Tag: erased tapes

Music

Wintermusik

by JustinLeave a Comment on Wintermusik

Can you believe it’s nearly winter. How time flies by. So, whilst we’re on the cusp of ever darker and colder evenings it seemed fitting to revisit one of my favourite winter albums, which is called (rather fittingly) Wintermusik. It’s by the contemporary composer Nils Frahm. The songs were originally a Christmas present for friends but it was then put out in a limited edition on CD. It’s a beautiful record –  uplifting, yet with a tinge of sorrow. And it’s perfect for a Sunday evening as the dark creeps in and the temperature drops. Here is one of the 3 tracks. It is well worth finding a copy if you can – there are 5 copies left on amazon at the time of writing this, which you can find by clicking: here

Frahm has also just released a new album called Felt, which The Hype Machine is streaming in its entirety. It ‘s much more minimalistic than Wintermusik but there are some lovely moments. I can’t seem to embed the stream here but you can find it by clicking:
The Hype Machine – Nils Frahm: Felt

Music

A Winged Victory For The Sullen

by JustinLeave a Comment on A Winged Victory For The Sullen



This could well be the late-night album you’ve always dreamed of. It’s a collaboration between the composer Dustin O’Halloran and Adam Wiltzie (from Sparklehorse). It’s entirely instrumental, consisting primarily of drone like strings, and it slips between neo-classical, ambient and post-rock spaces like honey. It’s like a balm for everything that hurts.

If ever music demanded that time-worn cliché of turning the lights down low and lighting the candles – then this is it. It’s beautiful, haunting and incredibly evocative. But you need to turn those lights down…

Music

Codes in the Clouds

by JustinLeave a Comment on Codes in the Clouds

Yesterday I bought a raft of new music from the record label, Erased Tapes. It was discovering this label that helped to inspire this blog. Hearing the music the label puts out for the first time just made me want to rush out and tell everyone about it, “listen to this!” I wanted to cry. “Isn’t it beautiful…” And so this blog was born. And now, here I am again saying the same thing.

It’s difficult to convey the impact some of this wonderfully crafted and curated label’s music has had on me. It goes with me everywhere. It has, almost literally, soundtracked quite a large proportion of my daily travels. And that’s quite fitting because some call much of the label’s output, “cinematic music”. And yet it’s wonderfully free of the restraints that traditional cinematic music or soundtracks can have; with their pre-determined narrative and structure which become indelibly glued to them. With this music you are free to create your own narrative, your own soundtrack, your own story.

One of my favourite bands on the label is, Codes in the Clouds.  I plug myself into their world of roaring highs and simmering lows and just for those few snatched moments on the way to work or after a long day as I make my way home, I dream…

Play track: Don’t Go Awash In This Digital Landscape (feat. Paul Mullen)

Play track: Distant Street Lights (iambic remix)

Play track: We Anchor In Hope (Tom Hodge remix)

You can buy the album these tracks feature on by clicking: this link

Music

Erased Tapes

by Justin1 Comment on Erased Tapes

For those of you who like Sigur Ros or music that is completely transportive then this post’s for you…

 Earlier this week I discovered the most amazing music released through a small,  independent record label called Erased Tapes.  Finding this label was actually  one of the things that galvanised me to set up a blog – I heard their stuff and  immediately wanted to tell the world, to grab people by the collar and tell them  about this amazing music that has had such an indelible and immediate impact  upon me.
 Some people call this kind of music post rock (horrible, awful term) others call it  cinematic music and there might be something in that as much of their output is  fast becoming another soundtrack to my life.  Not that my life is actually cinematic  but you know what I mean.  Anyway, all I know is that it’s some of the most  haunting, beautiful and life affirming music that I’ve ever heard (especially on  one label) and just listening to it makes me glad to be alive.
 I’ll be posting some video and track highlights but you can actually download the  label’s sampler collections (Erased Tapes Collection I and II) for free and I urge  you to try them, if I could I’d grab you by that collar and take you there!  Just visit: