raster

the significant novelty of kyoka‘s first full length album »is (Is Superpowered)« is that she uses her own voice much more often than usual, in the form of short snippets as well as longer sung melodies. these elements are set and arranged as if they were an autonomous instrument. sometimes these voices give the impression of being a babelesque language mix-up, or even a kind of cryptic message for the listener like found in the song »meander«.

the production process of the record was heavily supported by her label mates frank bretscheider and robert lippok, which is, in this way of forming a production team, a unique constellation in the history of raster-noton. whereas lippok focused on preserving the roughness and complexity of kyoka‘s compositions, bretschneider concentrated on refining them regarding their fluidity and focus. both tried to keep the vitality and hyperactivity of the initial tracks without losing their distinctive eccentricity.

although kyoka‘s sound is often kind of chaotic, it is by no means stressful but rather energizing and easy to enjoy. the only exception to this can be found in »piezo version vision«, the noticeably roughest track of the record. her particularly progressive style is best reflected by the song »re-pulsion«, a rolling groove combined with unusual clicks and snares and topped with crazy sounding voice fragments.

the album thus further deepens what was already initiated with her first ep »iSH«, released as part five of raster-noton‘s unun series. it presents a stylistically broader spectrum of kyoka‘s music but at the same time exhibits the fresh and positive, sometimes even childlike attitude she is already known for. this eventually renders »is (Is Superpowered)« a perfect extension of our label catalogue.

kyoka. re-pulsion. taken from kyoka. is (is superpowered)

the significant novelty of kyoka‘s first full length album »is (Is Superpowered)« is that she uses her own voice much more often than usual, in the form of short snippets as well as longer sung melodies. these elements are set and arranged as if they were an autonomous instrument, and sometimes they give the impression of being a babelesque language mix-up, or even a kind of cryptic message for the listener like found in the song »meander«.

the production process of the record was heavily supported by her label mates frank bretscheider and robert lippok, which is, in this way of forming a production team, a unique constellation in the history of raster-noton. whereas lippok focused on preserving the roughness and complexity of kyoka‘s compositions, bretschneider concentrated on refining them regarding their fluidity and focus. both tried to keep the vitality and hyperactivity of the initial tracks without losing their distinctive eccentricity.

although kyoka‘s sound is often kind of chaotic, it is by no means stressful but rather energizing and easy to enjoy. the only exception to this can be found in »piezo version vision«, the noticeably roughest track of the record. her particularly progressive style is best reflected by the song »re-pulsion«, a rolling groove combined with unusual clicks and snares and topped with crazy sounding voice fragments.

the album thus further deepens what was already initiated with her first ep »iSH«, released as part five of raster-noton‘s unun series. it presents a stylistically broader spectrum of kyoka‘s music but at the same time exhibits the fresh and positive, sometimes even childlike attitude she is already known for. this eventually renders »is (Is Superpowered)« a perfect extension of our label catalogue.

kyoka. lined up. taken from kyoka. is (is superpowered)

»vortices« is ueno masaaki’s first release on raster-noton, and the seventh release of the unun series.

ueno masaaki takes his musical cue from natural phenomenon and laws of nature by trying to reconstruct, not simulating them. the results are mainly rhythmical patterns that set off a chain reaction, expanding and contracting and creating new formations all the time.

the four tracks he presents on the EP are characterized by solid sound structures that appear to be very harsh and straight, sometimes even brutal, whereas the high pace even intensifies this impression. apparently repetitive at first sight, the tracks are in fact highly complex and intelligently arranged, presenting unforeseen breaks and shifts in direction.

ueno masaaki. vortex state. taken from ueno masaaki. vortices

»sleepstep« is the first collaboration between raster-noton and dasha rush. the record‘s subtitle »sonar poems for my sleepless friends« describes its underlying concept – »sleepstep« is a trip through electronically alienated microcompositions and sound collages that, interwoven with text passages, aim at creating a dream-like atmosphere.

the stations of this journey are striving for oblivion of time, an immersion, a drifting in universal states – death, life, birth, grief, desire. the titles often appear to be raw sketches, fugitive, surreal short stories that rather want to break open than execute.

the musical arrangement, in this context, can be described as rather subtle and fragile. though electronically manipulated, no production technique is pushing itself to the fore. and though clichés are not dreaded, »sleepstep«, as a result, stays away from being cliché. the sonar poems for her sleepless friends are feminine, subtle and personal reports. a musical dream journey in the form of a classical concept record – an album that also stands in the tradition of ambient music.

dasha rush is already known as a techno dj and producer. here on »sleepstep«, she celebrates her alter ego. the cd version comes with a 32-pages booklet that also shows her photographic interest and includes the aforementioned poems written by her. furthermore there is 2 x 12" vinyl version. 

