New Releases

N-059 . Alva Noto . This Stolen Country of Mine

(Soundtrack for a Documentary Film by Marc Wiese)

Format: Digital, CD, Vinyl
Release Date: 21 July 2023

Pre-Order is Available on

Alva Noto's award winning score for the 2022 German documentary film This Stolen Country of Mine directed by German filmmaker Marc Wiese features nineteen compositions to be released on NOTON in July 2023.

The documentary film explores the question of a state's sovereignty in the face of foreign powers. The film portrays Ecuadorian resistance fighters and journalists who oppose the sell-off of an extensive part of the country's resources to Chinese investors.

Alva Noto's music subtly accompanies the struggle of a mountain village, immersing us into the film’s narrative and pathos. Across nineteen compositions, the music exposes and holds back when the images and statements of the protagonists speak for themselves, reflecting the dark shadows and the glares of hope of communal resistance.

The documentary was the recipient of the German Documentary Film Music Award 2022.

Cover art design by Carsten Nicolai / Mastering by Bo @ Calyx

More info:

Pre-Listening (SoundCloud):

» Alva Noto . Ritual

Tracklist:

01. Ritual
02. Confrontation 1
03. Village 1
04. Confidential Information 1
05. Confidential Information 2
06. Confrontation 2
07. Death Laguna
08. Information Policia
09. Sarayaku Hidding
10. Information
11. Demonstration
12. Info Resistance
13. Sicario
14. Village 2
15. Storming Camp
16. Legal Process
17. Trail
18. Swat
19. Ritual Reprise

CD

Price: 15 EUR (excl. VAT)
1 × Compact Disc, Special Folding Cover
Size: 18 × 12.5 × 0.5 cm

Vinyl

Price: 22 EUR (excl. VAT)
2 × 12 Inch 'Black' Vinyl, 33.3 rpm
Size: 32 × 31.5 × 0.8 cm

Back in Stock

N-050 . Alva Noto + Ryuichi Sakamoto . V.I.R.U.S.

Slipcase for Vinyls is available again at

» NOTON SHOP

Limited Edition CDs/Vinyl slipcase celebrating Alva Noto & Ryuichi Sakamoto’s V.I.R.U.S. series. The slipcase accommodates the 5 Albums of Vrioon, Insen, Revep, Utp_, and Summvs (reMASTER) and comes in a eco-friendly, cream shaded Muken paper.

Design by Carsten Nicolai

Slipcase for Vinyl

Price: 35 EUR (excl. VAT)
1 × Slipcase for 5 Albums (9 × Vinyl)
Size: 33 × 32 × 5 cm

N-051 . Alva Noto + Ryuichi Sakamoto . Vrioon

Vinyl is available again at

» NOTON SHOP

Twenty years after its original release, Alva Noto and Ryuichi Sakamoto’s minimalist masterpiece returns on NOTON on May 27, 2022.

Initially released in 2002, Vrioon is the debut collaboration album between Alva Noto and Ryuichi Sakamoto and the first installment of V.I.R.U.S.’s five albums series.

Remastered in 2021 in collaboration with Calyx Studio, the album’s recordings are accompanied by a new composition titled Landscape Skizze, originally recorded in 2005 for Matador I. Oriente by La Fábrica.

The seven recordings alternate palettes of piano chords, electronic tones and exquisitely quivering timbres. The feeling of expanse is palpable in the album’s clear rhythmic constellation as each piece reverberates alongside ample tenses, a dreamlike wash of sounds, and distant strings. Held static and absorbed by the pair’s interplay of microtonal shifts, Vrioon takes the listener through digital dust and vortices of weightless harmonics to resolve a rarified vibrancy in the closing piece. It is a record of refined reductionism, invoking reflective yet ephemeral structures, inundated by a timeless sense of contemplation.

In 2004, the record was named ‘Album of the year’ by the Wire Magazine.

Album art designed by Carsten Nicolai / Mastering by Bo @ Calyx

Vinyl

Price: 27 EUR (excl. VAT)
2 × 12 Inch 'Black' Vinyl, 33.3 rpm, MP3 Download
Size: 32 × 31.5 × 0.8 cm

N-052 . Alva Noto + Ryuichi Sakamoto . Insen

Vinyl is available again at

» NOTON SHOP

Originally released in 2005, Insen is the second collaboration album between Alva Noto and Ryuichi Sakamoto and the second installment of V.I.R.U.S.'s five albums series.

Remastered in 2021 in collaboration with Calyx Studio, the album's recordings are accompanied by an unreleased composition titled Barco. Initially composed for Alva Noto and Ryuichi Sakamoto's 2005 Insen tour, the audio material used in this piece is based on the subtle sounds of Barco projectors, whose tonalities served as a ground for the artists' live improvisation.

In Insen, Alva Noto and Ryuichi Sakamoto explore the potential for interaction and tension between electronic and acoustic instrumentation. Across eight compositions, the echoes of the cascading piano combine, collide, and dissolve with the tapestry of digital breakages in sheer vibrancy. This relationship lies at the album's core. It subtly continues Vrioon's calm melancholia, becoming a vessel for all the emotions and memories nourished by the listener. As you hear the opening, lonesome notes of Aurora, you realize that the pair have once again conceded an ambition to embed elaborate disciplines into an archetypal sound of soul-searching beauty.

Album art designed by Carsten Nicolai / Mastering by Bo @ Calyx