A Winged Victory For The Sullen - Belgium 31.05.2012 - Michael Nyman : String Quartet No. 2, III

‘Apologues’ will be released by Erased Tapes on September 11, 2015 on LP/CD/DL and can be pre-ordered from www.erasedtapes.com/store/index/ERATP075

Masayoshi Fujita, the Berlin-based Japanese vibraphone player, also known under his alias el fog came to the attention of label founder Robert Raths a few years ago. Not only because the vibraphone is an intriguing instrument, but also the way Masayoshi treats his instrument and draws ethereal and layered sounds, is what truly attracted him to Masayoshi’s work.

Having released more ambient-based/electronic recordings of the vibraphone under el fog, Masa became more interested in the sound of the vibraphone itself. He started to compose acoustic pieces and released the first solo album under his real name, titled ‘Stories’, in early 2013. ‘Apologues’ sees Masayoshi for the first time use an array of instruments besides his lead instrument – such as the violin, cello, flute, clarinet, French horn, accordion, piano and snare drum played by friends, but arranged by Masa himself.

In addition to the mallets, Masayoshi often plays the vibraphone with a violin or cello bow, like on ‘Tears of Unicorn’ and ‘Knight and Spirit of Lake’. He would also place bead strings on the vibraphone bars to create an ambient shimmer that can be heard on songs like ‘Moonlight’ and ‘Swallow Flies High in the May Sky’. The latter was composed to let the clarinet express its characteristics and tell its story, whilst the vibraphone takes a supporting role. “The clarinet sounds very warm and soft and very ‘spring’ to me”, says Masa.

“With this album the main idea was to evoke images, atmospheres, sceneries and stories in the listener, the images that have accumulated in myself. At the same time it was an exploration of the unexplored beauty of the vibraphone, and also a pursuit of the charm of the instrumentation and the music itself. Erased Tapes releases a lot of great stuff and naturally became my favourite label of late. And I thought it would fit well to my music.” – Masayoshi Fujita

OFFICIAL WEBSITES: masayoshifujita.com · erasedtapes.com

Apologues

Tears Of Unicorn

Buy LP/CD/DL

Masayoshi Fujita – Tears of Unicorn

Peace

Pablo Altar - Meeity

Pre-order from RVNG: http://smarturl.it/city-lake-rvng
Pre-order from Bandcamp: http://smarturl.it/city-lake-bcamp

© and ℗ 2015 RVNG Intl. / www.igetrvng.com

Bing & Ruth - Rails

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

Stars Of The Lid - The Evil That Never Arrived

Release date 29.04.16 
www.fac-ture.co.uk

“Work with the intention of slowly fading from sight.”

Returning to the light from the darkness of 2012’s ‘In a Lonely Place’, The Tape Loop Orchestra and Facture present ‘Go Straight To The Light Of All That You Love’, a landmark intersection of music and visual media. Interrogating the contradictory dualism in the life that inspires art, this unique project displays the panoramic influence of Ozu, Neuer Deutscher Film, Weldon Kees and Yves Klein, as well as forming of a larger arch with TLO’s ongoing body of work.

“Distortions are inherent to representation.”

Examining the multiple philosophical strands found 'In Search Of The Miraculous' - Dutch artist Bas Jan Ader’s intended trio of art actions, P D Ouspensky's book of the same name, Gurdjieff's early teachings - TLO pay homage to the artist’s continual search, even when the camera isn’t looking; searching for miracles, or simply an answer to the metaphysical why...

If life is art, can the artist decide where art ends and art life begins? Can they co-exist in one form? Do we celebrate the art or the artist?

“Death isn’t about judgement, it collects us all.”

As with all TLO releases, the material was recorded after development in live performance, with the new approach of using multi-track control over trademark tape disintegration for the first time. Edited, sequenced and mastered by James Plotkin for both CD and vinyl, with both formats offering different versions of the same work, ‘Go Straight To The Light Of All That You Love’ is an ambitious and densely rewarding entry in a sequence that fiercely questions the collective human failure to unravel complexity.

Performed by Tape Loop Orchestra with Beth Roberts, aus and Cuushe... Mastering: James Plotkin
Photography: Azra Haracic
Design: Craig Tattersall
Inspiration: Bas Jan Ader 

With love to:

Craig, Beth, Yasuhiko, Cuushe, Dan & Jess, Alice, Danny, Dean, Miles, Thomas, Michael, Russell, Richard, Joe, Masami and team Bookman

Packaging:

Deluxe 4 panel gatefold covers printed on reverse board Printed inner sleeves
Clear vinyl
Letter-pressed CD cover
Glass mastered (not CD-R) CD
16 page photographic booklet
2 x limited edition prints
CD/Booklet/Prints all rest inside hand stiched/sealed oversized glassine bags Hand Tagged/Typed/Individually numbered
All of the above rests inside sealed oversized black metallic photographic bags Download code
Scent
CD and vinyl hold different recordings of the material

Tape Loop Orchestra - Go Straight Towards The Light Of All That You Love

Audio Recording from Nils Frahm's concert in Funkhaus Berlin on Jan. 25th, 2018. Recorded with a Mobile Phone, sorry for the low quality.

