Carsten Nicolai

Alva Noto is the code for Carsten Nicolai's recordings. Nicolai is a German installation artist whose installations are influenced by both cybernetics and John Cage. His audio installations employ "music" of a special kind, music which is not meant to be music in the traditional sense of the word. Rather than a musician, Carsten views himself as a "manufacturer of sounds", his main (and sometimes only) instrument being a computer.

Nicolai plays with the rules of physicality. Sound is changed and evolved into time and space and transformed by looping oscillators and tone generators. Through these processes the essence of pure electricity is made audible. He works without sequencers, but mathematically edits his work to give his compositions precise rhythmic structures. Clicks and glitches are not used as ornamental additions to the compositions but make up the essential elements of the work and these sound sources are applied to the rhythmic groove of Hip-Hop and R&B. The sounds of electronic information transmission such as fax tones, modem sounds and telephone pops and clicks are sampled and organised into loops to which Nicolai adds longer electronic tones in the background and foreground as the piece progresses.

• 1996 - Spin - 250-254 Kbps
• 1997 - ∞ - 320 Kbps
• 1997 - Endless Loop Edition - 320 Kbps
• 1997 - Mikro Makro [with Ø] - 320 Kbps
• 1998 - Waves + Lines [with Frank Bretschneider & Olaf Bender] - 320 Kbps
• 1998 - Kerne - 66-274 Kbps
• 1998 - Polyfoto - 256 Kbps
• 1999 - Empty Garden - 320 Kbps
• 1999 - Time..Dot / 20' To 2000.September - 320 Kbps
• 1999 - 13 [with Yoko Tawada] - 268 Kbps
• 2000 - Prototypes - 320 Kbps
• 2000 - Telefunken - 320 Kbps
• 2000 - Centrum [with Frank Bretschneider & Olaf Bender] - 320 Kbps
• 2001 - Wohltemperiert [with Ø] - 320 Kbps
• 2001 - Transform - 320 Kbps
• 2001 - Opto Files [with Opiate] - 320 Kbps
• 2001 - Uniform [with Scanner] - 320 Kbps
• 2001 - . [with Ryoji Ikeda] - 320 Kbps
• 2002 - Mort Aux Vaches [with Frank Bretschneider & Olaf Bender] - 192 Kbps
• 2002 - Autopilot / Autorec - 320 Kbps
• 2002 - Vrioon [with Ryuichi Sakamoto] - 320 Kbps
• 2004 - 2nd [with Thomas Knak] - 320 Kbps
• 2004 - Transrapid - 320 Kbps
• 2005 - Transspray - 320 Kbps
• 2005 - Transvision - 320 Kbps
• 2005 - Insen [with Ryuichi Sakamoto] - 320 Kbps
• 2006 - For - 320 Kbps
• 2006 - Revep [with Ryuichi Sakamoto] - 320 Kbps
• 2006 - Insen Live [with Ryuichi Sakamoto] - 192 Kbps
• 2006 - raster-noton. [o]acis box [with CoH, Frank Bretschneider & Olaf Bender] - 320 Kbps
• 2007 - Xerrox Vol.1 - 320 Kbps
• 2007 - Aleph-1 - 320 Kpbs
• 2007 - Zone - 320 Kbps
• 2007 - Robotron [with Frank Bretschneider & Olaf Bender] - 320 Kbps
• 2008 - Unitxt - 320 Kbps
• 2008 - Electronics [with Zeitkratzer] - 320 Kbps
• 2009 - utp_ [with Ryuichi Sakamoto and Ensemble Modern] - 320 Kbps
• 2009 - Xerrox Vol. 2 - 320 Kbps
• 2009 - Time Examined [with Ø] - 320 Kbps
• 2009 - 14 Tracks Visualising Sound: Alva Noto - 320 Kbps
• 2010 - Wardenclyffe Session [11, The Final One] Live At Tesla Berlin 2006 [Signal / Pact Systems] - 320 Kbps
• 2010 - For 2 - 320 Kbps
• 2010 - Ret Marut Handshake [with Blixa Bargeld] - 320 Kbps
• 2010 - Mimikry [with Blixa Bargeld] - 320 Kbps
• 2010 - アワーミュージック [with Keiichiro Shibuya & Soutaiseiriron] - 320 Kbps
• 2011 - Univrs - 320 Kbps
• 2011 - Summvs [with Ryuichi Sakamoto] - 320 Kbps
• 2011 - id [with Ryoji Ikeda] - 320 Kbps
• 2012 - Décade [with Anne-James Chaton and Andy Moor] - 320 Kbps
• 2012 - Diamond Version - EP 1 [with Olaf Bender] - 320 Kbps
• 2012 - Diamond Version ‎- EP 2 [with Olaf Bender] - 320 Kbps
• 2013 - Diamond Version - EP 3 [with Olaf Bender] - 320 Kbps
• 2013 - Diamond Version - EP 4 [with Olaf Bender] - 320 Kbps
• 2013 - Diamond Version - EP 5 [with Olaf Bender] - 320 Kbps
• 2014 - CI [with Olaf Bender] - 320 Kbps
• 2015 - Xerrox Vol. 3 - 320 Kbps

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