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Nils Frahm – Ambre

We're touring the USA, Canada, and Australia this February - April 2017! Tickets and info here: www.vallisalps.com/live ❤️

Download here: vallisalps.bandcamp.com

www.facebook.com/vallisalps
www.twitter.com/vallisalps
hey@vallisalps.com

Spend all my time in another place
I'm building a runway for a paper plane
Look at me baby I'm a runaway
Bags in the trunk of my '88

Oh!
Let it be our escape
Let us make our mistakes
Living in these tidal waves

Oh! 
Let it be our escape
And when we separate
Don't forget these tidal waves

Spend all my time in another place
I'm building a runway for a paper plane
Quicken our steps as we walk away
Holes in my pockets but gold in my locket

Oh!
Let it be our escape
Let us make our mistakes
Living in these tidal waves

Oh! 
Let it be our escape
And when we separate
Don't forget these tidal waves

We're touring the USA, Canada, and Australia this February - April 2017! Tickets and info here: www.vallisalps.com/live ❤️

Download here: vallisalps.bandcamp.com

www.facebook.com/vallisalps
www.twitter.com/vallisalps
hey@vallisalps.com

Look back
To when midnights broke their sleep
Awake in our memories
Of when we would make believe

Collide
Colors of the masquerade
Watch as they fall away
Faceless under faces made

And weeks went by but felt like hours 
Spring would lie in summer showers
In my hair were winter flowers

And weeks went by but felt like hours 
Seasons multiplying power
That I found in winter flowers

Turn back
I see rivers beyond the line
Ancient roads in broken design
Angels running thru our minds

Look up
Your city's built on marble floors
Neon lights in the falling snow
Those night back in tokyo

And weeks went by but felt like hours 
Spring would lie in summer showers
In my hair were winter flowers

And weeks went by but felt like hours 
Seasons multiplying power
That I found in winter flowers

And we said
This has only just begun
In the end
Time forever favors the young

And we said
This has only just begun
In the end
Time forever favors the young

Young

'Some' is taken from the new album by Nils Frahm – 'Solo'. Revealed on Piano Day as a free download and available on CD/LP/DL here:
http://www.erasedtapes.com/store/index/ERATP065

iTunes: http://snip.ftpromo.net/soloitunes
Spotify: http://snip.ftpromo.net/solospotify
HDTracks: http://snip.ftpromo.net/hdtracksnf
Qobuz: http://snip.ftpromo.net/qobuznf

Recorded as an Improvisation. Single take, no overdubs.

Fans can donate to the special piano project which will enable Nils and piano builder David Klavins to create the Klavins M450, the tallest piano in the world.

Read More here: www.pianoday.org

“Why does the world need a Piano Day? For many reasons. But mostly, because it doesn’t hurt to celebrate the piano and everything around it: performers, composers, piano builders, tuners, movers and most important, the listener.” – Nils Frahm

HOW WILL YOU CELEBRATE PIANO DAY?

create your own piano events with friends or simply share your videos, poems, photos - anything that is piano inspired. don’t forget to tag us in your posts!

Instagram – #pianodayofficial
Twitter – twitter.com/piano__day
Facebook – facebook.com/pages/Piano-Day/382403391947996
Email – share your fun stuff with info@pianoday.org

Solo

Some

Buy LP/CD/DL

Nils Frahm - Some

Nils Frahm writes his first score for one-take feature film ‘Victoria’ and is nominated for German film prize

LABEL: Erased Tapes RELEASE DATE: June 15th, 2015 CAT.NO: ERATP071 CD/LP/DL EAN: 4050486110577

ABOUT:
Nils Frahm has always said that he’s just waiting for something real special when being asked if he would ever score the music for a film. And that’s exactly what German director Sebastian Schipper presented to him with his one-take feature ‘Victoria’. Filmed in Berlin, Victoria’s plot sees a runaway party girl, who's asked by three friendly men to join them as they hit the town, but their wild night of partying suddenly turns into a bank robbery as the music changes from techno to subdued piano sounds.

For the recording session at Studio P4 in Berlin, Frahm enlisted the help of long-time collaborator and cellist Anne Müller, violist Viktor Orri Árnason and ambient artist Erik K. Skodvin of Deaf Center on guitar.

IN HIS OWN WORDS:

Dear viewer and listener,

I’ve finally written music for a film. It took me some time to do so, as I was patiently waiting for a movie that would truly speak to me. When director Sebastian Schipper invited me to work on Victoria, I knew it was worth the long wait. Does such a strong film even need music? I realised it wouldn’t be easy to create a score that embraces these bold pictures.