dasha rush. sleep ballade (excerpt). taken from dasha rush.  sleepstep

cory arcane found her comfort zone in a constant state of crisis, and her liberation through love, sensuality, and high-speed internet access.
as some might recall, she used to struggle with her own decay, navigating an intricate web of bureaucracy, endless social-media scrolling, 24-hour news channel feeds and marketed strategies of seduction.
her intense and continuous obsession for surf, breakdancing and cat videos might have saved her from a silent decline, but it would be her first attempts at integrating a professional ballet company that provided the initial spark. her unorthodox dance movements were often considered shocking, transgressive, and barely legal; and even though some recognised her genuine talent, it was clear she would never make it into this structure. this is when she started her slow drift towards the outer limits of society, in search of the way to achieve the conditions for absolute freedom.
her emancipation was surely marked by different forms of excess: the inappropriate use of fireworks, the consumption of large quantities of alcohol and controlled substances, as well as the occasional blasts of kitchen appliances.
she bypassed the gender war and became an expert in advertising sabotage. soon cory would give academic courses on the true liberation of the mind, or, in her own words, the apotheosis of senses.
lately, she could be seen squatting in the outskirts of different giant metropolises, embracing the mayhem, contemplating the crumbling of a system. the sound of the city, mixed with the music on her headphones, would weave complex rhythms and futuristic textures into a beautifully coloured, pixellated surface.
looking out onto this fabulous chaos, she smiled.

»cory arcane« is kangding ray‘s fifth album on raster-noton and will be released as CD, double vinyl LP, and digitally.

kangding ray - when we were queens

kangding ray - dark barker

inspired by her residencies at stockholm‘s EMS studios, kyoka‘s new EP »SH« might be her most experimental record so far.

the 4 tracks presented on this EP can be described as snapshots having a spontaneous character as they were edited and recorded during various sound checks and performances.

the results are not less typical of kyoka‘s chaotic sound with unforeseen shifts in beat, unpredicted repetitions and surprising clicks and bops. the rather slow and gloomy opener »susurrus« is followed by a somehow dubby and strongly up-tempo track, »smash/hush«, that culminates in a repetitive and hypnotic swirl. the b-side, on the other hand, continues with a rather slamming track and is rounded of with »shush«, a track that loses some speed, but not complexity through its diverse breaks and cuts.

besides a release on vinyl, this EP will also see a CD release in japan with two additional tracks that will be available digitally through raster-noton‘s online shop.

kyoka »smash/hush« taken from kyoka »SH«

Dedicated to promote young and evolving artists, raster-noton is curating the unun series which name refers to the chemical elements 111-119. »Unalloyed, Unlicensed, All Night!« is Jesse Osborne-Lanthier’s first release on raster-noton, and the ninth and final release of this series.

Jesse Osborne-Lanthier is a Berlin / Montreal based, Canadian electronic music producer and multidisciplinary artist. His erratic research process incorporates the urgency of dance music and conceptual electronics by disassembling their grammar and acting through it. Refusing to follow the etiquette of a particular musical genre, he explores many creative practices in order to generate clashes of mood, expectation and technique.

»Unalloyed, Unlicensed, All Night!« was recorded by Osborne-Lanthier a mere two hours before a live set in Paris. Its specific purpose was to generate a response from the audience, to stimulate their bodies through sound. The toolbox for this task was stocked with automatic call-and-response music tropes drawn from EDM, big-room house, trance, and online production tutorials. Between the producer’s idiosyncratic by-the-numbers process and the rushed nature of the composition, the final product is rendered unpredictable; each signifier transforms into a distorted ghost of itself. This allows for unexpected responses to manifest on the dance floor as well as in the listener’s space of existence.

’Unalloyed, Unlicensed, All Night!’

jesse osborne-lanthier »blackwell dynonetics« taken from »unalloyed, unlicensed, all night!«

»island people« is a new band project consisting of mastering engineer conor dalton, grammy award winning producer david donaldson, musician and DJ graeme reedie and guitarist ian »chippy« maclennan. on their first self-titled record, they present their collaborative work that evolved over the past three years.
 
being based in different cities, namely berlin and glasgow, files had to be exchanged back and forth between the band members in order to create tracks. for their delicate sound structures, field recordings and other sound sources were heavily processed and rendered unrecognizable. layer after layer, the tracks came into being quite naturally, not only reflecting their continuous way of working, but also incorporating their different and individual backgrounds: »during the whole creation of the album, we never realized our actions were quickly leading us into forming »island people«, we were too busy having fun, making music and sharing ideas.«
 
the result of their collaboration is a timeless music that is as open as a natural phenomenon, developing a certain feeling of euphoria over time. all in all, »island people« is a pure listening record in the best tradition of ambient.

