Articles
2011 Top 10s and 20s
Spotlight 4

Albums
Akhet
Cory Allen
Alva Noto
Aun
Bass Communion
Alexander Berne
Birds Passage / Rosado
The Black Dog
BNJMN
Ursula Bogner
Cokiyu
Steve Coleman
Cubenx
Mats Eilertsen
Elektro Guzzi
eleventhfloorrecords
Ben Fleury-Steiner
Golden Gardens
Goldmund
Thom Gossage
Steve Hauschildt
Helvacioglu & Pancaroglu
Illuha
Larkian & Yellow6
Clem Leek
Mamerico
Milyoo
Hedvig Mollestad Trio
Nao
Yann Novak
Sasajima & Hirao
Scissors And Sellotape
Ryan Scott
Till von Sein
Shaula
The Silent Section
Scott Solter
Spheruleus
Talkingmakesnosense
thisquietarmy
Anna Thorvaldsdottir
tINI
Tycho

Newly Issued
The Beach Boys

Compilations / Mixes
Deetron
Mike Huckaby
Radio Slave
Rebel Rave 2: Droog

EPs
Thavius Beck
Niccolò Bianchi
Falko Brocksieper
Alex Cobb & Aquarelle
Deru
Everything Is
Ed Hamilton
Hammock
Herzog
Oknai
SlowPitch
Tracey Thorn
Damian Valles

Alva Noto: Univrs
Raster-Noton

Having developed over the course of many years and releases, Carsten Nicolai's sound is instantly recognizable, and as such it takes no time whatsoever for Univrs to identify itself as the latest contribution to a steadily growing discography by the German producer and Raster Noton overseer. Spreading fourteen quintessential Alva Noto tracks across an hour-long running time, Nicolai's follow-up to 2008's Unitxt possesses little of the soothing tone of his Ryuichi Sakamoto collaborations. Instead, the focus is on raw, beat-based settings that are, on production grounds, refined yet nevertheless hit with an aggressive forcefulness.

“Uni Iso” pushes the template to a near-rave pitch with ten minutes of industrial emissions and writhing noise textures (violent scrapes, scratches, squeals, and squawks) powered by jittery funk patterns and thudding bass tones, after which Nicolai distills its force and energy into a two-minute microcosm called “Uni Mode.” The album also finds him taking his music to an aggressive extreme not often witnessed before. Hear, for example, how much he loosens the controls for “Uni Deform,” a noise exercise that writhes spasmodically like some Alva Noto-Merzbow collaboration. In “Uni Rec” (which includes an ear-catching Siren synth contribution from Martin L. Gore), one hears traces of Kraftwerk in the track's marriage of high-pitched bleeps and funk patterns. “Uni Acronym,” featuring the manipulated voice of Anne-James Chaton reciting 208 three-letter acronyms (set in alphabetical order), also recalls similarly styled monotone voice-based tracks by Kraftwerk, especially when the voice in the Alva Noto track is presented as a robotic male.

December 2011