This Desert Storm-era video is a good example of the response to the government-tailored propaganda packages that aired on cable news (and is especially ironic, considering the cast of characters and the more recent controversies over the second invasion of Iraq, use of drones and “smart” weapons, and surveillance):īut the other conclusion to draw from our conversation is the way that raster-noton has managed to be outward looking, how it continues to grow and evolve rather than take the easy route of being a museum piece version of itself. If the raster-noton artists sought to expunge propaganda from a minimalist visual language, artists like Emergency Broadcast Network turned instead to cut-ups, remixes and mash-ups (which went on to influence VJ culture worldwide), drawing themselves on hip hop culture and its own criticism of the dominant narrative. In post-War America, the CIA could back abstract expressionism as counter to Soviet social realism.Īnd maybe you could view visual performance culture on both sides of the former Cold War as a reaction to that era. It’s interesting to counterpoint the attitudes in the West. They also describe minimalism as a kind of reaction to growing up to DDR broadcast media that centered on propaganda. They talk about using extreme sounds, then viewing those on an oscilloscope in order to work with them – that clearly is inspired in some way by a tendency to process sonic information in the visual spectrum. So dealing directly with the visual materials of music itself was important. (That’s especially informative to me, as I feel a bit biased the other way – tending to try to apply musical filters to whatever I see in visual composition, for instance.) I was especially intrigued by the way their visual background influenced their take on music. (Olaf spoke really highly of the SONAR experience over the years). To me, a high point in the raster-noton visual oeuvre was alva noto’s unitxt/univrs around 2010, partly because it exposed its own workings (a Touch Designer collaboration with Markus Heckmann).Īlva Noto – unitxt/univrs (Derivative Version) from Derivative on Vimeo. White circle /// raster-noton 20 anniversary /// zkm karlsruhe from Michael Wolf on Vimeo. The visual component was understated – a choreography of a circle of lights, vaguely recalling a birthday cake. I have to say I enjoyed this as much as any panel I think I’ve done Carsten and Olaf are also exceptionally thoughtful and easy to talk to (contrary to whatever stodgy German stereotype people may imagine).Īs evidence of the visual life of the label, there has been recently the “white circle” installation, which I saw at the Halle of Berghain. At Barcelona’s SONAR festival last month, I got to sit down with Carsten and Olaf and talk about this visual side, nicely coinciding with the label’s twentieth anniversary year. Understanding where that comes from visually is key to appreciating what it means to be raster-noton. Even as the label has expanded in its musical scope in recent years, it has retained a sense that aesthetics themselves matter, that its artist roster are capable of painting with sound and exposing the process of using technology. And I don’t just mean single cycle waveforms or quick bursts of noise, hard-edged projected high contrast geometries or digital aesthetics, though those associations will certainly spring to mind. They are also the exclusive distributor for Ivan Pavlov's label Wavetrap.Few electronic labels or acts have an identity as well defined as raster-noton, and its co-founders Bytone (Olaf Bender) and alva noto (Carsten Nicolai). In addition to their main label, Raster-Noton also operates a sublabel called Kangaroo dedicated to releases by Ilpo Väisänen. Olaf Bender took charge of Raster-Music to handle the back catalog while Carsten Nicolai developed Noton to represent past and future projects of Alva Noto. In 2017, after celebrating their 20th anniversary, the label underwent restructuring. Over the years, Raster-Noton has released various series and albums that showcase their unique philosophy of music composition. Noton.archiv für ton und nichtton, founded by Carsten Nicolai, served as a platform for conceptual and experimental projects in music, art, and science. Rastermusic, founded by Olaf Bender and Frank Bretschneider, focused on repetitive or minimal music with pop influences. It was formed in 1999 through the merger of two previous labels, Rastermusic and noton.archiv für ton und nichtton. Raster-Noton is an electronic music label based in Germany.
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