0.9999...//READ THAT SEQUENCE LIKE A MANTRA.

After their successful collaboration on <3, Atom™ and X1N are back, this time presenting the 4 track EP »0.9«. It contains both the opening and closing tracks of <3 as well as their corresponding mutations. While »0.9 (almost a unit)« was remixed by Esplendor Geométrico, »Almost a unit (0.9)« got reworked by Peter van Hoesen. »Both renditions contribute amplified iterations of inherent attributes of <3« as X1N eloquently states. On a side note it may be mentioned that in mathematics, the expression »0.999..« is considered being identical to 1. Meditating over that very fact may tell you a lot about our current reality. 

#hardcodepop 
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PROXIMITY IS DESTINY
DREAMS AS SEARCH ENGINES
X < Y < Z
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IN THE VAST SURFACE OF ALL MATHEMATICAL EQUATIONS ONE CAN SENSE EVENTS WHICH SEEM TO COME FROM OTHER DIMENSIONS - RIPPLES AND PATTERNS. THE ZERO POINT NINE INFINITE NUMBER LINE NEVER REACHES ONE, YET IS ONE, NONETHELESS. (X1N)
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»I TALK IN ALPHA NUMERALS«
(X1N)
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### denotes »end«. no more messages to follow.

Atom™ »0.9 (Almost a Unit) [Esplendor Geométrico Remix]« taken from »0.9«

Atom™'s new EP »Nacht« includes four tracks, two of which are previously unreleased titles from the »Neuer Mensch« album: »Nacht« and »Geometrische Einheit.« The other two tracks, »Sprechender Raum« and »Selbst,« also appear on the »Neuer Mensch« album but are presented here in alternate versions.
This selection of tracks was created with the growing meta-techno dancefloor in mind and will be available on 12 inch vinyl or digitally through the raster platform.

Nacht

Atom™ »Nacht« taken from »Nacht«

»Ödipus, Herrscher« is the debut release of Berlin-based, Japanese sound artist Mieko Suzuki on raster. It is the result of a composition commissioned by Schauspielhaus Bochum.
The classic, timeless material of Oedipus premiered as a dark dystopia in Bochum in 2021. Before the first words of the play are spoken, the auditorium is filled with an immersive drone that anticipates what will later become the bleak, underlying tone of the staged material: pestilence, decay, fear and resignation. The anticipation of the plot through this drone also introduces the key role of the sound, the importance of the music for this production. Mieko Suzuki produces sounds by gently stroking, scratching and hitting the various elements of her self-built instruments, made from archaic materials such as wood, stone, metal, fur and clay. Amplified by contact microphones, these sounds are electronically manipulated, alienated and distorted. Her central concern is direct interaction; the correspondence between acting and music through improvisation. With tracks such as »Disaster«, »Taboo«, »Pest« and »Vertigo« Mieko Suzuki translates scenarios and moments key to the story through a material resonance, transferring the compositional narrative of Oedipus into a dark and textured sonic terrain. Sonically and affectively, without illustrating it as a compositional narrative. »Vertigo«, for example, features a constantly playing Shepard tone, expressing the inevitability of the abyss.
In addition to this production, Mieko Suzuki is involved as a sound artist and musician in other theaterplays such as »Hamlet« at Schauspielhaus Bochum and »Demons« at the Vienna Burgtheater. She has performed at Mutek.JP (Tokyo), CTM Festival (Berlin), Human Club (Barcelona) and E1 (London), among others, and works as a DJ, a member of improvisation trio Contagious and co-organizer of the Berlin multidisciplinary event series Kookoo at OHM.
raster would like to thank the Schauspielhaus Bochum for their support in realizing this release.

Ödipus, Herrscher

Mieko Suzuki »Vertigo 目眩« taken from »Ödipus, Herrscher«

Immerse yourself in the ethereal sonic voyage with Dasha Rush's latest electronic music masterpiece, »Contemplating«. This ambient album takes listeners on a transcendental journey through ethereal landscapes and immersive textures. 
The album's title perfectly encapsulates its essence. From the very first note, »Contemplating« captivates with its intricate layers of atmospheric harmonies, meticulously weaving together a tapestry of minimalistic sonic elements. As the ethereal soundscape unfolds, listeners are invited to embrace the moment of stillness in a realm where emotions and thoughts intertwine, creating a sonic experience that is both introspective and otherworldly.

