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Alva Noto

Country: Germany

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. He is a member of the music groups Signal and Cyclo. 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. 

Schattenstimme
The starting point is E. T. A. Hoffmann's The Sandman: a world where perception and reality drift apart, and the question of identity remains unresolved. Recognition, in Hoffmann, is never quite secure. The doppelgänger is less a figure than a condit…
Lichtstimme
The starting point is E. T. A. Hoffmann's The Sandman: a world where perception and reality drift apart, and the question of identity remains unresolved. Recognition, in Hoffmann, is never quite secure. The doppelgänger is less a figure than a condit…
12 Conversations
Noton is pleased to announce12 Conversations, a collaborative album by Ryuichi Sakamoto and Alva Noto to be released on 18 September 2026.
Xerrox
Tip! Noton releases the Limited Edition CD Box Set of Alva Noto’s Xerrox series. Pioneering in his approach to digital sound and its materiality, Alva Noto (Carsten Nicolai) began his ongoing exploration of sampling, degradation and recontextualisati…
Wave Weave - Sono Obi
Tip! **Premium gatefold sleeve with die-cut window and special finishing. Scratch-resistant matte lamination + spot UV gloss details. Includes an insert booklet (multiple panels/pages) presented in a cover sleeve with a satin ribbon detail ((This sit…
Design Slipcase (for Vinyl) / Xerrox series
Limited LP Slipcase for 5 LP´s. Does not include LP´s, LP´s need to be purchased separately! Noton - Xerrox 'reMASTER' LP Slipcase. The slipcase can accommodate the 5 LPs of Xerrox Vol.1-5 (reMASTER).Design by Carsten Nicolai.
Design Slipcase (for CD) / Xerrox series
Limited CD Slipcase for 5 CD´s. Does not include CD´s, CD´s need to be purchased separately! Noton - Xerrox 'reMASTER' CD Slipcase. The slipcase can accommodate the 5 CDs of Xerrox Vol.1-5 (reMASTER).Design by Carsten Nicolai.
Xerrox Vol.3
Xerrox Vol. 3 is the eighth solo studio album by German electronic artist Alva Noto, released in 2015 as part of the ongoing Xerrox penthalogy, which began with Xerrox Vol. 1 (2007) and Xerrox Vol. 2 (2009).Inspired by formative influences such as An…
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Xerrox 2
Xerrox Vol. 2 is the sixth studio album, released in 2009 by German electronic artist Alva Noto. It is the second installment of the Xerrox penthalogy, based on the concept of digital replication of source material. As with the first Xerrox album, th…
Xerrox
Xerrox Vol. 1 is the third studio album by German electronic artist Alva Noto. It was released in 2007 as part of the ongoing Xerrox pentalogy, based on the concept of digital replication of source material. Using the process of copying as a basis, t…
Oacis
**2025 Stock** As regards content, acoustics and optics, raster-noton.oacis goes beyond the momentary. The texts by top writers like Rob Young (The Wire), Pinky Rose, Peter Kraut (NZZ) and Martin Pesch (e.g. Frieze, Spex, Kunstforum) examine how rast…
Live 2002
2018 release (RARE) ** "Live 2002 captures an inspired performance at BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art in Newcastle by three revered, influential and likeminded pioneers; Ryoji Ikeda, Alva Noto and the late, great Mika Vainio. Minimal but highly ef…
V.I.R.U.S.
Tip! Noton releases the Limited Edition CD Box Set of Alva Noto & Ryuichi Sakamoto’s V.I.R.U.S. Pioneers in their own musical approaches, Alva Noto and Ryuichi Sakamoto, began their exploration of sound in the evocatively titled V.I.R.U.S. series in …
Xerrox Vol. 5
Alva Noto returns to his much awaited Xerrox project with Vol. 4, the fourth installment of the five-piece intended series based on the concept of digital replication of source material.
Nuts of Ay
»Nuts of Ay«, the thirteenth album by the Berlin-based electronic pop duo Tarwater (Ronald Lippok and Bernd Jestram), is their first in a decade, since 2014’s »Adrift«. Beautifully poised and smartly dressed, it's an album that draws Tarwater’s vario…
Hybr:id (LP)
2022 repress HYbr:ID Vol. 1 is the first installment of a new series of Alva Noto’s works bringing together heterogeneous composition methods. HYbr:ID Vol. 1 captures the music commissioned for the score of ‘Oval’, the choreographic piece directed b…
∞
This new limited edition box set has been created in celebration of Carsten Nicolai’s much-loved interactive installation bausatz-noto, now showing at The Vinyl Factory: Reverb exhibition at 180 Studios. Four Technics SL-1210 turntables are integrate…
Hybr:id III
Noton is pleased to announce the release of HYbr:ID III, the third chapter of Alva Noto’s HYbr:ID series initiated in 2021. HYbr:ID III, continuing the trajectory established by its predecessors, crafts a soundscape of meditative and resonant tones. …
Hybr:id II
HYbr:ID Vol. 2 is the second installment of Alva Noto’s HYbr:ID series initiated in 2021. The new album captures the music commissioned to score Richard Siegal’s Ectopia performed in 2021 by Tanztheater Pina Bausch with Shooting into the Corner (2008…
This Stolen Country of Mine
Alva Noto's award-winning score for the 2022 German documentary film This Stolen Country of Mine directed by German filmmaker Marc Wiese features nineteen compositions to be released on Noton. The documentary film explores the question of a state's s…
Kinder der Sonne
