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Rival Consoles - Slow Song

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

Buy 12"/DL

Rival Consoles - Johannesburg

Watch Rival Consoles go Against The Clock: http://www.factmag.com/2016/09/08/rival-consoles-against-the-clock/

Rival Consoles - Against The Clock

Ambient Sketch

I'm excited to announce the first track from the 'Emergence Remixed' album which will be released in full at the end of March.

This remix comes from one of my absolute favourite electronic producers of the last few years, and someone who is constantly surprising me with each new release - Rival Consoles. 

I've been playing his work in my sets a lot recently too, he's got a great humanised approach to making electronic music, primarily with his hands-on analogue machines and live percussion, which give his tracks a whole load more life than most other producers. 

I have to mention Rival Consoles synth work too, which for me, is the best out there by a mile. He's got a knack for the most beautiful timbral quality and soft full sound. Complemented with his ability for hooks and chords and always developing arrangements, makes for some of the best electronic music out there in my opinion.

So all that said, you can see why I said I was excited to have him involved in the remix package! He's made a brewing club track for this package, all about those beautiful synths and micropitch deviations for me, the quality oozes out with him needing to overcomplicate the mix (like I do!). It's really hard to get each element to such quality to carry a track like that....so hats off from me, and I hope you enjoy it too.

Loads more amazing remixes coming soon from more of my favourite producers - it's a juicy package! We'll put some out to the mailing list first, which you can join below at the end of this description.

The artwork is by Andy Lomas, from his Aggregation series, where he created a simulation of sticky particles which bounce around and are more likely to stick to larger structures, causing biological-esc growth-like structures to emerge. I have one of his huge prints from this series on my wall, the detail at high res is amazing. 

The series was chose for the Emergence album packages as it demonstrates the same principles of mathematical rules yielding unexpected and beautiful outcomes as is shown in the visual story to which the album tracks were scored. Lots of those videos are on this youtube channel, and the whole thing will be released in surround-sound bluray format later this year.

From 'Emergence Remixed', out March 31
Pre-order 'Emergence Remixed' http://MaxCooper.lnk.to/Remixed
Buy 'Emergence' http://MaxCooper.lnk.to/Emergence
Subscribe to hear the next remixes first, free mixes, gig tickets etc (the "JOIN" button is top right): http://www.maxcooper.net

12"/Download/LP Stream

Distant Light (Rival Consoles Remix) [Mesh002]

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
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http://play.spotify.com/user/visionrecordings

Noisia - The Approach (Rival Consoles Remix)

Improvisation on a simple idea using Arturia Matrixbrute

New Year Improv

Ryan Lee West aka Rival Consoles has announced his fourth full length album 'Persona' will be released on 13th April via Erased Tapes.

The title 'Persona' was inspired by Ingmar Bergman’s film of the same name, specifically a shot in the opening credits of a child reaching out to touch a woman’s face on a screen, which is shifting between one face and another. This powerful image struck Ryan and it inspired the album’s main theme — an exploration of the persona, the difference between how we see ourselves and how others see us, the spaces in between; between states, people, light and dark, the inner persona and the outer persona. 

"My music is generally is generally inward looking. I like finding something about the self within music, that doesn't have to be specific but maybe asks something or reveals something. This record is a continuation on the self through electronic sounds. Like Legowelt once said ‘a synthesiser is like a translator for unknown emotions’, which I think sums up what I am trying to do. I think all these emotions we have make up our persona. So in a way by finding new ones you alter or expand your persona. And that is what I want my music to try to do. I deliberately aimed to be more sonically diverse with this record. I wanted to experiment more. I wanted to create new sounds and new emotions.”

Recorded at his studio in south-east London, ‘Persona’ benefits from Ryan’s exploration of a dynamic production process that combines analogue-heavy synthesisers, acoustic and electric instruments with a shoegaze-level obsession with effect pedals. A greater depth of emotion and confidence can be heard across the album. From the deconstructed movements on ‘Unfolding’ that starts the album with a snap of delayed snares, the apocalyptic drones of the title track and thundering drums in ‘Phantom Grip’ to more  restrained ambient feels of ‘Dreamer’s Wake’, ‘Rest’ and ‘Untravel’. The latter transverses six beatless minutes of undulating melodies representing “a limbo space, a feeling of ennui, of not really ever being known to others and others not ever really being known to you”.

'Be Kind' reveals a musical connection with fellow Erased Tapes artist Nils Frahm, with its minimal approach and improvisational nature. On the more complex sounding ‘I Think So’ Ryan aims to replicate a colour collage with sound. Like a musical kaleidoscope, a flashing and convoluted mass. Written after he saw Slowdive perform live last year, ‘Hidden’ builds from whispers to landscapes of controlled noise. In an interview with XLR8R magazine, Ryan explains: “once you start trying to make a sound loud, then you turn your back on thousands and thousands of sonic possibilities. One of the best things to do is to start a track with a really quiet, weak sound.” Taking this idea to its ultimate conclusion, ‘Fragment’ closes the album as an innocent sounding ambient piece, almost nursery rhyme like, yielding time for reflection on how the persona has changed.

