TAYLOR
DEUPREE "NORTHERN" (12K1037)
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ALL
MUSIC GUIDE (US)
‘In
2002 Taylor Deupree said goodbye to glitchy pastures and headed
for more organic territory with the definitive Stil., the dreamy
soundscapes of 2004’s January and several collaborations;
most notably with labelmates Christopher Willits and Kenneth
Kirschner, as well as Japanese ensemble Eisi for an album length
reconstruction project. So it’s no surprise that every
experiment that he’s attempted throughout the past four
years has led to Northern, a beautiful six song treatise inspired
by the quiet countryside Deupree has chosen to reside in (he
recently moved from Brooklyn to more rural settings). This transition
finds Deupree entirely abandoning the vocabulary of crisp, ear
jarring highs and sub sonic bass to more textured, organic instrumentation.
Throughout Northern, he quietly weaves a tapestry of atmospheres
and textures through structured improvisation that recall the
emotion and stillness of Stil. and January without becoming
predictable and tiresome. The level of discipline while layering
the sounds upon one another (especially during the album’s
closer “November”), all the while maintaining a
reverence for silence that is similar to opening movement of
the Joe Zawinul/Miles Davis classic “In A Silent Way”.
The serenity and beauty of this album has few rivals in the
electronic music world and by the time the final notes rain
down, finding a record that can stand up against Northern is
no easy task to undertake. Quite easily one of the best albums,
electronic or otherwise, of 2006.
AUF ABWEGEN (DE)
Northern tastet sich folgerichtig an Elementen aus Song und
Jazz heran, ohne das gewohnte Terrain zu verlassen. Deupree
spleißt immer noch die Töne, schaut immer noch innerhalb
der Verzeichnisstruktur seiner Festplatte über die Schulter
und lässt grauschleiernde Flächen in die Anflugscheise
gleiten. Aber: es sind klarerer Entwicklungsstufen im Sinne
von chord progressions zu vernehmen und die hermetischen Gebilde
werden manchmal einfach stärker aufgebrochen als bisher.
Das tut Northern hörbar gut. - Zipo
AUTRES DIRECTIONS (FR)
Taylor Depree a quitté New-York pour s’installer
un peu en dehors de la mégalopole, dans un lieu plus
rural. C’est là que, entre 2005 et 2006, il a conçu
Northern, ce nouvel album concentré sur les atmosphères
et les textures.
Deupree s’y laisse aller à la plus belle abstraction,
une abstraction picturale où il aura travaillé
chaque son, qu’il soit environnemental ou instrumental
(guitare, mélodica, piano) de sa souris, délayant
sans cesse chaque note dans un océan digital et monochrome.
Northern évoque les grands froids mais ses mini-mélodies
subtiles en font un disque relativement hospitalier.
Toujours chez Taylor Deupree, l’émotion ne se palpe
pas mais se devine, et ces méandres électroniques
baignés d’une lumière blanche à la
délicatesse ultime sont autant de cadeaux une fois de
plus destinés à son fils, et également
à un vieil ami. Comme sa musique, sous des dehors cérébraux
et élitistes, Deupree est un homme qui ressent et qui
s’exprime d’une belle manière.
BAD ALCHEMY (DE)
Taylor Deupree ist von Brooklyn nach Pound Ridge umgezogen,
ins stille, nordliche hinterland upstate New York mit seinen
windterlich verscheiten Wäldern. Dieses Ambiente, bisher
Gegenstand der Phantasie, rückt nun mimetisch in die Klangilder
von "Northern" ein. Was bisher die Imagination einzufangen
versuchte, liegt nun vor der Studiotür. Für das Soundscaping
aus E-Piano, Melodica, Gitarre, und Feldaufnahmenklängen,
die Deupree durch den Laptop zieht, steht nun die erträumte
Landschaft selbst Modell. Über Hügel, die sich unter
der Schneedecke wellen wie Hemingways weiße Elefanten,
zischen eisige Wirbel, die Luft ist kristallin, der harsch knurscht
unter den Sohlen. Der Klangfluss dreht und dreht sich dabei
noch eine Windung weiter nach innen, lässt nostalgische
Erinnerungen an die Kindheit und alte Freundschaften wiederhallen.
