Machine Reviews Every Album He Listens To

Machine · 01-02-2018, 02:00 PM

ENTRY 4

Alva Noto - Xerrox Vol.2
Genre: Ambient, Drone, Glitch, Noise, Microsound

I have some experience with Nota's work and I've loved everything I've listened to by the guy. I listened to the first Xerrox album at the beginning of the year last year and after that listened to a couple of his collab albums with Ryuichi Sakamoto which are some of my favorite ambient albums of all time. The guy knows how to make some really damn interesting ambient and glitch music. I hope to someday be able to get through Alva's entire discography at some point. I expect nothing, but greatness out of this sequel to the first volume of Xerrox. I'm thinking an easy 7/10 here.

Track 1: Xerrox Phaser Acat 1
Love the tones here that start us off. Very low, but warm... very full. There's some light buzzing in the background that keeps getting more reverbed out as the sound increases. Wow that almost sounded like a bubble bursting in like 0.01% speed. Loving the ambient noise dwelling in the background while the major ambient tones just fluctuate in volume and effect. Got some panning whirrs in the back. Oh I love that little synth melody that starts around the 4 minute mark, if it was by itself and not surrounded by the enveloping noise then it could almost be the basis for some sort of minimal techno song. xThe sound is already quite a bit more complex on this album than it was on Xerrox Vol.1. The track has this slow evolution to it, what was in the background 2 minutes ago has slowly made its way to the forefront of the song. Here comes a bit of that microsound influence now, very loosely rhythmic beeps and noise interjections are popping in and out of the track over the gorgeous synth melody that keeps looping. The loop somehow feels completely natural though. There's a damn good bass tone that has been going throughout this song that can only be heard in the right ear, or at least can only be heard prominently in the right ear, gives the track a lot of depth it wouldn't have without that droning note in the back. The track is quite long, but never feels like it's dragging despite the almost complete lack of progression for minutes at a time, it lets you get comfortable with each new idea before adding in new ones or taking away old ones. Great opener.

Track 2: Xerrox Rin
Next up is a shorter track only about a minute long. Some microsound here, not too much going on in the mix whatsoever. Just a bass tone and some glitched out noises here or there. And that's it. Interesting experiment, but I don't see why it's here.

Track 3: Xerrox Soma
Starts off with the most lovely sounding synth I've ever heard this man use. Sounds like something between a string and a piano, not sure else how to describe it. It's hard to even hear the actual tones of the synth due to how absolutely engulfed it is in noise. It manages to maintain its beauty and presence despite the noise and you might say the noise in fact bolsters how pretty the undertones are. This album has a definite penchant for drones that I didn't hear in Xerrox Vol.1 which was based on more on ambient tones and glitch music. Loving the lighthouse siren bass tone that pops in and out of the track. Some very subtle glitches spurring around in the back of the track. Nevermind they just got a whole lot louder. Really digging this track very similar in tone to the first track, but not quite as longwinded.

Track 4: Xerrox Meta Phaser
So the last track goes straight into this one without a hitch. It's more or less a continuation from what I'm hearing. The tones of the last track are slowly giving way into this new sound, which sound like someone recorded a choral group and just spent weeks manipulating all the humanity out of the sample. Very light and fluffy tones that are both heavy and and inhuman. Now there's some cracking tones with an almost buzzsaw bass wallowing throughout the track. Weird how something so light turned into an absolute hellscape without me even noticing in about 30 seconds. The track has now gone full our assault on the senses, pure aural attack. First true noise track of the album, but it isn't without its hidden beauty beneath the sharp attack of the synthetic noise on top. Wow it genuinely sounds like an ocean of noise crashing through a city and killing everything in it's path. In sound design this is the best track on here so far easy.

Track 5: Xerrox Sora
Loving the almost Replica-esque microsamples in the beginning, the first bit of rhythm the album has really had. Some nice strings over the top ofeverything else, as usual the mix is absolutely filled with sound even when not too much is going on. I genuinely can't tell if these are strings or some sort of uncanny synth. Like the intense glitching going on here. The original rhythmic microsample is still looping around in the very back of the track just so you can barely hear it, love that production choice. The theme of this album so far seems to be making the most maximal sound possible using the most minimal of sounds. It scores a lot of points on that front, as cohesive songs you should probably look somewhere else, but if you're listening to alva noto then why are you looking for that in the first place. Nice little cutoff of sound here near the end, subtly glitchy little outro here. Nice track.

