i heard this song on n++ and i fell in love with your work. keep it up man, we need more artists like you

Yep, new favourite tune - so fluid and exploratory.. Masterclass...

This song is amazing in N++. Really fits the vibe perfect.

This is one of the best sounds ive ever heared

Rival Consols

XLR8R are featuring this track as a FREE DOWNLOAD:
http://www.xlr8r.com/mp3/2013/09/voyager
"Atmospheric synths swell victoriously"

ORDER 'Odyssey' on 12"/DL: http://www.erasedtapes.com/store/index/ERATP052
ORDER 'Odyssey / Sonne' on CD: http://www.erasedtapes.com/store/index/ERATP069
GET TICKETS:
http://www.erasedtapes.com/artists/events/5/Rival+Consoles

Like many electronic artists, Ryan Lee West aka Rival Consoles spent his early years experimenting with IDM, glitch and dance, but one consistent element in his musical journey has been his desire to create a more organic, humanised sound. Through these experimentations he has found a process of producing electronic music that feels close to this urge. Restricting himself to a small selection of analogue equipment, West engages his hands directly with instruments and is very selective about what he then records into the computer. He reduces musical parts even further, leaving enough space around the sound for it to breath.

‘Odyssey’ is a reflection of West’s quest to create atmosphere and space from minimal arrangements. ‘I don’t like music to sound overly laboured, so I restrict how much is going on. I’m kind of obsessed with the idea of reduction.’ The new 5-track EP was mastered by Naweed and is out on Erased Tapes.

'‘Odyssey’ and ‘Voyager’ are both incredibly stripped down and have a great sense of space throughout them. It's all about using the right ingredients at the right points in time. A lot of these ingredients are short recordings, such as ice cracking, mechanical clicks, clicks from synth errors, sounds of debris, guitar plucks etc., which interact with the simple arrangements and create little hints of rhythm. I also love the technique of swelling in music, but I realised that hardly anyone has done that in electronic music. So when I first got the synth to swell in and out with the opening chords of ‘Philip’, it was a great moment. Because it creates a human mood in a matter of seconds, which is very difficult to do with electronic sounds. That track is very important to me, and I think it will influence how I make music in the future.’ – Ryan Lee West

TRACK LISTING: A1. Odyssey A2. Philip. B1. Voyager B2. Rebecca B3. Soul (feat. Peter Broderick)

LINKS: facebook.com/rivalconsoles · twitter.com/rivalconsoles · www.erasedtapes.com

Odyssey

Voyager

Rival Consoles – Voyager

Ryan Lee West reinforces his unique style of minimal electronic arrangements with a new 6-track EP – 'Sonne' out on Erased Tapes.

ORDER 'Sonne' on 12"/DL: http://www.erasedtapes.com/store/index/ERATP059
ORDER 'Odyssey / Sonne' on CD: http://www.erasedtapes.com/store/index/ERATP069
ORDER via iTunes:
http://snip.ftpromo.net/sonne
GET TICKETS:
http://www.erasedtapes.com/artists/events/5/Rival+Consoles

Continuing on from his Odyssey EP released in 2013, Ryan Lee West aka Rival Consoles creates atmosphere and space whilst exploring waves of sound and rhythm, and the power of colour. With Sonne Ryan creates music to structure itself around a pulse, rather than the pulse being the defining point. 

The title track begins with “a very subtle set of melodies that repeat almost without confidence, and then gradually give way to a huge collage of colour and power”, as Ryan describes it. Not relying on a conventional beat, it’s a prime example of how an analogue synthesiser can create the power and momentum of a rhythm section. From the distorted waves in 3 Chords, growing and shrinking, to the rhythmic waves of constant speeding up and then slowing down in Recovery, it’s the Moog Voyager, Prophet and tape delay that make up the core sound of the EP. Whilst tracks like Helios, Haunt and Think Tank see West play live drums and acoustic guitar.

“I’m often looking at art in exhibitions and I always think to myself ‘why the hell don’t I have this much colour in my work?’ The answer in part I think is down to synthesis. It is very difficult to create colour without it sounding plastic. Colour in music is both the note combinations and the actual timbre of the sounds. There are lots of instances of very colourful ambient sounds, which I took great care to create for each song, using various methods – from passing analogue synths through chains of effects to chopping up random sequences of recordings and forming tiny collages." – Ryan Lee West 

ABOUT THE ARTWORK:  

Resembling the colour and vibrancy in his music, the cover art was created by South London artist Supermundane, who was also responsible for the artwork of the Odyssey EP.