NOTON is pleased to announce the release of "Kinder der Sonne", the new album by Alva Noto featuring music composed for the score of the theater piece Komplizen by Simon Stone. The title comes from Maxim Gorky's play Children of the Sun, written in t…
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HD
*Limited edition of 500 copies.* "HD“ can be described as Atom™‘s electronic quintessence: a blend of pop, electronic abstraction and powerful grooves - an invention Atom™ stands for and which was popularized through previous releases, classics in th…
Design Slipcase (for CD) / V.I.R.U.S series
Limited Edition CD slipcase celebrating Alva Noto & Ryuichi Sakamoto's VIRUS series. The slipcase can accommodate the 5 CDs Vrioon, Insen, Revep, Utp_, and Summvs (reMASTER) and comes in an eco-friendly, cream shaded Muken paper.Design by Carsten Nic…
Design Slipcase (for Vinyl) / V.I.R.U.S series
Limited Edition Vinyl slipcase celebrating Alva Noto & Ryuichi Sakamoto's VIRUS series. The slipcase can accommodate the 5 LPs Vrioon, Insen, Revep, Utp_, and Summvs (reMASTER) and comes in an eco-friendly, cream shaded Muken paper.Design by Carsten …
Summvs
In process of stocking Released for the first time in 2011, 'Summvs' is the fifth and final installment of Alva Noto and Ryuichi Sakamoto's V.I.R.U.S. series. The title 'Summvs' refers to the Latin word "summa" (eng. sum) and "versus" (eng. towards);…
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UTP
Released for the first time in 2009, ‘utp_’ is the third installment of Alva Noto and Ryuichi Sakamoto’s V.I.R.U.S.'s series. It was commissioned for the 400th anniversary of Mannheim, Germany. The flowing 10-section multimedia work derives its shape…
Revep
In process of stocking Initially released in 2006, Revep is the third collaboration album between Alva Noto and Ryuichi Sakamoto and the third installment of V.I.R.U.S.'s five album series. Remastered in 2021 in collaboration with Calyx Studio, the a…
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Subterraneans
Tip! Finally out "Subterraneans" from Alva Noto feat. Martin L. Gore & William Basinski. An instrumental cover version, made by the electronic music pioneers together with the Depeche Mode's musician, of the famous song from David Bowie's album "Low"…
Vrioon (re- master) (2LP)
Pioneers in their own musical approaches, Alva Noto and Ryuichi Sakamoto, began their exploration of sound in the evocatively titled V.I.R.U.S series in 2002. After more than a decade from the release of the collection's final installment with "Summv…
Insen
*Remaster.* Originally released in 2005, ‘Insen’ is the second collaboration album between Alva Noto and Ryuichi Sakamoto and the second installment of V.I.R.U.S.'s five albums series.  Remastered in 2021 in collaboration with Calyx Studio, the album…
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Glass
* 2022 Repress * Glass is a recording of an inspired live improvisation by Ryuichi Sakamoto and Alva Noto at the architect Philip Johnson's hallowed Glass House, in the bucolic setting of New Canaan, Connecticut. The structure's transparency and seam…
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Unieqav
Carsten Nicolai concludes Alva Noto’s UNI-prefixed release cycle with Unieqav, the 3rd and most dancefloor-focussed instalment of the series. The follow-up to Unitxt [2008] and Univrs [2011] pairs pendulous minimal techno and electro rhythms with wid…
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Xerrox Vol. 4
Alva Noto returns to his much awaited Xerrox project with Vol. 4, the fourth installment of the five-piece intended series based on the concept of digital replication of source material.
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Alphabet
Alphabet explores the combinatorics between signs on one side and signals on the other. The performance, inspired by the Etymologies of Isidore of Seville twisting the scientific rigor to privilege phonetic acquaintances, revisits the strategies of r…
Two (Live At Sydney Opera House)
Alva Noto and Ryuichi Sakamoto present Two, which captures the esteemed duo’s 2018 performance at Sydney Opera House. The concert saw the pair performing new improvised work and key collaborative compositions from their joint catalogue, which has now…
Live 2002
**Ltd. numbered edition of 800 copies, white vinyl** Carsten Nicolai’s Noton present a masterclass in minimalist electronic discipline with Mika Vainio, Ryoji Ikeda + Alva Noto’s powerfully future-proofed Live 2002 performance, recorded at Newcastle’…
Univrs
Gatefold 2LP version. Alva Noto's (Carsten Nicolai) Univrs follows on from and develops the concept of the album Unitxt (R-N 095CD/LP). Whereas the focus of Unitxt was on the processing of rhythmic patterns ("unit" = unit of measurement, element) a…
Summvs
5th in a series of releases beween Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto and electronic artist Carsten Nicolai (Alva Noto), "Summvs" presents passionate minimal electronics, and includes a Cluster/Eno cover.  The new album will host its world premi…
For 2
RESTOCKED Four years after the release of his dedicatory for record, 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 And…
Unitxt
This latest Alva Noto production is quite excited and rhythmical, especially in the first part (tracks 1 to 10), shaking the audience through multiple communication codes, modulated in sound frequencies that are always well synchronized, touchy and r…
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