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™ »Almost a Unit (0.9) [Peter van Hoesen Remix]« taken from »0.9«

With »R3V«, raster and Atom™ present the third and final transmission of the <3 sequence.
The AV EP is a 7 track narrative, with »R3V« as the header and it's 6 completing permutations. Each of those 7 titles comes as a video (but can be obtained as »audio only«). Read »R3V« as the soundtrack to the systemic failure.

#hardcodepop
#eschaton
#therevolutionwillnotbeonline
#<3я

### denotes "end". No more messages to follow.

Atom™ »REV« taken from »R3V«

More than five years since his debut album, sound artist Albert van Abbe now presents NONDUAL on Raster – a contribution so perfectly tailored to the platform that it is hard to conceive it is his first. NONDUAL will be out in February 2022 alongside DUAL, a remarkable collaboration with the label’s co-founder Olaf Bender (Byetone). 

NONDUAL has been inspired by nondualism. The term refers to the recognition that what we essentially are, behind this seeming multiplicity and diversity of objects, others and selves, is a single indivisible reality. With NONDUAL, van Abbe presents the listener with an opportunity to sonically explore this realization. 

The entrance to van Abbe’s nondual universe is a Cellar Closet. And yes, there is a portal deep inside, but it doesn’t lead to any kind of Narnia that C. S. Lewis would recognize. Rather, you’re presented with 14 consecutive landscapes made up of the architecture and infrastructure of yourself, on a nano-mechanical level. Sharp tapping cadences, sudden bursts of acidic noise, deep resonating oscillations – the sounds of the beyond microscopic machinery that makes us all tick. The scenery is wild but never chaotic: blistering rhythmical pulses collide with ethereal ivory harmonies, creating movement and balance, creating us. On this level, it’s plain to see that we’re all the same – in a literal sense. The rest is just a question of magnification and ego. 

Played and exhibited as an audiovisual project in the new ∄ Club Concert Hall in Kiev, Ukraine as well as NXT Museum Amsterdam, NONDUAL is a new live audiovisual performance, a realtime 4K+ flexible visual synthesizer based on Andreas Nicolas Fisher's Supervoid series played in conjunction with the NONDUAL soundtrack. 

NONDUAL was conceived at the Willem Twee Studio in 's-Hertogenbosch, where van Abbe also utilized a grand 'DIY' prepared piano in the adjacent concert hall, extensively sampling Beste Aydin (Nene H). The album was further mixed and engineered with Byetone at Funkhaus in Berlin. Jochem Paap (Speedy J) did the mastering for the album, the first full mastering project outside of his own material at STOOR in Rotterdam. A dream come true for van Abbe.

Nondual

Albert van Abbe »I hear a sigh coming down« taken from »Nondual«

In ancient Greek mythology, Zeus was the king of the Olympian gods and the supreme deity. Zeus was the god of the sky, lightning, thunder (Κεραυνóς / ΚΕΡΑΥΝΟΣ), law, order, and justice. The Cyclopes were three, orb-eyed, immortal giants who forged the thunderbolts of Zeus. The lawless Titans, encouraged by Gaia (Γαῖα/Γη/earth), tried to wrestle control of the world from the olympian gods in a ten-year battle known as the Titanomachy. The Titans were the brothers and sisters of Cronus and it was only through the help of the Cyclopes (who made Zeus his thunderbolts) and the hundred-handed giants or Hecatoncheires (Briareos, Cottus and Gyges) that Zeus was finally able to imprison the Titans in Tartarus, the deepest part of the underworld. Making himself ruler of the skies, Zeus then gave dominion over the seas to Poseidon and of the underworld to Hades.

KEΡΑΥΝΟΣ was one of the most powerful symbols in ancient Greece – if not the most powerful. As contemporary science proved, the thunder that dominated the earth before the creation of life gave birth to the primordial substances by enhancing the production of nitrogen and thus amino acids which are essential for the production of proteins and life. In numerous civilisations they believed that the overlord of thunder was a deity.

In Celtic mythology, Taranis was the god of thunder. In Slavic mythology it was Perun and in Scandinavian it was Thor. In India, the god of thunder was Indra and in Finland it was Ukko. In China, Lei Gong was worshipped as the deity of thunders and in Rome the people who died because of a thunder were considered as blessed. Inkas believed that thunder was the son of the sun and the moon and in Christianity thunder is the voice of god.

The music of » ΚΕΡΑΥΝΟΣ « was composed by using environmental sounds and field recordings from the five continents: 

OCEANIA | Tarkine Rainforest
ASIA | Okinawa
EUROPE | Ancient Olympia and Iceland
AFRICA | Uganda, Botswana and Namibia
AMERICA | Amazon Rainforest and Niagara Falls 

» ΚΕΡΑΥΝΟΣ « will be released on occasion of our 25th anniversary in 2021.

