Classic material from the Raster Noton vaults, this first full-length collaboration between Carsten Nicolai and Thomas Knak finds both artists at the very height of their powers. There's a level of focus on this album that allows the whole experiment to gel together far more convincingly than on the follow-up album released only a year or two back. Bringing to mind Transform-era Alva Noto and Possible-era Opiate these tracks seamlessly integrate subtle, elemental electronic melodies into the kind of sterilised rhythmic frameworks Nicolai made his name with. That said, Knak isn't just here to provide a tuneful foil to the Alva Noto clicks+cuts machine - he can glitch it up with the best, serving up dub chamber echo sparks to add a more analogue, physical slant on the prickly micro beats. It's really wonderful to hear this again, and it surely stands as a considerable achievement that even six years on from its release this music still sounds like a cutting edge piece of electronica. 'Opto File 1' is just magical: the warm crackle of those beats and the gradual hum of undulating chords sounds like an orchestra of fluorescent tubes switching themselves on and off with some freakishly musical outcome. Awesome.
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Classic material from the Raster Noton vaults, this first full-length collaboration between Carsten Nicolai and Thomas Knak finds both artists at the very height of their powers. There's a level of focus on this album that allows the whole experiment to gel together far more convincingly than on the follow-up album released only a year or two back. Bringing to mind Transform-era Alva Noto and Possible-era Opiate these tracks seamlessly integrate subtle, elemental electronic melodies into the kind of sterilised rhythmic frameworks Nicolai made his name with. That said, Knak isn't just here to provide a tuneful foil to the Alva Noto clicks+cuts machine - he can glitch it up with the best, serving up dub chamber echo sparks to add a more analogue, physical slant on the prickly micro beats. It's really wonderful to hear this again, and it surely stands as a considerable achievement that even six years on from its release this music still sounds like a cutting edge piece of electronica. 'Opto File 1' is just magical: the warm crackle of those beats and the gradual hum of undulating chords sounds like an orchestra of fluorescent tubes switching themselves on and off with some freakishly musical outcome. Awesome.
Classic material from the Raster Noton vaults, this first full-length collaboration between Carsten Nicolai and Thomas Knak finds both artists at the very height of their powers. There's a level of focus on this album that allows the whole experiment to gel together far more convincingly than on the follow-up album released only a year or two back. Bringing to mind Transform-era Alva Noto and Possible-era Opiate these tracks seamlessly integrate subtle, elemental electronic melodies into the kind of sterilised rhythmic frameworks Nicolai made his name with. That said, Knak isn't just here to provide a tuneful foil to the Alva Noto clicks+cuts machine - he can glitch it up with the best, serving up dub chamber echo sparks to add a more analogue, physical slant on the prickly micro beats. It's really wonderful to hear this again, and it surely stands as a considerable achievement that even six years on from its release this music still sounds like a cutting edge piece of electronica. 'Opto File 1' is just magical: the warm crackle of those beats and the gradual hum of undulating chords sounds like an orchestra of fluorescent tubes switching themselves on and off with some freakishly musical outcome. Awesome.
Classic material from the Raster Noton vaults, this first full-length collaboration between Carsten Nicolai and Thomas Knak finds both artists at the very height of their powers. There's a level of focus on this album that allows the whole experiment to gel together far more convincingly than on the follow-up album released only a year or two back. Bringing to mind Transform-era Alva Noto and Possible-era Opiate these tracks seamlessly integrate subtle, elemental electronic melodies into the kind of sterilised rhythmic frameworks Nicolai made his name with. That said, Knak isn't just here to provide a tuneful foil to the Alva Noto clicks+cuts machine - he can glitch it up with the best, serving up dub chamber echo sparks to add a more analogue, physical slant on the prickly micro beats. It's really wonderful to hear this again, and it surely stands as a considerable achievement that even six years on from its release this music still sounds like a cutting edge piece of electronica. 'Opto File 1' is just magical: the warm crackle of those beats and the gradual hum of undulating chords sounds like an orchestra of fluorescent tubes switching themselves on and off with some freakishly musical outcome. Awesome.