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Carsten Nicolai

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Carsten Nicolai

Alva Noto is a stage name of sound artist Carsten Nicolai who uses art and music as complemenary tools to create microscopic views of creative processes. Another alias he uses is Noto. He is a member of the music groups Signal (with Frank Bretschneider, AKA Komet and Olaf Bender, AKA Byetone) and Cyclo. (with Ryoji Ikeda).

Nicolai was born in Karl-Marx-Stadt, East Germany. He has created music from overlooked sounds – the noises of modems and telephones for example.

Carsten Nicolai also works as a visual artist. Using the principles of Cymatics he visualizes sound. Nicolai’s practice is formed by a convergence of sound, painting and sculpture that results in installations exploring the idea of creativity filtered through modularized systems and codes. His music features prominently in his art. Nicolai’s work exposes the limitations, and potential beauty and creativity, possible within strict logical systems.

Nicolai plays with the rules of physicality. Sound is changed and evolved into time and space and transformed by looping oscillators and tone generators. Through these processes the essence of pure electricity is made audible. He works without sequencers, but mathematically edits his work to give his compositions precise rhythmic structures. Clicks and glitches are not used as ornamental additions to the compositions but make up the essential elements of the work and these sound sources are applied to the rhythmic groove of Hip-Hop and R&B. The sounds of electronic information transmission such as fax tones, modem sounds and telephone pops and clicks are sampled and organised into loops to which Nicolai adds longer electronic tones in the background and foreground as the piece progresses.[citation needed]

Selected Discography

Solo Albums

  • alva noto - prototypes - 2000 (Mille Plateaux). CD contains 10 tracks, all "Untitled."
  • alva noto - transall cycle: transall approaches with the problematics of speed, the vision of utopia and the dissolution of our ideas into fragments.
  • alva noto - for - June 2006 (Line (a Division of 12k)). CD release contains 9 tracks. A collection of unreleased tracks created over the past 4 years.
  • alva noto - xerrox Vol.1 - 2007 (Raster-Noton). CD or dual 12" LP.
  • aleph-1 - aleph-1 - 2007 (iDeal Recordings). CD or dual 12" LP, both contain 8 tracks.
  • alva noto - unitxt - 2008 (Raster-Noton). CD or dual 12" LP.

Albums together with "Scanner" (Robin Rimbaud)

Albums together with Ryuichi Sakamoto

  • alva noto + ryuichi sakamoto - Vrioon - December 2002 (Raster-Noton). CD and 12" LP release. Contains 6 tracks
  • alva noto + ryuichi sakamoto - Insen - March 2005 (Raster-Noton). CD and 12" LP release. Contains 7 tracks. Features piano work by Ryuichi Sakamoto.
  • alva noto + ryuichi sakamoto - Revep - May 2006 (Raster-Noton). CD release. Contains 3 tracks.
  • alva noto + ryuichi sakamoto - Insen Live - October 2006 (Raster-Noton). DVD release. Contains 15 tracks. Contains video footage from the 'Insen' tour. Recordings for the DVD took place at Casa da Musica, Porto, Portugal, on June 11th 2006 and at Sonar festival 2006, Barcelona, Spain, on June 15th 2006 in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound. Contains live tracks from the 2005 Insen album, as well as previously unreleased tracks such as 'Xerox' and 'Barco.' The DVD is region free and is in NTSC format.
  • alva noto + ryuichi sakamoto & ensemble modern - Utp_ - September 2008 (Raster-Noton). DVD/CD release. The DVD is region free and is in NTSC format.

Albums with "Opiate" (Thomas Knak), together as "Opto"

  • Opto Files - 2001 (Raster-Noton). Limited CD release. Number 6 in the raster.static series. CD Comes in a silver anti-static bag with green card insert.
  • Opto: 2nd -June 2004 (HOBBY INDUSTRIES). CD Contains 10 tracks, all titled with times of the day. The collaboration was created in a 48 hour period and was inspired by the restored recording from a found cassette in a forest in Eastern Germany.

Compilation appearances (Exclusive/Non-albums tracks)

  • "Garment" from "Sound Canvas | 1" (2008)
  • "Planet Rock" from "Recovery" (2008)
  • "Stalker" from "In Memoriam Andrey Tarkovsky" (2008)
  • "Haloid Xerrox Copy 3 (Paris)" from "Mind The Gap Volume 70" (2007)
  • "06.1 Quanta Random" from "Tribute To Iannis Xenakis" (2007)
  • "Sonolumi (For Camera Lucida)" from "Camera Lucida" (2007)
  • "Odradek (Music to Play in the Dark)" from "It Just Is In Memoriam Jhonn Balance" (2005)
  • "Re10" from "Landscape 2" (2005)
  • "Post-Remo" from "Richard Chartier + Various - Re'Post'Postfabricated" (2005)
  • "Party Plasibenpuis (for Rune Lindblad)" from "The Hidden City: Sound Portraits From Goteborg" (2004)
  • "Time…Dot (3)" from "An Anthology Of Noise & Electronic Music / Third A-Chronology 1952-2004" (2004)
  • "m6re" from "SoundxVision 2004" (2004)
  • "Party Plasibenpius (For Rune Lindblad)" from "The Hidden City - Sound Portraits From Göteborg" (2004)
  • "Obi 2 Min." from "Frecuencies [Hz]" (2003)
  • "60 sec" from "Soundcultures" (2003)
  • "Strategies Against War 1.0--Covering All Information With White Noise" from "60 Sound Artists Protest The War" (2003) as Carsten Nicolai
  • "MM", "Time Dot" from "Raster-Noton. Archiv 1" (2003) as Noto
  • "Obi_2.3" from "Electrograph 02 - Athens Sound Media Festival 02" (2002)
  • "Menschmaschine" from "Klangmaschine_Soundmachine" (2002)
  • "Crystal R" from "Various - Live Sets At Ego 1998-2000" (2002) as Noto
  • "M 06 Short" from "Electric Ladyland Clickhop Version 1.0" (2001)
  • "Neue Stadt (Skizze 8)" from "Clicks & Cuts, Vol. 2" (2001)
  • "Modul 4", "Impulse" from "Raster-Noton.(O)acis Box" (2001) as Noto
  • "Neue Stadt Skizze 1" from "Between Two Points" (2001) as Noto
  • "Sound Mobile" from "Ringtones" (2001)
  • "Prototyp P" from "Raster-Noton. Oacis" (2000)
  • "Prototype n." from "Clicks & Cuts" (2000)
  • "Crystal s 10 60 sec." from "Computer Music Journal Sound Anthology, vol. 24" (2000) as Noto
  • "Crystal.s2" from "Microscopic Sound" (1999) as Noto
  • "∞ [Radio Teeth Edit]" from "Various - Because Tomorrow Comes #2" (1999) as Carsten Nicolai
  • "Polyfoto 1a-1" from "Modulation & Transformation 4" (1999) as Noto
  • "Zeit T3" from "Effe 1999" (1999)
  • "POL .Motor", ".Test", ".Versuch", ".Anordnung", ".Variation", ".Modell" from "Just About Now" (1998) as Carsten Nicolai
  • "Chemnitz" from "Decay" (1997) as Noto

Remixes

Live Performances

Nicolai has performed and created installations in many of the world's most prestigious spaces including The Guggenheim NYC, MOMA SF, MOMA Oxford, NTT Tokyo, Tate Modern and Venice Biennal Italy. As a member (and co-founder) of the Raster-Noton label he was responsible for the acclaimed CD series '20 to 2000' that went on to win the Golden Nica prize at Prix Ars Electronica 2000.

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