrors composer Arthur Jeffes’ journey and exploration into a new musical territory. Penguin Cafe have evolved into something of their own at the hands of Arthur who started the band in 2009 with the continuation and homage to his father’s legacy, to the late Simon Jeffes’ Penguin Cafe Orchestra. Now, their upcoming album echoes reminiscent sounds that embrace the new.

The album title refers to a saying by his father that “we wade in a sea of imperfections…”, reflecting upon the idea that beauty can be found amongst the chaos. “If there is a narrative to the album it’s coming to the acceptance of the imperfections in all aspects of life; moreover, the recognition that these imperfections and tiny randomnesses are in fact what make up the best parts”, Arthur explains. This has also been highlighted by the striking cover artwork designed by FELD under the art direction of label founder Robert Raths, resembling a lone figure adapting to and accepting its surrounding environment.

Predominantly self-composed, the new album also features covers of electronic works by Simian Mobile Disco and Kraftwerk, along with a re-working of Simon's 'Now Nothing'. Arthur has developed from the traditional folk and jazz heritage Penguin Cafe Orchestra is known for into another realm of blissful ambience and dance music, recreated using strictly acoustic elements.

“For this album I wanted to effect a departure from where we’d been up to now. The idea was to create a musical world that would feel familiar to an audience more used to dance records but stay true to our own values. So we replaced electronic layers with real instruments: pads with real string sections, synths with heavily-effected pianos, and atmospheric analogue drones with real feedback loops ringing through a stone and a piano soundboard.”

On the day of release, the band will play a headline show at New York’s Le Poisson Rouge, commencing the beginning of this new adventure for Penguin Cafe.

The Imperfect Sea

Penguin Cafe - Now Nothing (Rock Music)

A track taken from DR-50 : Aaron Martin & Machinefabriek - Seeker

The album will be out on December 15th on CD /DL
dronarivm.com

pre-orders start December 1st

Originally conceived for the Korzo production Hide and Seek by choreographer  Iván Pérez.

Rutger Zuydervelt (Machinefabriek):

In 2012, choreographer Iván Pérez asked me to work on a score for a dance piece of his called "Hide And Seek" in collaboration with the great Aaron Martin. I don't think he knew at that point that Aaron and I had worked together previously (on "Cello Drowning," an EP released on Type in 2007). Living in the US, Aaron started recording parts and sending them to Iván and me. Then, I would use his recordings to build the score: processing them, editing them, adding sounds, etc..

The tracks on the "Seeker" album are basically the refined versions of the first sketches we made, trying out how our sounds would blend, and what directions and atmospheres could be used in the dance performance. After that, these tracks were morphed into one long collage, tailored to the choreography. This final score is added to the album as a digital bonus.

Aaron Martin:

Iván Pérez had used some of my solo work in a previous dance piece of his called "Kick the Bucket" and Rutger and I have been in touch since the release of my debut album "Almond."  Rutger and I met briefly after I performed in Amsterdam in 2009, but the creation of "Hide and Seek" gave us an opportunity to continue our work together and to spend a bit more time in person leading up to the premiere in The Hague.  During rehearsals, we both agreed that creating an album version with separate tracks along with the long-form version that was used for the actual dance piece was the right approach.  My time in Holland was a formative experience and the resulting album "Seeker" is something that I continue to remember fondly.  I am eager to finally share this music with listeners.

This has been a long way coming. After some unforeseen delays, we are thrilled to be working with Dronarivm for the release of "Seeker."

Mastered by James Plotkin

Buy CD / DL

Aaron Martin & Machinefabriek - Wings In The Grass

artwork by Colin Herrick - Time Released Sound

Stories of Disintegration

St. No

Select your favorite platform:  https://ampl.ink/wPq9o 
Unity, is an emotionally evocative collection that moves the listener through moments that exalt the senses. Through cyclical and minimalist sound, the composer creates visceral experiences that are both ethereal and hauntingly beautiful.
All songs written and recorded by Bruno Sanfilippo at Onix II Studio, Barcelona, Spain
Analog Mastered on a classic SSL desk and Studer A80 reel-to-reel by Ian Hawgood, Warsaw, Poland
www.bruno-sanfilippo.com

Unity

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Chris Ware on the characters in Building Stories and the role of sadness

Chris Ware on the building as a character

Chris Ware on storytelling and empathy

Chris Ware on destiny, literature, and unlived lives

originally only released for Piano Day 2020, now  available on  all platforms.

https://linktr.ee/aukai

A Halcyon is a mythical bird said to lay her eggs in a floating nest at sea, during which time it charms the wind and calms the waves. 

www.aukaimusic.com
www.pianoday.org

Halcyon

Nils Frahm - You (Christopher Lloyd Rework)

FOR PRESS INQUIRIES EU - james@9pr.co.uk
FOR PRESS INQUIRIES NA - geo@terrorbird.com

A Winged Victory for the Sullen, the collaboration between Adam Wiltzie and Dustin O'Halloran, are set to release new album ‘Invisible Cities’ on the 26th February 2021, the stunning score to the critically acclaimed theatre production directed by London Olympics ceremony video designer Leo Warner. Released on their own Artificial Pinearch Manufacturing label, the album comes as part of an agreement with A Winged Victory for the Sullen’s current label, Ninja Tune.

Premiering to a sell-out audience in July 2019 at the Manchester International Festival, the duo was commissioned by Warner’s 59 Productions to score the music for the 90-minute multimedia theatrical stage show, adapted from Italo Calvino’s 1972 novel, ‘Invisible Cities’. Described by The Sunday Times as “a beautiful frenzy of movement”, it fuses theatre, music, dance, architectural design and visuals and brings to life a series of fantastical places and disparate worlds, centred on the tense relationship between Kublai Khan, the volatile head of a vast empire, and explorer Marco Polo. Originally conceived as a touring project, it’s last performance was in Brisbane, Australia before COVID-19 changed the world as we know it.

Chris Ware on the building as a character

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