Diamond Version Shares Stream Of New Album: CI
4 June 2014
German electronic producers Byetone (Olaf Bender) and Alva Noto (Carsten Nicolai) have released their first full length LP as Diamond Version – CI, short for Corporate Identity, exclusively on RA.
The ten track album is structured in the same electrical way the duo creates their pulsating and stroboscopic live performances. Balancing their conceptual aesthetics with abrasive and visceral sounds - even featuring some voice heavy cuts in tracks like ‘Were You There’ (which incorporates vocals from Neil Tennant of the Pet Shop Boys) and earworm opener ‘This Black Action’ – a departure from both producers previous work as Diamond Version or otherwise.
Alva Noto and Byetone have been constructing their odes to noise since 2012, but their first full length albums brings with it a more structured and streamlined sound.
Carsten Nicolai aka Alva Noto is a sound artist based out of Germany whose previous work is markedly different from what you’ll hear out of Diamond Version – his solo music and collaborations with art-electronic artists like Frank Bretschneider, Ryoji Ikeda and Ryuichi Sakamoto have produced minimalist albums such ‘Transform’ – a release speckled with his typical plinks, pops and clicks.
Olaf Bender is Byetone and he, along with Carsten Nicolai and Frank Bretschneider began German music label Raster Noton. Byetone brings in a little bit of his rock inspired electro magic to the outfit and a palpable energy similar to his last release - Symeta.
Curious? Of course you are. CI is an orgy of weird, experimental proto glitch sounds, leaning towards the darker side of contemporary techno - you can stream the entire album here on RA, and I suggest you take a look at the outfit’s absolutely insane live performances, particularly their collaborations with Atsuhiro Ito, inventor of the Optron – an instrument that uses modifies fluorescent tubes as a sound source and looks like it’s straight out of a future-dystopian science fiction novel.
Take a look at their 2013 performance at TAICOCLUB, Tokyo here.
Words: Diya Gupta