alva noto – unitxt |

Description

after finishing the »transall« cycle and introducing the »xerrox« series, alva noto makes a move back to his more rhythmic approach in »unitxt«. it could be seen as a kind of continuation of the »transspray« ep released in 2004.

a preview of the »unitxt« concept was already released in form of a remix of björk’s song “innocence” from her latest album “volta” (2007). »unitxt« was recorded during the raster-noton japan tours in 2006 and 2007. it was reviewed and edited in berlin in early 2008.

the title »unitxt« could be read as

– “unit extended” referring to a unit of a rhythmic grid, or

– “universal text” referring to a universal language, e.g. in mathematics: units, constants, measurements, prefixes, the SI system of units,

and is represented by spoken words and codes within sound itself.

“unit”, —the initial working title of the album, —is the name of a club in tokyo. the way of composing the tracks in a grid of 120 pbm and out of different rhythmic, recombined units or modules, as well as the expression of the text component in form of recordings that were produced in collaboration with the french sound poet anne-james chaton, changed the original title into »unitxt«.

anne-james chaton delivers the text / voice for the tracks u_07 and u_08-1.

the track »u_07« is based on the text work “the artist who does sound”, a portrait of carsten nicolai, where the text was generated from a simple instruction: just to read out all notes, credit cards, invoices, business cards, etc. found in nicolai’s wallet.

for the track »u_8-1«, anne-james chaton used numbers of the golden ratio, quoting a simple but endless row of numbers from this mathematical concept.

after the first ten tracks which can be regarded as the core recordings of »unitxt«, there are 15 more tracks generated from converting pure data of programs, jpgs or other digital files into sound material. these tracks could be considered as source code “solos”, to be played on top of the first ten tracks, or as sonified concept recordings.

»unitxt« will be performed on tours in north america (may 2008), south america (october 2008), and japan (november 2008) as well as on selected festivals and venues throughout europe in 2008.

tracklist

01 u_07
02 u_06
03 u_04
04 u_09-1-2
05 u_08-1
06 u_03
07 u_08
08 u_01-2-0
09 u_05
10 u_09-0

unitxt code (data to aiff)

12 60308_47
13 838TP7cdp
14 enigma4.0
15 fontlab4.0
16 hyperengine
17 entourage
18 excel
19 powerpoint
20 word
21 monitortest
22 morse
23 prototype6_isdn
24 serialbox
25 soundmaker
26 spray16x9s

»unitxt« will be available as compact disc, 2 x 12″“ vinyl and sd card.