Rival Consoles

Erased Tapes

Rival Consoles is the alias of Ryan Lee West, an electronic musician, composer and producer born on November 10, 1985 in Leicester and based in London. His earlier name was Aparatec, and he was the first artist signed to Erased Tapes, whose catalogue holds all his albums and EPs. He studied sound at De Montfort University in Leicester, began on guitar at twelve and wrote on it before finding it limiting, and is known for making synthesizers sound warm and human, often sketching on guitar or piano first. Pitchfork, as quoted by Wikipedia, put him in the vein of Jon Hopkins and Nils Frahm.

The Decadent EP (2007) and Helvetica (2009) led to Kid Velo (2011), the Odyssey EP (2013), Sonne (2014), Howl (October 16, 2015, 41:37, produced by West with Peter Gregson on cello and Fabian Prynn on drums; Metacritic 80, Pitchfork 7.7, and Exclaim! 9 out of 10 calling it the pinnacle of West's career so far), Night Melody (2016), Persona (April 13, 2018, inspired by the opening of Bergman's film, with bowed double bass and real drums), Articulation (July 31, 2020), Overflow (December 3, 2021, a dance score for Alexander Whitley), Now Is (October 14, 2022) and Landscape from Memory (July 2025). He scored the Black Mirror episode "Striking Vipers" and the game MindsEye, and has remixed Depeche Mode, Olafur Arnalds with Nils Frahm and Noisia. He told PopMatters about Persona: I prefer to say more with less if it's possible.