ΚΕΡΑΥΝΟΣ

Novi_sad »Europe« taken from »ΚΕΡΑΥΝΟΣ«

Dutch sound artist Albert van Abbe now joins the raster family, with an unexpected collaboration with founder Olaf Bender aka Byetone titled DUAL. Having spent time working side by side in ’s-Hertogenbosch at the Willem Twee Studio, the result of their collaboration is both smooth and haptic, rounding out as an expressive camaraderie between the two veteran producers. Jovial and innocent, DUAL alludes to the experimental research process of finding common ground. Fully embracing the haphazard richness of live recordings, the result is a remarkable fusion of contrasting outputs; intricate collaborative efforts and byproducts woven together with an eager indifference towards expectation. 

The artists embrace a skewed navigation through pronounced highlights, intricate lulls and moments of temporal stasis, intermittently punctuated as a means of intentionally avoiding notions of rigid perfection. With ‘real-time’ approach directing DUAL’s creation, the pair effectively shies away from any meticulous planning, and the music runs free and negates any rigid parameters one might have expected. Quirky titles exude the collaged form of the release, and underline its innocent charm. As a whole, DUAL focuses on the creative process and fully engages listeners with its own dialogue, though it is very outspoken, at times even abrasive.

Dual

VA x BY »We should communicate that« taken from »Dual«

The continuously edited, autonomous piece of code as which Atom™ defines itself enters the hot state of flow. »Neuer Mensch« (»new human«) is the relentless, visceral expression of metamorphosis. A projection of the metahuman horizon, an exercise in shedding the exoskeleton. Dead tissue is being torn off in radical body movements. Dead ideas are crushed by feet, dancing the dance of brutal elegance. Somatic exorcism via hyper realistic surfaces of binary noise. Physicality. Unseen geometries dressed in the most basic of rhythmic patterns - simple structures of hidden symmetries. The false promise of linear progress as it shatters, hitting the barrier of sound. Familiar vocal fragments speak to us in foreign tongues, languages still to be invented. Indecipherable messages from another species - future faux amis. The seductive spell of artificiality and its inherent promise of tomorrow’s bliss. A soundtrack for all of you hi-tech vagabonds, you godless drifters, deprived of past and present.

[text generated by X1N]

Programmed, engineered and mastered by an algorithm.

Neuer Mensch

Atom™ »Rausch« taken from »Neuer Mensch«

Milian Mori is a composer and digital artist based in Switzerland. As part of his solo work he integrates dance, algorithms, pixels, and club music. In the last 12 years mori has developed a musical language that aims to expand, project and reinterpret dance music's common vocabulary.
Mori shares his deep interest in combining mathematics, geometry and data with emotion, dance and fulfillment: Technology meets nature, binary meets fluids, algorithm meets spirituality, dualism meets triality, machine meets human, randomness meets self similarity. All of his works are trying to open the space which exceeds dualism. His art doesn’t want to answer, nor does it aim to question.
His debut album »as you were listening«, released via raster, captures the spirit of his previous works as well as establishes a new vision in which he endeavours to fuse pop culture with the art world. In »As you were listening« he’s using the distinct language of dub techno whilst attempting to expand the genre’s vocabulary with new changes, elements and aesthetics.
Mori has been involved in numerous collaborations and a wide array of arts projects, as well as working as a composer, DIY installation artist, sound designer, recording and sound engineer.

As you were listening

Milian Mori »I listen 5« taken from »As you were listening«

Frank Vigroux’s latest release »Magnetoscope« refers to the eighties, a “terrifying time” as he calls it. A time that influenced him and us; »Blade Runner« dystopia, Polaroid colors and VHS video recorder aesthetics (in French »Magnétoscope«) form the conceptual foundation of the sound aesthetics used here.
The compositions, between progressive pop (»VHS«), Vangelis romanticism (»L.A.«) and dark, abstract layers of sound (»Stream«), are worked out in detail, driving forward, and can also be harmonically complex. Nevertheless, as usual from Vigroux, they somehow always remain timeless and classic. New on »Magnetoscope« is a kind of melodic euphoria paired with machine-funk elements, like on »Cassette«.
»Magnetoscope« is part of a series of releases (including Vigroux’s predecessor »Ballades sur lac gelé« from 2020) that interrelate strict and cool analog sounds, drum machines and noise landscapes in an epic, almost cinematic way. Let’s leave it open whether this artistic attitude is also a child of the 80s.
»Magnetoscope« will be released on CD and digitally on November 25, 2022. Cover photo by Kurt d’Haeseleer.