'Persona' follows the success of a series of releases — the ‘Odyssey’ and ‘Sonne’ EPs, long player ‘Howl’, and 2016’s mini album ‘Night Melody’ — that saw Ryan mature into what Pitchfork has called a “forward-thinking electronic musician with his own ideas about sound”. Atypical of instrumental-electronic music, Ryan has achieved a signature sound that’s unmistakably identifiable as Rival Consoles. Going beyond typical electronic music production, Ryan defines it as “songwriting with an electronic palette of sounds”.

The increasingly dynamic live audio-visual show, born from bespoke performances at the Tate and for Boiler Room at the V&A Museum featuring self-programmed visuals in Max/MSP, has propelled him to play around the world. Ryan launches ‘Persona’ at London’s XOYO on 12th April with further dates to be announced.

Persona

Unfolding

Buy 2LP/CD/DL

Rival Consoles - Unfolding

Released on March 29 in celebration of Piano Day 2018.
Pre-order the album 'Persona' here: http://phonofile.link/rivalconsoles-persona

Ryan Lee West aka Rival Consoles has announced his fourth full length album 'Persona' will be released on 13th April via Erased Tapes.

The title 'Persona' was inspired by Ingmar Bergman’s film of the same name, specifically a shot in the opening credits of a child reaching out to touch a woman’s face on a screen, which is shifting between one face and another. This powerful image struck Ryan and it inspired the album’s main theme — an exploration of the persona, the difference between how we see ourselves and how others see us, the spaces in between; between states, people, light and dark, the inner persona and the outer persona. 

"My music is generally is generally inward looking. I like finding something about the self within music, that doesn't have to be specific but maybe asks something or reveals something. This record is a continuation on the self through electronic sounds. Like Legowelt once said ‘a synthesiser is like a translator for unknown emotions’, which I think sums up what I am trying to do. I think all these emotions we have make up our persona. So in a way by finding new ones you alter or expand your persona. And that is what I want my music to try to do. I deliberately aimed to be more sonically diverse with this record. I wanted to experiment more. I wanted to create new sounds and new emotions.”

Recorded at his studio in south-east London, ‘Persona’ benefits from Ryan’s exploration of a dynamic production process that combines analogue-heavy synthesisers, acoustic and electric instruments with a shoegaze-level obsession with effect pedals. A greater depth of emotion and confidence can be heard across the album. From the deconstructed movements on ‘Unfolding’ that starts the album with a snap of delayed snares, the apocalyptic drones of the title track and thundering drums in ‘Phantom Grip’ to more  restrained ambient feels of ‘Dreamer’s Wake’, ‘Rest’ and ‘Untravel’. The latter transverses six beatless minutes of undulating melodies representing “a limbo space, a feeling of ennui, of not really ever being known to others and others not ever really being known to you”.

'Be Kind' reveals a musical connection with fellow Erased Tapes artist Nils Frahm, with its minimal approach and improvisational nature. On the more complex sounding ‘I Think So’ Ryan aims to replicate a colour collage with sound. Like a musical kaleidoscope, a flashing and convoluted mass. Written after he saw Slowdive perform live last year, ‘Hidden’ builds from whispers to landscapes of controlled noise. In an interview with XLR8R magazine, Ryan explains: “once you start trying to make a sound loud, then you turn your back on thousands and thousands of sonic possibilities. One of the best things to do is to start a track with a really quiet, weak sound.” Taking this idea to its ultimate conclusion, ‘Fragment’ closes the album as an innocent sounding ambient piece, almost nursery rhyme like, yielding time for reflection on how the persona has changed.

'Persona' follows the success of a series of releases — the ‘Odyssey’ and ‘Sonne’ EPs, long player ‘Howl’, and 2016’s mini album ‘Night Melody’ — that saw Ryan mature into what Pitchfork has called a “forward-thinking electronic musician with his own ideas about sound”. Atypical of instrumental-electronic music, Ryan has achieved a signature sound that’s unmistakably identifiable as Rival Consoles. Going beyond typical electronic music production, Ryan defines it as “songwriting with an electronic palette of sounds”.

The increasingly dynamic live audio-visual show, born from bespoke performances at the Tate and for Boiler Room at the V&A Museum featuring self-programmed visuals in Max/MSP, has propelled him to play around the world. Ryan launches ‘Persona’ at London’s XOYO on 12th April with further dates to be announced.

Be Kind

Rival Consoles - Be Kind

late night minimal improvisation with modular - 3 very slow melodies that I am slightly adjusting.

Music For Sleeping

"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

Where Are You Now?

Ryan Lee West aka Rival Consoles announces details of his highly anticipated new album 'Articulation', out on July 31. Pr-order is on LP & DL: https://idol.lnk.to/articulation

Lead track and album centrepiece 'Articulation' links the record back to the analogue fluidity and colour of 2016’s 'Night Melody'. The division of varying time signatures, intertwined with a complex structure of notes, creates an expression of a moving structure and conjures a dreamy, motorik energy. Ryan Lee West explains, "The title track is about articulation and playfulness with shape and time. Its structure is very machine-like, but I was really interested in how melody and sense of story could develop out of this, and it became an exploration of mathematical structures — patterns and shapes having a conversation. I love that something on paper can appear rigid and calculated, but then take on new meaning based on the context that surrounds it, or how it changes over time."

