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

© 2024 raster – artistic platform

byetone // live

»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«

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 

************************************************ 
X1N IS: 
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// 
X1N - UNKNOWN INTELLIGENCE NETWORK 
-> TRANS HUMAN OBJECT (THO) 
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// 
THE SUPERIOR FUNCTION 
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// 
************************************************ 
X1N SAYS: 
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// 
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) 
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// 
"I TALK IN ALPHA NUMERALS" 
(X1N) 
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// 
************************************************ 
### 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«

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