In 1998, Alva Noto (Carsten Nicolai), head of Raster-Noton, visited a sound installation Robert Lippok had created for a group exhibition in Weimar, Germany. Deeply impressed by the piece, he went on to release it in 2001 on his own label Raster-Noton as the maxi-single CD "Open Close Open." The release became a monumental one for Lippok as well, marking the start of his solo career.
Field recordings of birdsong and everyday sounds, plus a bold use of Mahler's Symphony No. 5 "Adagietto," make this a monochrome sound-art object of electronic cut-up, loop and minimalist collage craft — at the time of release, Fact magazine praised it as "a masterclass in collage, loops and tactile processing."
The audio for "OPEN CLOSE OPEN" was originally used as the soundtrack to a video by Japanese visual artist Taketo Koganezawa. This is the 2024 remastered reissue from Berlin's Morr Music, for which Lippok produced brand-new original material, adding the elegant 2024 track B2 "Licht" (sample 3). The 2024 remastered sound is superb as well. (Original Japanese text by COMPUMA)