Alva Noto Essentials

Carsten Nicolai records and performs under a number of different monikers, but it's his work as Alva Noto—his most accessible guise—that's brought the most attention to his mathematically-based compositions. Nicolai's glitchy recordings feel, at times, like they are breaking apart and then reconnecting in various shapes. That can yield some lovely ambient work just as quickly as it can turn pixelated and harsh. Nicolai is also notable for founding, with Olaf Bender and Frank Bretschneider, the experimental label Raster-Noton in 1999.