Magnetoscope

Franck Vigroux »Cassette« taken from »Magnotoscope«

"The disaster is the time when one can no longer - by desire, ruse or violence - risk the life which one seeks, through this risk, to prolong. It is the time when the negative falls silent and when in place of men comes the infinite calm which does not embody itself or make itself intelligible."
M. Blanchot, The Writing of Disaster

tracklist:
00:00 0120_19_kt ns [vs.] john j. niles - brother's revenge
03:05 0420_10 lisafem porn glt [vs.] perfume genius - moonbend
05:11 0919_03_ gran dr loop [vs.] perfume genius - moonbend
08:47 0621_04_re 0820_18_re 0717_26 [vs.] jeff buckley - mojo pin
11:20 1008_18_lv 2 ss1 [vs.] cat power - crossbone style
14:44 0122_16 git re 1015_25 [vs.] elliot smith - twilight
17:54 0820_19_re 0916_23_re 0916_02 lv1b [vs.] the van pelt - you are
22:02 0921_05_feedback 2_0921_13 [vs.] fiona apple at lago
26:13 0220_16_spnt 1d ostranenie parasite [vs.] 0222_windows screenreader
30:03 0621_17_vcv recsd dub 2 [vs.] bob marley - war
35:14 0921_13 lv 1 0220_28 ostr [vs.] aldous harding - horizon

all music by grischa lichtenberger, except all vocals by artists as stated above, machine-isolated.

hauntological mixtape

Hauntological Mixtape

grischa lichtenberger »hauntological mixtape«

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«

Raster is thrilled to announce the release of »Works for Last Work«, an exceptional sonic and visual testament of lichtenberger's work on Batsheva Dance Company's critically acclaimed piece »Last Work«, choreographed by Ohad Naharin. In addition to the originally composed music featured in the piece, the album offers an exclusive collection of sketches and tracks made during this collaborative period. This new release is available digitally and as a limited edition of a collection of silkscreen prints.

Lichtenberger's »Works for Last Work« takes the listener on a journey through the soundscape of Naharin's masterpiece, a piece that delves deep into themes of death, rebirth, and regeneration. The album features a blend of ambient, experimental, and electronic music, creating a concentrated and intimate sonic universe that perfectly encapsulates the mood and energy of the dance.

The digital version of »Works for Last Work« is available for purchase on the raster website, Bandcamp and streaming platforms. For collectors and audiophiles, the release also features a limited edition print version, which includes eight hand-made, three-colored silkscreen prints by Lichtenberger, abstractly portraying enigmatic scenes of the dance piece. 

»Works for Last Work« is an exceptional addition to Grischa Lichtenberger's already impressive body of work. It serves as a testament to the power of interdisciplinary collaboration and highlights the unique relationship between music and dance.

Works for Last Work

Grischa Lichtenberger »0515_15_beginning 2_sk1« taken from »Works for Last Work«

Originally released in 2005 on his brother's online label Tokyo Trauma, »Die Wiederholung der Geschichte der amerikanischen Heimatlosigkeit« is Grischa Lichtenberger's debut release, predating his involvement with raster. Anticipating and framing his later works, the visceral sound palette, ranging between harsh digital noise and compelling analogue roughness, is put to play in a very unconcerned and uncompromising way on this release, in harmony with an idiosyncratic beat science and an organic, natural feel of song structure and melodies.
The influence of independent rock music of the 90s, as well as an artistic experimental approach center this record, as his brother David Lichtenberger put it in his description of the record: "Very arty stuff, but first of all characterized by an incredibly direct and heavy sound oscillating between punching beats and digital harsh noise making your ears bleed and you (me at least) scream for more."
Conceptionally, »Die Wiederholung der Geschichte der amerikanischen Heimatlosigkeit« (the repetition of the history of American rootlessness) parallelizes the history of European and American relations with the dialectics between digital and analogue technologies. Experimental methods of electronic music are put in a metaphoric relation with a historical topic, like in »Durchquerung 3« scrubbing a wave form of an audio file that is put in a relation to the crossing of the Death Valley by early American settlers. Using the compressor as an expressionistic tool of composition, overshooting the 0db barrier creating noisy artefacts, time stretching, collaging all work as tools for regenerating material, create a relation to an acoustical subconsciousness of recorded sounds (similar to the optical unconsciousness of slow motion and montage that Walter Benjamin described in his first analyses of cinema in the 1920s).
raster is pleased to reissue this early work of Grischa Lichtenberger, remastered and for the first time in physical format.

Die Wiederholung der Geschichte der amerikanischen Heimatlosigkeit

Grischa Lichtenberger »grainmelo lfo hoerner nivellierung« taken from »DWDGDAH«

»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«

ASA

Arturo Lanz
Saverio Evangelista
Atom™

are the last three futurists on earth.

