Alva Noto
For 2

5
...according to our Ant on 11 March 2010.

Carsten Nicolai is an artist whose work I always await with high expectations. His approach to creating audio is both artistic and scientific, this also applies to his visual output. Over the years he's amassed an impressive catalogue in both fields, yet is probably best known for his work as Alva Noto and collaborations with Ryuchi Sakamoto.

I have a huge amount of admiration and respect for what this man does and his CD's and LP's have pride of place in my collection.

So it was with great excitement that I really got stuck into the 'For 2' CD which follows four years after the release of 'For'. both on Taylor Deupree's 12k sub-label Line. This really is a fantastic and diverse selection of tracks compiled from various projects.

As the term 'For' suggests each has a dedication to a particular person and their creative output. So in this case for Marta Feuchtwagner, Heiner Muller, Andrei Tarkovski, Dieter Rams, Phill Niblock, Evgeny Murzin and even "A Garment" (inspired by a translucent textile!) and the fictional kingdom of Elgaland-Vargaland.

What I find to be particularly satisfying about the collection is that it displays many sides of his productions. From the pure rhythmical machine sounds, the crystalline and precise pin-prick electronic sparks, shimmering tones through to field recordings and orchestral string snatches…. But above all just how moving his sounds can be.

Nicolai has carved out a sound all his own and his attention to detail is astounding (Watch the utp_ DVD for further evidence) and usually lost on first listen. As with many of his releases repeated listens reveal layers previously unheard.

'Argonaut' is a hugely evocative piece of slightly melancholy electronic music with bleepy tones that in some ways recall 'Artificial Intelligence' era Warp Records.

'Stalker' (for film maker Tarkovskyi) is a much darker sonic entity that is a little reminiscent of very late period Coil. The spoken word female vocal adds an extra level of mystery to the track and works brilliantly.

'Sonolumi' has a rhythmic bleep that makes me imagine a life support machine or a space probe while ghostly electronic pulses hover around a heavenly, gently evolving ambient synth. 't3' recalls the rhythmic precision of the "Trans" trilogy, again a fine use of bleeps and pulses with lush dissolving textures a little like the 'Xerox' material. This one builds super nice until the low end finally arrives and then I really am in sonic heaven.

If you've read this far then you are more than likely getting bored of my words and eager to listen, so if the above appeals then just grab this CD and spend some time with it as this really is an awesome showcase of Alva Noto's many sides. If you're unfamiliar with Alva Noto then this CD is a great place to begin discovering someone working in electronic music that I genuinely feel is possessed by genius. The closing piece 'Argonaut-Version' elaborates on the previous version with moving keys that evoke the spiritually uplifting vibes of Terry Riley, coupled with heart-wrenching strings that just blow me away. A magnificent listen throughout the entire duration of the disc. 'For 2' gets a massive recommendation.

Love this record? Hate it? Tell us.

Sound clips for For 2 by Alva Noto: on CD at Norman Records UK. CD, Line, LINE_044, £9.29.

What their label says...

01 garment for a garment (2007)
02 villa aurora for marta feuchtwanger (2003)
03 pax for chain music (2003)
04 argonaut for heiner müller (2007)
05 stalker for andrei tarkovsky (2008)
06 sonolumi for camera lucida (2007)
07 interim for dieter rams (2007)
08 t3 for dieter rams (2007)
09 early winter for phil niblock (2006)
10 anthem berlin for the kingdom of elgaland-vargaland (2006)
11 ans for eugeny murzin (2007)
12 argonaut-version for heiner müller (2007)


Four years after the release of his dedicatory for record (LINE_026), Carsten Nicolai as alva noto returned to assemble a second recording of compositions devoted to a number of creative figures including industrial designer Dieter Rams, filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky and German dramatist Heiner Müller.

Opener "garment", inspired by a translucent textile designed in connecting sections, may serve well as a metaphor for this collection of tracks that take as their source of inspiration shifting zones and in-between places, links in chain-letter music, luminous bubbles, fragments of orchestral strings, and slowly decaying resonances. In "anthem berlin" alva noto delivers a national anthem for artists Carl Michael von Hausswolf's and Leif Elggren's fictional land of Elgaland-Vargaland. Rather than relying on traditional orchestration, he snaps off a section of a marching band's snare drum roll and lets the percussive rattle reverberate to a tonal hum. "ans" acknowledges Russian Evgeny Murzin's research into obtaining sound from a visible image and vice versa—a central aspect of Carsten Nicolai's work as a visual artist. For this recording, alva noto was invited to draw onto the glass plate of the ANS synthesizer, producing the modulating sound heard on the composition. "interim" and "t3" were composed for a prize-giving ceremony in honor of designer Dieter Rams. Performed live at the event, the background audio layers of "interim" recalled the alva noto xerrox project in which peripheral sounds are elevated to a conscious composition. In "villa aurora" we find ourselves among the dying moments of a held chord, until seconds later the lid of the piano is dropped shut, amputating its echo forever.

As we listen we are almost aware of this record having breath, as a watchful vacuum draws in influences before exhaling them back into the music. This ebb and flow marks time over for 2's reference points, reminding us that creativity is perceptive of that which lies at its edges and, similar to language, absorbs it within. — Andrew Cannon

02: field recording with piano decay recorded at Villa Aurora / Pacific Palisades. 03: for Ryuichi Sakamoto's Chain Music. 04: commissioned by BCN 216. 06: recorded for Evelina Domnitch and Dmity Gelfand’s Camera Lucida project involving the phenomena of sonoluminescence (DVD LINE_030). 07+08: composed for the prize ceremony of the German Design Award for Dieter Rams. 09: contains a sample of Phill Niblock—thanks Phill. 10: national anthem for the Kingdom of Elgaland-Vargaland—premiered at Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin on October 21, 2006. 11: drawing recorded live with the ANS Synthesizer at Theremin Center, Moscow State Conservatory. 12: arrangement by Max Knoth. Cover image: Carsten Nicolai. milch 110 Hz. 2000 / courtesy Galerie EIGEN + ART Leipzig/Berlin and PaceWildenstein.


Carsten Nicolai (a.k.a noto / alva noto / aleph), lives and works in berlin and chemnitz, germany.

"in Nicolai's work neither music nor visual art are by-products of one another—the one calls the other into being"
– Rob Young, Modern Painters, 2006

Berlin based visual artist/electronic musician Carsten Nicolai performs and records using the pseudonyms noto and alva noto. Described as 'metal machine music of a most beautiful kind', Nicolai's powerfully synaesthetic live performances combine minimal electronic sounds and real-time visualisations. Nicolai's works captivate consistently through their elegance, simplicity and cool technicism. alva noto has performed in many of the world's most prestigious spaces and has won a number of highly regarded prizes for art and electronic music. He has collaborated with the likes of Ryuichi Sakamoto, Blixa Bargeld, Ryoji Ikeda, Mika Vainio, Michael Nyman and Thomas Knak. With Olaf Bender and Frank Bretschneider he founded the pioneering label 'supergroup' Signal.

In my opinion the emphasis of self-generating processes is a reaction to the claim to plan everything. Many of my works underlie a rule and introduce a model as organiszing sceme to recognize chaotic movements. I am interested in both moments, they lie really close together. (...) A major impact on my work had the article Active mutations of self-reproducing networks, machnes and tapes (1996) by Takashi Ikegami and Takashi Hashimoto. They wrote about loop strcutures and self-organisation. Loops get ceated by mathematical processes whose results at the same time are the source for new calculations. By constant re-calculating mistakes occur, build up changing patterns and become the origin of new intelligent processes.
— Carsten Nicolai

www.alvanoto.com