Island People

island people »vultures and doves« taken from »island people«

»island people« is a new band project consisting of mastering engineer conor dalton, grammy award winning producer david donaldson, musician and DJ graeme reedie and guitarist ian »chippy« maclennan. on their first self-titled record, they present their collaborative work that evolved over the past three years.
 
being based in different cities, namely berlin and glasgow, files had to be exchanged back and forth between the band members in order to create tracks. for their delicate sound structures, field recordings and other sound sources were heavily processed and rendered unrecognizable. layer after layer, the tracks came into being quite naturally, not only reflecting their continuous way of working, but also incorporating their different and individual backgrounds: »during the whole creation of the album, we never realized our actions were quickly leading us into forming »island people«, we were too busy having fun, making music and sharing ideas.«
 
the result of their collaboration is a timeless music that is as open as a natural phenomenon, developing a certain feeling of euphoria over time. all in all, »island people« is a pure listening record in the best tradition of ambient.

island people »ember« taken from »island people«

»decadent yet depraved«, the debut album by belief defect, finds shelter and complicity in raster as home and label.

familiar with the underground music scene and how its skeptical nature can also be an obstacle to overcome, belief defect abandon any claim or credit in an attempt to transcend the limits authorship imposes, avoid the boundaries or expectations earned or self imposed and find the clearest, most direct path to their music for themselves and the listener.

at the core of the album is the music that inspired them, the conclusion of countless recordings listened to in their formative years that ultimately result in a life-long devotion to electronic music: from dance floor to primal anger and self-annihilating noise, to transcendental, ambient escapism and intense self-reflexive sonic layering.

the result is a soundtrack for this apocalyptic time, an uncompromising reflection on the state of mankind and its uncertain future — underscored by a sense of religious and secular demise referenced in track titles, samples, and soundscapes scattered throughout the album.

yet, more than a political statement »decadent yet depraved« is an introspective journey, turning each listener into a spiritual soul-seeker staring into the abyss, reaching for some kind of cathartic truthfulness.

sculpture, prosthetics, photography by sarah sitken.

Decadent Yet Depraved

belief defect »deliverance« taken from »decadent yet depraved«

belief defect »no future« taken from »decadent yet depraved«

belief defect »unnatural instinct« taken from »decadent yet depraved«

belief defect »slipping away« taken from »decadent yet depraved«

»winter, or a time which represents that season, in a metropole that appears to be moscow. the visitor is taking metro no. 6 at leninsky prospect as he is on his way to the ballroom close to gorky park. the air is icy, the sky is grey. a cat, previously hidden among the dirty snow, is crossing his way. the closer he gets to his destination, the clearer he can hear music, music that reminds him of future days.

the dimly lit room is only sparsely filled. on stage a graceful singer, capturing the room with her presence. captive voices merge with chords played on yet unknown instruments – machine rhythms cycle in 3/4 time. the vigorous peasant dancers, following an instinctive knowledge of the weight of fall, utilize their surplus energy to press all their strength into the proper beat of the measure, thus intensifying their personal enjoyment in dancing. here, in the transhuman ballroom, time stands still and values are being dissolved by numeric progressions. spiritually allied, the visitor, the singer and the peasant dancers short-circuit the present moment while the last falling snow slowly turns into rain.«

with »walzerzyklus«, atom™ returns to raster to complete his series that has once begun with »liedgut« and continued with »winterreise«. the 7 tracks, created in collaboration with russian singer lisokot, are subdivided into 3 pieces of 2 minutes each and 4 pieces of 3 minutes each, intentionally reflecting the 3/4 time of a classic waltz.

throughout the release, lisokot’s delicate vocals are put into different relations to atom™’s rather cool machine music, either complementing or contrasting each other. in the same line, the 3 shorter “leitmotifs” provide the main theme that is taken up repeatedly in the course of the release.

the EP will be released on CD and as special vinyl edition limited to 300 copies.

Walzerzyklus

atom™ & lisokot »transhuman melody« taken from »walzerzyklus«

»winter, or a time which represents that season, in a metropole that appears to be moscow. the visitor is taking metro no. 6 at leninsky prospect as he is on his way to the ballroom close to gorky park. the air is icy, the sky is grey. a cat, previously hidden among the dirty snow, is crossing his way. the closer he gets to his destination, the clearer he can hear music, music that reminds him of future days.

the dimly lit room is only sparsely filled. on stage a graceful singer, capturing the room with her presence. captive voices merge with chords played on yet unknown instruments – machine rhythms cycle in 3/4 time. the vigorous peasant dancers, following an instinctive knowledge of the weight of fall, utilize their surplus energy to press all their strength into the proper beat of the measure, thus intensifying their personal enjoyment in dancing. here, in the transhuman ballroom, time stands still and values are being dissolved by numeric progressions. spiritually allied, the visitor, the singer and the peasant dancers short-circuit the present moment while the last falling snow slowly turns into rain.«

with »walzerzyklus«, atom™ returns to raster to complete his series that has once begun with »liedgut« and continued with »winterreise«. the 7 tracks, created in collaboration with russian singer lisokot, are subdivided into 3 pieces of 2 minutes each and 4 pieces of 3 minutes each, intentionally reflecting the 3/4 time of a classic waltz.

throughout the release, lisokot’s delicate vocals are put into different relations to atom™’s rather cool machine music, either complementing or contrasting each other. in the same line, the 3 shorter “leitmotifs” provide the main theme that is taken up repeatedly in the course of the release.

