Hive Mind

Hive Mind (feat. Coby Sey)

Sometimes it's good to write a song that actually doesn't have massive fucking drums.

---

did you want the things I got?
do i sell myself a lot?

am i close to what I said?
or just a bullet in your head?

---

spend a lot of time trying to be me
don't know if you even see me
I'm becoming something bigger
but still smaller than myself

//

never really know if you can hear me
I'm still screaming at the ceiling
but despite the world believing
crawled my way out of this hell

--

perfectly aware that there's an exit
but i no longer defend it
i am staying till the
universe decides I'm not the one

-- there's a million diseases
try to find the one that pleases
i'm not letting go 
until the ones i love tell me i'm done

FAWM 2022

Tantalise

Celestial Fall

Ryan Lee West reinforces his unique style of minimal electronic arrangements with a new 6-track EP – 'Sonne' out on Erased Tapes.

ORDER 'Sonne' on 12"/DL: http://www.erasedtapes.com/store/index/ERATP059
ORDER 'Odyssey / Sonne' on CD: http://www.erasedtapes.com/store/index/ERATP069
ORDER via iTunes:
http://snip.ftpromo.net/sonne
GET TICKETS:
http://www.erasedtapes.com/artists/events/5/Rival+Consoles

Continuing on from his Odyssey EP released in 2013, Ryan Lee West aka Rival Consoles creates atmosphere and space whilst exploring waves of sound and rhythm, and the power of colour. With Sonne Ryan creates music to structure itself around a pulse, rather than the pulse being the defining point. 

The title track begins with “a very subtle set of melodies that repeat almost without confidence, and then gradually give way to a huge collage of colour and power”, as Ryan describes it. Not relying on a conventional beat, it’s a prime example of how an analogue synthesiser can create the power and momentum of a rhythm section. From the distorted waves in 3 Chords, growing and shrinking, to the rhythmic waves of constant speeding up and then slowing down in Recovery, it’s the Moog Voyager, Prophet and tape delay that make up the core sound of the EP. Whilst tracks like Helios, Haunt and Think Tank see West play live drums and acoustic guitar.

“I’m often looking at art in exhibitions and I always think to myself ‘why the hell don’t I have this much colour in my work?’ The answer in part I think is down to synthesis. It is very difficult to create colour without it sounding plastic. Colour in music is both the note combinations and the actual timbre of the sounds. There are lots of instances of very colourful ambient sounds, which I took great care to create for each song, using various methods – from passing analogue synths through chains of effects to chopping up random sequences of recordings and forming tiny collages." – Ryan Lee West 

ABOUT THE ARTWORK:  

Resembling the colour and vibrancy in his music, the cover art was created by South London artist Supermundane, who was also responsible for the artwork of the Odyssey EP.

TRACK LISTING:  	

A1. Sonne  A2. 3 Chords  A3. Helios  B1. Haunt  B2. Think Tank  B3. Recovery 

PRESS FOR ODYSSEY EP:

'Glorious...unabashedly epic...’ – Dummy
'Atmospheric synths swell victoriously' – XLR8R
‘Rival Consoles, is the likes of Nils Frahm and Olafur Arnalds' glitchy, electronic cousin’  8/10 – The 405


ABOUT THE ARTIST:

Some might be surprised that London based electronic producer Ryan Lee West, the man behind Rival Consoles, shares a home with contemporary classical composers such as Nils Frahm, Ólafur Arnalds and Peter Broderick. And yet they have a lot more in common than expected. Fascinated by sound from an early age, Ryan chose to dedicate his time to studying, experimenting with and producing sound graduating from De Montfort University in Leicester. One consistent element in his musical journey has been his desire to create a more organic, humanised sound. Ryan often drafts early ideas on piano, violin and guitar, although the end result is much more electronic-laden. As an accomplished sound designer he has repeatedly performed at the Tate, and recently created a bespoke audio-visual performance for Boiler Room at the V&A. Ryan is currently composing music for a soon to be announced BBC production.

LIVE:	
	
After supporting Luke Abbott on his recent UK tour and I Break Horses on their North American tour in spring, Ryan will debut his new live set with a special release show in London, followed by a string of West Coast U.S. dates culminating in Decibel Festival in late September – more details to be announced soon. 

OFFICIAL WEBSITES: www.facebook.com/rivalconsoles · www.erasedtapes.com

Sonne

Recovery

Buy 12"/DL

Rival Consoles - Recovery

Taken from the third Om Unit LP "Self" 

Out now on Cosmic Bridge -> https://omunit.bandcamp.com/album/self

Self

Field Of Dreams

Premiering on the Ransom Note: https://bit.ly/2MyJojX

"An enchanting new album." - The Ransom Note 

Heinali is the alias of self-taught composer and sound-designer Oleg Shpudeiko from Ukraine. Now well established under the name he brings along his latest full length ‘Iridescent’ due for release on October 12th on Injazero Records. 

Having garnered rapturous responses to his earlier output and last year’s ‘Anthem’ Oleg continues to push the boundaries and experiment with altering mood and atmospheres of any space - with abstract yet deeply personal transmissions of ambient synthesiser work and subaqueous, minimal techno contortions. 

‘Iridescent’ consists of fragments of studio improvisation sessions recorded in 2016 and 2017, some of them recorded in one unedited take on a modular system and some layered and later morphed into compositions. As the title suggests Heinali crafts shimmering, incandescent portraits, rich in his unique characteristics and compositional liberty. 

