Name: Tiny Ruins - Adelphi Apartments by Torstraßen Festival in tiny ruins
Duration: 4 min 10 s
Description: www.torstrassenfestival.de

tiny ruins

Artist: Paul de Jong
Title: Auction Block
Album: IF
Release Date: April 28, 2015

Paul de Jong is best known as the cofounder, cellist and resident found sound savant of the beloved, defunct collage-pop duo, the Books. Five years after that band delivered their final album, The Way Out, to much acclaim, de Jong delivers his first solo album, IF.

IF sets the Books' early albums (particularly The Lemon of Pink) as a starting point, and elevates that beguiling sense of wonder and amazement to genuinely transcendent new heights. De Jong's ability to find the musical in the mundane has always been uncanny — it is part of what made the Books so magical – and that gift is what makes IF such a marvelous curiosity, and such a true pleasure to hear. In de Jong’s world, everything around him is a potential instrument: his mind-bogglingly vast collection of forgotten private press regional folk records, spoken-word oddities of indeterminate origin unearthed in discarded thrift store piles, and various everyday household utensils that we tend to take for granted. One man’s trash is de Jong’s tool to craft yet another treasure.

Featuring a handful of friends and family as musical guests, IF steers a course from joyously eccentric folk-pop to humorously inside-out jazz, resulting in a refreshing piece of outsider art with a replay value that's off the charts.

©2015 Temporary Residence Ltd.

Pre-Order LP/CD

Paul de Jong – Auction Block

Recorded live on Public Address Radio in Auckland, New Zealand. http://publicaddress.net/radio

Tiny Ruins 'Little Notes' (Live on PA Radio)

Not Lyn

From the album Modern Country, out now on Merge Records.

Modern Country

William Tyler "Gone Clear"

Pre-order the album 'Aforger' out October 14th on LP/CD/DL here: http://phonofile.link/aforger

In a digital age where memories are mimicked by pixels and identity is as malleable as static, Douglas Dare’s new album Aforger questions the boundaries between reality and fiction. 

Inspired by recent events and revelations encountered in his life these songs depict Dare at his most vulnerable, whilst simultaneously reflecting our own obsession with reality and technology back at us.  

Aforger was mixed at the iconic Abbey Road Studios and produced by long-time collaborator Fabian Prynn. In the following conversation Douglas strips back the personal journeys and realisations which preceded its recording.

In a conversation with Douglas Dare on July 11th 2016:

The album title plays with the idea of a forger – someone creating imitations or copies, and reimagines them as the creator of something that’s no longer real. Prior to writing the record, I came out to my father and came out of a long relationship, both were hugely challenging for me and questioned my idea of identity and reality. These thoughts leaked out into the record and formed the core of Aforger. I was determined not to write a break-up album or repeat what I’d done before..

I grew up on quite an isolated farm in Dorset, surrounded by fields and not much besides. My mother taught piano from home and we didn’t have a computer, or the internet or mobile phones. In fact, my family still chooses not to use these things. It’s worlds apart from my life now in London where technology seems to dominate everything I do.

After finding out my boyfriend had been leading this double-life, I became obsessed with the question of what is real and George Orwell’s 1984 felt appropriate for me to re-read. Orwell explains this idea of reality control and Doublethink, and it struck a chord with me. The idea that truth can be steered or changed, and we might be able to believe two contradictory things at once. In my case, ignorance was my protection from the truth and ignorance really is bliss, until you’re no longer ignorant.

Binary talks about the idea that technology is allowing us to live on after we’re gone. A relative of mine whose parent passed away kept a picture of them on their phone as a background image. A friend saw this and asked ‘how can you have that there to constantly remind you of your loss?’ They replied, ‘no I have to, it shows me that they’re still here’. This resonated with me and I thought ‘okay, this is just an image to me but to them it’s more than a reminder or a reassurance, it’s a reality’. At the same time, I was finding myself haunted by the digital reminder of my ex-partner and wishing they would disappear. I had to realise that it’s all just pixels on a screen. 

I think New York can be thought of as this fabricated, magical place. I was there with my boyfriend after touring the U.S., but when I came back to London I discovered all these lies and began questioning everything. I even questioned whether New York actually happened or not. New York is a song that’s literally describing that very real feeling of not knowing who or what to believe any more – scary and magical at the same time. 

Lyrically I wanted to be as honest as possible. The album deals with so much dishonesty, so I felt the lyrics had to be the counterbalance. I was inspired by Björk’s album Vulnicura and how everything is almost awkward in its honesty. Like my first album, Aforger started as poetry, but I consciously tried to be less poetic. For instance, Oh Father is an example of complete unambiguity. It’s certainly the most personal song I’ve put out there, and the realisation that people may hear it makes me feel very vulnerable. That’s the most real feeling of all for me right now.

Douglas Dare - Venus

Angel's arms

A Singer of Songs lives in Barcelona while Tiny Ruins is from New Zealand. The two knew each other through their music, but had not met. This all changed in 2010, when they embarked on a small and noble tour of northern Spain. One hospital visit, one birthday cake, several piggy-back rides, a couple of tequilas and thousands of wrong turns later, and they’d recorded six songs during one week, in the room of a charming old apartment in Barcelona.

The result was the lovely EP 'Little Notes', which this track is taken from.

You can listen to / download / find out more over on HI54LOFI RECORDS: http://hi54lofirecords.com/littlenotes

Get the EP

Feathers (Tiny Ruins & A Singer of Songs)

‘Resurgam Acoustic Session’ Out Now -
R'COUP'D / Stream / Download: https://fink.lnk.to/acousticSO

Taken from ‘Resurgam Acoustic Session’ released 16th November 2017 via R’COUP'D.

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Resurgam Acoustic Session

This Isn’t A Mistake (A&B Acoustic Version)

Luv I Like (Tiny Ruins Bootleg)

Tiny Ruins - Adelphi Apartments

KAREV YOM

A little Tiny Ruins cover for my pals who couldn't see them at Lindale, crap guitar

Dissolve Me (written by ∆)

Abi Wade is a musician based in Brighton, UK. A Musical collaboration between limbs, strings and vocal chords. Her music is seemingly and seamlessly sewn together, each beat, melody and bass line put exactly in its place, to create songs that pull the heart strings and a performance that will beguile and intrigue.

So far she has toured the UK & Europe with Patrick Wolf, played festivals such as End of The Road, The Great Escape and Wilderness, sold out her debut EP, released music on the label set up by Esben & The Witch’s Daniel Copeman, with whom she also records with and played shows with the likes of CocoRosie, Dan Mangan, Other Lives & Deptford Goth. Her music has also been used on MTV series ‘Awkward’ and Cinemax series ‘Banshee’.

Faker was Produced by Dan Copeland

Faker

Night Run

Night run

Tiny Ruins Live // Somewhere In Munich
Feathers feat. Hauskonzerte Gang

Tiny Ruins - Feathers Live // Somewhere In Munich

TSF’20: 10 Years TSF 
June 12–14, 2020 – Berlin Mitte
www.torstrassenfestival.de

Tiny Ruins - Adelphi Apartments

Torstraßen Festival

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