Mir ist solche Schau-heimwarts-Seligkeit dermaßen fremd,
dass die Simulation von Rosebud-Schmus und Suggestion von Grasharfen-Idylle,
dieses amerikanische Nick Adadms und Holden-Caulfield_syndrom,
mnir noch in der glasperlenkullernden Klingklangversion nur
als sanftes Grauen begreiflich ist. Vielleicht verdirbt mir
der Waschzettel aber auch nur das Gespür für die ständigen
kleinen Brüche und Widerhaken und die zarbittere Melancholie,
die Deupree selbst mit Titeln wie, "Everything's Gone Grey,"
"A Dead Yellow Carpet," "Haze it May Be,"
un "November" verbindet.
BANT (TR)
Son albümü "Northern" i 12k'den yayinlayan
Taylor Deupree, 2002 yilinin "Stil." albümünden
beri tekno agirligindan daha sakin ve ambient kompozisyonlara
dönüyor. Brooklyn'in sehir merkezinden, New York'un
disinda daha doga icine tasinma tecrübesini ve kis mevsimini
konu alan "Northern", alti uzun ambient parcayi iceriyor.
Bu Tür albümlerde genelde yakalanan hava hep ayni;
ve hep ayni tonlar ve efeklerin kullanilmasi biraz muzigi kapatiyor
ve kliselestiriyor. Uzun kompozisyonlara yayilmasi da, tekrar
ve üst üste katlanmanin ötesinde müzige
hicbir agirlik katmadan, cok cekilmez hale getirebiliyor. Albüm,
bu hazir kalip tonlar ve tanidik etkilerle basliyor. Ambient
muzigi, yani atmosfer muzigini destekleyici eleman (film muzigi)
rolüne ceviren tema hali, albümün üc¨¨nc¨¨parcasi
"A Dead Yellow Carpet" a kadar uzun uzun devam ediyor.
Bu parcanin ardindan kendi yolunu bulan parcalarla albüm
bütünlügünü sagliyor. "Northern"
Deupree icin romantik bir deneme olmus.
BLACK
(DE)
Deupree's Minimalismus bröckelt langsam an den Rändern.
In der mittlerwelle ausfransenden Peripherie seiner Musik nistet
sich immer mehr Akustik und Melodie ein. Das is schön.
Bei diesem Album sogar ausgesprochen toll. Denn die klangschwebierischen
Drones und synthetischen Modulationen erfahren so eine völlig
neue Lebendigkeit. Seine vielen Kollaborationene - von Kenneth
Kirschner's Klavierverfremdungen bis Eisi's Indiepop-Experimenten
- fallen nun auf seinen eigenen Output zurück. "Northern"
fädelt zwischen die Computermodulationen gekonnt Gitarren,
Melodica, Klavier oder Feldaufnahmen ein. Selbstredend plikend
digitalisiert und zerschreddert. Aber dennoch hört man
deutlich die erstaunlich nuancierte Melodiosität akusticher
Instrumente und Atmosphären. Es wuselt mehr, gar chaotisch
für Deupree-Verhältnisse, klingt heimelnd und nostalgisch,
melancholisch und verträumt. Er schiebt es auf seinen Umzug
aus New York in die Wälder Neu-Englands, den einsamen Winter
dort und die sanft rauschende Stille der Natur. Ich glaube eher,
dass er wie viele Minimalisten irgendwann genug Sinuskurven
erkindet hat. Minimalismus mit anderen Mittein auszuprobieren,
mit anderen instrumenten zu kombinieren, scheint für viele
verlockender als weiterhin nur Amplituden zu streicheln. Back
to the Roots eben, auch für Knöpfchendreher.
