Hello, looks like Carsten Nicolai is rather popular here, excellent., reason enough to post more work by him aand his friends these weeks.
Carsten Nicolai (18 September 1965), also known as Alva Noto, is a German musician and visual artist. He is a member of the music groups Diamond Version with Olaf Bender (Byetone), Signal with Frank Bretschneider and Olaf Bender, Cyclo with Ryoji Ikeda, ANBB with Blixa Bargeld, ALPHABET with Anne-James Chaton. Opto with Thomas Knak, and Alva Noto + Ryuichi Sakamoto with whom he composed the score for the 2015 film The Revenant.
Carsten Nicolai, born 1965 in Karl-Marx-Stadt, is a German artist and musician based in Berlin. He is part of an artist generation who works intensively in the transitional area between music, art and science. In his work he seeks to overcome the separation of the sensory perceptions of man by making scientific phenomenons like sound and light frequencies perceivable for both eyes and ears. Influenced by scientific reference systems, Nicolai often engages mathematic patterns such as grids and codes, as well as error, random and self-organizing structures. His installations have a minimalistic aesthetic that by its elegance and consistency is highly intriguing. After his participation in important international exhibitions like documenta X and the 49th and 50th Venice Biennale, Nicolai’s works were shown worldwide in extensive solo and group exhibitions.
His artistic œuvre echoes in his work as a musician. For his musical outputs he uses the pseudonym Alva Noto. With a strong adherence to reductionism he leads his sound experiments into the field of electronic music creating his own code of signs, acoustics and visual symbols. Together with Olaf Bender and Frank Bretschneider he is co-founder of the label 'raster-noton. archiv für ton und nichtton'. Diverse musical projects include remarkable collaborations with Ryuichi Sakamoto, Ryoji Ikeda (cyclo.), Blixa Bargeld or Mika Vainio. Nicolai toured extensively as Alva Noto through Europe, Asia, South America and the US. Among others, he performed at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Centre Pompidou in Paris and Tate Modern in London. Most recently Nicolai scored the music for Alejandro González Iñárritu’s newest film, 'The Revenant' which has been nominated for a Golden Globe, BAFTA, and Critics Choice Award.
biography
lives and works in Berlin and Chemnitz, Germany
1965 born in Karl-Marx-Stadt, GDR
1985-90 Study of landscape architecture. Dresden, Germany
1992 Co-founder of the project Voxxx-Kultur- und Kommunikationszentrum, Chemnitz, Germany
1994 Foundation of noton.archiv für ton und nichtton
1999 Label fusion to raster-noton
2015 Professorship in art with focus on digital and time-based media, Dresden Academy of Fine Arts
Prizes / Scholarships
2014 17th Japan Media Arts Festival, Grand Prize (Art Division), Japan (crt mgn installation)
2012 Giga-Hertz-Award, ZKM Karlsruhe, Germany (cyclo. id publication with ryoji ikeda)
2007 Villa Massimo, Rome, Italy
Zurich Prize, Zurich, Switzerland
2003 Villa Aurora, Los Angeles, USA
2001 prize ars electronica, golden nica, Linz, Austria (polar installation with marko peljhan)
2000 f6-philip morris, graphic prize, Dresden, Germany
prize ars electronica, golden nica, Linz, Austria (20' to 2000 project)
1990 Jürgen Ponto prize, Frankfurt/Main, Germany
Artworks in Public Space
2015 chroma actor, Seibu Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan
2011 lfo spectrum, Olympic Park, London, UK
2010 monitor, Siobhan Davies Studios, London, UK
autor, Temporäre Kunsthalle, Berlin, Germany (temporary)
2009 poly stella, Kasumigaseki Building Plaza, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Japan
pionier ll, Piazza Plebiscito, Naples, Italy (temporary)
2006 polylit, Kleiner Schlossplatz, Kunstmuseum Stuttgart, Germany
2005 frequenz (milch), Tramhaltestelle, Hauptbahnhof Leipzig, Germany
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‘In Alejandro G. Iñárritu's new film The Revenant, Leonardo DiCaprio plays frontiersman Hugh Glass as he, his son, and his hunting team raid Native American land in 1832. After DiCaprio is unexpectedly mauled by a bear, the crew buries him, murders his son, and abandons their bodies, continuing the journey unaware that DiCaprio escaped the grave to seek revenge. Calling The Revenant "intense" doesn't begin to do it justice; among other things, it's a meditation on the unholy perseverance of the human soul. Yet its soundtrack—co-created by Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto, German electronic musician Alva Noto, and multi-instrumentalist Bryce Dessner of The National—wisely opts to complement that savagery rather than illustrate it.