Nils Frahm - Human Range+Forever Changeless - Live @ Funkhaus Berlin

Berlin-based composer and vibraphonist Masayoshi Fujita will release his new album Book of Life, the third instalment in a trilogy of solo vibraphone recordings, on July 27. Stories, the first in the series and Masayoshi’s debut under his own name, will be re-issued by Erased Tapes at the same time.

Masayoshi continues his mission in bringing the vibraphone — a relatively new invention in the history of instruments often kept in the background in orchestras and jazz outfits — into the spotlight with his new album, Book Of Life. Having trained as a drummer, Masayoshi began experimenting with the vibraphone, preparing its bars with kitchen foil or beads, playing it with the cello bow, or using the other end of the mallets to create a more ambient texture of sound. Focussing on the vibraphone in this way sets Masayoshi apart, dedicating his artistic life to celebrating this fascinating and often under appreciated instrument and making his take on ambient and modern compositional styles a unique one.

 “I think the vibraphone is capable of more interesting and beautiful sounds that haven’t been heard before. It’s quite a new instrument but it’s often played in a similar way. I feel that there is a lot more to explore with this exciting instrument.” — Masayoshi Fujita

Masayoshi previously released two albums under his alias El Fog. He often collaborates with other artists, most frequently with the adventurous German producer Jan Jelinek whose revered album Schaum was released in 2015. The following year, Masayoshi released his experimental Needle Six piece, a BBC Radio 3 recording of an improvised session with UK electronic artist Guy Andrews for Late Junction. In addition, his label peer and fellow Berlin resident Nils Frahm mastered Stories, providing a fitting symmetry to its re-issue on Erased Tapes now.

Book Of Life

It's Magical

Masayoshi Fujita - It's Magical

Berlin based cellist and composer Anne Müller shares a second piece, 'Drifting Circles', ahead of her long awaited debut solo album 'Heliopause'.

'Heliopause' follows several Erased Tapes releases featuring Anne, including her celebrated collaboration with Nils Frahm titled 7fingers, appearances on Ólafur Arnalds & Nils Frahm’s Collaborative Works, Nils Frahm’s All Melody and his acclaimed soundtrack for the film Victoria, Lubomyr Melnyk’s Fallen Trees, as well as the two bespoke solo pieces Walzer für Robert and Bel Tono for the label’s 5th and 10th anniversary box sets. In fact, a glance at Müller’s Discogs boasts credits on over 60 releases since she began recording in 2007.

Classically trained at Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts under the renowned cellist and conductor Michael Sanderling, Anne Müller performed as a cellist in many of Berlin’s symphonies for some time before choosing a different path with her music and focussing on novel approaches to classical instrumentation. A profound believer in the power of artistic collaboration, Anne’s skilled cello playing and instinctive composition became extremely sought after.

Following her work with Nils Frahm, an enduring partnership with singer-songwriter-composer Agnes Obel ensued, touring for five years together and featuring on two albums (Philharmonics and Aventine) and most recently, working with multi-instrumentalist Markus Sieber (aka Aukai) on his 2019 album Reminiscence. In between all this, Müller also co-founded the progressive live project Solo Collective along with violinist/singer Alex Stolze and pianist/conceptual artist Sebastian Reynolds, releasing Solo Collective Part One in 2017.

A solo record in every sense of the word, Müller wrote, recorded, arranged and produced Heliopause. The album is named after the boundary where the sun’s wind ceases to have influence. It is ultimately, the border of our solar system. The name struck a chord with Müller since the two voyagers sent on an exploratory mission 42 years ago, recently crossed the Heliopause, entering into interstellar space and losing power from our own sun. Müller recognised herself in this moment, not only approaching the same age, but also breaking new ground; having relied on collaborating with so many other stars and now venturing into the unknown with her first solo statement; “Heliopause marks the end of a long journey but also the start of voyages to explore strange new worlds”

Both as the closing title track and album as a whole, Heliopause crosses these physical and invisible borders throughout, sending the cello as a typically classical instrument to exciting new and uncharted territory.

· pre-order 'Heliopause' on LP/CD/DL:  idol.lnk.to/Heliopause

Heliopause

Drifting Circles

Anne Müller - Drifting Circles

Focusing on experimental genres, we aim to provide a space to share in the creative process and spread the experience of inner exploration through musical expression.

Tape Loop Orchestra - Go Straight Towards The Light Of All That You Love

Fluid Audio