Nils Frahm: Spaces (2LP) [ERASED TAPES]

Why you'll love it

This limited 2LP set comes in a die-cut cover with two printed inserts and a download. Spaces scored 90 on Metacritic, and Pitchfork named "Says" one of the 100 best tracks of 2014.

This edition

• 2LP set
• Limited edition
• Die-cut jacket
• Two printed inserts
• Download card included
• Pressed in the EU

About the album

Most live albums try to sound like a night out. Spaces sounds more like a scrapbook. Nils Frahm spent two years taping his concerts on whatever was to hand, cassettes and reel-to-reel machines included, and then cut the results together into what he called a collage of field recordings.

"Says" builds from a single synth pulse into a slow, glowing swell that Pitchfork said comes closest to capturing the experience of seeing him play. "Said and Done" and "Familiar" revisit earlier pieces with fresh hands, "Hammers" rattles along on a prepared piano, and the long side-three suite "For, Peter, Toilet Brushes, More" lets the Berlin pianist stretch out with a little help from household objects. The room is always part of the music: you hear the crowd lean in, the tape breathe and the piano creak.

Critics heard a seamless whole rather than a set list, and it remains the record many people start with. It also contains a track called "Improvisation for Coughs and a Cell Phone," which is the most polite thing anyone has ever done with an audience interruption.

Also at Kops: more Nils Frahm on vinyl · browse Electronic

Tracklist

Listen

On Erased Tapes (cat# ERATP055LP), a reissue of the 2013 album.