Iñárritu’s Birdman, the 2015 Academy Awards' Best Picture winner, stuttered its way through an unconventional drum score by Antonio Sánchez. Here, things get even more minimalist. The Revenant trades in sixteenth notes on hi-hats for minute-long fermatas, or held notes, on cellos. Throughout all 23 tracks, the score straddles the line between weariness and wonder, like someone constantly recalling the danger this stunning planet is capable of unleashing. Under conductor André de Ridder, Berlin-based orchestra s t a r g a z e plays expansively and with great care, its 25 players sporting a serious side compared to their work with artists like Deerhoof and Arcade Fire's Richard Reed Parry.
That organic swelling matches the dramatics beneath the film. Iñárritu fought to keep CGI out of The Revenant. He fought to use natural light on set. He fought to film so deep within nature that 40% of the day was spent traveling there. Each of the three contributors uphold this commitment to naturalism, even with Alva Noto's electronica. Sakamoto favors simplicity and clarity; as DiCaprio crosses frozen rivers and sleeps in animal carcasses, the brevity of Sakamoto's "Killing Hawk" illustrates the strength of Sakamoto's tight focus. On the minute-long "Arriving At Fort Kiowa", a single cello is joined by trotting string support, the group leaning forward in rhythm as a unified organism.
Noto brings three different dream sequences to the table—"First Dream", "Church Dream", and "Second Dream"—where electronic bass thuds in the background like a mattress falling to the floor of an empty room. It's eerie without offering obvious indicators as to why. In that, Noto's a pro. His use of electronics mimics the eldritch stares of a stalker, especially on "Goodbye to Hawk", creating the kind of anxiety heard in films like Drive and Under the Skin. Familiarity with the film's graphic scenes or the brutal landscapes of southern Argentina isn't required. Noto's written work acts as the terrified heartbeat fueling Iñárritu's violent winter all on its own.
Bryce Dessner is the least involved of the three songwriters, but when he contributes, he creates a world overwhelmingly rich with life – the very thing DiCaprio's character clings to. The most emotional number on the album, "Imagining Buffalo", introduces one violinist to another and another, stitching them together so they form a single note stretching into the infinite and spilling joy over into illusory insanity. "Looking For Glass" rides a similar crescendo. When all three men join forces again, songs like "Cat and Mouse" use handclaps and violin tremors to communicate the indefatigability of cheating death. Sometimes, the soundtrack traces the film’s woes without coloring them in, but it’s still successful in creating the sound of mental exhaustion choosing life over death, no matter how torturous and unforgiving it — and we — may be.
<a href="https://multiup.org/9ea41e8afb1851f6330926077c122ec2"> Ryuichi Sakamoto, Alva Noto & Bryce Dessner - The Revenant .</a> (291mb)
01 The Revenant Main Theme 2:41
02 Hawk Punished 2:14
03 Carrying Glass 3:07
04 First Dream 3:05
05 Killing Hawk 3:49
06 Discovering River 1:11
07 Goodbye To Hawk 3:41
08 Discovering Buffalo 2:43
09 Hell Ensemble 2:38
10 Glass And Buffalo Warrior Travel 1:51
11 Arriving At Fort Kiowa 1:21
12 Church Dream 2:38
13 Powaqa Rescue 5:35
14 Imagining Buffalo 2:39
15 The Revenant Theme 2 1:54
16 Second Dream 1:13
17 Out Of Horse 3:57
18 Looking For Glass 2:51
19 Cat & Mouse 5:42
20 The Revenant Main Theme Atmospheric 2:50
21 Final Fight 6:35
22 The End 2:16
23 The Revenant Theme (Alva Noto Remodel) 4:00
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Aggression has, for the most part, been a matter of force, or damage. They yell, the guitars scream, the drums roar. All a product of man's basest tendencies, a primitive release. Reining it back, Live 2002, is in many ways a controlled exploration of the impulses preceding the violence. Its pulsating sine waves and pricking clicks dig themselves into its listener's skull. Scoring the ascent to man's breaking point, narrating the build up to a night of transgressions and misdeeds.
The early 2000's was witness to a new era of minimal electronic music characterised by a stripped back electronic sound and glitchy textures. Spearheaded by labels like Raster Noton, the movement failed to truly crystallise into any substantial, with near misses we would see in releases like Ikeda's Dataplex or Ripatti's Entain. Or so we thought. A decade and a half later, we have what could be considered the scene's opus, performed live for a residency in The Baltic Centre For Contemporary Art, all this while tucked away in some dank corner somewhere.
Live 2002 blends minimal techno, glitch and microsound in a truly gorgeous and yet simultaneously unnerving method. Over the course of 11 movements, it presents itself as a true work of art and a labour of love, birthed from spontaneity, yet controlled, measured and sinister.