BLOW UP (IT)
Il recente trasferimento di Taylor Deupree dal centro di Brooklyn
ai boschi di Pound Ridge ha evidentemente avuto effetto sulle
musiche dell'autore statunitense, ormai sempre più intime
e messaggere di un'acuta sensazione di stillness, di immobilità
più o meno apparente. Guardare dalla finestra e trovare
un paesaggio dove tutto è diventato grigiore, neve e
foschia, dove l'unico colore netto è il giallo delle
foglie secche e la colonna sonora il vento che fischia tra gli
alberi. È l'inverno di upstate New York che si specchia
diritto diritto nei suoni di "Northern", cineree e
riflessive tessiture ricamate con chitarra, piano elettrico
e melodica, avvolte di field recordings e storpiate digitalmente
da intensivi trattamenti di Kyma. È la sensazione di
affondare in un soffice manto niveo, sferzati dalle brezze novembrine
del nord, intontiti dalla complessa intelaiatura melodica di
una musica estremamente elaborata che però appare fragile
come la membrana che separa sonno da stato di veglia. (7/8)
Nicola Catalano
English
Translation:
The recent transfer of Taylor Deupree from the center of Brooklyn
to the forests of Pound Ridge has evidently had effect on musics
of the American author, by now more and more intimate and messengers
of an acute feeling of stillness, appearing immobility more
or less. To watch the window and to find a landscape where all
it has become grigiore, snow and haze, where the only color
clearly is the yellow of the leaves sand banks and the sonorous
column the wind that hisses between the trees. It is the winter
of upstate New York that specchia straight straight in the sounds
of "Northern", cineree and reflecting webbings embroidered
with guitar, plan electrical worker and melodica, wrapped of
field recordings and storpiate digitally from intensive treatments
of Kyma. It is the feeling to sink in a soft niveo mantle, sferzati
from breezes novembrine of the north, intontiti from the complex
melodica frame of a music extremely elaborated that but it appears
fragile like the membrane that separates sleep from state of
waking.
BODYSPACE (PT)
Tardará
a assentar a poeira que vai impedindo de estabelecer uma noção
absoluta do puzzle exploratório que Taylor Deupree forma
em torno da estática enquanto dogma questionável.
Isto porque a chegada de Northern faz com que se pareçam
cada vez mais curtos os intervalos entre discos merecedores
de uma eternidade suficiente ao cumprimento de uma anatomia
esquemática. Um processo de estudo que submeta a uma
observação clínica o período áureo
de um minimalismo personalizado que teve início com o
basilar Stil. (que, apesar de não cumprir a condição
de debute, é o ponto de partida para uma fase de maturidade
e precisão conceptual que se mantém desde aí).
Deupree pontuava o título do disco como se lhe desejasse
incutir um simbolismo conclusivo. Paradoxalmente, persistiu,
a partir daí, em manter uma regularidade bianual que
ora rumava às colaborações de teor ocasional
- caso das parcerias com Christopher Willits - ou regressava
à consolidação do estudo de quietude que
tem em January ou Every Still Day verdadeiros tratados (sendo
que o segundo se debruçava sobre material dos obscuros
Eisi). Vale a linearidade à esperança de, a partir
da escuta isolada e entrecruzamento entre capítulos,
obter a quantidade mínima de silogismos que despertem
os sentidos até novas divisões de um jardim de
minimalismos subespontâneos. Northern, desde já,
antecipa-se ao andamento das estações - aproveita
o seu motivo de transição para assinalar os detalhes
ao limbo entre o Outono e o Inverno.
Apesar de passar despercebido aos primeiros contactos de grau
superficial, Northern expõe sobremaneira o momento actual
da vida e percurso musical de Taylor Deupree. Ele que, para
a sua gravação, aproveitou os sinais de mudança
que lhe foi oferecendo um primeiro Inverno vivido com a família
bem longe de uma Brooklyn insone - mais concretamente na parcialmente
florestal zona norte do estado de Nova Iorque. Longe vão
os tempos mais ácidos integrado no colectivo Prototype
909. A bússola que agora aponta para Norte é a
mesma que oferece a sua extremidade mais pontiaguda a uma clarividência
alcançada através de uma vigia dormente - considerável
parte do disco que edita a 12K avança como que a partir
de um motor escassamente oxigenado (e daí lento), mas
absolutamente esclarecido na medição dos tentáculos
tonais que avançam sobre os seis movimentos como as antenas
de um caracol que percorre vegetação espinhada.
Daí que o enlace de "November" tarde a assumir-se,
retraindo-se em dilema o fragmentado piano eléctrico
que não encontra meio de se decidir pela aura da harmonia
ou pela tal estática de autor que define o empreendimento
de Deupree. Em "November", tal como na faixa-tema
"Northern", escutam-se lamentos de um projectado Yeti
sentimental que dificilmente convocará a imprensa para
confessar a sua predilecção pela conjugação
de elementos ao ritmo paciente do ponto-cruz.
