Erased Tapes will release a special boxset of exclusive music from every artist on the label for Record Store Day 2018. The release rounds off a jubilant year of tenth anniversary celebrations for the label.
Featuring never before heard tracks from Nils Frahm, Kiasmos and A Winged Victory For The Sullen, 1+1=X sees Erased Tapes artists come together to make an album as a collective. Sharing the same space and instruments during a residency at Vox-Ton studio in Berlin, they recorded 20 songs to mark the label’s 10-year history. The 3-LP box set, produced by label curator Robert Raths, is released on Record Store Day April 21.
The boxset is one of more than 450 releases for the 11th Record Store Day. Long Live Vinyl has produced the Official Record Store Day Guide, bringing you the lowdown on every release. Get your copy, delivered to your door, here
Listen to ‘Long May It Sustain’ by A Winged Victory For The Sullen, featuring Masayoshi Fujita on vibraphone and Anne Müller on cello: httpss://soundcloud.com/erasedtapes/a-winged-victory-for-the-sullen-long-may-it-sustain
Between August 2016 and 2017, each artist arrived with a new composition or an improvisation to record at Vox-Ton. Run with much love and care by Italian engineer Francesco Donadello – who has worked on many Erased Tapes recordings before including A Winged Victory For The Sullen, Michael Price and Lubomyr Melnyk – it is one of the few studios left where it’s still possible to record fully analogue, isolated from the city noise and in a room that can fit a large ensemble. Reflective of the communal spirit, 1+1=X is the result of an ambitious undertaking; to create an album as a collective, not just a compilation of songs, that celebrates collaboration and spontaneity.
“As much as Erased Tapes probably wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for the digital age, we should also remind ourselves of what we are capable of without it,” says Raths. “1+1=X is a testament of what can be achieved when we work together as a collective, which is more than the sum of what we can achieve as individuals.”
The majority of songs on this album feature contributions from multiple performers, whether it’s Nils Frahm duetting on the keys with Arthur Jeffes of Penguin Cafe, Kiasmos being joined by Högni and a string ensemble, Douglas Dare’s one-take ‘Darling’ featuring Rival Consoles on synths, Masayoshi Fujita on vibes and Raths himself controlling the tremolo on his voice. Peter Broderick’s ‘Perpetual Glow’ meanwhile, brings in a full big band and choir where everyone present, including the studio staff, was invited to grab any instrument and join in. Every song has a unique story and approach – in-the-moment decisions and little accidents that could only come out of these kinds of circumstances where people work together in the same space, sparking off each other and their environment. Even Rival Consoles’ remix of Daniel Brandt’s ‘Blackpool Sands Forever’ was conceived of in the studio kitchen during recording breaks.
Japanese vocal performer Hatis Noit decided to bring a field recording of the ocean with her, which she had taken near the Fukushima power plant after participating in a memorial ceremony for the opening of the evacuation area. It is also no coincidence that the album opens with ‘Brutal Moderna’ by Qasim Naqvi (Dawn of Midi) and A Winged Victory For The Sullen’s ‘Long May It Sustain’, which were both recorded on the day the U.S. election results came in.
“Qasim asked me to read the news headlines with a stutter over the top of his piece. It was an oddly beautiful experience which brought all of us together on a day when spirits were otherwise a bit low,” says Peter Broderick. “I thought this residency was a wonderful idea. In fact I would have loved to be there for more of it. I made some amazing new friends, some stronger bonds with old friends and some wonderful pieces of music that I’m honoured to be a part of. Robert has often described Erased Tapes as a family, and perhaps above all else this was just his earnest effort to bring the family together. I hope we’ll have some reunions in years to come!”
Designed in collaboration with Torsten Posselt at FELD, the 3-LP set is accompanied by a book of photographs documenting the recording process. It comes in a bespoke, hand-assembled white box, limited to 1000 copies worldwide.
Tracklisting:
A1. Qasim Naqvi – Brutal Moderna
A2. A Winged Victory For The Sullen – Long May It Sustain
A3. Rival Consoles – Ritual Song
A4. Nils Frahm – Frau Dehlholm
B1. Daniel Thorne – Iroise
B2. Daniel Brandt – Blackpool Sands Forever
B3. Douglas Dare – Darling
C1. Michael Price – Eyn Hallow
C2. Kiasmos & Högni – Zebra
C3. Ben Lukas Boysen – Pending
C4. David Allred – Ahoy
D1. Anne Müller – Bel Tono
D2. Lubomyr Melnyk – Palisade 1
E1. Hatis Noit – Inori
E2. Masayoshi Fujita – Spaceship Magical
E3. Högni – Máni
E4. Peter Broderick – The Perpetual Glow
F1. Arthur Jeffes & Nils Frahm – Up Is Good
F2. Daniel Brandt – Blackpool Sands Forever (Rival Consoles Remix)
F3. Penguin Cafe – Wheels Within Wheels (Greg Gives Peter Space Remix)