Yes, we tend to cover mostly extreme music, but what can we do, we love ourselves some Erased Tapes. With that in mind, the first scheduled release of the London based label for 2022 is «4 Hands», by German musician Hans-Joachim Roedelius of Cluster and Harmonia fame and American composer Tim Story. Their new work was “recorded sequentially but on one and the same grand piano,” in a story that dates back to 2019, when Roedelius, while visiting Story, “laid down a few impromptu piano études.” His counterpart “then learned all their intricate phrasings to add his own parts in the following months.” Story goes on to explain that “together we shaped the basic compositions, sometimes carefully preparing the piano with various materials (including my own hands), and Achim’s performances were committed to tape. I continued to compose and refine my parts in the following months. Because it was all recorded on the same piano, the result has a very appealing consistency of sound, and hopefully blurs our individual contributions into a single integrated voice.” The press release then describes the album as encapsulating “rippling minimalistic patterns and delicate, ghostly interactions with surprising harmonic twists.” Below, listen to the album’s first single, «Spirit Clock».
Update: a new single from «4 Hands» has since been released. Find more about it at the bottom of the piece.
«4 Hands» is set for release on January 28, 2022, via Erased Tapes on cd, digital, and vinyl formats. Pre-orders can be found here.
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Around a week after we originally wrote this piece, the duo unveiled «Haru», the third song of the album. It comes dedicated to composer Harold Budd, who tragically passed away last year due from Covid-19. You can hear the song and read the story behind it at this location, via self-titled mag.
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