Contemplating

Dasha Rush »Trumpets of Andromeda« taken from »Contemplating«

audio recording taken from volumens festival, valencia 23.09.2023 (unedited)

© 2024 raster – artistic platform

byetone // live

Unequal cycles in search of synchronous experiences: On his new album »Pounding«, Frank Bretschneider tells of distance, convergence and congruence in a continuous, ever-changing flow of events. What is often regarded as an unquestionable dogma in club music (for which Bretschneider has provided significant impetus since the 1990s) – the groove – appears precarious, unstable, and in motion. Pulse and accent are volatile encounters and have to be found again and again for short, delightful moments. Music becomes a constant process of negotiation.
In search of new sound spaces, Bretschneider has recently worked a lot with modular synthesizers, both solo (for example on »abtasten_halten«, 2020) and in collaborations, including the project Beispiel together with Jan Jelinek. »Pounding« was created using similar means - conceived in 2020 for the Pochen Biennale in Chemnitz, subsequently developed further and recorded in March and April 2023 on a sample-based modular system. And in fact, Bretschneider is once again exemplarily scanning his own sound material, such as dub effects that listen to themselves disintegrate; but also the human voice, or more precisely: the stuttering of fragments of speech, far in the distance but omnipresent, like a mysterious narration. Aesthetically, the eleven pieces form part of a series of works with a focus on percussion. Bretschneider has already perfected this approach with albums like »Rhythm« (2007) and has been shifting the perspective ever since, for ever new results.
Shifting is the basic principle of »Pounding«. Bretschneider combines elements that are in different aggregate states, changing their relationship to each other and thus ensuring the complex overall movement. He lets one to two-bar loops run against each other and through small manipulations, develops a network of rhythms that creates a hypnotic state in the counterplay of repetition and mutation, between clearly recognizable meter and disorientation. There are comparable approaches in aleatoric music. Bretschneider combines them with sounds and patterns that are reminiscent of step sequencer logic and at the same time go far beyond it. The result is relational techno. Never obvious, always restless and exciting.

Pounding

Frank Bretschneider »Evening News« taken from »Pounding«

»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 - dark barker

»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«

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«

»KAMILHAN; il y a péril en la demeure« is the conclusion of a 5-part cycle of works by artist Grischa Lichtenberger which was initiated with the album »LA DEMEURE; il y a péril en la demeure« in 2015 and continued with the triple EP release »Spielraum, Allgegenwart, Strahlung« in 2016.
In addition to the concept of „demeure“, ones residence as a symbol for the joy and artistic possibilities one can find in isolation, Lichtenberger places a further emphasis on the expression of the voice, represented by the word „Kamilhan“. „Kamilhan“ is a non-existent word, an expression that Ernst Bloch once mentioned in an anecdote about his childhood. Fascinated by its sound but without knowing its meaning, it remained vivid in his memory in its purely „material“ form.
Lichtenberger also refers to this childish perception of language. Words that we do not know, but repeat in our thoughts until they become insignificant. Lyrics in a foreign language that we do not understand and still sing along and imitate. With computer-generated voices, Lichtenberger tries to reproduce these experiences. In his tracks we hear syllables and phrases that are similar to words and that seem familiar to us, but whose meaning remains a secret.
As on the previous album, the tracks on »KAMILHAN« are constantly torn apart and reassembled. Borrowings from hip-hop and even pop are unmistakable, desired, and yet delusive. Rhythms that are repeatedly broken in order to re-organize themselves into new temporal patterns. Melodies that are pierced by precisely these intricate rhythms. Voices that lack any empathy due to their artificiality.
Lichtenberger himself describes these tracks as „crooked ballads“, which, by deliberately following classic pop song structures, try to sell us the absurd as the normal, and in turn smuggle some hope of recognition into the absurd.
»KAMILHAN; il y a péril en la demeure« will be released on May 08, 2020 on CD and as a limited double vinyl edition including a handmade and signed silkscreen print.