TRACK LISTING:  	

A1. Sonne  A2. 3 Chords  A3. Helios  B1. Haunt  B2. Think Tank  B3. Recovery 

PRESS FOR ODYSSEY EP:

'Glorious...unabashedly epic...’ – Dummy
'Atmospheric synths swell victoriously' – XLR8R
‘Rival Consoles, is the likes of Nils Frahm and Olafur Arnalds' glitchy, electronic cousin’  8/10 – The 405


ABOUT THE ARTIST:

Some might be surprised that London based electronic producer Ryan Lee West, the man behind Rival Consoles, shares a home with contemporary classical composers such as Nils Frahm, Ólafur Arnalds and Peter Broderick. And yet they have a lot more in common than expected. Fascinated by sound from an early age, Ryan chose to dedicate his time to studying, experimenting with and producing sound graduating from De Montfort University in Leicester. One consistent element in his musical journey has been his desire to create a more organic, humanised sound. Ryan often drafts early ideas on piano, violin and guitar, although the end result is much more electronic-laden. As an accomplished sound designer he has repeatedly performed at the Tate, and recently created a bespoke audio-visual performance for Boiler Room at the V&A. Ryan is currently composing music for a soon to be announced BBC production.

LIVE:	
	
After supporting Luke Abbott on his recent UK tour and I Break Horses on their North American tour in spring, Ryan will debut his new live set with a special release show in London, followed by a string of West Coast U.S. dates culminating in Decibel Festival in late September – more details to be announced soon. 

OFFICIAL WEBSITES: www.facebook.com/rivalconsoles · www.erasedtapes.com

Sonne

Recovery

Buy 12"/DL

Rival Consoles - Recovery

Gaivotas

'Echo In' is taken from Dilate (2015):
https://vesselsband.bandcamp.com/album/dilate



@rivalconsoles @erasedtapes

Echo In (Rival Consoles Remix)

Landscape from Memory

Drum Song

In Reverse

Soft Gradient Beckons

Catherine

Cosmic Illumination

Bandcamp: ochre.bandcamp.com/album/beyond-the-outer-loop
Spotify: open.spotify.com/album/6gOkTOsw1ax9UYZ5zVghOu
Apple: itunes.apple.com/us/album/id1203813166
http://ochremusic.com

Beyond the Outer Loop

Anaphora

Bandcamp

Elevate

New mini-album 'Night Melody' out August 5th
Pre-order it on 12"/DL: www.erasedtapes.com/store/index/ERATP087
or digitally from iTunes: snip.ftpromo.net/nightmelody
More info: www.rivalconsoles.net

London-based electronic songwriter Ryan Lee West aka Rival Consoles to release his most personal work to date in the form of a mini-album titled ‘Night Melody’ through Erased Tapes on 5th August 2016.

During the release of his acclaimed full-length album ‘Howl’ and heavy touring in late 2015, Ryan came out of a long relationship and found himself making music throughout the winter months. The result of his efforts is a 34-minute, 6-track mini album ‘Night Melody’, born out of and shaped by long hours working into the night. It’s nocturnal in sound; mysterious in the way that the early hours so often are.

“I found myself, in a silent home, with the days getting dark very early. I’ve never before in my life been affected by the lack of light so much. I just remember it always being night time. I would either make music into the night, go out drinking with friends, or go to parties and dance into the early hours, every day, week after week, month after month, until eventually the days became brighter again.”

The opening statement ‘Pattern of the North’ starts off with a collage of spliced synth melodies, inspired by anxiety that accompanies going home for Christmas. It’s followed by ‘Johannesburg’, an early sketch gradually filled out during his tour in South Africa. 

“After playing it around some of the cities, I got a lot of inspiration to bring it to life and push it into something that really moves me. I think this is one of my most colourful pieces of music, with its driving rhythm and almost a homage to Terry Riley’s ‘In C’ towards the end, with a build of very simple, hypnotic parts. I especially love that for over five minutes the piece is tied to just one note. This makes the ending very dramatic, because all of a sudden there is this harmonic change.”

