Rival Consoles Explained

Rival Consoles
Birth Name:	Ryan Lee West
Alias:	Aparatec
Birth Date:	1985 11, df=y
Birth Place:	Leicester, England
Origin:	London, England
Genre:	Electronic
Occupation:	Musician, composer, producer
Years Active:	2007–present
Label:	Erased Tapes
Associated Acts:	Nils Frahm, Kiasmos, Ólafur Arnalds, Clark, Nosaj Thing, Luke Abbott, Peter Broderick

Ryan Lee West, known by his stage name Rival Consoles, is a British electronic musician,^[1] living in London. All of his albums and EPs have been released by Erased Tapes Records.

Biography

West was born in Leicester.^[2] He learned to play guitar in his youth, but later switched to electronic production, studying music technology at De Montfort University.^[2] He initially used the stage name Aparatec, releasing an EP of material under that name in 2007. His first release as Rival Consoles was issued later in 2007 by Erased Tapes Records, which has released all of his albums and EPs.

West has remixed tracks by Jon Hopkins, Vessels, Ólafur Arnalds, Nils Frahm, Max Cooper, Noisia, Sasha and Toydrum among others. ^[3]

Rival Consoles' style is a combination of ambient, shoegaze, minimal techno and cinematic—often created with analogue synths, pedals and degraded processes. Pitchfork described Rival Consoles' sound as "high-brow, avant-garde electronic music in the vein of Jon Hopkins and Nils Frahm".

West has also scored work for contemporary dance such as Alexander Whitley's Overflow^[4] and has scored an episode of Netflix's Black Mirror ("Striking Vipers"). His track "Recovery" was used in a 2020 television commercial for Blue Dragon foods.

Discography

Studio albums

Solo

• IO (2009, Erased Tapes)
• Kid Velo (2011, Erased Tapes)
• Howl (2015, Erased Tapes)^{[5] [6]}
• Night Melody (2016, Erased Tapes)^[7] – mini-album^[8]
• Persona (2018, Erased Tapes)^{[9] [10] [11]}
• Articulation (2020, Erased Tapes)^[12]
• Overflow (2021, Erased Tapes)^[13]
• Now Is (2022, Erased Tapes) ^[14]

With other musicians

• 65/Milo (2009, with Kiasmos)

EPs

• The Decadent (2007, Erased Tapes)
• Vemeer EP (2007, Erased Tapes, as Aparatec)
• Helvetica (2009, Erased Tapes)
• Odyssey (2014, Erased Tapes)
• Sonne (2015, Erased Tapes)
• Odyssey/Sonne (2015, Erased Tapes)

Remixes

• Four - Olafur Arnalds, Nils Frahm - Rival Consoles Remix
• Distant Light - Max Cooper - Rival Consoles Remix
• Cassette sessions E - Sasha - Rival Consoles Remix
• The Approach - Noisia - Rival Consoles Remix
• Jesus Song - Toydrum - Rival Consoles Remix
• Weightless - Neil Cowley Trio - Rival Consoles Remix
• Swim - Douglas Dare - Rival Consoles Remix
• Birds That Fly - Kidnap - Rival Consoles Remix
• In Mindibu - Stavroz - Rival Consoles Remix

Notes and References

1. Web site: Fusilli . Jim . 'Howl' by Rival Consoles Review . . 2015-11-03 .
2. Web site: Leicester - Blast - Rival Consoles . BBC . 2009-08-14 .
3. Web site: Rival Consoles - Artists. Erased Tapes. en. 2019-05-10.
4. Web site: Overflow .
5. Web site: 2020-10-31. Rival Consoles: Howl. Pitchfork.
6. Web site: 2020-10-31. Rival Consoles - Howl. Crack Magazine.
7. Web site: 2020-10-31. Rival Consoles: Night Melody. Pitchfork.
8. Web site: 2020-10-31. Rival Consoles Pays Homage to the Legacy of Minimalist Composition with Striking New Single. www.vice.com.
9. News: Rival Consoles – Persona. Clash. 2018-05-03. 2020-06-01. Pritchard. Will.
10. Web site: Persona by Rival Consoles. The Line of Best Fit. 2018-04-13. 2020-06-01. Foster. Rory.
11. Web site: Rival Consoles album review: Persona. The Skinny. 2018-04-10. 2020-06-01. Wade. Lewis.
12. Web site: 2020-10-31. Rival Consoles: Articulation. Pitchfork.
13. Web site: Rival Consoles Announces New Album 'Overflow'. Clash. Murray. Robin. 6 October 2021. 24 November 2021.
14. Web site: Interviews . Clash Magazine Music News, Reviews & . Murray . Robin . 2022-08-01 . Rival Consoles Unveils New Album 'Now Is' News . 2022-08-02 . Clash Magazine Music News, Reviews & Interviews . en-GB.