Raster-Noton was a German

electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroa ...

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...

. It was established in

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...

in Chemnitz,

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. It emerged from the fusion of Rastermusik, founded by Olaf Bender and

Frank Bretschneider Frank Bretschneider (born 1956) is a German electronic musician. He works primarily with sine waves and white noise as his source material. He also releases material under the name Komet. Bretschneider was born and raised in Karl-Marx-Stadt ( ...

in 1996, and Noton (''Archiv für Ton und Nichtton''), a sub label that was run by

Carsten Nicolai 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 Ry ...

. In 2017, the label split into two entities: Raster, to be run by Bender, and Noton, focusing on Nicolai's output. "raster-noton. archiv für ton und nichtton" is meant to be a platform — a network covering the overlapping border areas of pop, art, and science. It realizes music projects, publications, and installation works. A common idea behind all releases is an experimental approach — an amalgamation of sound, art, and design, which is apparent in the music and visible from the artwork and cover design. The collective label's aesthetic focuses on rhythmic, minimal electronic music alternating between playful pop and introspection.

Artists

Catalogue

20' to 2000

''20' to 2000'' is a monthly series of twelve

CDs The compact disc (CD) is a digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. In August 1982, the first compact disc was manufactured. It was then released in Octo ...

released over the course of 1999, with each month's artist contributing a 20-minute project expressing "possibly a manifest of the millennium"

Each disc was packaged in a thin plastic slipcase with a hollow core. A separate kit containing twelve magnets fit into the core and allowed the individual discs to be joined into one set (pictured). This series received the " Prix Ars Electronica, Golden Nica" award from Ars Electronica in 2000.

References

External links

Official Site

Music guide to Raster-Noton by pontone.pl
{{Authority control Record labels established in 1996 German independent record labels Electronic music record labels Ambient music record labels Techno record labels