| Prototypes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | March 14, 2000 | |||
| Recorded | 1999–2000 | |||
| Genre | Electronic, IDM, minimal, drone | |||
| Length | 49:40 | |||
| Label | Mille Plateaux mp 82 | |||
| Alva Noto chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   [1] |
Prototypes is a debut studio album by German electronic artist Alva Noto. It was released on March 14, 2000 via Mille Plateaux label. [2] The record features 10 untitled minimalistic compositions.
A reviewer of Brainwashed.com stated "Alva Noto is digital sound and visual artist Carsten Nicolai, aka Noto, head of the Noton half of Germany's Raster-Noton cooperative label now known simply as Raster Music. This disc is brought to us by fellow German electronic label Mille Plateaux and is referred to by them as being of the "digital processing" style. The 10 untitled tracks are a continuous suite of minimalist compositions constructed of the familiar sounds that seem to naturally emanate from everyone and everywhere in Germany these days. For nearly 50 minutes Nicolai precisely codes structured, layered loops of clicks, pops, artifacts, "beats", waves, tones, pulses, static, silence and noise into pleasant and listenable mini(mal) symphonies. The active evolution of each piece is both on a macro and micro level and the stereo field is fully explored ... attentive headphone listening ensures the full effect. And though the sounds are similar throughout, there's plenty of variation in how they are presented within each track and from track to track, this along with sharp composition skills are the keys to maintaining my interest. Nicolai is simply one of the most talented in the field. The title literally means "an original model on which something is patterned" so I can only assume that these prototypes will spawn more in the near future". [3]
All tracks are written by Alva Noto.
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Untitled" | 0:55 |
| 2. | "Untitled" | 7:25 |
| 3. | "Untitled" | 4:03 |
| 4. | "Untitled" | 5:23 |
| 5. | "Untitled" | 0:50 |
| 6. | "Untitled" | 6:58 |
| 7. | "Untitled" | 5:16 |
| 8. | "Untitled" | 5:35 |
| 9. | "Untitled" | 6:17 |
| 10. | "Untitled" | 7:01 |
| Total length: | 49:40 | |
Glitch is a genre of electronic music that emerged in the 1990s. It has been described as having an "aesthetic of failure" distinguished by the deliberate use of glitch-based audio media and other sonic artifacts.
Carsten Nicolai, also known as Alva Noto, is a German musician and visual artist. He is a member of the music groups Diamond Version with Olaf Bender (Byetone), Signal with Frank Bretschneider and Olaf Bender, Cyclo with Ryoji Ikeda, ANBB with Blixa Bargeld, ALPHABET with Anne-James Chaton, Opto with Thomas Knak, and Alva Noto + Ryuichi Sakamoto with whom he composed the score for the 2015 film The Revenant.
Insen is the second studio album in an ongoing collaboration between Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto and German electronic artist Carsten Nicolai. It was released on 20 March 2005 via Raster-Noton label.
Pomassl is an electronic sound and recording artist and DJ residing in Vienna, Austria, and is a co-founder of the Austrian Laton experimental techno label.
Raster-Noton was a German electronic music record label established in 1999. Based in Chemnitz, Germany, it emerged from the fusion of Rastermusik, founded by Olaf Bender and Frank Bretschneider in 1996, and Noton, a sub label which was run by Carsten Nicolai. In 2017, the label split up into two distinct entities: Raster, which would continue to be run by Bender, and Noton, focusing on Nicolai's output.
Xerrox Vol.1 is the third studio album by German electronic artist Alva Noto. It was released on March 27, 2007 via Raster-Noton label. This is his first album in the five-piece Xerrox series, followed by Xerrox Vol.2 (2009) and Xerrox Vol.3 (2015).
Xerrox Vol. 2 is the sixth studio album by German electronic artist Alva Noto. On this record, the author turns to a list of contemporary musicians, including Michael Nyman, Stephen O’Malley, and Ryuichi Sakamoto. The record is the second part of his Xerrox quintet of albums.
Vrioon is the debut collaboration album between Ryuichi Sakamoto and Alva Noto, released in 2002. This is the first album in the Virus Series followed by four other records: Insen (2005), Revep (2006), utp_ (2008), and Summvs (2011). The initial letters of the five albums together form the word "Virus".
Summvs is the fifth collaboration album between Alva Noto and Ryuichi Sakamoto. The record was released on 9 May 2011 via Raster-Noton label.
Revep is the third collaboration record between Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto and German electronic artist Carsten Nicolai. This EP continues the series titled the Virus Series. The EP was released on 23 May 2006 via Raster-Noton label.
Xerrox Vol.3 is the eighth solo studio album by German electronic artist Alva Noto. The record was released on 31 March 2015 via Raster-Noton label, continuing his Xerrox pentalogy.
Transform is the second studio album by German electronic artist Alva Noto. It was released on September 4, 2001 via Mille Plateaux label. The album was re-released in 2008 via Raster-Noton label. The album is the first part of Alva Noto's Transall series, along with the EPs Transrapid, Transspray, and Transvision (2001–2006).
Aleph-1 is the fourth studio album by German electronic artist Alva Noto. The record was released on December 31, 2007 via iDeal Recordings label.
Unitxt is the fifth studio album by German electronic artist Alva Noto. It was released on July 22, 2008 via Raster-Noton label.
Univrs is the seventh studio album by German electronic artist Alva Noto. It was released on 10 October 2011 via Raster-Noton label.
"Glass" is an improvisational piece composed by Ryuichi Sakamoto and Carsten Nicolai, known by his stage name as Alva Noto, for Yayoi Kusama's installation Dots Obsession—Alive, Seeking for Eternal Hope, which ran in September 2016 at Philip Johnson's Glass House. A film of the performance was uploaded to the Glass House's official Vimeo account and website on November 11, 2016, and an audio recording of the 37-minute composition was released as an album on Nicolai's label NOTON on February 16, 2018. "Glass" is an unconventional ambient piece that uses sounds from a keyboard, glass-made singing bowls, and digital processing of the House's glass walls. The composition consists of developing layers of sounds performed over a single drone. It was praised by many professional reviewers as a display of Sakamoto and Nicolai's growing artistry.
Unieqav is the ninth solo studio album by German electronic artist Alva Noto. The record was released on 16 March 2018 via Noton label.
Transrapid is an extended play by German electronic artist Alva Noto. It was released in 2004 via Raster Noton label.
Transvision is an extended play by German electronic artist Alva Noto. It was released in 2005 via Raster Noton label.
Transspray is an extended play by German electronic artist Alva Noto. It was released in 2005 via Raster Noton label.
