London-based producer Ryan Lee West, better known under the name Rival Consoles, is notable for making synthesisers sound human and atmospheric.
Over the course of a critically acclaimed fifteen-year career, Rival Consoles' music has diversified from the challenging electronic output to gradually become more conceptual and metamorphic.
Across multiple projects he has performed at the Tate and for Boiler Room at the V&A Museum in London, and at many major European music festivals. He has also been in high demand as a composer, scoring Charlie Brooker’s much talked about Black Mirror episode Striking Vipers.
His latest album Now Is (his eighth on cult record label Erased Tapes) was released last October to much acclaim.
Ahead of a live appearance at the National Concert Hall on May 20th as part of an Erased Tapes takeover of the venue, we asked Ryan for his choice cultural picks...
FILM
The last film I watched at the cinema was Triangle of Sadness. I loved this surreal experience of a film and how it blended humour, satire, absurdity, madness and outright disgust. Recommended escapism.
MUSIC
I have been listening a lot to a German techno duo called Schwefelgelb. They have a lot of industrial and very bold, angular elements but there is always so much atmosphere, which often comes in the form of spoken word or shouting set into the background in an unclear way. Very well-crafted music.
BOOK
The Employees by Olga Ravn - a sci fi work that takes the form of a list of employee statements, set in a very otherworldly space voyage. The work is remarkable in how it slowly and very quietly hits you with emotional, melancholy, regret, identity, motherhood etc. There is a sense of deep longing, which I love.
THEATRE
I haven’t been to a play for a long time but I did manage to see a final rehearsal of Verdi’s Aida at the Royal Opera House, which was an incredible experience - modern stage design but with the emotional power of Verdi’s haunting music.
TV
I’m not sure how it happened but I did get into Succession, perhaps because it is total escapism that doesn’t really reflect on anything in my life, I like the humour and the constant arguments that come from ego and power struggles.
GIG
An upcoming show I am super excited about is Alva Noto at the Barbican Centre. I find his very sparse arrangements and slowly evolving structures very inspiring. For fans of unusual musical sounds, especially noise and digital clicks.
ART
Two exhibitions that explored abstract painting and were very inspiring, especially with colour and the sensation of movement were Catherine Ko Chen at North Coast Asylum and Alice Hartly at Blue Shop Cottage.
TECH
This is a bit bizarre but I love this very mysterious YouTube channel in which a person (whose face is never seen) crafts knives out of very unusual materials such as smoke, sand, potatoes, chocolate etc and in doing so explores wild and strange chemistry and how different materials affect each other. I think of it as very odd, educational entertainment.
THE NEXT BIG THING...
I think like many people I am fascinated and in awe of the technology of chat GPT and related AI models. They are seemingly opening doors in a myriad of ways. Creatively it seems like it's going to give way to so many new aesthetics and hybrid styles/fusions as well as problem solving in code/design/engineering. Though the thing that is daunting and slightly negative about this for me is the fact that the world will become ever more overwhelmed with content/ideas/things, how will humans navigate a world that is expoentially more flooded with things?
Rival Consoles plays the National Concert Hall on May 20 as part of an Erased Tapes takeover of the venue - find out more here.