Track 6: Xerrox Monophaser 1
Very high pitched strings to start it off, very Stars Of The Lid. Some rumbling in the background, has a morning storm feel to it. Almost like the sun is rising, but a storm from the other side of the sky is quickly approaching, weird mixture of moods. This is actually a quite lovely bit of ambient music. Some audible piano for the first time on the record, loving the manipulated sine waves as well. It's so weird I can actually feel the shapes of the sounds, that's how well engineered this album is. It's so well done that describing it makes me sound high.I really want to find the stem of that manipulated sine wave loop and sample that for a project I'm working on, it's so perfect in sound. The strings from the very beginning have been looping in and out, like I said before it very much feels like a song from The Tired Songs Of Stars Of the Lid. Almost too much so lmao. A trend of this record is to end on very quiet glitch, I like that. Yeah really damn pretty stuff, much different than Vol.1 so far.

Track 7: Xerrox Monophaser 2
As I suspected Monophaser 1 leads right into Monophaser 2. Holy **** that sub bass is immense. Wow I was not prepared for that, that is pants ****tingly low. Yeah more strings that come in and out with more of the almost vibraphone sounding sine waves. A definite sequel to Monophaser 1. Some pretty nice sounds comeing out of the back of mix, loving the stereo effect of this record, very well produced. Where the first part was pure ambient bliss, this is much more in the vein of dark ambient despite using almost the exact same synths, but with added sound treats. The string loop is less prominent this time, it takes its time to get where it needs to be rather than the constant every couple seconds loop of the first track. Another good track, not quite as magical as the first part though.

Track 8: Xerrox Teion
Another short track here. Pretty noisey bass line going. This one is almost too sub bass ridden for it's own good. Although I like the overall direction of the loop being played. It's this constantly rising instrumental that breaks down to its very core only to start over again more sonically dense than the last time. Cool track.

Track 9: Xerrox Teion Acat
So this seems to be a sort of continuation of the experiment from the last track, but more in the style of the rest of record as this sort of ambient, but not really thing. The album also seems to be getting increasingly glitch as the album moves forward as well with this one sustaining itself on nothing, but a drone and some heavy glitch layering of that drone. I actually quite like the little sparse groove that the glitch is creating. Pretty straight forward track overall, doesn't really change to much beyond what I already described. Some sonic oddities here or there, but this is a relatively simple track.

Track 10: Xerrox Tek Part 1
Love how each track just bleeds into the next on this album, this one is starting with a bit of static and a strange double bass strum that echoes out into oblivion. Lot of microsound influence coming through on this track, lots of alien hiss and spurs in the forefront of the drone. This track is one of the few so far that has been completely based on in noise and glitch with very little in the way of melody or harmony. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but for a 6 minute track it can get a bit monotonous. The album is also very long, clocking in over an hour in just 11 tracks, so it is a bit much sit down and completely digest with full attention. This is probably the most uneventful track on the album so far, there's no real sense of progression just one big drone and some hissing. Probably the worst track so far. It really isn't terrible just way too uneventful for me to care.

Track 11: Xerrox Monophaser 3
I'm going to take a guess and say this probably picks up where monophaser 1 and 2 left off? I WAS RIGHT! The low rumbling sub bass tones are back and so are the distant Stars of the Lid strings fading in and out of sight, except this time they don't seem to be on a loop. This part mixes the blissful ambience of part 1 and the midnight spookyness of part 2. This actually might be the best one so far, loving the noise on top of these beautiful chords and strings. Reminds me a lot of Meta Phaser, but instead of some all enveloping tsunami of sound coming down, this feels more like the storm from part 1 really kicking into full gear getting stronger and stronger as the track goes on. A similar effect yes, but completely different outcomes, in fact I've never heard something that so sounds like rain that is not rain at all. Great ending to the album, not quite to the height of Meta Phaser, but great in it's own right.

OVERALL
Another great project from Alva Noto, while the first half of the album is in every way superior to the second half the album creates a mood unlike anything I've ever heard before and despite the numerous flaws that can be found near the end of the record it still manages to create an amazing mood and is of fairly consistent quality. I know that sounds a bit weird saying the end of the record is flawed but it is consistent, I promise if you listen to the album you'll know exactly what I mean. Yes you can find the flaws easy enough, but taking it as an album it works wonderfully for what it is trying to do.
6.5/10 (rounded down to a 6 for rateyourmusic).