Luckily we were given unusual creative freedom by approaching the movie together with Sebastian Schipper, who was keeping the production and direction to one single team. The score was recorded in a special location, the former GDR broadcasting production facilities that today host Studio P4. We simply put a big screen in the middle of the room, filled it with microphones and instruments, set the movie on loop and kept improvising on top of it together – my good friends and I.

The guest musicians started their recording session by playing a cohesive take over the course of the whole movie. This was the most interesting part of the day, since they hadn’t seen the film before. They became spectators and creators at once, intuitively recording hundreds of different cues that way. You are about to listen to some of its highlights. I hope they do Victoria and your ears justice.

With love, Nils Frahm

‘Music for the Motion Picture Victoria’ will be released by Erased Tapes on LP/CD/Digital June 15th.

‘Victoria’ won the Berlinale Film Festival prize for Best Cinematography and has also received seven nominations including Best Soundtrack for the Deutscher Filmpreis – Germany’s highest movie award, and will be released in cinemas across Germany on June 11th with plans to release it in the UK and other countries soon.

ABOUT THE ARTWORK:

The cover illustration was drawn by Stephanie Franziska Scholz based on a still from a key scene in the film, with additional design by Torsten Posselt at FELD.

TRACK LISTING:

1 Burn With Me (Victoria Edit) by DJ Koze 2 Our Own Roof 3 A Stolen Car 4 In The Parking Garage 5 Them 6 The Bank 7 The Shooting 8 Nobody Knows Who You Are 9 Pendulum

The soundtrack opens with an edit of ‘Burn With Me’ by German producer DJ Koze. The digital Bonus Track Version features a previously unreleased track by Hamburg’s electro-punks Deichkind titled ‘Happy New Fear’ plus an additional DJ Koze track titled ‘Marilyn Whirlwind’ from his 2013 album.

PRESS:

‘Frahm's soothing electro-orchestral pieces prove especially effective, washing over the throbbing dance beats like a flood of endorphins.’ – Hollywood Reporter

‘Nils Frahm’s score is an equally flexible asset, veering from juddering electronic chaos to dreamy intrusions of piano and cello — a sonic approximation of the alternating noise in the title character’s wrecked head.’ – Variety

OFFICIAL WEBSITES: nilsfrahm.com · facebook.com/nilsfrahm · twitter.com/nilsfrahm · erasedtapes.com

Music for the Motion Picture Victoria

Our Own Roof

Nils Frahm – Our Own Roof

All Rights Reserved Riley Pearce Music 2015

Recorded & Mixed by Andy Lawson at Debaser Studios
Mastered by Will Bowden


Brave

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

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Ólafur Arnalds & Nils Frahm – Life Story

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

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Ólafur Arnalds & Nils Frahm – 20:17

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"British ambient band Marconi Union has drummed up the world's most relaxing song: Weightless is 8 mins 10 sec. of aural bliss" - Time Magazine, Best Inventions of the Year. 

"An excellent compilation from the always interesting Just Music" - The Sunday Times

"The Ambient Zone is an album that feels like the world is peeling away, layer by layer, into multi-colored panoramas, just for you" - Echoes (CD of The Month)

The Ambient Zone is a beautiful journey into ambient and electronica inspired by universal themes of calmness, purity, relaxation and enrichment where Weightless is coupled with some exclusive first releases and other blissfully ambient tracks from Just Music artists and alumni.

Created instinctively and intuitively by Marconi Union, Weightless has been claimed to have therapeutic properties in the way the track almost appears to have a heartbeat running through it which slows down very gently throughout the piece, encouraging a deep sense of relaxation in the body, It's use of specific rhythms, beep bass tones, frequencies and intervals induce an almost trance like state in the listener.

"The Ambient Zone is an album that just screams (albeit quietly) of pure class" - Fluid Nation.

Weightless (Ambient Transmission Vol. 2)

Weightless Part 1

Buy the album

Marconi Union - Weightless

Taken off our forthcoming Fable EP out independently on March 31. We're also touring the USA, Canada, Australia, and the UK this February - June 2017! Tickets here: vallisalps.com/live ❤️

Written by Vallis Alps
Mastered by Tom Coyne
Artwork by Jennifer Gauthier

Special thanks to:
Antonia Gauci & Studios 301 
Andrew Grant & REC Studios Sydney

Lyrics

Light falls
On the pavement 
Wakeful 
With my guard let down

Holding tightly to the words you gave me 
Under oath the minute I said maybe

Steady dedication
In my resignation
Empty handed 'cause I live in daydreams
That's why I haven’t shown my face here lately

(Say it to my heart and run)
And I don’t know what I was running from
(And run)
But I knew you’d say it to my heart and run

