Plutonic Rainbows

Trying to get my mind around this. It's probably very simple for some people.

from sys import argv

script, file = argv

txt = open(file)

print "Hi there. I am the '%s' script. The file called '%s' is shown below." % (script, file)
print txt.read()

print "Type the file name again."
file_again = raw_input("> ")

txt_again = open(file_again)

print txt_again.read()

In other news, Alva Noto will release a new album next month.

Carsten Nicolai (a.k.a Alva Noto) will release a new album, UNIEQAV, on March 16.

The 12-track release will be the third and latest edition of the Uni series, an outlet for his more rhythmic and dancefloor-oriented work. The series began when Nicolai was booked to play live at the club UNIT in Tokyo and had to adapt his sound accordingly for that environment.

UNIEQAV is described as a continuation and development of the concept of Alva Noto’s Unitxt and Univrs albums and completes the third part in the trilogy, whereby each record is both unique and part of the bigger picture. This is also mirrored in the artwork for each, which when combined form a triptych spelling "Uni."

Described by Carsten as “sonically representing an underwater dive," UNIEQAV brings, as usual, an inherent artistic, conceptual, and scientific depth. Mathematics, data, unit systems, grids, rhythms, codes, text, language, spoken word, DNA, science technology, and nature are all utilised, for both inspiration and execution.

As with the last two Uni releases, the French sound poet Anne-James Chaton collaborates here, on "Uni Dna." Where on previous records Chaton first provided a vocal track to which Nicolai composed, this time the duo flipped it; the poet wrote for an existing track, adding his vocal approach to recite amino acids that constitute the DNA molecule.

UNIEQAV is preceded by two albums on NOTON featuring Alva Noto: Live 2002 with Mika Vainio and Ryoji Ikeda and Glass with Ryuichi Sakamoto, released January 19 and February 16 respectively.

Brand new album from Johnny Jewel (whose work recently featured on the Twin Peaks revival). This new work is devoid of guitars and percussion - focusing instead on atmospheric (and somewhat) romantic electronics.

Boomkat:

In the most classic sense, Johnny evokes his themes with beautiful subtlety and clarity throughout the entirely instrumental suite of Digital Rain, using filigree synthesis and a rarely paralleled feel for narrative to convey the sensation of rain on skin or hail on a roof, precisely evoking all the feelings of nostalgia you’d arguably associate with electronic music’s cinematic representations of rain, romance, and enigmatic intrigue.

It’s an ideal album for creating your own movie on the fly, acting as a sort of soundtrack to your life, likely to turn late night drives for a pint of milk into the most dramatic scenarios, or maybe turn your next commute into a Love on a Real Train (Risky Business) situation. Might want to be careful with that 2nd one, though.

Lovely early 90s ambient electronics from this often forgotten group consisting of Max Loderbauer and Tom Thiel. 30.7.94 Live harkens back to those days with dreamy, billowing synth washes, echoing samples and uplifting melodies.

Exceptional release from this duo is due on February 16th. There is a video of the live performance available here.

Fact Magazine:

Out February 16, the LP is a recording of a live improvisation by Sakamoto and Noto at the architect Philip Johnson’s Glass House in Connecticut. Rehearsing only one day before the performance, the duo experimented with a keyboard, mixers, singing glass bowls, crotales and the architecture of the building.

The recording was informed by an exhibition at The Glass House of work from 87-year-old Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama, which comprised the installation ‘Dots Obsession – Alive, Seeking For Eternal Hope.’

“When I was offered to perform at The Glass House, the first idea that came to my mind was to use the house itself as a musical instrument,” says Sakamoto of the recording, adding that it was “100 percent improvised.”

Sakamoto continues: “Looking at the beautiful landscape through the glass wall with Kusama’s dots was something, and it affected me, affected us, I should say, a lot. It’s a strange mixture of natural, nature, and artificial things, art.”

You can pre-order the album here.