‘Lone’ started life around the time Ryan was working on his ‘Sonne’ EP in 2014. It’s the result of constant adjustments to find the perfect balance of fragility and assurance. As everything on the album, it’s a carefully considered, emotionally mature piece. “I think, as I get older, I need music to represent something and not just sound interesting, though of course the two are connected.”

The closing statement ‘What Sorrow’ is a fitting end to the album, building from gentle melancholia to a joyous crescendo. It’s a sensibility that’s central to the record; joy and sorrow both find their counterpoints.

“This record is very personal to me and I hope it offers something for other people, as it helped me to make it and to listen to it. Almost every synth line was recorded intuitively, without perfection but with a lot of intention and expression. I’m not interested in making something sad or making something happy. I want music to be bittersweet, to be more complex, like life – containing moments of vibrant colour and hope, as much as darkness and sadness.”

This summer will see Ryan follow on from his recent North American Tour with the appearance at many festivals including Lovebox, Secret Garden Party, La Route Du Rock, Sea Change and Tale of Us-curated Afterlife party at Space, Ibiza. ‘Night Melody’ will be available on 12” vinyl and digitally, August 5th.

TRACK LISTING:  	

A1. Pattern Of The North
A2. Johannesburg
A3. Slow Song

B1. Lone
B2. Night Melody
B3. What Sorrow

Night Melody

Johannesburg

Rival Consoles - Johannesburg

Before Tigers - Versus

Taken from ’Outer Edges Remixes’ available on CD / Digital / Bundle: https://outer-edges.noisia.nl
Stream / Download: https://fanlink.to/OuterEdgesRemixes

@noisia
http://bit.ly/NoisiaSpotify
http://instagram.com/noisia_official
http://noisia.nl/newsletter

@visionrecordings
http://fb.com/visionrecordings
http://instagram.com/visionrecordings
http://play.spotify.com/user/visionrecordings

Noisia - The Approach (Rival Consoles Remix)

The next preview of my new album is out today. It is repetition, that seemingly boring thing which gives us all the magic of music, with its repeats inside repeats.

The track was written for a video chapter of the new AV show story "Yearning for the Infinite". The visualisation shows our cities as duplicated animated structures stretching off into the infinite distance (which I'll post very soon), and tells the story of our endless societal growth, with the music telling the same story by what means it can. Perhaps you'll find it a maddening listen, I hope not. For me there's always been something special about musical simplicity, like there's nowhere to hide, and if there's only two chords, they better be good ones. Also the track is for escaping the 5 second socials attention span thing, it needs a few minutes to work, ideally eyes closed headphones on, if you can spare me the time I promise it will be worth it!

Listen to Repitition here: https://ffm.to/pdn5ban

Artwork by Renick Bell

Repetition

This is a melody that keeps recurring. I think one of my older pieces might have used it, but I'm not sure... I'm losing track of the details of my past. Produced in Bitwig Studio.

Aeon

Founded by sonic architect and explorer Robert Raths aka ghostworker in 2007, Erased Tapes is a truly independent record label that has disrupted the industry and rejuvenated the musical landscape. The London-based label has consistently nurtured genre-defying artists from all around the world without losing its avant-garde ethos.

2015 saw BBC 6 Music radio presenter Mary Anne Hobbs stage an Erased Tapes evening featuring Nils Frahm and A Winged Victory For The Sullen at the Royal Albert Hall as part of the prestigious BBC Prom. It was the fastest selling ticket of the entire season. Shortly after Erased Tapes was awarded Best Small Label 2015 at the AIM Awards.

On February 5th 2017 Erased Tapes opened the doors to its new East London home, marking the 10th anniversary by introducing fans and the public to the new Erased Tapes Sound Gallery.

“Ten years of one of the most important record labels of the last few years“ — Gilles Peterson

"Over the last decade, Robert Raths’ label Erased Tapes has developed a sonic profile perfectly in step with the growing taste for quiet, meditative works on the cusp of ambient and chamber music" — The Independent

“The heart-string-tugging London label that floats gently between 20th century composition and ambient music” — Rolling Stone

Rival Consoles – Voyager

Erased Tapes

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