Alva Noto
Carsten Nicolai as Noto, playing live at MUTEK 2004
Background information
Birth name	Carsten Nicolai
Also known as	Aleph-1, Alva Noto, Noto
Born	1965 (age 47)
Origin	Karl-Marx-Stadt, Germany
Genres	Electronica, Glitch, Microsound
Instruments	Synthesizer, keyboards, laptop, guitar, percussion
Labels	Raster-Noton, Mille Plateaux, Line
Associated acts	Noto, Cyclo, Opto, Signal (german band)
Website	www.alvanoto.com

Alva Noto is a stage name of sound artist Carsten Nicolai who uses art and music as complementary tools to create microscopic views of creative processes.^{[clarification needed]} Another alias he uses is Noto. He is a member of the music groups Signal (with Frank Bretschneider and Olaf Bender aka Byetone) and Cyclo. (with Ryoji Ikeda).

Nicolai was born in Karl-Marx-Stadt, East Germany. His interest in sound and its physical qualities may be inspired by his childhood obsession with bats, whom as a child he believed he could communicate with. He first studied architecture and landscape design before pursuing an interest in the theoretical properties of sound and space. Resettling in Berlin in the early 1990s, Nicolai founded the experimental music label Noton as a platform for his conceptual and experimental musical concerns.^[1] In 1996 this was to become Raster-Noton. Archiv Für Ton Und Nichtton with the collaboration of Olaf Bender.

Nicolai transforms sound by looping oscillators and tone generators. He does not use sequencers, but edits his work to give his compositions rhythmic structures. Clicks and glitches are not used as ornamental additions to the compositions but make up the essential rhythmic and harmonic elements of the work. He frequently samples electronic information transmission sounds such as fax tones, modem sounds and telephone pops and clicks are sampled and organised.^{[citation needed]}, among other overlooked sound sources.

Nicolai has recently written an opera, Sparkie: Cage and Beyond, in collaboration with Michael Nyman.^[2]

Carsten Nicolai also works as a visual artist. Using the principles of Cymatics he visualizes sound. Nicolai’s practice is formed by a convergence of sound, painting and sculpture that results in installations exploring the idea of creativity filtered through modularized systems and codes.^{[clarification needed]} His music features prominently in his art. Nicolai’s work exposes the limitations, and potential beauty and creativity, possible within strict logical systems.^{[clarification needed][citation needed]}

Nicolai has performed and created installations in many of the world's most prestigious spaces including the Guggenheim, New York, the SF MoMA, Modern Art Oxford, NTT Tokyo, Tate Modern and Venice Biennale, Italy. As a member (and co-founder) of the Raster-Noton label he was responsible for the acclaimed CD series '20 to 2000' that went on to win the Golden Nica prize at Prix Ars Electronica, 2000.

Selected discography [link]

Solo albums [link]

• Prototypes — 2000 (Mille Plateaux).
• Transform — 2001 (Mille Plateaux) & re-released on Raster-Noton in 2008. 'Transall cycle' "approaches the problematics of speed, the vision of utopia and the dissolution of our ideas into fragments."
• Xerrox Vol.1 — 2007 (Raster-Noton)
• Aleph-1 — 2007 (as 'Aleph-1') (iDeal Recordings)
• Unitxt — 2008 (Raster-Noton)
• Xerrox Vol.2 — 2009 (Raster-Noton)
• For 2 — 2010 (12k/line)
• Univrs — 2011 (Raster-Noton)

Solo EPs [link]

• Transrapid — 2004 (Raster-Noton).
• Transvision — 2005 (Raster-Noton).
• Transspray — 2006 (Raster-Noton).

Solo compilations [link]

• For — June 2006 (Line, a division of 12k). A collection of unreleased tracks created over the previous 4 years.
• For 2 — March 2010 (Line, a division of 12k). A collection of unreleased tracks created over the previous 7 years.

with Ryuichi Sakamoto [link]

• Vrioon — December 2002 (Raster-Noton)
• Insen — March 2005 (Raster-Noton)
• Revep — March 2006 (Raster-Noton)
• Insen Live — October 2006 (Raster-Noton). DVD release. Contains fifteen tracks and video footage from the 'Insen' tour. Recordings for the DVD took place at Casa da Musica, Porto, Portugal, on June 11, 2006 and at Sonar festival 2006, Barcelona, Spain, on June 15, 2006 in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound. Also contains live tracks from the 2005 Insen album, as well as previously unreleased tracks such as 'Xerox' and 'Barco.'
• utp_ — September 2008 (Raster-Noton)
• Summvs — May 2011 (Raster-Noton)

with Ryoji Ikeda [link]

• Cyclo — 2001 (Raster-Noton)
• Cyclo.id — 2011 (Raster-Noton)

with Scanner (Robin Rimbaud) [link]

• Uniform: SF MoMA 2001. CD Contains 1 track, "Uniform," performed and recorded by Carsten Nicolai and Robin Rimbaud (Scanner) for the exhibition of ""010101: Art In Technological Times"" at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) on March 3, 2001.

with Blixa Bargeld, as ANBB [link]

• Ret Marut Handshake — 2010 (Raster-Noton)
• Mimikry — 2010 (Raster-Noton)

with Opiate (Thomas Knak), as "Opto" [link]

• Opto Files — 2001 (Raster-Noton). Limited CD release. Number 6 in the raster.static series. CD Comes in a silver anti-static bag with green card insert.
• Opto: 2nd — June 2004 (Hobby Industries). The CD Contains ten tracks, all titled with times of the day. The collaboration was created in a 48-hour period and was inspired by the restored recording from a cassette found in a forest in Eastern Germany.