»walzerzyklus« will be released on CD and as special, laser-engraved vinyl edition limited to 300 copies.

atom™ & lisokot »alliiertenwalzer« taken from »walzerzyklus«

with »redsuperstructure«, robert lippok created a new foundation for his musical endeavors. now – 7 years later – this system properly comes to life on »applied autonomy«. the title of the new album is a clear indicator as to what the berlin-based producer has been up to during the last couple of years, both on a conceptual level as well as how he molds his ideas into tracks.

»applied autonomy« orchestrates a certain state of frantic standstill, which occurs once a structure is set. has this state been reached, the artist is free to focus on other equally important aspects, balancing the various shades, pushing ideas even further to really make them shine and blossom in their self-declared autonomy. the more light one lets in, the more layers become visible.

layers are key when it comes to understanding »applied autonomy«. big chunks of the material with which the album has been produced derive from sketches specifically made for a club performance.

rather than meticulously devising each and every detail, lippok focussed instead on recording as many fragments as possible in a short period of time, elements which he could later combine and layer on stage. based on this material and his experience experimenting with it in a live environment, the album slowly began to shape. an album culminating in a collaboration with klara lewis, with whom lippok spent 2 days at the EMS studios in stockholm, approaching the idea of autonomy from yet another angle. during the session, both musicians played and performed simultaneously, yet not explicitly together, lost in their own thoughts and ideas, only subconsciously taking in what the other one was coming up with. the result is »samtal«, 14 minutes of a constantly evolving state of poise, magically connecting all the dots lippok had already defined as »applied autonomy«.

the artwork for »applied autonomy« has been created by the berlin-based argentinian artist luca gutierrez. over the last couple of years, he has made a name for himself with his spectacular AV performances.

Applied Autonomy

robert lippok »all objects are moving« taken from »applied autonomy«

with »redsuperstructure«, robert lippok created a new foundation for his musical endeavors. now – 7 years later – this system properly comes to life on »applied autonomy«. the title of the new album is a clear indicator as to what the berlin-based producer has been up to during the last couple of years, both on a conceptual level as well as how he molds his ideas into tracks.

»applied autonomy« orchestrates a certain state of frantic standstill, which occurs once a structure is set. has this state been reached, the artist is free to focus on other equally important aspects, balancing the various shades, pushing ideas even further to really make them shine and blossom in their self-declared autonomy. the more light one lets in, the more layers become visible.

layers are key when it comes to understanding »applied autonomy«. big chunks of the material with which the album has been produced derive from sketches specifically made for a club performance.

rather than meticulously devising each and every detail, lippok focussed instead on recording as many fragments as possible in a short period of time, elements which he could later combine and layer on stage. based on this material and his experience experimenting with it in a live environment, the album slowly began to shape. an album culminating in a collaboration with klara lewis, with whom lippok spent 2 days at the EMS studios in stockholm, approaching the idea of autonomy from yet another angle. during the session, both musicians played and performed simultaneously, yet not explicitly together, lost in their own thoughts and ideas, only subconsciously taking in what the other one was coming up with. the result is »samtal«, 14 minutes of a constantly evolving state of poise, magically connecting all the dots lippok had already defined as »applied autonomy«.

the artwork for »applied autonomy« has been created by the berlin-based argentinian artist lucas gutierrez. over the last couple of years, he has made a name for himself with his spectacular AV performances.

robert lippok »applied autonomy« taken from »applied autonomy«

»sichten« refers both to »opinions« as well as the »examination of material«. in lose sequence, we will invite friends and colleagues, but especially music lovers to share their opinions on music with us or to look through their collected materials in order to present music that tends to be out of the focus of current media channels.

as a label for electronic music our focus is on examining exactly this genre. but in the context of the series, we are rather looking for more hidden, unknown, perhaps forgotten music. we want to present the yet undiscovered, and also offer a platform for other cultural environments with different musical approaches.

each issue will be supervised and compiled by a curator. an introductory text shall explain the artistic approach of the respective curator. in this sense, the format of a double lp can only provide a first insight and wants to invite to a more in-depth research.

for the first issue of the series, »sichten 1«, we asked frank bretschneider to compile his own, very personal selection of current electronic music. his choice fell on six artists, whose different styles meander between accessible music on the one hand and very abstract compositions on the other hand.

raster

Mandrill Dub Sound System