Back catalogue: Classical

Review: This is the third and final entry in Nils Frahm's Encores series and it finds the celebrated contemporary piano man layer in more percussive and electronic elements than the previous two instalments. The source music was made as part of the sessions for his last album "All Melody" and honed during live performances. As fans will know, "All Armed" here has been a staple of those live sets for some time and is 12 minutes of plaintive piano playing and wallowing synths that will sink you deep into the German's expressive world.

Review: Jerskin Fendrix, a South London 'Windmill' scenester who has colaborated with Black Midi and is associated with the likes of Black Country New Road among others, is one of the last names you'd expect to see soundtracking a big movie, but then Poor Things' director Yorgos Lanthimos is a character who rarely plays by the rules. This is the first film of his to include an original soundtrack, and also Fendrix's first soundtrack, the latter describing their relationship as being that of young lovers encountering the experience for the first time. The results are coy and innocent sounding, probably as a result, as well stirring and melancholic, with an emphasis on the breathier sounds in the canon and unusual instruments such as harp, bagpipes and hamonium alongside the more traditional strings and other orchestral trimmings. A remarkable soundtrack for a remarkable film.

Review: Christian Fennesz returns with Mosaic, an intricate album that lives up to its name, crafted meticulously layer by layer. Recorded throughout 2023 and completed in 2024, the project marks Fennesz's most reflective work yet. After setting up a new studio, his third in four years, Fennesz followed a disciplined daily routine, building the album from scratch without breaks. This structured approach allowed him to experiment freely, collecting and improvising ideas before developing them into fully composed pieces.The Touch label is natural home for this release. Some of his most important work has found its way to the label over the past 25 years like 2004's Venice and 2001's Endless Summer. Mosaic s has a delicate assembly of sonic fragments, creating a soundscape both complex and organic. The opener, 'Heliconia', introduces shimmering tones that float effortlessly, establishing a meditative atmosphere. Fennesz's unique approach to rhythm shines through on tracks like 'Love and the Framed Insects', which features an unconventional 7/4 time signature. Meanwhile, 'Personare' draws subtle inspiration from 1980s West African pop, a surprising influence that adds depth to the album's palette. One of the album's most intriguing pieces, 'Goniorizon', began with layers of hard rock guitar riffs but eventually evolved into something cinematic, showcasing Fennesz's ability to transform raw elements into magnificent landscapes. While guitar textures remain present, they feel more integrated into the overall fabric of the sound, lending the album a cohesive, filmic quality. Mosaic is both methodical and emotional, blending experimentation with an underlying sense of nostalgia. Another excellent album from one of the best.

Review: Ekin Fil's drone-pop consternations emerge through vaporous tones and forlorn, distant songs, as if plucked from a dream. These pieces exist on their own accord, moving with an internal logic of emotional heaviness that transcends mere shoegazing ambience. Her compositions evoke the fragmented etherealization of Elisabeth Fraser's voice from a forgotten David Lynch scene, acting as an ASMR trigger for Proustian recollection - profound, hidden, and desolately sad. The Helen Scarsdale Agency has had the pleasure of witnessing Ekin's continued growth as a composer, releasing seven of her magnificent, under-the-radar gems. Her slow-burning, dejected ballads draw from a deep well of sorrow, with varying frequencies and intensities of bitter light poking through - loves lost, a world broken. While not hopeless, her music acknowledges the considerable hardships we face. Sleepwalkers embraces familiar metaphors of narcolepsy and the unsettled state between sleep and wakefulness. Yet, it stretches into new territories with compositions paralleling Tim Hecker's gravitation soft-noise in 'Stone Cold' and slow-motion serialism in the ambient crawl of 'Gone Gone.' Recommended for fans of Grouper, Rafael Anton Irisarri, A.C. Marias, and Carla dal Forno.

