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"If I knew I were alive, I could do so much better. If I knew what I had, then I could use it more wisely. If only I’d known before then I’d be in a better place already. If only."
London-based singer-songwriter Douglas Dare releases new EP, following on from his debut album Whelm. Named after album track Caroline and new track If I Knew I Were Alive, it also features remixes by fellow label mate Ryan Lee West aka Rival Consoles and Houndstooth’s own electronic producer Ross Tones aka Throwing Snow.

Caroline has always been a precious track for Douglas, one of the first tracks he recorded and a story in which he imagines his grandfather is writing to a loved one during the war. As the only song on his debut album that is stripped down to just his voice and piano playing, and it being a favourite amongst fans at his concerts, it was a natural choice as a first single.

The new track If I Knew I Were Alive Douglas wrote by creating beats, looping them and recording parts live. Dancing around to the beats in his room, he started singing melodies and coming up with ideas that he wouldn’t usually have, sitting at the piano. The idea that we can do a lot more if only we appreciated our own ability and opportunity encouraged Douglas to not take the track to anyone else to re-record it, but to work with what he had created himself.

“The recording has this demo quality, which I really enjoy. I love how revealing a demo can be. It seems to expose the fundamental ideas the songwriter had and the basic quality of the recording is very revealing. One of my favourite records is PJ Harvey’s ‘4 Track Demos’, where the songs are so stripped back that you can appreciate the finest details.” – Douglas Dare

Ryan Lee West, who crafted the Rival Consoles remix of album track Swim explains, “the track existed in a minimal state for a while, and I kept thinking something was missing. There's always something missing! And then out of casual chance, I was sorting through my portable recorder files, and I came across a recording of an installation that I did, which included four motors hitting glockenspiel or xylophone notes at random. I chopped it up in a few seconds and it worked perfectly. It adds texture and movement to the remix. But what's important about these sounds is that they are not in time. I think this remix creates sense of space, subtlety and physicality.”

"The original is so well put together, and the vocal so unique that it was a hard one to approach. I set out to reflect the beauty of the vocal in the intro, so that I could build it into something darker later on. This also mirrors the meaning of the vocal. The last sections are meant to evoke feelings of being washed away by a torrent” – Ross Tones about his Throwing Snow remix of Nile.

The cover photograph was taken by Douglas Dare himself; printed on silver card, so that the seawater shimmers against the light.

Douglas Dare and Rival Consoles will both perform a special in-store show at Rough Trade, presenting their respective EP releases, before embarking on an Erased Tapes U.S. West Coast tour and Douglas accompanying Fink throughout 13 countries in North America and Europe from September to November as their special guest.

TICKETS: www.erasedtapes.com/artists/events/22/Douglas+Dare

TRACK LISTING:

A1. Caroline
A2. If I Knew I Were Alive
B1. Swim (Rival Consoles Remix)
B2. Nile (Throwing Snow Remix)

MORE INFO: douglasdare.com · erasedtapes.com

Whelm

Caroline

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Douglas Dare – Caroline

14 The Big C Season One Suite - Marcelo Zarvos

Balanescu Quartet is an avant-garde string quartet founded in 1987 by Alexander Balanescu that achieved fame through the release of several complex re-interpretations of songs by Kraftwerk and collaborations with Michael Nyman, David Byrne and Goldfrapp amongs others. 

A new compilation, “This Is The Balanescu Quartet”, is available on www.mutebank.com and all good physical and digital retailers.

https://www.facebook.com/BalanescuQuartet

Balanescu Quartet - East

Dirk Maassen - Seasons

Song preview for my upcoming album Out Of The Ashes

Credit to Ramsay The Rat for some guitar and crazy synth leads in the climax. All other parts by me.

Artwork: Photograph and editing by me

Moon Bloom

6. OUTRO

Plūsma

Sigur Ros - "Lúppulagið"

Incidental is a compilation of Leonid Desyatnikov’s compositions for films, the stage and private occasions. Here one can find relatively well-known works: Nocturne from Mania of Giselle, Death of Absalom and Tango from Sunset and Old Romance with its own rich concert biography. But mostly these works are rare pieces, amazing but for various reasons little-known music from a master of his craft. Forgotten melodies for flute are as pearls scattered on the tiled cutting room floor of films from days of Perestroika, leitmotivs on long faded credits or commissions that never saw the light of day: “Offcuts and leftovers,” as Desyatnikov puts it. This CD is the result of painstaking research in the archives, something, which in Desyatnikov’s case, guarantees unexpected and delightful discoveries...

Alexey Munipov

Incidental

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Leonid Desyatnikov – Incidental: Nocturne

Mute are delighted to announce the signing of Yann Tiersen and the release of his brand new, long awaited album, Dust Lane, out on 4 October 2010. 

Hailing from Brittany, Yann Tiersen is one of the most revered artists of his generation with a reputation first established by his studio albums (which include 1998's Le Phare and 2005's Les Retrouvailles) and cemented by his work on the original film score of Amelie (2001) which earned him widespread recognition. 

Produced by Yann Tiersen and mixed by Ken Thomas (Sigur Rós, M83, Moby), Dust Lane sees Tiersen incorporate vintage electronic sounds and textures into his music for an album he describes as "a journey on the dusty lane that leads us to death. Not a sad thing, but like a colourful, sometimes painful, but mostly joyful experience: life!"

Yann Tiersen - Dust Lane

Yann Tiersen - Ashes (edit)

www.mute.com

Mute was founded by Daniel Miller in 1978, and since then has signed and developed some of the world’s most influential recording artists – including Goldfrapp, Liars, Moby, M83, Erasure, Depeche Mode, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Laibach, Yeasayer and Richard Hawley – and become home to a crop of emerging talent and recent signings such as Cold Specks, Polly Scattergood, Big Deal, Beth Jeans Houghton, Josh T. Pearson and Apparat.

Whilst maintaining a firmly eclectic roster, from the earliest days of The Normal, Fad Gadget and DAF through to the techno era with artists such as Plastikman / Richie Hawtin and Speedy J, and to the present day with electronic artists such as Diamond Version and Maps, the label has always been a champion of electronic music.

Mute is also home to the catalogue of a host of seminal artists such as Can and Cabaret Voltaire.

Yann Tiersen - Dust Lane

Mute Records

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