Unequal cycles searching for synchronous experiences: On his new album »Pounding«, Frank Bretschneider tells of distance, convergence and congruence in a continuous, ever-changing flow of events. What is often considered to be an unquestionable dogma in club music (for which Bretschneider has provided significant impetus since the 1990s) – the groove – appears precarious, unstable, and in motion. Pulse and accent are volatile encounters and have to be found again and again for short, delightful moments. Music becomes a constant process of negotiation.

In search of new sound spaces, Bretschneider has recently worked a lot with modular synthesizers, both solo (for example on »abtasten_halten«, 2020) and in collaborations, including the project Beispiel together with Jan Jelinek. »Pounding« was created using similar means – conceived in 2020 for the Pochen Biennale in Chemnitz, subsequently developed further and recorded in March and April 2023 on a sample-based modular system. And in fact, Bretschneider is once again exemplarily scanning his own sound material, for example Dub effects that listen to themselves crumbling. But also the human voice, or more precisely: the stuttering of fragments of speech, far in the distance but omnipresent, like a mysterious narration. Aesthetically, the eleven pieces form part of a series of works with a focus on percussion. Bretschneider has already perfected this approach with albums like »Rhythm« (2007) and has been shifting the perspective ever since, for ever new results.

Shifting is the basic principle of »Pounding«. Bretschneider combines elements that are in different aggregate states, changing their relationship to each other and thus ensuring the complex overall movement. He lets one to two-bar loops run against each other and through manipulations, develops a network of rhythms that creates a hypnotic state in the counterplay of repetition and mutation, between clearly recognizable meter and disorientation. There are comparable approaches in aleatoric music. Bretschneider combines them with sounds and patterns that are reminiscent of step sequencer logic and at the same time go far beyond it. The result is relational techno. Never clear, constantly restless and exciting. More

Raster presents »Il Quadro di Troisi« a project by Andrea Noce (Eva Geist) and Donato Scaramuzzi (Donato Dozzy). The record is a colorful ode of an Italian scented vision, overflowing of details and profound intensity. The contemporary world condition, the pandemic in Italy and around the world define »Il Quadro di Troisi« as a unique and right-on-time release. This record is a enigmatic collaboration between the two Italian natives Andrea Noce and Donato Scaramuzzi. Andrea Noce takes lead on the vocals, with Donato Scaramuzzi carving the dreamlike soundscapes of the record. The record was born with a correspondence between the two artists about the late actor and director Massimo Troisi, and this exchange soon became an inspirational source of identification. Andrea Noce’s lyrics are sensitive and multi-faceted, they perfectly cling to the musical phrases and flow like a filmic monologue from the oeuvre of that very Troisi. In a highly creative and confident manner, entire decades of national music history are comprehended and transformed into the here and now. The record takes its cue from the Italo-Disco, Synth Pop tradition corroborated by the contribution of artists such as the legendary Twilight Music co-founder, Pietro Micioni. With »Il Quadro di Troisi«, Noce and Scaramuzzi prove their eclecticism, and passion for their home country. »Il Quadro di Troisi« is a collaboration between Raster and the Milan-based festival Terraforma. With this release, the first with a purely Italian topic at its center, Raster celebrates its long standing relation with Italy and the Italian audience, encapsulated in the label’s project ‘Electric Campfire’ held in Rome for ten years. Terraforma is an international experimental and sustainable music festival taking place since 2014 in the park of Villa Arconati, where Dozzy has been invited at every edition in different forms, DJing, live performing both in solo and with Voices From The Lake (together with Neel). More

the penultimate issue of raster-noton's unun series features »gomila park«, a new project by the two swedish musicians martin rössel and carl michael von hausswolff that started in spring 2013 in palma de mallorca. on their first ep released as a duo, they present three rather unconventional and diverse tracks. »leibniz«, for example, is characterized by a heavy rock attitude with lots of distortion and screaming guitar riffs. the b-side on the other hand, including the tracks »calculus« and »ramon llull«, is the more experimental part. considering only the track titles, »gomila park« is a homage to two of the first mathe- maticians and philosophers that helped developing the binary system and, generally speaking, the digital world. but despite all that, »gomila park« is also a matured piece of work that was held in trust for at least two years. it's once more an inspection of a fundamental possibility of music, a reference to the past. similar to mika vainio's »vandal« ep, »gomila park« echoes the tradition of rock (music) and is thus the counterpart of a younger, historically unbur- dened generation of producers like ueno masaaki or kyoka More

after successful ep collapsed (r-n116) the bristol based project strikes back with a full length album on raster-noton. once more james ginzburg & paul purgas challenge the perceptual boundaries between noise and music and the potential for both technology and architecture to embed and codify themselves within sound. recur is presented as emptyset's third studio album, continuing on from their work with demiurge the material examines the central themes of time, structure and recursion, through the analysis of scale and the interaction of both formal and fractured sonics. the album furthers the project's exploration of rhythm, dislocation and feedback within the framework of full frequency sound, structural abstraction and analogue processing. the work examines how notions of time interact with both experience and form, and the resulting modes through which this affects sound through compression and rarefaction and the forcing of signal thresholds to their critical point. More

after successful ep collapsed (r-n116) the bristol based project strikes back with a full length album on raster-noton. once more james ginzburg & paul purgas challenge the perceptual boundaries between noise and music and the potential for both technology and architecture to embed and codify themselves within sound. recur is presented as emptyset's third studio album, continuing on from their work with demiurge the material examines the central themes of time, structure and recursion, through the analysis of scale and the interaction of both formal and fractured sonics. the album furthers the project's exploration of rhythm, dislocation and feedback within the framework of full frequency sound, structural abstraction and analogue processing. the work examines how notions of time interact with both experience and form, and the resulting modes through which this affects sound through compression and rarefaction and the forcing of signal thresholds to their critical point. More

AOKI takamasa continues his long- term project that focuses on the modulation of rhythms and grooves. More

Aoki Takamasa continues his long- term project that focuses on the modulation of rhythms and grooves More

AtomTM's electronic quintessence: a blend of pop, electronic abstraction and powerful grooves More

a further exploration of his approach to rhythm-driven, electronic music. More

Eight new songs which allow the listener to dive into delay's cosmos of deep and likewise organic sounds. More

With »and IV (inertia)«, Grischa Lichtenberger presents his first full length record on raster-noton. More

Vladislav Delay's EP "espoo" features two new conceptual, rhythm-intense tracks. Whereas the groove of the opener "olari" derives from a sound loop which is manipulated by filters and echoes and finally brings forth the intensifying beat, the reverse is done with "kolari" on the B-side. Starting from an impulsive, staccato beat, a sound carpet is woven by means of modifiers which gradually shape a permanent vacation-like melody, close to terry riley's minimalistic concepts. Both tracks share a linear increase in density, and because of their break with the common four-four time, they create a certain folkloric atmosphere. Like with "vantaa", the experienced music producer Vladislav Delay continues his search for dance-floor compatible, yet unique and fresh music. More

With "dazed", senking continues his exploration of the abysses of sound to create dark and gloomy atmospheres. More

"Winterreise" is the audio soundtrack to a series of photographies with the same name produced by AtomTM. More

Byetone's music tries to create associations without really fulfilling the expectations. More