Review: In 2018, Nils Frahm initiated the "Encores" series: a trilogy of EPs exploring different aspects of his musical world. Here, those sets get gathered together on vinyl for the very first time. Listened to in sequence, it sees the Berlin-based pianist and composer offer up solo acoustic pieces for piano and harmonium (tracks 1 to 5), before layering up piano, processed field recordings and complimentary instrumentation on a suite of sublime ambient tracks (6 to 9). The final section of the album - originally "Encores 3" - sees him flip the script entirely, working almost exclusively with a combination of modular and analogue synthesizers and electronically processed voices. That the collection hangs together as a coherent album despite these stylistic shifts is testament to Frahm's abilities both as a performer and producer.

Review: Nils Oliver Frahm is an intriguing musician. A classically trained pianist who has previous released both neo-classic compositions and experimental electronica, he creates music that's in turns spinetingling, atmospheric, strangely otherworldly and pleasingly dreamy. Spaces, his 13th full-length, sees him at his mercurial best, variously delivering emotion-rich synthscapes, Reichian hypnotism (see the impeccable "Said & Done" and "Hammers"), heart-aching piano compositions ("Went Missing", "Familiar"), drifting classical ambience ("Ross's Harmonium") and dubwise soundscapes ("An Aborted Beginning"). When he combines these different strands, such as on the intriguingly delay-laden "For-Peter-Toilet-Brushes-More", the album lifts to a whole new level of brilliance. Recommended.

Review: RECOMMENDED
Even the most determinedly understated chin-strokers will likely have emitted a squeal of delight when this one was announced. Everyone's favourite electronic producer-cum-contemporary composer (or vice versa?) releasing his latest works of art across two media - namely an album on cult hero label Erased Tapes, and a movie available on highbrow streaming service Mubi.

This is the audio, and while nobody who caught the video when it was available to view on-demand could argue this is just as powerful on its own, the solo sound is still an intoxicating and compelling ride. 'The Dane' is classy piano bliss, '#2' sits in the big room electronica end of things, 'Fundamental Values' is a scatty, broken ambient journey to the edges of drum 'n' bass, 'Enters' opens on long, ambient refrains.

Review: Finally Nils Frahm’s classic album ‘The Bells’ sees a first vinyl edition in deluxe packaging incl. album download code

plus 3 Exclusive Bonus Tracks! Nils Frahm, born in 1982, had an early introduction to music. During his childhood

he was taught to play piano by Nahum Brodski – a student of the last scholar of Tschaikowski. It was through this

that Nils began to immerse himself in the styles of the classical pianists before him as well as contemporary

composers. Today Nils Frahm works as an accomplished composer and producer in Berlin. In early 2008 he founded

Durton Studio, where he has worked with Peter Broderick and Dustin O’ Halloran amongst other fellow musicians.

As the curator of the Swedish boutique label Kning Disk’s Piano Series, Peter Broderick invited Nils to record a new

album of piano improvisations – the result is 'The Bells', which will now be released on the London-based cinematic

music label Erased Tapes in the UK, Ireland and North America. Perhaps the most stunning aspect of what on the

surface appears to be an entirely pre-planned and composed body of work comes with the discovery that these

pieces were in fact improvised. These two friends share a common affinity in that they now be released on the

London-based cinematic music label Erased Tapes in the UK, Ireland and North America. Perhaps the most stunning

aspect of what on the surface appears to be an entirely pre-planned and composed body of work comes with the

discovery that these pieces were in fact improvised. These two friends share a common affinity in that they both

possess an absolute mastery of melody, composition and performance – able to deliver with devastating effect. The

modest Mr. Broderick states ‘I remember thinking to myself as I lay there stunned, that I could spend ten years

trying to write an amazing piece of piano music, and still it would never be half as good as these improvisations!’

