''Aleph-1'' is the fourth studio album by German electronic artist
Alva Noto
Carsten Nicolai (18 September 1965), also known as Alva Noto, is a German musician and visual artist. He is a member of the music groups Diamond Version with Olaf Bender (Byetone), Signal with Frank Bretschneider and Olaf Bender, Cyclo with Ryo ...
. The record was released on December 31, 2007 via iDeal Recordings label.
Aleph 1
This is an eponymous album as he used one of his stage names, Aleph-1. The concept of the album and its name,
Aleph-1, derive from the theories of German mathematician
Georg Cantor
Georg Ferdinand Ludwig Philipp Cantor ( , ; – January 6, 1918) was a German mathematician. He played a pivotal role in the creation of set theory, which has become a fundamental theory in mathematics. Cantor established the importance of ...
, who was a teacher in
Halle,
Saxony-Anhalt
Saxony-Anhalt (german: Sachsen-Anhalt ; nds, Sassen-Anholt) is a state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of
and has a population of 2.18 million inhabitants, making it the ...
, Germany, a city, to which Alva Noto is deeply connected with through his family. In mathematical terms,
is the cardinality of the set of all countable
ordinal number
In set theory, an ordinal number, or ordinal, is a generalization of ordinal numerals (first, second, th, etc.) aimed to extend enumeration to infinite sets.
A finite set can be enumerated by successively labeling each element with the least n ...
s or a number of elements in endless successions.
Reception
A reviewer of
Boomkat
Boomkat is an American electronic and pop duo, with siblings Kellin and Taryn Manning. The group released their debut album '' Boomkatalog.One'' in 2003, and their second album '' A Million Trillion Stars'' in 2009. The first single " The Wreckon ...
stated "Always cause for no small amount of excitement, a new release from Carsten Nicolai tends to be a pretty significant event for the electronic music community. As suggested by the new moniker, the Aleph-1 project marks a departure from some of the more familiar Alva Noto approaches to composition, although these recordings do tie in to some extent with the rhythmic minimalism plotted out by Nicolai's older work, marking a step back from the more harmonic Xerrox material from last year. The most immediately striking aspect of this music is the presence of a pronounced melodic element, something that's previously barely featured in Nicolai's solo recordings. This manifests itself by replacing the abrupt prickling static soundset of the
Transrapid
Transrapid is a German-developed high-speed monorail train using magnetic levitation. Planning for the Transrapid system started in 1969 with a test facility for the system in Emsland, Germany completed in 1987. In 1991, technical readi ...
/
Transspray
''Transspray'' is an extended play by German electronic artist Alva Noto. It was released in 2005 via Raster Noton label.
Background
This is the third and final part of the ''transall'' triptych that, according to the artist, respectively deals ...
/
Transvision
Humanity+ (also Humanity Plus; formerly the World Transhumanist Association) is a non-profit international educational organization that advocates the ethical use of technologies and evidence-based science to improve the human condition. This cond ...
triptych with more resonant, rounded tones, with simple, sustaining waves evolving gradually over the course of each piece within a network of looping, modulating phrases. This being Carsten Nicolai, the use of melody never makes itself too explicit, instead relying on a mesmeric, cumulative effect for its power. There's a subtlety and precision at work throughout Aleph-1, and after spending some time with these pieces you'll find yourself thoroughly absorbed by their awkward, immense beauty".
Track listing
References
External links
Alva Noto official website*
{{Authority control
2007 albums
Alva Noto albums
Raster-Noton albums