Alva Noto
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 condition, the point at which the self can no longer vouch for itself.The first record, Lichtstimme begins in an open, almost weightless sonic world. Something still appears untouched. The music carries a sense of proximity, clarity and trust. But this sen…
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 condition, the point at which the self can no longer vouch for itself.The first record, Lichtstimme begins in an open, almost weightless sonic world. Something still appears untouched. The music carries a sense of proximity, clarity and trust. But this sen…
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 recontextualisation with the Xerrox series in 2007. Over the years, the project has evolved into one of the most distinctive bodies of work in contemporary electronic music, situated between minimalism, experimental sound art and digital abstraction.
Across five albu…
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 site pictures a selection of examples).**
Alva Noto - Wave Weave – Sono Obi is the original soundtrack by Alva Noto, composed for a film by Carsten Nicolai. The project emerged from a collaboration with an 12th-generation kimono textile manufacturer in …
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 Andrei Tarkovsky's 1971 film Solaris, La Isla Misteriosa y el Capitán Nemo by Juan Antonio Bardem, and Henri Colpi, Carsten Nicolai exchanges austerity for cinematographic lushness in the remarkably widescreen third volume of his Xerrox series.
In line…
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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, the starting point is a set of samples culled from external sources. This time, snippets and recordings from Sunn O))) collaborator Stephen O'Malley and composer Michael Nyman are featured, as is an excerpt from the 2004 Insen tour with Ryuichi Sakamot…
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, the Xerrox series deals with the manipulation of data through endless reproduction. Due to the inherent fallacy of making copies from other copies, everyday sounds become so altered that they are hardly associated with their source material. As a resu…
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 raster-noton works on the cutting edge of electronic music, computer graphics and video animation, with which supreme ease the label moves between pop/club culture and the fine arts. The creative cover flap includes a CD with audiotracks and multimedia d…
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 effective, the performance builds throughout with deep sub bass, sleek, spacious sound design and high voltage, inorganic ambience. The innate noise floor in music technology is pushed up to take centre stage. This is sound of electricity, the hum of t…
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 2002. After more than a decade from the release of the collection’s final installment with Summvs in 2011, Noton reissued all the five albums between May and November 2022.
With its impressionistic atmosphere, in this collaborative project two genera…
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 various pasts into a high-definition present, while bringing the duo, yet again, into productive dialogue with all kinds of fellow travellers.
Tarwater’s music has always been marked by a hypnotic pop-ness, but that’s particularly evident on »Nuts of Ay«,…
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 by Richard Siegal and performed by the Staatsballett Berlin at the Berlin State Opera in 2019. The process of creating HYbr:ID Vol. 1 was defined by the search for a form to bind astrophysics phenomena, fiction, and performance movements. Its narrativ…
∞
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 integrated into a table. On each of these turntables lies a specially produced vinyl record with endless grooves, each of which provides the visitor with the opportunity to play several sound loops endlessly. The table functions as an instrument, allowing the…
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. Drawing inspiration from Noh, a traditional Japanese musical drama dating back to the 14th century, the album reflects the genre's distinctive rhythmic movements and its nuanced expression of emotions through subtle gestures. “The HYbr:ID albums are …
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 (2008-09) by Anish Kapoor.
Building upon the blend of immersive dub and electronica from the first installment, HYbr:ID Vol. 2 takes the listener on a journey into the realm of intricately manipulated digital production. These ten compositions delve into …
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 sovereignty in the face of foreign powers. The film portrays Ecuadorian resistance fighters and journalists who oppose the sell-off of an extensive part of the country's resources to Chinese investors. Alva Noto's music subtly accompanies the struggle…
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 the context of the 1905 Russian Revolution. Simon Stone wrote the new play for the Burgtheater ensemble based on this drama. The single Die Untergründigen unveils a romantic space, charting a sublime path with a new depth of harmonics and vibrant colo…
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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 the electronica genre, such as "Pop Artificielle“ and others.
Here is what the artist says:As so often I was asked to say and write something about the recording you are currently having in front of you: "HD“. To any musician this is no doubt a complic…
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 Nicolai.
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 Nicolai.
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); it serves as a metaphor for the work being oriented towards a collaborative result. The album features "Microon" compositions containing recordings of a 16th tone interval tuning piano - Piano Metamorfoseador Carrillo en Dieciseisavos de Tono. The a…
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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 from a rasterized structure of the southwestern city, founded in 1608. The recording documents the work’s debut performed by Ensemble Modern at the National Theatre in Mannheim. The music embraces the electronic, piano-based palettes, an expanded ar…
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 album's recordings are accompanied by three new compositions titled "City Radieuse", "Veru 1", and "Veru 2". "City Radieuse" was composed for the 2012 short cinematic essay titled "Cité Radieuse" and part of Carsten Nicolai's "future past perfect" ser…
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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", originally realised in 1977 for RCA.
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 "Summvs" in 2011, NOTON reissues all the five albums between June and October 2022.With its impressionistic atmosphere, in this collaborative project two generations met and shared the idea of electronic music as an inspiration source for new musical struc…
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's recordings are accompanied by an unreleased composition titled 'Barco.’ Initially composed for Alva Noto and Ryuichi Sakamoto's 2005 ‘Insen' tour, the audio material used in this piece is based on the subtle sounds of Barco projectors, whose tonal…
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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 seamless continuity with nature was given another dimension by the addition of this performance, whereby the building, location and audio coalesced into one perfect, harmonious whole. Stylish, stunning and elegantly minimal, the duo\'s architectural soun…
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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 wide, sheer electronic drones in a way that strongly recalls recent Monolake output as well as Ilpo Väisänen in full swang. Comparisons aside, though, it’s unmistakably Alva Noto. Pursuing the project’s roots in the dancefloor of Tokyo’s UNIT club to a…
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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 representation invented by the man to tell the world around him in the digital age. Alphabet invites the spectator to immerse themselves in the multiple relationships that, through language and its digital translations, maintain words and things.After…
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 reached five albums, one major film score and an EP.Last year the duo undertook a series of live events entitled Two at Berlin’s Funkhaus, Barcelona’s Theatre Grec (closing Sonar Festival’s 25th Anniversary), London’s Barbican Centre and Melbourne’s…
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’s Baltic arts centre This recording marks the only ever concert by the trio and its release serves as a tribute to the much-loved Vainio. “Mika was not only a friend and collaborator, but also an inspiration for my work as an artist. This is a cel…
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) and information ("txt" = data, language), with Univrs the focus is on the conceptual differentiation of a universal language ("universum/universal" = unity, entirety). The 14 tracks on Univrs have evolved from a live context, hence, the approach is…
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 premiere on may 12th, 2011 at the roundhouse in london and will be followed by a european tour called s in may/june 2011 with stations in rome, padua, graz, copenhagen, brussels, eindhoven, paris, frankfurt, bonn, berlin, leipzig and barcelona. The name o…
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 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 a…
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 reactive. This seems to be the ultimate recording; an elaborate and synthetic frontier, a computation of the "musical text" fashioned by multiple interfaces and software integrations. When listening to "unitxt", even the unaccustomed listener is immed…
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