★Raster-Noton
Sh
Inspired by her residencies at Stockholm's EMS, Kyoka's SH may be her most experimental record yet. Each of these four snapshots manifests its own spontaneous character, as they were edited and recorded during various sound checks and performances. The results showcase Kyoka's chaotic sound with unforeseen shifts in beat, unpredictable repetitions, and surprising clicks and bops. Gloomy opener "Susurrus" is followed by the dubby, up-tempo "Smash/Hush," which culminates in a repetitive and …
Spielraum | Allgegenwart | Strahlung
One of Raster-Noton’s newest, most virulent recruits fillets the themes of his previous solo album, La Demeure; Il Y A Peril En La Demeure into the variegated post-techno, drone and ambient dimensions of the 3-part, 19 track Spielraum|Allgegenwart|Strahlung.La Demeure; Il Y a Péril en la Demeure is the opening to a five-part complex of works by artist Grischa Lichtenberger. "La demeure" -- "the residence" -- could be understood as referring to a sense of intimacy in the possibilities of isolat…
Cory Arcane
Cory Arcane is the fifth LP from the French-born, Berlin-based experimental techno producer, real name David Letellier. Like the previous four, including the most recent, Solens Arc, from early 2014, it will come through Raster-Noton. Letellier typically brings a conceptual, cinematic approach and a rebellious spirit to his work, and this one would seem to continue in that vein. The press release for Cory Arcane comes with an essay from the artist himself, which describes what appears to be the …
Closing Ice
after two years of abstinence, Senking takes us again into the depths of his musical creativity with his new record »closing ice«. The nine tracks of the album are intently dedicated to his distinctively bass-heavy and atmospheric compositions and the trips into the dark recesses of the human psyche.the mid-tempo grooves leave plenty of room for his sawing, war-declaring sounds that are unfolding expressive and gloomy but nevertheless warm soundscapes. every now and then, like a distant e…
La Demeure; Il Y a Peril en la Demeure
La Demeure; Il Y a Péril en la Demeure is the opening to a five-part complex of works by artist Grischa Lichtenberger. "La demeure" -- "the residence" -- could be understood as referring to a sense of intimacy in the possibilities of isolation. The focus of the work is the joy of being isolated and having the chance to work, explore, and, most importantly, experiment, free from economic, temporal, or social restraints. The tracks and their components are constantly broken, disassembled, an…
HD+
Universal DVD data disk, mainly for playing on computers only (there is no NTSC or PAL format or region designation for data DVDs). HD+ is a data DVD documenting the visual aesthetics of Uwe Schmidt aka Atom TM for the first time. The conceptual engagement with and the critical yet diverting examination of pop music, delivered with a twinkle in the eye, is a central topic of this musician's diverse creative work and is certainly included in this visual presentation of it. Together with the secon…
Xerrox Vol.3
Double LP version. After a break following the 2009 release of Xerrox Vol. 2, Alva Noto continues his Xerrox series with Xerrox Vol. 3, titled Towards Space. This is a journey that started with Xerrox Vol. 1 (R-N 078CD, 2007), referring to the "old world," and Xerrox Vol. 2, heading "to the new world." Using the process of copying as a basis, the Xerrox series deals with the manipulation of data by means of endless reproduction. Due to the inherent vice of the procedure that becomes especially…
Sleepstep
Sleepstep's subtitle, Sonar Poems for My Sleepless Friends, describes its underlying concept -- Sleepstep is a trip through electronically alienated micro-compositions and sound collages that, interwoven with text passages, aim at creating a dream-like atmosphere. The album's journey strives for oblivion of time, an immersion, a drifting in universal states -- moving through the stations of death, life, birth, grief, desire. The titles often appear to be raw sketches; fugitive, surreal shor…
Sinn + Form
Raster-Noton co-founder Frank Bretschneider\'s new project Sinn + Form (Meaning and Form) is based on the conflict between the fundamentally chaotic world described by mathematical and physical theories and models (dynamical systems, probability theory, stochastic systems) and the constant human attempt to recognize, describe, predict, control, and change this world. Musically, Bretschneider simulates this concept with a modular synthesizer system, in which various modules produce a consta…
Ununseptium - Vortices
Dedicated to promote young and evolving artists and to present musical diamonds in the rough, Raster-Noton is curating the unun series, which name derives from the atomic numbers of the chemical elements 111-119. ‘Vortices’ is Ueno Masaaki's first release on Raster-Noton, and the seventh release of this series. Ueno Masaaki takes his musical cue from natural phenomenon and laws of nature by trying to reconstruct, not simulating them. The results are mainly rhythmical patterns that set off a chai…
