Get To Know: Raster-Noton

My plan to upload the greatest tracks from Mille Plateaux hit a snag when I discovered that wordpress does not support AAC files. I suppose I could re-load a few CD’s as MP3, but for now I’m going to give you what I can. For all practical purposes, Mille Plateaux has been dead since 2004. It was relaunched in 2010 but without Achim Szepanski, its creator and driving force. For fans of the avant-garde, Raster-Noton picked up where Mille Plateaux left off.

Raster-Noton is a Berlin-based electronic label of the highest quality and most radical aesthetic. With Mille Plateaux’s demise, it is the undisputed leader of the industry, setting new standards for complexity, simplicity, beauty, and dissonance with almost every release. Much of the Raster-Noton catalogue is available at emusic and iTunes.

Alva Noto + Ryuichi Sakamoto: ionoscan from Summvs, the most recent, if not the most satisfying of the 5 collaborations between the giants of minimalism.

Alva Noto + Ryuichi Sakamoto: reverso (see above)

Alva Noto: Haliod Xerrox Copy 1 from Xerrox, Vol.1, which, along with Xerrox, Vol. 2, form the pinnacle of ambient electronic music.

Senking: Unlighted from Pong. Senking always has that growling bass and a more playful danger than other artists of the genre.

Senking: Mist from List. Growling bass texture and live upright bass.

Robert Lippok: Close from Open Close Open, manipulated orchestra, or is it original?

Kangding Ray: automne fold from Automne Fold, another blend of electronic and acoustic sound.

Pixel: 1  this and the next 3 tracks are from Drive – obviously one of my favorite albums (it just became so while re-reading Deleuze and Guattari).

Pixel: 2

Pixel: 3

Pixel: 5

Alva Noto + Opiate: Opto File 1 from Opto Files, the essence of clicks and cuts. If you don’t like this, or the next track Auslaufrille II, then this music will never be for your ears.

Pixel: Auslaufrille II from Display

COH: Euphrates (Part I – Spiritoso, Con Amore) from Strings, a minimalist manipulation of various string instruments.

Byetone capture this (I) along with the next track, from Death of a Typographer.

Byetone: capture this (II)

This list is incomplete because I am unable to upload AAC files. The seminal unrepresented albums on Raster-Noton are:

Alva Noto: Xerrox, Vol. 2

Alva Noto + Ryuichi Sakamoto: Insen, Revep, and and Vrioon; each of which feature Sakamoto’s minimal piano manipulated by Noto’s computer. These recordings changed the possibilities of electronic music.

Kangding Ray: Stabil

One thought on “Get To Know: Raster-Noton

  1. Mark, thanks for the uploads man. I remember that label from years ago but never got too deep into it beyond some stuff Oval did. Also, all your “rantings” are beginning to finally click. No background in philosophy but I recently struggled my way through Alexander Dugin’s “Fourth Political Theory” and many of his ideas seem to coincide with your own views. This is all new to me and inspiring. Will it!

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