Best of SC

This playlist is going include the tracks that I found while listening to various independent artists on the internet. I am only including artists which have not reached a certain threshold level of exposure.

So yes. This is not going to be like indie charts.

The playlist is going to have hopefully quite a few Indian artists, but the list is not restricted to them. And there are no genre restrictions.

If you know awesome songs by great unknown musicians, drop me a message.

P.S. - In no hurry to expand this playlist right now. Will keep working on it when I find more time to discover more.

Indie Favs

Broken

First track off the debut EP 'Color The Era'.

Track Recorded, Mixed and Mastered by Keshav Dhar at Illusion Audio.
Drums Recorded at Plug 'n' Play Studios with Anindo Bose

EP Artwork by Rijuta Agarwal

Dropping Planets

MUSIC VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKWlIssKCsc&spfreload=10

Buy link: https://petercrofton.bandcamp.com/track/nautical-operator-2

Download the album: https://petercrofton.bandcamp.com/album/nautical-operator
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/petercrofton

Written, recorded, produced by Peter Crofton.

Lyrics: 
In a deep, deep dream one night
A man's mind molds a wooden boat
He puts it in the water
And expects that it will float
The ship is only halfway complete
He lacked supplies to make all the rest
Surely he will sink fast
But I wonder,
Will he jump ship and fail the test? 

An island appears,
Relieves his fears
Of never making it back out of this place
Or should he stay here and drown away,
Just to ignore the people and their race?

The island sounds like a better choice
I'll make a life for myself out here
And if I'm lucky, they'll never find me
And my tracks will disappear 
Seems to good to be true though
So there's gotta be a catch or a trick
Maybe I'll figure it out
Take a different route
But for now I think I'll stick with my pick

You always wonder what will happen to you,
Maybe you focus on irrelevant things
This island always will be waiting for you
Just thank the future for it's kind offerings

Stuck in the background

Sail out again

©2014 Peter Crofton

Nautical Operator

Design

You can PRE-ORDER Living Room Songs on CD/LP/Download or Special Edition CD&amp;DVD here: 
http://www.erasedtapes.com/store/index/ERATP037

ABOUT LIVING ROOM SONGS:

Icelandic contemporary composer Ólafur Arnalds created and released a new song, one per day for one for one whole week during the month of October 2011. The songs were recorded and filmed live in the living room of his Reykjavik apartment and released instantly for free as streamed videos and mp3 downloads.

Thousands of fans followed this exciting project online at: livingroomsongs.olafurarnalds.com

Living Room Songs will now also be released on CD, Vinyl, Ltd. Special Edition CD &amp; DVD and as High Quality Downloads on December 5th via Erased Tapes.


Following in the spirit of Ólafur Arnalds’ critically acclaimed Found Songs (2009) now comes Living Room Songs. This time Ólafur takes the idea further and invites the audience into the comfort of his living room, where the songs were recorded live and the whole process filmed. The songs were instantly released in form of a free mp3 download and video stream- straight from Ólafur's Reykjavik apartment.

IN HIS OWN WORDS: ‘One night I was just playing my piano here in this apartment and I was writing a new song and I didn't have my phone on me which I usually use to record ideas. So I actually took out my MacBook and I didn't want to open like a proper recording program, so I just opened Photo Booth and recorded a video of myself playing the song so that I would remember the song. And I really liked the atmosphere of that video and that's when I thought I should do a series of songs in my living room...’             – Ólafur Arnalds


Born in the suburban Icelandic town of Mosfellsbær, a few kilometers outside of Reykjavík, the 24-year old composer has always enjoyed pushing boundaries with both his studio work and his live-shows. Through relentless touring and determination this young artist has steadily gained recognition worldwide since his 2007 debut Eulogy for Evolution. Ólafur Arnalds’ second full-length album ...and they have escaped the weight of darkness, continues his mission to lure an indie-generation of pop and rock fans into an emotive world of beguiling electronic chamber music and delicate classical arrangements. Ólafur is currently touring with Ryuichi Sakamoto on his Trio Tour throughout Europe.

'The indie kid who knows the score’ – Guardian’s Observer

'Timeless and sublime’ **** – Uncut

'An artist of immense maturity' (9/10) – Drowned In Sound

'Hotwired to the soul. ...will reduce you to wordless tears'  – The Quietus


 
TRACK LISTING: 

I. Fyrsta 
II. Near Light 
III. Film Credits 
IV. Tomorrow's Song 
V. Ágúst 
VI. Lag Fyrir Ömmu 
VII. This Place Is A Shelter


Near Light

Ólafur Arnalds - Near Light

The Uncertainty Principle's debut album album “Discord” is available for purchase on all major digital platforms - iTunes, Apple Music, Spotify, Google Play, Amazon, Bandcamp and more.

