Xerrox Vol. 1 Alva Noto

Pioneering in his approach to digital sound and its materiality, Alva Noto (Carsten Nicolai) began his ongoing exploration of sampling, degradation and recontextualisation with the Xerrox series in 2007. Over the years, the project has evolved into one of the most distinctive bodies of work in contemporary electronic music, situated between minimalism, experimental sound art and digital abstraction.

Across five albums, Xerrox Vol.1 (2007), Xerrox Vol.2 (2009), Xerrox Vol.3 (2015), Xerrox Vol.4 (2020), and Xerrox Vol.5 (2024), Nicolai's method evolves from sample-based work toward original composition as he deconstructs and reassembles source material into precise, sculpted sound worlds that are at once minimal and emotive.

Xerrox Vol.1 is the third studio album by German electronic artist Alva Noto. It was released in 2007, as part of the ongoing Xerrox penthalogy, based on the concept of digital replication of source material.

Using the process of copying as a basis, the Xerrox series deals with the manipulation of data by means of endless reproduction. Due to the inherent fallacy of the procedure involving the making of copies made from other copies, everyday’s sounds become so altered that they can be hardly associated with the source material. As a result, entirely new sounds are created: copies of originals become originals themselves.

Together with Christoph Brünggel, Nicolai designed a ‘sample transformer’ which would take audio fragments and manipulate them beyond recognition. In this process of taking something familiar and de-familiarising it, samples from the most obvious sources such as advertising jingles, airport tones, telephone hold music and film soundtracks were used and altered, resulting in sounds totally unlike any of their original source. The result is a series of haunting and intricately realised pieces that re-contextualise Nicolai’s ‘glitches and bass’ sound into extended, gorgeously cinematic, organic and almost orchestral pieces of work. Xerrox Vol. 1 was followed by Xerrox Vol.2 (2009), Xerrox Vol.3 (2015), and Xerrox Vol. 4 (2020)