with "insen", alva noto (aka carsten nicolai) and ryuichi sakamoto continue their collaboration which started with "vrioon". The debut album released on raster-noton in 2003 was voted record of the year 2004 in the electronica category by british magazine "the wire". particular interest was shown in nicolai's creation towards a new synergy of acoustic piano and digital post production that had not witnessed before, in his approach and interpretation of sakamoto's piano clusters.

the strict splitting of the composition process on this record (piano: sakamoto; production and additional sounds: nicolai) reminds one of the debut album. however, "insen" carries a kind of "transcendental aura" of an early morning meditatory exercise – but at the same time avoiding the field of new age philosophy. enriched by new elements, this "high-tech meditation" follows a consistent line.

on "vrioon", nicolai's typical sinus sounds counterbalanced sakamoto's piano accords. now, on "insen" nicolai works directly with the piano sounds. he dismantles sakamoto's recordings with a "surgeon-like precision" into micro loops, into its atomic elements. starting with these atoms of sound, he creates a new basis for form, compressing floating rotating rhythm with harmonic sequences, with melodic counterpoints, and laying it underneath the piano tracks. this makes "insen" appear more of a complex experience, although the time-stretched flow, or even the clear lines of the piano stay untouched.

from the sleeve notes one can learn that the album was a dedication to a certain people. created far away from these people, "insen" might be a kind of dialogue. It definitely represents a diary of a stay over several month at leon feuchtwanger's "villa aurora", where a large part of the production as well as the final mixes were completed. the themes and the track titles directly refer to that place, to the times of the day, and the events there. even the colours of the album cover associate the emotions and atmosphere experienced at "villa aurora".

only the track "berlin" was recorded later, with nicolai and sakamoto together, during a session at nicolai's studio in berlin. as a reference to that place, one can hear a flock of birds singing in the background of the recording.

"aveol" closes the album also seen as a diary, with a mysterious beauty. the evolution of piano recording and digital post production were pushed the furthest on this track. the combination reached its (temporary) final point.

Longtime friends and collaborators David Sylvian and Ryuichi Sakamoto released their latest work via David's Samadhisound label in April 2004.
There are five tracks included on the "World Citizen" EP, in a different running order and with completely different artwork to the package that was released late last year by Warner Music Japan. The final track of the CD features a remix by acclaimed remixer Ryoji Ikeda.
Sylvian and Sakamoto worked together for the first time in 1982 when they wrote the double A side "Bamboo Music/Bamboo Houses". This most recent work "World Citizen", was created as part of a project called 'Chain Music' instigated by Ryuichi.

during his first live tour in japan carsten nicolai met ryuichi sakamoto in tokyo. a year after it happened that he was asked to remix material from sakamoto for the japanese magazine Code Unfinished.

"… the material that was given to me was already layered with digital effects. from one little clean piano piece i made the first track. those simple piano chords i combined with a clear rhythm constellation. … somehow ryuichi was very surprised and really liked my work. weeks later he sent me another specially for this project recorded track."

this was the beginning of an almost 2 year process of music exchange and creation. Vrioon is very relaxing, it opens rooms, landscapes blur before listeners eyes. static rhythmic pieces circle round and vary one and the same theme that, with its impressionistic sphere, reminds of soundtracks and ambient compositions.

in this cooperation 2 different generations meet and share the idea of electronic music as an inspiration source for new musical structures.

ruyichi sakamoto can already refer to an enormous productive achievment. in 1978 he founded The Yellow Magic Orchestra together with haruomi hosono and yukihiro takahashi which later went on world tour with Kraftwerk. since 1983 he has been working in the film branch and has written soundtracks for Merry Christmas, Mr. Laurence, The Last Emporer and Little Buddha. he also worked with famous artists such as David Bowie, David Byrne, David Sylvian, Iggy Pop, Robert Wilson and William Burroughs.

Carsten Nicolai can be seen as one of the most significant artist of the new electronic music generation that shows new attempts in sound composing with its radical reduced style. besides several solo releases he also worked with ultra minimalist mika vainio from pansonic and the japanese sound artist ryoji ikeda. carsten nicolai is one of the founders of the label raster-noton that was awarded the Golden Nica for digital music from Ars Electronica in 2000.