You knew it from the start 
You've won, you’ve won, you’ve won

You knew it from the start 
You’ve won, you’ve won, you’ve won

So blame it on my heart 
And run, and run, and run

So blame it on my heart 
And run, and run, and run, and run

Hopeful, but impatient 
Floating so I’m not tied down
I'm becoming what the Fable gave me
Stepping sideways off the path of safety

So I could say to you that I was wrong, and go on with it or 
I could play the fool and be outdone 
But my defense your honor waits above
I’m becoming what the Fable made me

(Say it to my heart and run)
And I don’t know what I was running from
(And run)
But I knew you’d say it to my heart and run

You knew it from the start 
You've won, you’ve won, you’ve won

You knew it from the start 
You’ve won, you’ve won, you’ve won

So blame it on my heart 
And run, and run, and run

So blame it on my heart 
And run, and run, and run, and run

Taken off our forthcoming Fable EP out independently on March 31. We're also touring the USA, Canada, Australia, and the UK this February - June 2017! Tickets here: vallisalps.com/live ❤️

Written by Vallis Alps
Mastered by Tom Coyne
Artwork by Jennifer Gauthier

Special thanks to:
Antonia Gauci & Studios 301 
Andrew Grant & REC Studios Sydney



Lyrics

When the distance bends the gravity
Of the sentiments I hide 
In my heart I'll build a castle I could find

And if the planets speak to me
Of the doubts that stir my mind
I'll turn them into ornaments of light

Cause somewhere in the darkness there's a fire bright
And though it's distant I can feel it when I close my eyes (ooh)
And what if it's the shadows that'll prove the light
Then maybe it was my mistakes that gave me life
Gave me life

So as fate gives way to decency
And the mountains catch alight
It's a token of their ordinance tonight

And I'll explain my reasoning
When the time is right
Til then, I'll take my secret and reside

Cause somewhere in the darkness there's a fire bright
And though it's distant I can feel it when I close my eyes (ooh)
And what if it's the shadows that'll prove the light
Then maybe it was my mistakes that gave me life
Gave me life

And now we're one step closer to our wonderment
At how our footprints set into the gold
But don't forget to take it slow
Don't forget to take it slow

As distance bent the gravity
Of the sentiments I'd hide
In my heart, I built a castle
How could I?

Serity

Usually I do a million takes when I record a new song. This time I stopped around take 10 to prevent perfectionism taking over.. 
So, it’s not super precise, but hey! I finished something! 
I hope you enjoy it. 

*Alice

Unverzagt

Happy Piano Day! The piano is absolutely my favourite instrument, both to play and to sample. I always use it to begin the writing process, just playing around with chords/melodies, even though it may not always be a feature in the final track. This particular jam is a combination of piano and the Casio CZ synthesizer and inspired both entirely and unashamedly by Daniel Lopatin :)

Youtube

Laurence Guy - Piano Skit / Piano Day 2020

Berliner Morgen - music video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYJu2t1rARA

#pianoday2020 

Capturing the beauty and the solitude of a walk through Berlin at 5.30 in the morning. Imagine coming out of a club (possibly slightly drunk), into the peaceful Berlin drenched in blue. With your blurry night-tainted vision you hardly see the dirt, only the serenity and sweet melancholy of the big B. - my musical declaration of love for my hometown.

Berliner Morgen is part of the Veins EP - support/buy here: http://smarturl.it/veins-ep

Sometimes there’s no need for words. You can let the wind whisper, the water roar, the birds talk, and the streets of Berlin tell their stories … while you play along on the piano, capturing all of those little moments. 

Here is ‚Veins - Songs for Piano, Wind & Water‘: A collection of memories, favorite places, and forgotten tales wrapped in ambient soundscapes and minimalistic piano music. Enjoy.

Written/performed/produced by: Valeska Rautenberg
Mixed/mastered by: Marian Kuch

Veins

Support/Download

Valeska and the River - Berliner Morgen (Veins - Songs For Piano, Wind & Water EP)

On October 4th 2019, Penguin Cafe released 'Handfuls of Night', the highly anticipated follow-up to their much applauded 2017 album 'The Imperfect Sea' 

Using gut-stringed violins, viola, cello, bass, percussion, upright and grand pianos, synthesiser, harmonium and more, Arthur Jeffes and his cohorts have crafted a vivid series of panoramic sonic landscapes, that are as rich in cerebral poignancy as they are in emotional depth.

Bookended by the atmospheric ambient piano pieces ‘Winter Sun’ and ‘Midnight Sun’, the album traverses glacial minimalism with ease, combining their signature contemporary classical panoramas, such as the melancholic yet upbeat lead track ‘At the Top of the Hill, They Stood...’ and the colossal cinematic piece ‘Chapter’, with the crystalline folktronica on ‘Pythagorus on the Line Again’ — a re-visiting and continuation of the Penguin Cafe Orchestra’s 1993 Union Cafe song on the principles of harmonics.