Mimikry
2010 edition, long out of print, few copies resurfaced. Box Set, Limited Edition, Special Limited Box Edition - Album comes in a cardboard sleeve with tracks 11 and 12 as bonus tracks and as part of a box set including inserts. Having nicely set up the release of this album with their Ret Marut Handshake EP a few months back, Alva Noto and Blixa Bargeld (of Einsturzende Neubauten fame) deliver a set that exceeds all expectations. One of the most strikingly obvious comparisons to arise from …
Recur
After successful EP Collapsed, the Bristol-based project Emptyset strikes back with a full-length album on Raster-Noton. Once more James Ginzburg and Paul Purgas challenge the perceptual boundaries between noise and music and the potential for both technology and architecture to embed and codify themselves within sound. Recur is presented as Emptyset's third studio album -- continuing on from their work with Demiurge, the material examines the central themes of time, structure and recursion, thr…
Rv8
With RV8, the Osaka-based producer and musician Aoki Takamasa continues his long-term project that focuses on the modulation of rhythms and grooves. It began with his first EP Rhythm Variations in 2009, released as part three of the Unun-series. Besides his collaboration with Raster-Noton, he released records on several labels like Commmons, Progressive Form and Op.Disc, produced remixes for well-known musicians like Ryuichi Sakamoto and Yoshihiro Hanno and played performances at Elektra/Mont…
The Pentaki Slopes
The tale of the mythic Pentaki mountain has been engraved on a two-sided 12" by Kangding Ray. The north face of the peak is steep, abrasive, and has been the subject of many legends. It is said that whoever would manage to climb it would find a plateau, leading to a place called "the single source of truth." The source diffuses endless loops of haunted voices, apparently sampled from a discarded call center, running low on power, encouraging listeners to shorten cycles, deliver requests an…
Mantle
Mantle is Pixel's fourth release on Raster-Noton since his debut in 2003 and a further exploration of his approach to rhythm-driven electronic music. The overall atmosphere which is produced by the fragile but nevertheless complex sounds is gloomy and quite threatening. Deep, pulsating basses are accompanied by ominous and fierce tones which emerge like flashes of light or shock waves, giving the impression of being warning signals. The few calm moments are constantly disrupted by dark dr…
Super.Trigger
Super.Trigger is an absolute trove of percussive tensions and frequency-driven finesse and deals mainly with the basic principles of any modern music: rhythm. Frank Bretschneider takes his, never simple, but all the more heartfelt relationship to rhythm and its complexity to an intense inventory and, this time, works less out of suspenseful abstract sounds, than out of grooves. There is a real sense of perpetual evolution and coiled tightness to the pulsating rhythmic programming, while t…
Espoo
Vladislav Delay's EP Espoo features two conceptual, rhythm-intense tracks. Whereas the groove of the opener "Olari" derives from a sound loop which is manipulated by filters and echoes, the reverse is done with "Kolari." Starting from an impulsive, staccato beat, a sound carpet is woven by means of modifiers which gradually shape a permanent melody, close to Terry Riley's minimalistic concepts. Both tracks share a linear increase in density, and because of their break with the common four…
Vantaa
With Vantaa, Raster-Noton releases for the first time an album by Vladislav Delay aka Sasu Ripatti. Ripatti, one of the pioneers of electronic music of the last decade(s), who is known for several projects, has attracted our attention and received our respect most notably under his pseudonym Vladislav Delay. Vantaa will be the beginning of a long lasting collaboration, which will extend and deepen the spectrum of the label, whereas it falls in line with releases of, for example, William Basinski…
Kuopio
With “Kuopio”, Raster-Noton releases the second full length album by Vladislav Delay aka Sasu Ripatti. The record features eight new songs which allow the listener to dive into Delay’s cosmos of deep and likewise organic sounds. Subtle yet complex electronic manipulations are used, resulting in a high degree of variation within every single track and a nearly imperceptible intensification of their density. Progressive and energetic rhythms play an important role as already indicated in hi…
Ununhexium/Collapsed
Ununhexium is the sixth release in Raster-Noton's Unun series. Emptyset is a Bristol-based project formed by James Ginzburg, director of the Multiverse Studios and the curator and electronic artist Paul Purgas. Collapsed is Emptyset's first release on Raster-Noton and investigates the threshold where sonic structure is destabilized to the point where a chaotic order emerges. Across the four tracks a structural grammar is defined and then pushed to excess to the point where it reforms from re…