<a href="https://mir.cr/1LVRGWJM"> Alva Noto + Mika Vainio + Ryoji Ikeda - Live 2002 </a> ( flac 256mb)
01 Movements 1 3:42
02 Movements 2 3:48
03 Movements 3 1:21
04 Movements 4 7:36
05 Movements 5 3:18
06 Movements 6 5:06
07 Movements 7 4:20
08 Movements 8 4:40
09 Movements 9 0:30
10 Movements 10 5:49
11 Movements 11 4:24
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There is an arresting and all consuming drone held throughout Glass. Other sounds may visit and dissipate but this never ending reverberating drone is the one constant of the piece - it is almost without exception the loudest element at all times, often the only element. Glass has a spooky quality without tipping over into harsh unpleasantness. It is as patient as hell, in comparison other ambient pieces will sound like a festival.
<a href="http://depositfiles.com/files/1lt4uftou"> Alva Noto and Ryuichi Sakamoto - Glass </a> ( flac 225mb)
1 Glass 36:58
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After all these years of Kraftwerk and Autechre, you'd think something like this would be mainstream and sound not quite futuristic, but already much of the present. In a parallel universe, would there be techno purists left to complain that "Uni Dna" is basically a soft cyborg porn smash hit?
But here are we in 2018 on this planet and "UNIEQAV" - which may well remain one of the gateway albums for Alva Noto newbies, in spite of it being unambitious, unabashed fun - still can claim some edge. If you've trespassed into minimal hells by now, all this will strike you as a pretty warm beating electronic heart - and take it or leave it as such. Fairly varied, but consistent, not overly dense, not sparse, just the right balance of sterility and breeze of emotion.
<a href="https://www.imagenetz.de/tGhvn"> Alva Noto - Unieqav</a> ( flac 277mb)
01 Uni Sub 5:50
02 Uni Mia 5:52
03 Uni Version 4:48
04 Uni Clip 1:51
05 Uni Normal 4:25
06 Uni Mic A 3:37
07 Uni Blue 5:52
08 Uni Mic B 5:03
09 Uni DNA 5:50
10 Uni Edit 1:42
11 Uni Tra 4:19
12 Uni Chord 5:33
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The Glenn Gould Foundation in Canada held several events around the world in 2017 to celebrate what would have been Gould's 85th birthday and the 150 years since the founding of Canada. In Japan, the curator of the perfomance was long time fan Ryuichi Sakamoto. In December 2017, Glenn Gould Gathering was held at the Sogetsu Kaikan in Aoyama, Tokyo. That concert is now released on Blu-ray, in addition to the SACD released last year. Some tracks on this vary from the SACD.
<a href="https://multiup.org/8fa340287d68053450f7db626b256cc5"> Alva Noto + Nilo, Christian Fennesz, Francesco Tristano, Ryuichi Sakamoto - Glenn Gould Gathering.</a> ( flac 248mb)
1-1 Improvisation_20171215 6:24
1-2 Die Kunst Der Fuge_BWV1080a - Contrapunctus I 4:40
1-3 Choral_BWV614 2:27
1-4 Andata 2:44
1-5 Choral_BWV639 4:36
1-6 A Grandbell Tragedy 21:08
1-7 BachGould Redux 18:58
2-1 Pavan 4:12
2-2 French Air 0:59
2-3 Alman 0:36
2-4 Italian Ground 2:21
2-5 Ground 2:28
Two Pieces For Piano
2-6 No. 1 1:57
2-7 No. 2 0:51
2-8 Fantasia In D 6:36
2-9 Coda For Glenn 17:45
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This is a blogg* to share my eXcess; that which reached, touched, entertained or angered me, in general all that draws my interest and thereby transmutes my Xsistance. Eclectic music, metaphysics, (pre)history, conspiracies against humanity, the environment.
May 2, 2021
RhoDEeo 2118 Sundaze
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4 comments:
Thanks! do you need Kerne? That was the first Noto I bought.
Hello; thanks a lot for those very interesting (as usual) posts. In "Alva Noto + Mika Vainio + Ryoji Ikeda - Live 2002", I experienced a problem (with several readers) with tracks 3, 7, 11. Maybe it's just me? Thanks again.
Hello Harlen thank you for your kind offer, as it happens i already own Kerne. Carsten Nicolai's Discography is rather chaotic, usually i keep release dates as guide for my posting order, sometimes an oversight messes it up as Noto ended up on another partition and didn't get added to Alva's discography initially, i'm still considering if i'm going to post these.
Looks cool! Wondering if I'm missing something about Multiup, though. I don't have ad blockers running, yet I simply can't get to any of the actual download sites. I always end up on an ad page elsewhere. Repeated attempts change nothing. Any advice? Love the music & I'm sad to be unable to access. Cheers!
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