Name: Two Trains
Brand: Hogni

Bonus disc

Bonus disc: No

Catalogue number

ERAT103LPRT

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Colour

Colour details

Discogs ID

Discs

Download code

Download code: No

Rough Trade Exclusive

Rough Trade Exclusive: No

Extended format

Extended format: Yes

Format detail

LP+ - Rough Trade Exclusive. 250 Copies only on Transparent Green Vinyl with Download.

Format Music US

Limited edition

Release date

2017-10-30

Signed copies

Signed copies: No

Supplier US

Redeye

Tax rate US

Sales:8.875

UPC / Barcode

1 / Extended format: Yes / LP / Rough Trade Exclusive: No / Signed copies: No

Artist

Hogni

Genre US

Modern Composition

Label US

Erased Tapes

AOTM 2017

Exclusives

Spanning over ten years, Erased Tapes has nurtured avant-garde artists from all around the world whilst remaining a genre-defying and truly independent label.

Founded by German-born Robert Raths in 2007, the London-based label has grown and extended across the world, establishing satellite offices in Los Angeles and Berlin. 2015 saw BBC 6 Music radio presenter Mary Anne Hobbs stage a sold out Erased Tapes evening featuring Nils Frahm and A Winged Victory For The Sullen at the Royal Albert Hall as part of the prestigious BBC Prom series. Shortly after Erased Tapes was awarded Best Small Label at the 2015 AIM Awards.

With a current roster including the likes of <a href="https://roughtrade.com/us/artist/nils-frahm">Nils Frahm</a>, <a href="https://roughtrade.com/us/artist/peter-broderick">Peter Broderick</a>, <a href="https://roughtrade.com/us/artist/hogni">Högni</a>, <a href="https://roughtrade.com/us/artist/penguin-cafe">Penguin Cafe</a>, and <a href="https://roughtrade.com/us/artist/kiasmos">Kiasmos</a>, the label continues to go from strength to strength.

Rough Trade's Emily Waller sat down with Robert to talk about the history of the label, as well as some of his favorite projects so far:

To celebrate Erased Tapes being our Label Focus, we have the following special editions available now at Rough Trade, all purchases also come with a free Erased Tapes CD sampler:

<a href="https://roughtrade.com/us/music/all-melody">Double LP plus Rough Trade Exclusive LP Encores 1 featuring 5 extra tracks. Comes housed in a tip-on sleeve with photograph including 12-page photo booklet and download code. Limited Edition - One Off Pressing.</a>

<a href="https://roughtrade.com/us/music/two-trains">LP+ - Rough Trade Exclusive. 250 Copies only on Transparent Green Vinyl with Download.</a>

Label Focus - Erased Tapes

Rough Trade Exclusive. 250 Copies only on Transparent Green Vinyl with Download.

Introducing Icelandic composer and singer <a href="https://roughtrade.com/us/artist/hogni">Hogni</a>, better known as the front man of indie rock band Hjaltalín and previous member of electronic group GusGus, as the newest addition to Erased Tapes with his solo debut album Two Trains. Amidst destruction on the mainland, the two locomotives Minor and Pionér transported wagons full of rock and gravel to the Icelandic seaside during the construction of the Reykjavík harbour in 1913-1917. The two metallic giants ushered in a new age in Iceland. However, soon after construction ceased the two trains were parked and have never driven since. Now they only serve to remind us of the grandeur of a bygone future. They are the only trains ever to have graced the Icelandic landscape. The music in Two Trains embraces the spirit of the original European avant-garde and invokes these concepts in its chugging rhythms, metallic clangs and brooding choral arrangements (men's choruses are a distinctly Icelandic phenomena related to the national/romantic politics of the 19th and 20th century) while the lyrics speak of ominous clouds on the war-ridden eastern horizon and freight cars filled with gravel and dreams.