The Question

Written Performed and Arranged by Me
Featuring Stefano on lead guitar https://soundcloud.com/ste-guitar)

Lyrics - 
Woods, The Woods decay.
They decay and fall.
As summer goes, it kills the swan,
Was it a boon, or cursed was i,
A white haired; beast, roams around

You, were so beautiful,
I lost my mind
I crawled in, let you ruin my life
The same old days, the same old nights

I fly, I fly

Download/Stream to this tune from any of these places -

Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/album/7jtobDBQR13D6OYbPqqJFq
SoundCloud - https://soundcloud.com/akash-agrahari/she-feat-stefano-fioretti
Bandcamp (Pay What You Want) - https://akashagrahari.bandcamp.com/track/she-feat-stefano-fioretti
Google Play - https://play.google.com/store/music/album/Akash_Agrahari_She_feat_Stefano_Fioretti?id=Bty6o2alw6y2hsaoukdvsqomuiq
ITunes - https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/she-feat-stefano-fioretti-single/id1247147647?app=itunes&ign-mpt=uo%3D4
Apple Music - To be updated soon
Saavn - To be updated soon

She (feat. Stefano Fioretti

ÓLAFUR ARNALDS & NILS FRAHM - 'a2' from their forthcoming collaborative EP 'STARE'.

ORDER the Ltd. Edition 10" Vinyl/Download HERE and receive an Erased Tapes 5th Anniversary sticker with it:
http://www.erasedtapes.com/store/index/ERATP042

'A hazy slow-builder that sits nicely equidistant between Arnalds’ solo work and his excellent Kiasmos project' – The Line Of Best Fit

CONTENT

Erased Tapes label mates Ólafur Arnalds and Nils Frahm record and mix their first collaborative record between Reyjkjavík and Berlin as a surprise release for label founder Robert Raths.

The ambient/electronic work ‘Stare’ is a true family effort from Ólafur Arnalds and Nils Frahm with Anne Müller joining in on cello and all graphics by close label-friend and now in-house designer Torsten Posselt of Feld Studios.

This release will be strictly limited and exclusively available on Record Store Day 2012, April 21st. Coinciding with the 5th Anniversary of Erased Tapes, it’s also available from the official Erased Tapes online store and sure to become a must-have for fans of the label and these two artists.


CONTEXT

Words by Nils Frahm: 
‘I heard ‘Eulogy For Evolution’ for the first time 6 years ago and I was totally captivated. Impossible to know back then that I was supposed to meet Ólafur many years later as my label mate. Later when he took me along a tour of his we also noted that we kind of like hanging out together, doing important things like cover versions of long forgotten songs or eating veggie pizza. Also he would join my live set for a jam and I would return the favour by playing along with his set. 

All in all, I fell for Óli and after one memorable jam session we had in Berlin at Roter Salon in 2011, he finally proposed the idea to visit me in my studio in Berlin to work on 'some music'. I was happy and delighted about that idea, so we got together in April 2011 and after having a big pizza, I plugged in some old analogue synths and we played for four days until late in the night. Also queen Anne Müller stopped by after a show with Agnes Obel to record some cello at 5 am in the morning for ‘b1’. Making music together with people is lovely! 
 
The time I spent with Óli in Berlin made me very happy and the music wasn't like anything I have heard before. It was all very reduced and minimal and I felt like I couldn't have done this alone. So we decided to do another 4-day jam at Óli´s E7 studio in Reykjavik. So I flew there in the end of October to repeat the trick and record some out of this world ambient music. It didn't take us too long to write ‘a1’ and ‘a2’.  I can’t wait for the follow up!’

Words by Olafur Arnalds:
 ‘After having toured together and having had many inspiring late night conversations, I decided to visit Nils in his Durton Studio in Berlin for a weekend. We didn't have anything specific in mind, we just wanted to hang out, jam and eat some falafel. That's what we did, but somehow we also made 25 minutes of ambient bliss that weekend. 

After that we quickly decided we had to do the same in my studio in Iceland. Just hang out for a weekend and possibly make some music. So the album became kind of an Iceland vs. Berlin thing. I think you can hear it very well in the sound (side a vs. side b) and that is the most interesting thing about this record for me: that subtle but significant different in the characteristics of the music two people made in Iceland against what the same two people made in Germany. 

I'm not sure why we decided to keep it secret, it just happened. But it sure was fun! I remember a party at Robert's (Erased Tapes founder) flat in Berlin, where me and Nils stood in the corner the whole night whispering about the project. We then delivered the fully mastered record with finished artwork to Robert around the 5th anniversary of the label. It would have been nice to be there to see his face…"

The live video of Nils and Ólafur’s spontaneous improv live set in Berlin last summer won them many fans since, including UK electronic music producer Max Cooper who is now remixing two of his “absolute favourite artists”. Nils and Ólafur will be touring together throughout Europe this spring.

You can watch it here: http://vimeo.com/28631568
 


LABEL: ERASED TAPES RECORDS    UK RELEASE DATE: APRIL 21, 2012
CAT.NO: ERATP042 EP/DL   EAN: 4050486068137

TRACK LISTING:  1. a1  2. a2  3. b1

OFFICIAL WEBSITES:   OLAFURARNALDS.COM   DURTONSTUDIO.COM   ERASEDTAPES.COM 

Stare

Ólafur Arnalds & Nils Frahm - a2

A track inspired by the beauty of rivers. Musicians inlcude:

1. Ashwin Nayar- Electric Guitars
2. Rohit Prasanna- Flute
3. Tarana Marwah- Piano
4. Aditya Narayan- Vocals/Acoustic Guitar/Arrangement

Awaara

Composed by Shriram Iyer
Arranged by Shankar Tucker

"Piya" - ft. Shriram Iyer

Guitarist from New Delhi , India. All the songs are originals and have been recorded at my place with a pretty average set up.
You can contact me at -
utkarsh.varma95@gmail.com


Design

Utkarsh Varma