Artist: Alva Noto
Title: Unitxt
Format: Double LP Gatefold
Label: Raster-Noton
Catalogue Number: R-N 095-2
Year of Release: 2008
Tracklisting
A1 U_07 (7:57)
A2 U_06 (2:07)
B1 U_04 (5:15)
B2 U_09-1-2 (4:48)
C1 U_08-1 (3:13)
C2 U_03 (4:30)
C3 U_08 (5:37)
D1 U_01-2-0 (4:00)
D2 U_05 (3:20)
D3 U_09-0 (3:53)
10 variations on the theme of minimal electronica and processed sound by Carsten Nicolai, co-founder of Raster-Noton.
The opening track gives us percussive scissors, high frequency bips (like a beep, only shorter) and low frequency hums. It is also one of only two tracks to feature the 'text and voice' of Anne-James Chaton (his website here). Anne-James appears to be French, but he speaks French with a German accent. The words are mostly numbers, if you see what I mean. U_07 is the longest track on the album, and undergoes the most shifts during its 7:57, morphing into static shuffle and varied hums, fax machine solos and a rhythmic build to noisy ending.
U_06 by comparison is two minutes of manic buzz and drill.
The rest of the album is much the same, tracks being distinguished by the variety of bass drum sounds used (or sounds used as bass drums) and degrees of absent melody ranging from 'totally' to 'almost entirely'.
U_08-1 features Anne-James again, and is poppy and danceable, relatively speaking.
40-second samples can be heard on http://www.alvanoto.com/ under Audio>Unitxt, which should be sufficient to judge whether you like this kind of thing. For my part, it has its place.