01-02-2018, 02:00 PM	#1 (permalink)
Machine moon lake inc. Join Date: Oct 2014 Location: Detroit Posts: 2,125	ENTRY 4 Alva Noto - Xerrox Vol.2 Genre: Ambient, Drone, Glitch, Noise, Microsound I have some experience with Nota's work and I've loved everything I've listened to by the guy. I listened to the first Xerrox album at the beginning of the year last year and after that listened to a couple of his collab albums with Ryuichi Sakamoto which are some of my favorite ambient albums of all time. The guy knows how to make some really damn interesting ambient and glitch music. I hope to someday be able to get through Alva's entire discography at some point. I expect nothing, but greatness out of this sequel to the first volume of Xerrox. I'm thinking an easy 7/10 here. Track 1: Xerrox Phaser Acat 1 Love the tones here that start us off. Very low, but warm... very full. There's some light buzzing in the background that keeps getting more reverbed out as the sound increases. Wow that almost sounded like a bubble bursting in like 0.01% speed. Loving the ambient noise dwelling in the background while the major ambient tones just fluctuate in volume and effect. Got some panning whirrs in the back. Oh I love that little synth melody that starts around the 4 minute mark, if it was by itself and not surrounded by the enveloping noise then it could almost be the basis for some sort of minimal techno song. xThe sound is already quite a bit more complex on this album than it was on Xerrox Vol.1. The track has this slow evolution to it, what was in the background 2 minutes ago has slowly made its way to the forefront of the song. Here comes a bit of that microsound influence now, very loosely rhythmic beeps and noise interjections are popping in and out of the track over the gorgeous synth melody that keeps looping. The loop somehow feels completely natural though. There's a damn good bass tone that has been going throughout this song that can only be heard in the right ear, or at least can only be heard prominently in the right ear, gives the track a lot of depth it wouldn't have without that droning note in the back. The track is quite long, but never feels like it's dragging despite the almost complete lack of progression for minutes at a time, it lets you get comfortable with each new idea before adding in new ones or taking away old ones. Great opener. Track 2: Xerrox Rin Next up is a shorter track only about a minute long. Some microsound here, not too much going on in the mix whatsoever. Just a bass tone and some glitched out noises here or there. And that's it. Interesting experiment, but I don't see why it's here. Track 3: Xerrox Soma Starts off with the most lovely sounding synth I've ever heard this man use. Sounds like something between a string and a piano, not sure else how to describe it. It's hard to even hear the actual tones of the synth due to how absolutely engulfed it is in noise. It manages to maintain its beauty and presence despite the noise and you might say the noise in fact bolsters how pretty the undertones are. This album has a definite penchant for drones that I didn't hear in Xerrox Vol.1 which was based on more on ambient tones and glitch music. Loving the lighthouse siren bass tone that pops in and out of the track. Some very subtle glitches spurring around in the back of the track. Nevermind they just got a whole lot louder. Really digging this track very similar in tone to the first track, but not quite as longwinded. Track 4: Xerrox Meta Phaser So the last track goes straight into this one without a hitch. It's more or less a continuation from what I'm hearing. The tones of the last track are slowly giving way into this new sound, which sound like someone recorded a choral group and just spent weeks manipulating all the humanity out of the sample. Very light and fluffy tones that are both heavy and and inhuman. Now there's some cracking tones with an almost buzzsaw bass wallowing throughout the track. Weird how something so light turned into an absolute hellscape without me even noticing in about 30 seconds. The track has now gone full our assault on the senses, pure aural attack. First true noise track of the album, but it isn't without its hidden beauty beneath the sharp attack of the synthetic noise on top. Wow it genuinely sounds like an ocean of noise crashing through a city and killing everything in it's path. In sound design this is the best track on here so far easy. Track 5: Xerrox Sora Loving the almost Replica-esque microsamples in the beginning, the first bit of rhythm the album has really had. Some nice strings over the top ofeverything else, as usual the mix is absolutely filled with sound even when not too much is going on. I genuinely can't tell if these are strings or some sort of uncanny synth. Like the intense glitching going on here. The original rhythmic microsample is still looping around in the very back of the track just so you can barely hear it, love that production choice. The theme of this album so far seems to be making the most maximal sound possible using the most minimal of sounds. It scores a lot of points on that front, as cohesive songs you should probably look somewhere else, but if you're listening to alva noto then why are you looking for that in the first place. Nice little cutoff of sound here near the end, subtly glitchy little outro here. Nice track. Track 6: Xerrox Monophaser 1 Very high pitched strings to start it off, very