Recorded in a rented, beautiful old church in the heart of Berlin over two nights, Nils ‘just played’ with the

occasional instruction from Peter ‘I spouted “Make a song using only the notes C, E, and G”, or "Make a song that

you could imagine me rapping over the top of" (Track 8 – ‘My Things’). At one point I was even inside the piano,

laying on the strings, asking him to make a song called ‘Peter Is Dead In The Piano’. The resultant work 'The Bells'

Forte Music Distribution

shares the same excitement and air of playfulness. In contrast, his debut release 'Wintermusik' consists of three

piano led pieces, coloured with occasional celesta and reed organ parts. Most recently Frahm and Broderick reinterpreted

Pink Floyd’s ‘Is There Anybody Out There?’ for MOJO’s covermount CD ‘The Wall Rebuilt!’. According to

MOJO ‘Hamburg-born pianist Nils Frahm spent the last few years creating wondrous, haunting music. Together they

accentuate the orchestral qualities of Pink's lament, the track's sense of paranoia amplified by the choral resolution

of this version". For a musician this early in his career, Frahm displays an incredibly developed sense of control and

restraint in his work. As the recognition continues to grow for both releases, we are pleased to announce that 2010

will see his next album release on Erased Tapes. • The CD comes in a Deluxe Digisleeve containing a Free

Download Voucher for the brand new Erased Tapes Collection II.

PRESS: 'Hamburg-born pianist Nils Frahm spent the last few years creating wondrous, haunting music' – MOJO

'Already a recognised figure in musical circles, Nils Frahm is now gaining access to a wider audience with these two

releases. While The Bells and Wintermusik present different facets of his music, they above all showcase the man’s

exquisite talent and his perfect command of his art' (4.7/5) – The Milk Factory

Review: Classically trained pianist turned experimental composer Nils Frahm has previously been fairly prolific, so it's a surprise to find that Solo is his first album is some two years. As the title suggests, Solo is a wonderfully minimal, stripped back affair, full of rich, echo-laden recordings of Frahm sat playing his own piano compositions. He's a past master at creating evocative pieces with the minimal of instrumentation, and Solo is packed full of this kind of yearning, often melancholic fare. He doffs a cap to Steve Reich on the booming, circular chords and slowly shifting refrains of "Wall", while the soft focus "Immerse" is a 10-minute delight.

Review: Coming from a classical piano background, Nils Frahm has certainly turned into one dark dude! Having already released plenty of works on a myriad of labels, he lands on London-based Erase Tapes with what is probably one of his wildest pieces of music to date. Spanning 12 tracks in total, Frahm goes from joyful odes to the piano over to psychedelic synth improvisations to what sound like intricate tape manipulations, nutty drum-machine programming and a bag full o'field recordings. If you're into the idea of Tchaikovsky on some serious amounts of stimulants then look no further, this guy is shaping the way pianos are played...

Review: Ambient and neo-classical pioneer Nils Frahm's Music For Animals is, amazingly for someone as prolific as he, his first fresh studio material since 2018's All Melody and 2019's associated All Encores. It is also his first work on the new label he has co-founded with his manager and it plays out over three immersive hours that are quite different to his previous work. It doesn't make use of his famous piano skills but is a mediative and spacious record that allows room to think. Despite the length of it, this is a record worth giving your full attention.

Review: This new one from our favourite US ambient outlet takes the form of a selection of long-form compositions from artists who are close to the label. As such it's a perfect reflection of its signature sound - deeply immersive soundscapes, slowly shifting synths and meditative moods made with a mix of hardware tools, guitars, pedals and even baritone vocals. It's named after a Norwegian term for warmth and intimacy, which certainly plays out from the evolving loops of 'A Whisper' to the textured melancholy of 'Canaan' and the reverberant drift of 'Coronation Ring'.

Review: Certain Path is a serene, piano-driven album by collaborators zake (aka label head Zach Frizzell), From Overseas which is Kevin Sery and City of Dawn aka Damien Duque. This reflective collection of seven pieces invites deep contemplation with tender piano motifs and subtle drones creating a meditative atmosphere. Opening with 'Where Time Slows Down,' the album blends delicate melodies with layered guitar textures. Inspired by Frizzell's wife, the title track offers heartfelt emotion, while 'Avec l'aide de Vincent' honours a close mentor. Throughout, the artists employ nocturnal recording sessions, field recordings and analogue treatments to craft an introspective, evocative listening experience.