Labels in Review: Erased Tapes

Architect, visual artist, and musician Robert Raths created a label that has grown from a few core artists upon its founding in 2007 to having dozens of top names today.

Written by Christopher Battey

An Erased Tapes artist often blends gentle pianos, ethereal strings, and other various instruments to create a satisfying mix of presumably “modern classical” music. However, in a 2017 Q&A, founder Robert Raths boldly stated, “Classical is dead. As Miles Davis said, ‘If something ain’t moving, it’s dead,’ and we are very much in motion.” While Raths’ iconoclasm of the genre may come as a shock to some, the history of Erased Tapes supports his statement.

As with most things, Erased Tapes is a product of its time. Founded during the heyday of the MySpace craze, Raths revealed in a 2017 interview that the social media platform played a significant part in the label’s early days, saying it “really brought a generation of people together.” MySpace helped Raths, who at the time was unsatisfied with the quality of his own music, connect with other artists. He quickly realized that he was better at developing other people’s content, rather than creating his own, and instead wanted to “help other artists ... blossom.”

This mindset caught the attention of Ryan West (better known as Rival Consoles), who discovered Raths online — the two then collaborated together to create Erased Tapes. In the early days of Erased Tapes, the recruiting of new artists occurred in a very non-structured, organic fashion. It’s clear that Raths knew the types of sounds he was looking for — he would go to shows and personally hand out CDs and promos for Erased Tapes to artists he believed would be a good fit. One such artist, Peter Broderick, eventually decided to collaborate with Raths after remembering him from one of these shows, and because one of his collaborators was acquainted with the label.

This spirit of collaboration from Erased Tapes’s early history has continued into the present, as they try to get artists that would complement each other well on the label. The idea of each artist being complementary to a larger whole is essential to the identity of Erased Tapes, and aids in the creation of a general musical aesthetic.

Soon after signing Broderick, Raths encountered artist Ólafur Arnalds and obtained his release “Eulogy for Evolution” for Erased Tapes, which later received critical acclaim. In the coming years, Raths and the Erased Tapes artists would bring more musicians into the fold, with over 30 artists signed to date.

In an Erased Tapes track, the listener is transported to the world of each artist’s unique soundscape. According to their website, Erased Tapes’s mission is to “consistently nurture genre-defying artists from all around the world,” — with an emphasis on “genre-defying.” This is evident in the label’s first artists, Rival Consoles and Ólafur Arnalds. Much of Rival Consoles’ music possesses strong, driving electronic beats that would be at home on any dance floor, while Ólafur Arnalds uses piano and classical strings to create deeply moving albums that are somber, uplifting, and heartbreaking all at once. Despite the contrast in styles, both artists seem right at home at Erased Tapes.

Raths articulated the label’s sonic diversity in another 2017 interview – “I think it’s useful to know the rules to break them, and you have to have a foundation, but it’s also about atmosphere and energy.” This holistically sums up Erased Tapes artists – the music they make has the technical proficiency that’s necessary for solid compositions, while also maintaining rare and refreshing originality.

In addition to sound, Raths also ensures that the visuals of Erased Tapes are just as impeccable as the music. From the label’s minimalist logo, which was traced from a seismograph of an earthquake, to the beautifully abstract album covers, the visual aspects of the label rival the quality of the music it represents. Given Raths’ background in visual arts, the impeccable designs of the album covers are filled with artistic intent and serve as a sort of visual appetizer for a listener’s audio meal.

This can be seen and heard in Lubomyr Melnyk’s Evertina; at first glance, the art seems to be a simple explosion of color, blues and reds, blending with black outlines. However, upon further inspection, natural beauty can be seen: an idyllic river with mountains in the background ,and a blooming tree in the center. The musical content is similar, with the piano’s deceivingly simple nature hiding the emotional ebbs and flows that characterize this refreshingly wholesome release. This pairing of the visual and audio aesthetic not only makes the release a sum greater than its individual parts, but helps emphasize Erased Tapes’s lifelong emphasis on the importance of visuals as well as the music it’s meant to represent.

Yet another important aspect of Erased Tapes is their dedication to creating quality musical spaces. Raths has gone to great lengths to ensure that the quality of sound in Erased Tapes spaces’ is at the highest standard, and even hired a Japanese technician to create specialized hexagonal speakers that radiate sound in all directions. In addition to the sound technology at Erased Tapes, they have also commissioned the creation of entirely new instruments such as the Klavins Una Corda – a specialized piano that “offers distinctly clear, warm sound characteristics.”

Erased Tapes as a label excels in almost every department, but they’re summarized best in this quote from longtime Erased Tapes collaborator Ólafur Arnalds: “One thing that has always struck me about Erased Tapes is that they don’t sign an artist unless they’re friends with them. They’ve always liked to keep things close to their hearts in that way.” Keeping things close knit in this way not only helps create a unique sense of family in the label, but also boosts artistic production. In keeping things amongst a smaller group of people, Erased Tapes allows for artists to get to know each other's work, resulting in several collaborations. The sense of family that has drawn so many artists to them has fostered a level of genuine creativity that establishes Erased Tapes as not just a business, but as a collective of artists. This, along with consistent high quality of the music is what makes Erased Tapes special, and what ensures that listeners can always appreciate releases from the label.

Afterglow ATXMay 8, 2019