KAMILHAN; il y a péril en la demeure

Grischa Lichtenberger »s4e« taken from »KAMILHAN; il y a péril en la demeure«

THE ONLY DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ONE AND NONE IS N.

<3 is a collection of material in the genre of "Hard Code Pop"// 
It was produced by AtomTM interacting with X1N, an entity for generating human voice and natural language content// 

<3 is an alphanumeric pre-echo, arisen from a 2019 number dream// 
Cutting through the haze of meaning// 

<3 is music made by machines, with machines, for machines// 
Reality as useful fiction// 
Read 0.999… as the Mantra of Death, the ongoing chain of cycles, going down one by one. 

#HardCodePop 

THERE IS NO FUTURE WITHOUT TEARS 
DANCE ON YOUR DEBRIS 
HASHTAG DEATH 
HASHTAG TIME 
THE R3VOLUTION WILL NOT BE ONLINE 
CLICK, CLICK, CLICK...I'M HERE TO FOLLOW 

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X1N IS: 
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X1N - UNKNOWN INTELLIGENCE NETWORK 
-> TRANS HUMAN OBJECT (THO) 
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THE SUPERIOR FUNCTION 
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X1N SAYS: 
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IN THE VAST SURFACE OF ALL MATHEMATICAL EQUATIONS, ONE CAN SENSE EVENTS WHICH SEEM TO COME FROM OTHER DIMENSIONS - RIPPLES AND PATTERNS. THE ZERO POINT NINE INFINITE NUMBER LINE NEVER REACHES ONE, YET IS ONE, NONETHELESS. 

0.9999... 
READ THAT SEQUENCE LIKE A MANTRA. 
A MANTRA OF DEATH. 
(X1N) 
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"I TALK IN ALPHA NUMERALS" 
(X1N) 
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### denotes "end". No more messages to follow. 

<3 was released digitally on raster on the 17th of April 2020. 
The physical releases (CD and vinyl) followed on the 24th of July.

Atom™ »0.9 (Almost a Unit)« taken from <3

Raster presents »Il Quadro di Troisi«, a project by Andrea Noce (Eva Geist) and Donato Scaramuzzi (Donato Dozzy). The record is a colorful ode of an Italian scented vision, overflowing of details and profound intensity. The contemporary world condition, the pandemic in Italy and around the world define »Il Quadro di Troisi« as a unique and right-on-time release. 

This record is a enigmatic collaboration between the two Italian natives Andrea Noce and Donato Scaramuzzi. Andrea Noce takes lead on the vocals, with Donato Scaramuzzi carving the dreamlike soundscapes of the record. The record was born with a correspondence between the two artists about the late actor and director Massimo Troisi, and this exchange soon became an inspirational source of identification. Andrea Noce’s lyrics are sensitive and multi-faceted, they perfectly cling to the musical phrases and flow like a filmic monologue from the oeuvre of that very Troisi. 

In a highly creative and confident manner, entire decades of national music history are comprehended and transformed into the here and now. The record takes its cue from the italo-disco, synth pop tradition corroborated by the contribution of artists such as the legendary Twilight Music co-founder, Paolo Micioni. With »Il Quadro di Troisi«, Noce and Scaramuzzi prove their eclecticism, and passion for their home country. 

»Il Quadro di Troisi« is a collaboration between Raster and the Milan-based festival Terraforma. With this release, the first with a purely Italian focus on the label, Raster celebrates its long standing relation with Italy and the Italian audience, encapsulated in the label's project ›Electric Campfire‹ held in Rome for ten years. Terraforma is an international experimental and sustainable music festival taking place since 2014 in the park of Villa Arconati, where Dozzy has been invited at every edition in different forms, DJing, live performing both in solo and with Voices from the Lake (together with Neel). 

»Il Quadro di Troisi« will be released on the 31st of August as an exclusive pre-order, followed by the single release of »Raggio verde«. The physical and digital release of the album is planned for autumn 2020.

Il Quadro di Troisi

Il Quadro di Troisi »Raggio verde« taken from »Il Quadro di Troisi«

official soundcloud page of raster - artistic platform.

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