TAYLOR DEUPREE + RICHARD CHARTIER "SPEC." (12K1007)

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ALTERNATIVE PRESS (US)
ELECTRONIC MUSIC OF FASCINATING INFINITESSIMAL VARIATIONS.

much like some folks discuss the different permutations of grateful dead tunes or listen to endless bob dylan bootlegs, i find myself hopelessly addicted to spending quality time with anal-retentive electronica releases guaranteed to clear a room. most self-respecting humans will probably find SPEC. to be an annoying cluster of noise that bears no relation to "music," but my bet is that they don't get off on the sound my refrigerator makes, either.

although SPEC. doens't enthrall like taylor deupree's collaboration with savvas ysatis, tower of winds, richard chartier's crystalline contributions sound like a thousand glasses breaking in slow motion and are generally hypnotic in a masochistic way. every time SPEC. threatens to become precious and repetitive chartier and deupree make some microscopic adjustment to the groove that leaves you respecting their ability to make infinitesimal variations in a music that "moves" so little. - bill cohen

AMBIENTRANCE (US)
When we interviewed taylor deupree in July, he said in reference to his "super synthetic and minimal music", "i call what i'm doing 'microscopic sound'..."

Well, he's doing it again, this time in collaboration with Richard Chartier (the "r" in 0/r). Together they've co-created spec. which is somewhat like ear-peering through a special audio-microscope to hear the daily lives of digital electrons at work and at play.

Tiny, tiny buzzes and bleeps form a rhythmic counterpoint in specification.one; the motes of notes cycle and ring like submolecular chains. specification.two features more silence than sound, as spaciously arranged pulses expand in a widespread series of soundclones. Faint and sporadic drizzles of static fall in specification.three (6:27), to be joined by intermittent micro-chimes, several more energetic patterns and a denser, ruffling oscillation; the elements engage in an almost-organic interaction though they are undeniably synthetic.

specification.four offers another oddly "natural" scene from the realms of digitized soundworlds, with a continual chatter not unlike crickets and a few other talkative insects of the night. Bloopier loops bubble up though specification.five, dappled with glinting subatomic particles and rougher outbursts. Sounding like a Salsa-flavored synchronization of record-skips and miniature squeaks, specification.six sets up a spry (though miniscule) robotic rhythm.

Though regrettably short, specification.eight (1:57) is a favorite of mine, a surprisingly atmospheric piece... expansively tranquil yet edgy with anticipation. It's amazing that such a mood can be imparted through decidedly non-emotional cues as the electronic fragments and quiet drones which inhabit this zone. Similarly, specification.nine pulses in a state of a low-key introspection, sprinkled with electronic detritus. Things take a turn for the discordant in specification.ten which resembles scanning the radio dial and receiving nothing but alien signals and gritty interference. Interesting in a freaky way.

The 42.5 micro-electronic minutes of spec. will undoubtedly charge those who are tuned in to these particular frequencies, though will come across as glitchy noise to those who aren't. taylor deupree and Richard Chartier obviously know what they're after in their minimal-digital sound experiments, and have synthesized this 8.6 bit of tech-head heaven.

As with all 12k releases, this disc is limited to 500 copies.

BLOW UP (IT)
pittore, designer e artista sonoro dal brillante background mixed-media, l'americano richard chartier ha sin qui siglato tre eccellenti opere soliste edite da altrettante cult labels internazionali quali Instransitive, Meme e Microwave Recordings. i nomi delle suddette la dicono ovviamente lunga circa le scelte espressive di mr. chartier, minimalia elettro-digitale dalla grana finemente porosa, e la dose viene ora rincarata da due ulteriori dischi in vollaborazione con il connazionale taylor deupree (guida della 12k, a sua volta autore di numero si lavori a varia denominazione: uscita piu recente e l'ultra-minimale 12" club-oriented Focux su audio.nl) e il giapponese nosei sakata a.k.a. *0 (oitre al recente album su Meme, sakata gestisce l'etichetta specializzata in CD-R mu.)

facilmente immaginabili i contenuti di entrambe le pulicazioni: piu cadenzato spec., ticchettii, disturbi di fondo, granelli di pulviscolo digitale, spontanee microcombustioni, movenze spastiche, increspature molecolari che combiano in modo esemplare il puntillismo ritmico di deupree e la pacate modulazioni vetrose ripiche di chartier (7). - nicola catalano

CHICAGO READER (US)
a recent collaboration with Richard Chartier, is a fascinating assemblage of skeletal beats, oscillating high-frequency squeals, snakey bass tones, clouds of hiss, echoey decay, and disintegrating electronic bleeps-which on "specification.three" sound like drops of water sizzling on a hot skillet. These elements form and develop in loose patterns; they're not amorphous by any stretch, but close listening is required to make sense of the din.

GROOVES (US)
It's almost a rule in electronic music that you must worship the bass -- and the lower the frequency the better. "specification.one," not surprisingly the first track on Spec, turns that assumption on its ear (literally): A high-pitched dinging is unleashed for 4 minutes and is as ear-throbbing as anything we think of as "loud" music. That tingling pitch also shows up prominently on "specification.two" and "specification.five," interplaying with a thuddy kick drum (which works into something like a 1/8 rhythm on the former and more like a "beat" on the latter).

Silence is also played beautifully here, becoming an anxiety-producing pause between what sounds like a roulette wheel spinning again and again (for 6+ minutes!) on "specification.three." Elsewhere, Chartier and 12k head Deupree do some of that micro sound/glitch processing that's all the rage now (and the more it sounds like dental surgery, the better apparently) -- gritty but not as challenging. It's come to this: Moving away from the mere sequencing of digital debris and back towards old juxtapositions of sound/silence and high/low timbre -- which is often brilliantly done on Spec -- now seems boldly experimental. - Sean Portnoy

THE WIRE (UK)
spec., with richard chartier, shows a ryoji ikeda influence in its wafter thin and needle sharp digital bleeps and pops. track timings are given with split-second precision, and there's a concentration on micro-soundforms generally. dull needle pops, five seconds apart, are accented on alternate speakers, and the duo play with the notion of echo in other ways. are we listening to discrete sounds, or the muffled afterquiver of a single event, a tone's micro-wake? carefully explored fridge drones, whines, clicks, fax noises and a kind of tinnitus techno, turn a potentially neutral listening experience into something more characterful and inventive. - matt ffytche

XLR8R (US)
...those interested in the particulate sound of ryoji ikeda or last year's 20' - 2000 series will enjoy spec, which is as much a testament to the absence of sound itself, alternatingly quiet and ear-shreddingly intense...