»Radial« is the result of a vivid creative merge between Esplendor Geométrico and Atom™. A transparent diamond formed by a heavy implosion. Its underlying massive mechanics are covered by a crystal surface made to cut reality in half. Just one letter short of “radical”, this album is no less than exactly that - an orgy of powerful, blunt repetition and hyperbolic simplicity, a profound evocation of nothingness and its surroundings.

The 13 tracks (which comprise the digital full-length version) of »Radial« are the exact expansion of sonic ideas those three artists have explored during the last couple of decades. Unexpectedly so, this makes this production an outstandingly atemporal one - some would even classify it as meta-contemporary.

A selection of 10 tracks of the digital full-length album will be released on CD through raster on September 01, whereas an accompanying vinyl release is scheduled for the end of 2023.

Radial

ASA »We need a medic« taken from »Radial«

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«

»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 - 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«

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

belief defect »slipping away« 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«

»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.

Sichten 1

benjamin brunn »joy« taken from »sichten 1«

retina.it »horses« taken from »sichten 1«

"almost to the day 10 years ago i was exchanging emails with carsten (nicolai) and olaf (bender) for my first release with raster-noton. before i knew it, i was playing a concert at villa massimo - i never played in front of people before. till today i feel nervous and a bit estranged by the situation of live performances, but i've learned (a bit) to dive into this and get an experience out of it - after all an essential part of art is presenting what you've done to the public. making a mixtape, though, feels more natural and honest in some way. so, without the need to shoot from the hip, this mix is dedicated to all the patient, inspiring and encouraging people i've met with raster(-noton)."

grischa lichtenberger


tracklist

1
- lek, lullaby to faa mai (elephant lullaby) (elephantnews youtube, 2014)
- island people, vultures and doves (island people, raster r-m174, 2017)
- grischa lichtenberger, 0416_10_lv_1_cello 1 (unreleased, 2016)

2
- robert lippok, varieties of impact (applied autonomy, raster r-m181, 2018)
- steve reich, six pianos (six pianos, deutsche grammophon 2525463, 1974)

3
- grischa lichtenberger, 1018_08_lv_gr_ssd (unreleased, 2018)
- byetone, rocky (soft) (death of a typographer, raster-noton r-n092, 2008)
- grischa lichtenberger, 0517_01 lv2 ms snt seq b (unreleased, 2017)

4
- frank bretschneider, thermik (archiv 4, raster noton r-n175)

5
- grischa lichtenberger, 0218_08_lv 2 b recs (unreleased, 2018)
- toru takemitsu, distance (garden rain, deutsche grammophon 002894775382, 1974)
- dasha rush, dance with edgar poe (sleepstep, raster-noton r-n158, 2015)

6
- grischa lichtenberger, 0617_01 lv 1 pnrecs + 0617_03 mobile paper shredder (unreleased, 2017)
- grischa lichtenberger, 1016_13 lv 1 ms (slow dances, unreleased, 2016)

7
- robert lippok & ronald lippok, fruit of the loom (weltecho, raster-noton r-n052, 2003)
- mokira, byte (cliphop, raster noton cdr 036, 2000)
- grischa lichtenberger, 0716_29_lv 1 re 0716_15 recs (unreleased, 2016)
- banks, fuck with myself (the altar, harvest 2557103717, 2016)

8
- nhk, __1 (unununium, raster-noton r-n111, 2009)

9
- grischa lichtenberger & jesse osborne-lanthier, 0117_18_re_0616_25 cslm ss2 mel 2 4b 180 dwnpt 51 2 (2017)

10
- zavoloka, inflame (sichten 1, raster r-m180, 2018)

11
- cassie, don't play it safe (don't play it safe, bad boy entertainment, 2017)
- djc artz, cassie-don't play it save filtered instrumental (youtube, 2018)
- grischa lichtenberger, 1018_10 cassie-artz remix (unreleased, 2018)

12
- grischa lichtenberger, 1017_09_lv_1b trks 2 (unreleased, 2017)

13
- atom™ & lisokot, leitmotif 1 (walzerzyklus, raster r-m176, 2017)

14
- kyoka, flashback (is (is superpowered), raster-noton r-n153, 2014)
- grischa lichtenberger, 1216_28_kyoka-flashback remix backstage (fridgebuzz+piano stockholm 2016) (unreleased, 2016)

15
- grischa lichtenberger, 0617_02_pb recs 2 arg 1 b q2 (bielefeld city, für carsten/c) (unreleased, 2017)

1018 10 lv 1 nts mix 1c

grischa lichtenberger »1018 10 lv 1 nts mix 1c«

»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 

************************************************ 
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«

official soundcloud page of raster - artistic platform.

raster

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