Island Songs - Olafur Arnalds
Olafurs journey was also be chronicled by acclaimed film director Baldvin Z. Olafur arnalds teams up with Mercury Classics to bring you a unique and evolving audio-visual portrait of his home country of Iceland. This project is on a scale that has never been attempted in the classical music world before. Island songs is the innovative brainchild of BAFTA award winning composer Olafur Arnalds, alongside acclaimed film director Baldvin Z BBCs Trapped, Life in a Fish Bowl.
Olafur traveled to 7 towns across Iceland where he collaborated with 7 local artists, and at each location he created, recorded and performed a new composition with the artist. He delivered the audio and video the following day. Shrink-wrapped. Mercury classics released one audio track and one live performance video each Monday.
Island songs is a real-time interactive project that will evolve in the digital space, hosted via a bespoke website.
Living Room Songs
The Chopin Project LP
The result after studio mixing - is a textured, multi-layered musical experience unlike any other. I love playing on out-of-tune bar pianos and, Chopin s music fits very well to those circumstances, in my opinion, she says. The listener should feel so close to the performer that he or she can hear each breath, or fragile touch of the keys.
Ott was instantly hooked by the project. Shrink-wrapped. He also employed various mixing techniques to re-enforce feelings of solitude or loneliness, and to create dreamlike ambient soundscapes. And one day, on a long flight to london, in partnership with the acclaimed German-Japanese pianist Alice Sara Ott, I thought: why don t I do it myself? And thus, THE CHOPIN PROJECT was born.
In order to achieve his aim, Arnalds developed an intimate, fragile and often charmingly imperfect sound using old/unusual/altered pianos captured on vintage recording equipment. Some of them were prepared with felt to create otherworldly effects. He wrote for intimate spaces, for living rooms, where lots of things are happening, and he loved to improvise and improvisation flourishes in these kind of venues, and the performer can respond to them.
All Melody
A series of these in-studio photos will be included in a booklet with the physical copy of All Melody. For the past two years, nils frahm has been building a brand new studio in Berlin to make his 7th studio album titled All Melody, which will be released on January 26th, 2018 via Erased Tapes, before Nils embarks on his first world tour since 2015.
Despite being confined within the majestic four walls of the historical East German Funkhaus, All Melody is, or in an old dry well in Mallorca, in fact, buried deep in its reverb chambers, proof that music is limitless, timeless, and reflects that of Nils own capabilities. Booklet. Digital download included.
Tip-on sleeve with photograph. Music label: erased Tapes Records 2018. His new album is born out of the freedom that his new environment provided, allowing Nils to explore without any restrictions and to keep it All about the Melody. Double vinyl pressing.
ANIMA -2LP 12" album, 33 rpm
Music label: erased Tapes Records 2018. Booklet. Tip-on sleeve with photograph. Shrink-wrapped. A ‘one-reeler’ film, also entitled ANIMA, is available to watch exclusively via Netflix worldwide from midnight 27th June.
I Am Easy To Find
The frontman and natural focal point was deliberately and dramatically side staged in favor of a variety of female voices, nearly all of whom have long been in the group’s orbit. I am easy to find is the national’s eighth studio album and the follow-up to 2017’s GRAMMY®-award winning release Sleep Well Beast.
Shrink-wrapped. The former is not the video for the latter; the latter is not the soundtrack to the former. Mills, is credited as co-producer of the album, which was recorded at Long Pond, Brooklyn Youth Chorus, Hudson Valley, Lisa Hannigan, NY with vocal contributions from Sharon Van Etten, along with the band, Mina Tindle and more.
The film was directed by academy award-nominated director Mike Mills 20th Century Women, Beginners, and starring Academy Award Winner Alicia Vikander. Tip-on sleeve with photograph. Double vinyl pressing. Music label: erased Tapes Records 2018.
For Now I Am Winter LP
On his past outings and last studio album. And they have escaped the Weight of Darkness, the basis was almost always piano and strings with electronic embellishments. Hes also released two eps each composed in a week; Found Songs in 2009 and Living Room Songs in 2011. Shrink-wrapped. Icelandic singer Arnor Dan can be heard on four tracks.
Fresh off lauded performances at iceland Airwaves, including an intimate KEXP live broadcast performance, Arnalds continues to steadily build a reputation as one of the worlds most bright and able young composers. Tip-on sleeve with photograph. I think its by far the best thing Ive done. Now the dynamic has shifted, with Arnalds thinking in terms decidedly more poppy than before.
And They Have Escaped The Weight Of Darkness
Encores 2
While encores 1 focused on an acoustic pallet of sounds with just a solo piano and harmonium, Encores 2 explores a more ambient landscape from the All Melody sessions, the pinnacle of which is the astral 12 minute showpiece Spells. Shrink-wrapped.
Con Todo El Mundo
Formed of laura lee on bass, and donald “dj” johnson on drums; globetrotting Texan trio Khruangbin present their second album ‘Con Todo El Mundo’, Mark Speer on guitar, set for release on 26th January 2018. Music label: erased Tapes Records 2018. Digital download included. Laura lee explains the album’s title: “my grandpa would always ask me ‘Como me quieres?’ ‘how much do you love me’?, and he’d only ever accept one response.
Shrink-wrapped. A vibe-synchronous soul-unit travelling the planet, absorbing the sights, sounds and feels from cultures across the globe, honing their craft, processing them through the Khruangbin filter and gifting the result. With all the world. Tip-on sleeve with photograph. Shrink-wrapped.