Apart from the “musical sculptures,” that represent the bulk of this LP, Oleg was interested in the exploration of polyphonic capabilities of the modular system. ‘Rainbow Folding’, a loose homage to Terry Riley’s 'A Rainbow In Curved Air,' features an interplay of several independent, but distinct voices and their processed shadows — ‘ghost voices’. In 'Shadow Invention’ eerie atmospherics steal the spotlight and dominate the composition, ending in a cacophony of the ‘ghost voices’. 

Oleg says of the album, “it’s a kind of studio dairy. A reflection on the development of my relations with the hardware instruments and exploration of them as channelling vessels for my experiences and ideas.” 

“One can think of Iridescent’ as ‘musical sculpture’ analogy — when the body of music stays the same, but its surface is flickering with various colours over time — sometimes in a subtle manner, sometimes loud and clear. Or it can be understood in the context of various colours of polyphony, or as a liminal condition of the colour as if it’s being ‘stuck’ in the mist of twilight zone between neighbouring colour-states, so it can’t become a particular colour and is in a flickering kaleidoscopic state.” 

‘Iridescent’ bares Oleg’s style of sonic storytelling and austere, otherworldly textural embellishments that bring to mind Ben Frost, Akira Yamaoka, and Oneohtrix Point Never but also plants the seed for much more club ready electro. ‘Starling Reprise I’ is a scorching piece of ambient techno that conjures Four Tet, LTO and Susumu Yokota’s blissful, kaleidoscopic synth work whilst ‘Starling Reprise II’ retains the frosty, steely ambience that has become Heinali’s calling card. 

Cover artwork by Olga Gaidash.
Mastered by Taylor Deupree at 12k Mastering.

Pre-order

Heinali - Rainbow Folding

Available Now - Nasha Records (Black Orchid EP)

Hyperbolic (BBC Radio1 - Nihal) - Available Now - Nasha Records (Black Orchid EP)

BERLIN

Stream the digital version which includes this remix on other platforms & pre-order the CD + T-Shirt (shipping mid December): https://idol.lnk.to/NightMelodyArticulation

Some of London-based electronic songwriter Ryan Lee West’s most recognised work to date comes in the shape of spontaneous EP or so-called mini album releases— clocking in just under the 40-minute mark, keeping their contents urgent, immediate and to the point.

As with his 2013 EP Odyssey and 2014’s Sonne, which were later compiled to a full-length release titled Odyssey / Sonne in 2015, there is a similarly strong synergy between his 2016 mini album Night Melody and this year’s Articulation. Bundled together to one long player under the title Night Melody / Articulation, digital formats including a bonus remix by Berlin-based Japanese pianist and producer Midori Hirano are available from today, November 24, 2020 — with the CD version on pre-order and shipping mid December.

His 34-minute, 6-track mini album Night Melody was 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.

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. 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.

July 31, 2020 saw the release of his highly anticipated new album Articulation with an equal running time of 34 minutes. 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.

Articulation 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.

The idea of using analogue drawings and tools to bolster digital creations can be heard in the structure of the pieces that make up Articulation from the broody techno opener ‘Vibrations on a String’ all the way to the album’s boundless closer ‘Sudden Awareness of Now’. Rising out of birdsong heard from his studio window, it has a particular urgency about it and seems to perfectly capture a
longing for escape. Built around a simple and repetitive melodic theme, expanding and retracting over the course of its seven-minute odyssey.

Tracklist / Cover Artwork:
1. Pattern of the North
2. Johannesburg
3. Slow Song
4. Lone
5. Night Melody
6. What Sorrow
7. Vibrations on a String
8. Forwardism
9. Melodica
10. Articulation
11. Still Here
12. Sudden Awareness of Now

Night Melody / Articulation

Articulation (Midori Hirano Remix)

Order CD · T-Shirt

Rival Consoles - Articulation (Midori Hirano Remix)

Equilibrium

REMIX KIT HERE: https://drive.google.com/file/d/16-H6x1lO0i2h8swTiNDfxz1cQR1PpLPa/view?usp=sharing
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Deja You - this time with extra Salwa Azar.

My always incredible friend Sal kindly lent her vocals to the track, as I was looking for something to take it up a notch, and as usual, her voice just brings something a bit magical even to my dark ranting.

Find more Sal music at:
https://soundcloud.com/salwa
https://salwa.bandcamp.com/album/black-feather-wooden-chair

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We said we'd never go back
We said we'd never do the bad thing again
We promised we would grow up
We said that we would try to be better friends


I notice that we're alone
I see we find ourselves here again
One of us picked up a phone
The other closed the circuit, now let's pretend
again


Sit here with head in my hands
Imagine you standing over my shoulder
We execute bigger plans
Pull on the adult face but we don't grow older

Stood tall and stretching my legs
I know you're stretching yours too
Learned that I don't need to beg
To do what I need to do


I'm looking in on myself
Outside the window like a lover displaced
I'll make you happy again
Restart the cycle like it's all been erased

These loops they will never end
the things we do affect the things that we've done
Rewind and try it again
This time we'll be the ones we tried to become
again

---

image used under CC-license by kind permission of flickr/nine2ninetysix

Hyperbolic (BBC Radio1 - Nihal) - Available Now - Nasha Records (Black Orchid EP)

vacious