with Zeitkratzer [link]

• Zeitkratzer & Carsten Nicolai: Electronics — 2008 (Zeitkratzer Records)

Compilation appearances (exclusive/non-albums tracks) [link]

• "Monophaser 4" from "V.a. - :2" (2008)
• "Garment" from "Sound Canvas | 1" (2008)
• "Planet Rock" from "Recovery" (2008)
• "Stalker" from "In Memoriam Andrey Tarkovsky" (2008)
• "Haloid Xerrox Copy 3 (Paris)" from "Mind The Gap Volume 70" (2007)
• "06.1 Quanta Random" from "Tribute to Iannis Xenakis" (2007)
• "Sonolumi (For Camera Lucida)" from "Camera Lucida" (2007)
• "Odradek (Music to Play in the Dark)" from "It Just Is In Memoriam Jhonn Balance" (2005)
• "Re10" from "Landscape 2" (2005)
• "Post-Remo" from "Richard Chartier + Various - Re'Post'Postfabricated" (2005)
• "Party Plasibenpuis (for Rune Lindblad)" from "The Hidden City: Sound Portraits from Goteborg" (2004)
• "Time…Dot (3)" from "An Anthology of Noise & Electronic Music / Third A-Chronology 1952-2004" (2004)
• "m6re" from "SoundxVision 2004" (2004)
• "Obi 2 Min." from "Frecuencies [Hz]" (2003)
• "60 sec" from "Soundcultures" (2003)
• "Strategies Against War 1.0--Covering All Information with White Noise" from "60 Sound Artists Protest the War" (2003) as Carsten Nicolai
• "MM", "Time Dot" from "Raster-Noton. Archiv 1" (2003) as Noto
• "Obi_2.3" from "Electrograph 02 - Athens Sound Media Festival 02" (2002)
• "Menschmaschine" from "Klangmaschine_Soundmachine" (2002)
• "Crystal R" from "Various - Live Sets At Ego 1998-2000" (2002) as Noto
• "M 06 Short" from "Electric Ladyland Clickhop Version 1.0" (2001)
• "Neue Stadt (Skizze 8)" from "Clicks & Cuts, Vol. 2" (2001)
• "Modul 4", "Impulse" from "Raster-Noton.(O)acis Box" (2001) as Noto
• "Neue Stadt Skizze 1" from "Between Two Points" (2001) as Noto
• "Sound Mobile" from "Ringtones" (2001)
• "Prototyp P" from "Raster-Noton. Oacis" (2000)
• "Prototype n." from "Clicks & Cuts" (2000)
• "Crystal s 10 60 sec." from "Computer Music Journal Sound Anthology, vol. 24" (2000) as Noto
• "Crystal.s2" from "Microscopic Sound" (1999) as Noto
• "∞ [Radio Teeth Edit]" from "Various - Because Tomorrow Comes #2" (1999) as Carsten Nicolai
• "Polyfoto 1a-1" from "Modulation & Transformation 4" (1999) as Noto
• "Zeit T3" from "Effe 1999" (1999)
• "POL .Motor", ".Test", ".Versuch", ".Anordnung", ".Variation", ".Modell" from "Just About Now" (1998) as Carsten Nicolai
• "Chemnitz" from "Decay" (1997) as Noto

Remixes [link]

• Ryuichi Sakamoto - Insensatez (Re-model by Alva Noto)
• Ryuichi Sakamoto - Undercooled (Alva Noto Remodel)
• Björk - Innocence (Alva Noto Unitxt Remodel 12" Remix)
• Byetone - Plastic Star (Alva Noto Remix)
• Modwheelmood - Things Will Change (Remodeled by Alva Noto)
• Spyweirdos - Wiesbaden (Already Happened Tomorrow) (Schwarzer Bock Mix)
• Ludovico Einaudi - Divenire (Alva Noto Remodel)
• Pomassl - Sol (Alva Noto Rmx)
• Machinefabriek - Stofstuk (Alva Noto Remix)
• Opiate - 100301 (Re-Model by Alva Noto)
• Greie Gut Fraktion - Wir Bauen Eine Neue Stadt (Alva Noto Remodel)
• Kangding Ray - Pruitt Igoe (Rise) (Alva Noto Remodel)
• Sōtaisei Riron + Keiichirō Shibuya - Our Music (Remodel Light)^[3]

Installations, etc. [link]

• Audio installation in the Piazza del Plebiscito, Naples, Italy, December, 2009
• Opening performance for "010101: Art In Technological Times" at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) on March 3, 2001
• Lovebytes Digital Festival, Sheffield, England, 2003
• Sónar Music Festival, 2004 and 2009
• Netmage, Bologna, Italy, 2006
• BBmix Festival, 31 October 2008
• Club Transmediale, Berlin, Germany, 2009, 2008 and 2000
• Pace Gallery, New York, 2010 ^[4]

References [link]

External links [link]

• Carsten Nicolai website
• Alva Noto (aka Carsten Nicolai) website
• Raster-Noton website
• Alva Noto discography at Discogs
• EIGEN + ART Gallery: Carsten Nicolai
• Saatchi Gallery: Carsten Nicolai
• Carsten Nicolai on Artcyclopedia
• KultureFlash interview (11/2005)
• PingMag interview (05/2005)
• Videoportrait of Carsten Nicolai by CastYourArt
• Two and a Half Questions with Carsten Nicolai on Headphone Commute
• Live at CTM.09 Festival in Berlin
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