'Articulation', which follows 2018’s 'Persona', was conceived with a very visual way of thinking, unusual for the London musician and producer. During the writing process Ryan drew structures, shapes and patterns by hand to try and find new ways of thinking about music, giving himself a way to problem-solve away from the computer. The album title references a piece by the avant-garde contemporary composer Györgi Ligeti, though not for its music, but for the non-traditional graphic score that accompanied it.

“I find electronic music is often battling to say something with integrity because technology and production can easily get in the way. I think the goal of a lot of electronic composers is to find a balance between the vision of the idea and the power of possibilities on the computer. With a pen and paper sketch you can compose and rethink ideas without technology getting in the way, so for me it acts as a very helpful tool to refresh the process.” — Ryan Lee West

Since the release of 'Persona', Ryan Lee West has taken his captivating live A/V set to all corners of the world. Last seen live on stage with 17 players of the London Contemporary Orchestra for a sold-out orchestral performance at Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall in January 2020.

Meanwhile Ryan has kept busy. After contributing an exclusive track 'Them Is Us' to Adult Swim’s coveted Singles series, he recently shared the beautifully textured solo piano piece 'Winter’s Lament' on this year’s Piano Day. He has also been in high demand as a composer, scoring Charlie Brooker’s much talked about Black Mirror episode Striking Vipers, composing original music for Secret Cinema presents Stranger Things as well as renowned choreographer Alexander’s Whitley’s groundbreaking new work Overflow which was set to premiere at London’s Sadler’s Wells Theatre this spring.

Articulation

Stream & order LP · DL

Rival Consoles - Articulation

This is the music I composed for the scene from Black Mirror: Striking Vipers - which I call 'I love this, I love you'. 

It is a short piece of music, but one that for me has a lot of emotional depth.

This could be developed and extended but for now I am sharing the work as it is heard on film. 

I am sure we will release an official EP at some point with a selection of works from the episode. 

Enjoy.

I Love This, I Love You.

I made this one back in 2008. It's supposed to be a flipside for my first ever vinyl record on Brand:Nu Recordings but unfortunately, the label stopped functioning before the release. Now it's finally out on our latest @MicrofunkMusic cassette 'Lost Dubs 3' alongside 9 bangers by Oak, Synkro, Hybris, Jason oS, Dissident, Akuratyde & Kharm, Elsewhere and Abstract Elements.

Full album is here: microfunk.fanlink.to/lostdubs3

------------------------------

The third edition of Microfunk Music’s coveted ‘Lost Dubs’ series is finally here. Featuring 10 rhythmic glitch patterns from the Russian labels usual suspects, you can expect compositions from Synkro, Oak, Hybris, Akuratyde, Dissident, Kharm, Jason oS and of course label boss Bop. The record will be available on all digital and streaming platforms after a week-long exclusive on Bandcamp and will be pressed to a limited run of 100 cassette tapes, which will not last long. With distinguished artwork courtesy of none other than the infamous Trickartt, this is truly a collectors item and not to be missed.

Many things slip through the sands of time, but thankfully these beautiful songs will know no such fate. The introductory ‘Time’ from Manchester's Synkro is laden with a hopeful sadness, as melancholic sonics reverberate beautifully from start to finish. You could be forgiven for thinking this may set the tone for the LP to come, but what follows is a compendium of beautifully crafted musical delights, as varied in character and constitution as the seasons themselves.

A frequent partner of Bop as both a performer and artist, Oak graces the imprint once more with a deep electro cut ‘The Bay’ and tells a down-tempo tale in ‘Airwalk’, which is available to download upon pre-ordering the full LP. Rampant in it’s sheer textural beauty, the likes of Elsewhere follow suit with an expansive and heart-fluttering take on the 170BPM tempo in the form of ‘Procession’. Things take a techy turn as Jason oS delivers an introspective stepper in his ‘Hidden State’, but not before Akuratyde and Kharm weave their own atmospheric wonder ‘Enamoured’.

Although never fearful of pushing the boundaries or confinements within the D&B universe, Microfunk Music remains true to the genre that inspired it with the likes of Hybris injecting his trademark sonics into a sublimely styled technoid roller. Abstract Elements keep things stepping in a similar vein with ‘Throb’, whilst St. Petersburg's very own Dissident enthralls the listener with their hypnotic addition ‘Bathyscaphe’.

Bop has the honour of bowing out the stunning album with a dub-techno pattern ‘In My Dreams’ that traverses the expansive audible palette that so often engulfs Microfunk Music. Incorporating a myriad of moods, the Lost Dubs compilation further cements Microfunk Music as one of the leading purveyors of electronic excellence.

Brace yourself for a profound journey outside the conventional D&B paradigm.

Space

Matt Zigfrid