Nils Quak was one of the first to respond when Eliane Tapes was announced to record music. His work Ichi-Go Ichi-E is inspired by and dedicated to the work of Eliane Radigue.
Eliane Tapes is a series of music dedicated to the vast amount of work and the huge influence by Éliane Radigue.
For many musicians working in the field of drone (a term Radigue does not use for her music) and other forms of minimal music someway, known and unknown, the work of Eliane Radigue is an influence on what they are doing. With her work she did so many groundbreaking things that in modern electronic and electro-acoustic music her influence can’t be ignored.
All music in this series is presented as tape releases and downloads. We want to release it on tape because it used to play a major role in Eliane Radigue her early music.
Ichi-Go Ichi-E
Ichi-go ichi-e consists of two improvisations on a modular synthesizer recorded straight to disk with no additional overdubs. I have no recalling of the particular setup. But it was warm outside on a sunny August morning. The windows were open. Cars were passing by. Everything was calm.
Nothing dies. Everything vanishes.
Reviews
Drone music! One of those musical genres that divide the world of experimental music lovers. Like ‘laptop and field recordings and ‘harsh noise’, a genre that has absolute haters and absolute lovers. The first can’t see the many shapes and forms the latter can see. I am, perhaps, come to think of it, an absolute lover of the drone genre, even when there are alleys I don’t favour (combine drone and metal, and I am out of here). Eliane Tapes, named after pioneering drone composer Eliane Radigue, is a sub-division of Moving Furniture Records, and with this trio of new releases, they double the label’s catalogue. I had no idea where to start, as I wanted to hear them all at once. I started with Nils Quak, of whom I heard the least amount of music of the three here. He plays a modular synthesiser set-up, and one sunny August morning, he recorded two improvisations. Windows open, he writes, but none too much can be found in the music. Two fine, solid pieces of synthesiser improvisations in long form. Maybe there was some planning before going all out, maybe not. I enjoyed this, but at the same time, I must admit that I don’t know if such improvisations should be released on cassette, assuming Quak could do such fine things every day. So what decides what goes out and what remains in the vaults? Something to think about when playing these two lovely pieces, which show quite a bit of change throughout.
Cassette tape limited to 100 or digital available from our webshop
Or find the album on your preferred streaming service here: https://orcd.co/et06_nils_quak
Nils Quak
For more than 25 years now, Nils Quak is recording music under his own name, differentmonikers or in bands. As a committed amateur he is deeply routed in the nonexistent scene of the European no audience underground (as coined by Rob Hayler of Radio Free Midwich).
His music – mostly improvised on modular synthesisers – moves between abrasive noise textures and distant washes of worn out new age synth tapes – sometimes comforting, sometimes gnawing at your senses like a bad acid trip.
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