'Handfuls of Night' began life after Greenpeace commissioned Jeffes to write four pieces of music corresponding to four breeds of penguins, to help raise awareness for the endangered Antarctic seas . A fundraising evening at EartH in Hackney followed, where Penguin Cafe premiered the four songs named after their feathered counterparts to a sold out audience; the rousing contemporary folk inflected ‘Chinstrap’, the mournful and minimalistic ‘Adelie’, stoic and rhythmic ‘The Life of an Emperor’ and the wistful, string-laden ‘Gentoo Origin’.

“Such is its mastery of slowly uncoiling drama you can almost taste the salt in the breeze" ★★★★ — MOJO⠀
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"Arthur Jeffes' music has a direct clarity. Dramatic swells and sweeps showcase the jaw-dropping landscape. Most importantly, though, the music carries an environmental message, which is a critical issue for this generation" — A Closer Listen ⠀
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"One of their most impeccable moments to date" ★★★★ — Music OMH ⠀
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"Elegiac strides across epic landscapes... Arthur Jeffes is doing the legacy of his father proud" — Prog Magazine ⠀
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"Another winner from this group, with Jeffes and company mixing minimalism, folk music and classical string writing into a charming combination” ★★★★ — All About Jazz ⠀
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"A sensitive, frequently lovely follow-up to 2017’s ‘The Imperfect Sea… Handfuls of Night’ conjures pastoral panoramas and weathered vistas" — DJ Magazine⠀

Handfuls of Night

Midnight Sun

Penguin Cafe - Midnight Sun

All Around Us (Piano Solo Edit)

All Around Us - Piano Day 2020

"Duvet" taken from Niklas Paschburg's second studio album 'Svalbard', out on February 28th 2020.

Pre-order album now: 7K.lnk.to/svalbard

Niklas Paschburg - Duvet

I made a little video about how I made this piece and it's story here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RfIRPWCpCQ&t=72s 
I begun to write this track for last year's Pianoday amongst other album tracks. I was inspired by prepared piano composers and used recordings of the strings of the piano being strummed with the keys taped down to allow them to resonate. I didn't complete it till later on in the year and felt it belonged on the album alongside other tracks that we're being written sequentially at the same time ( https://orcd.co/alone-not-alone-album ) so I'm thrilled to now see it come home and contribute to Piano Day 2020!

In the track delicate beginnings give way to an overwhelming sense of wistfulness, surrounded by the sirens of compassion.  A reflection on the challenges of departure and the need for independence and, in the end, solitude and the possibilities therein. The piano strings we're close mic'd and gently strummed for the intro and background soundscape. Later on they we're hit with the handle of a glockenspiel beater to make the stronger sound for the middle section. The piano melody is joined by bow'd xylophone and string glissando's and melodies to create an atmospheric track that speaks of the tensions of solitude and togetherness, inspired by a visit to Crozon in France and our country's own challenges of leaving the EU and the tensions therein.

The Near Isle

"This was an improvisation, a kind of meditation on a simple theme. I was trying to explore mood and colour above anything else" — Ryan Lee West

Listen to it on streaming platforms: https://IDOL.lnk.to/winters-lament

Winter's Lament

Stream · DL

Rival Consoles - Winter's Lament

To mark this year’s 88th day and as an acknowledgement to these unprecedented circumstances we find ourselves in, Piano Day founder, pianist and producer Nils Frahm releases a collection of eight solo piano pieces titled 'Empty'. 

Stream and download 'Empty': https://idol.lnk.to/nils-frahm-empty

Conceived of just before Nils broke his thumb and composed the similarly intimate solo piano album 'Screws', 'Empty' is a soothing vessel of eight simple and serene pieces originally recorded as the music to a short art film he shot with his friend and film director Benoit Toulemonde. Drifting through emotions from the stark and sobering opener 'First Defeat', to the gently euphoric 'No Step On Wing' and the contemplative but hopeful closer 'Black Notes', with its poignant minute of silence, 'Empty' is a comforting score for these turbulent times.

“When I came back from the hospital with a broken thumb and listened to the recordings, I felt they were unfinished. I decided to put them aside and started to work on my small album, 'Screws'. 

Many many other notes of the piano have been struck since these days, and before we all forget about this, I thought it would be a good moment to share these lullabies with you. I hope they help you stay all strong and calm in these days of solitude – despite the hardship, we can discover introspection and reflection unexpectedly. Who knows what it is good for.  
 
Much love, Nils”

Empty

No Step On Wing

Stream & order LP · CD

Nils Frahm - No Step On Wing

Extra profile of COLV6 for making public electronic music mixes playlist everyweek.

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