Stars Of The Lid. Some rumbling in the background, has a morning storm feel to it. Almost like the sun is rising, but a storm from the other side of the sky is quickly approaching, weird mixture of moods. This is actually a quite lovely bit of ambient music. Some audible piano for the first time on the record, loving the manipulated sine waves as well. It's so weird I can actually feel the shapes of the sounds, that's how well engineered this album is. It's so well done that describing it makes me sound high.I really want to find the stem of that manipulated sine wave loop and sample that for a project I'm working on, it's so perfect in sound. The strings from the very beginning have been looping in and out, like I said before it very much feels like a song from The Tired Songs Of Stars Of the Lid. Almost too much so lmao. A trend of this record is to end on very quiet glitch, I like that. Yeah really damn pretty stuff, much different than Vol.1 so far. Track 7: Xerrox Monophaser 2 As I suspected Monophaser 1 leads right into Monophaser 2. Holy ** that sub bass is immense. Wow I was not prepared for that, that is pants tingly low. Yeah more strings that come in and out with more of the almost vibraphone sounding sine waves. A definite sequel to Monophaser 1. Some pretty nice sounds comeing out of the back of mix, loving the stereo effect of this record, very well produced. Where the first part was pure ambient bliss, this is much more in the vein of dark ambient despite using almost the exact same synths, but with added sound treats. The string loop is less prominent this time, it takes its time to get where it needs to be rather than the constant every couple seconds loop of the first track. Another good track, not quite as magical as the first part though. Track 8: Xerrox Teion Another short track here. Pretty noisey bass line going. This one is almost too sub bass ridden for it's own good. Although I like the overall direction of the loop being played. It's this constantly rising instrumental that breaks down to its very core only to start over again more sonically dense than the last time. Cool track. Track 9: Xerrox Teion Acat So this seems to be a sort of continuation of the experiment from the last track, but more in the style of the rest of record as this sort of ambient, but not really thing. The album also seems to be getting increasingly glitch as the album moves forward as well with this one sustaining itself on nothing, but a drone and some heavy glitch layering of that drone. I actually quite like the little sparse groove that the glitch is creating. Pretty straight forward track overall, doesn't really change to much beyond what I already described. Some sonic oddities here or there, but this is a relatively simple track. Track 10: Xerrox Tek Part 1 Love how each track just bleeds into the next on this album, this one is starting with a bit of static and a strange double bass strum that echoes out into oblivion. Lot of microsound influence coming through on this track, lots of alien hiss and spurs in the forefront of the drone. This track is one of the few so far that has been completely based on in noise and glitch with very little in the way of melody or harmony. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but for a 6 minute track it can get a bit monotonous. The album is also very long, clocking in over an hour in just 11 tracks, so it is a bit much sit down and completely digest with full attention. This is probably the most uneventful track on the album so far, there's no real sense of progression just one big drone and some hissing. Probably the worst track so far. It really isn't terrible just way too uneventful for me to care. Track 11: Xerrox Monophaser 3 I'm going to take a guess and say this probably picks up where monophaser 1 and 2 left off? I WAS RIGHT! The low rumbling sub bass tones are back and so are the distant Stars of the Lid strings fading in and out of sight, except this time they don't seem to be on a loop. This part mixes the blissful ambience of part 1 and the midnight spookyness of part 2. This actually might be the best one so far, loving the noise on top of these beautiful chords and strings. Reminds me a lot of Meta Phaser, but instead of some all enveloping tsunami of sound coming down, this feels more like the storm from part 1 really kicking into full gear getting stronger and stronger as the track goes on. A similar effect yes, but completely different outcomes, in fact I've never heard something that so sounds like rain that is not rain at all. Great ending to the album, not quite to the height of Meta Phaser, but great in it's own right. OVERALL** Another great project from Alva Noto, while the first half of the album is in every way superior to the second half the album creates a mood unlike anything I've ever heard before and despite the numerous flaws that can be found near the end of the record it still manages to create an amazing mood and is of fairly consistent quality. I know that sounds a bit weird saying the end of the record is flawed but it is consistent, I promise if you listen to the album you'll know exactly what I mean. Yes you can find the flaws easy enough, but taking it as an album it works wonderfully for what it is trying to do. 6.5/10 (rounded down to a 6 for rateyourmusic). __________________ boost my ego listen to me stroke my delay pedal ever wanted to hear death grips songs... but they're acoustic? me neither.