Alva Noto

… and here we are, at the end of the Xerrox series. For those who have been all along on the ride, the fifth and final volume concludes an incredible journey which Alva Noto started back in 2007, with the exploration between the original and the copy, the distinction between the two in the analogue and digital world, and the context which each one holds. This was before the concept of non-fungible tokens designed to represent proof of authenticity for the original [digital] art, music, and collectables. Nearly two decades in the making, the five albums capture Carsten Nicolai‘s evolving philosophy around the method and the system. “The copying process is now less visible through software manipulation; rather, it unfolds as the artist describes melodic and acoustic images that are then manipulated, copied, and transformed into new patterns during composition.” I’ve covered Vol. 2, Vol. 3, and Vol. 4 in detail, in the last of which I have predicted that this fifth and final volume will come out in 2025. So, I am delighted and a little sad to feature this exclusive premiere of a track from the final entry as the voyage approached dissolution. This is an emotional experience filled with moments of melancholy and the bittersweet feelings of goodbye, not the least of which are influenced by the connection to the passing of Ryuichi Sakamoto, who was a fan of this series.