Raster-Noton have always maintained a focus on visuals, recently moving into book publishing, but most prominently through video presentations as part of their live performances. Most of the Raster roster seem to have a visual identity, from Olaf Bender’s work as Byetone, Carsten Nicolai’s Alva Noto, and collaborations such as Nicolai’s work with pianist Ryuichi Sakamoto and label supergroup Komet. EXP, an audiovisual CD/Data CD release by label stalwart Frank Bretschneider, explores the idea that “fine art should attain the abstract purity of music”, through the pairing of sparse yet jarring visual patterns with similarly pitched sonic fragments.
‘Fragments’ is appropriate, as only a handful of the 35 tracks break the 2 minute mark, yet each piece retains a clear sense of unity and purpose. Furthermore, both audio and video an “abstract purity”, singularly and in synthesis. Anyone familiar with Bretschneider’s previous work, or indeed that of any of his Raster Noton colleagues, will know what to expect: filigree electronics, vast shifts in dynamics, intriguing relationships established between oddly juxtaposed components, delivered in a dramatically austere manner. Bretschneider has always been one of the grooviest artists on the label, and parts of EXP sweat with cold machine funk, powered by strobing lasers and sub-bass canyons. For the most part however EXP explores the tones and structure of vintage electroacoustics and the collages of musique concrete, throbbing bleeps and raining hiss paying debts to Stockhausen and Subotnik while clearly produced on cutting edge computer. The diversity of sounds on display here, and the rapidity at which they are presented, can be dizzying, but the flow is seamless, and the effect immersive. Being bludgeoned by data is rarely so satisfying.
Joshua Meggitt
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