Atendendo aos acrescentos que Northen transporta até
à discografia existente, torna-se lógico acreditar
que terá sido a permuta de residência a descobrir
à camada subcutânea de Deupree tudo aquilo que
ofuscava a radiância viajada e paternal de January ou
ainda amadurecia por altura da segunda génese que é
Stil.. Nota-se, sobretudo, uma maior permissividade concedida
aos sons contínuos que antes circulavam entrelaçados
entre picotados glitch e agora já trepam até ao
ponto cimeiro da auto-suficiência. E é absolutamente
deslumbrante dar conta de como Taylor Deupree aplica a vocação
de arquitecto de invisibilidade ao engendrar de uma sonda que,
a partir de um abrigo, capte todos os ínfimos fenómenos
ocorridos na sua periferia. Mais que nunca, todos aqueles detritos
que expurga a electrónica essencialmente veicular trocam
de lugar com as labaredas na lareira. Sem aparente vontade de
abrir mão da eternidade hibernal em que se encontra inerte,
o sistema interno Northen oferece generosamente todo o calor
necessário à passagem das estações
dominadas pelas temperaturas mínimas. - Miguel Arsénio
BOOMKAT (UK)
‘Northern’
is Taylor Deupree's follow-up to the absolutely crucial ‘.Stil’,
and it's an album that takes a markedly fresh direction in pursuit
of all things sublime. Those of you who managed to track down
his collaboration with Japanese band Eisi ‘Every Still
Day’ last year might already have some inkling of where
Taylor’s mind is at right now, and it’s no surprise
that Northern sounds like a continuation, or should I say distillation
of the sounds he explored on that record. Instead of totally
synthesizing his sounds, Deupree takes improvised electric piano,
guitar, melodica and haunting field recordings as source material
for his trademark Kyma experimentations - and the results are
simply beautiful. We are left with something almost unclassifiable
– a sound which could on one hand be described as minimal/experimental,
and on the other be likened to the glacial pop sounds of Mum
or Piana. This shift has in part been attributed to Taylor’s
move from central New York City to the Northern reaches of New
York State - a change of scenery that has made Deupree more
open to vulnerability and beauty in his music. The ‘less
is more’ aesthetic, the sort of music that only bears
it’s soul on repeat listens, the subtlety – Taylor
Deupree has managed with "Northern" to return to the
classic attributes of minimal music at its most engrossing,
and in the process has made what will surely rank as his finest
record to date. Unmissable.
DE:BUG
(DE)
Hat
eigentlich schon mal jemand darüber nachgedacht, die Musik
Taylor Deuprees mit den Kurzfilmen von Stan Brakhage zu verbinden?
Flackernde Farben, flüchtige Risse auf der Leinwand, geloopte
Patterns, brüchiges Fließen. So klingt Northern.
In monochromen Flächen, zerlaufen vereinzelte harmonische
Farbtupfer. Bleibt man ganz still sitzen und lässt sich
voll und ganz von der Musik vereinnahmen, dann ist es als verschwinde
man für kurze Zeit und geht ganz in ihr auf. In den besten
Momenten eine kleine Epiphanie. Klingelt dann das Telefon, zuckt
man zusammen und stellt erschrocken und fast ein wenig erschüttert
fest, dass die Welt draußen immer noch da ist. "Northern"
ist große, monochrome Kontemplation. Sechs Tracks und
jedes mal ein kleines bisschen Ewigkeit. ***** HL
D-SIDE
(FR)
New-yorkais
depuis des annees, Taylor Deupree a récemment quitté
son studio de Brooklyn pour aller s'installer au nord de l'état,
en pleine foret, dans le calme, l'isolement et le silence. Un
changement de vie drastique qui lui a inspiré Northern,
son album le plus lent et le plus serein,
mais aussi le plus mélodique a ce jour. Car Northern,
enregistré en plein hiver, a la tranquille immobilité
de la neige qui s'accumule, pendant des jours, sans jamais fondre
ou se salir, la froideur du vent qui souffle sur le paysages
givrés, la vie en suspens, entre paretheses, mais toumours
présentes. Grand disque d'electronica contemplative,
Northern, dans leqel s'immiscent ave délicatesse
un piano, une guitare, un mélodica ou des field recordings,
nous offre un grand moment de recuillement, en meme temps qu'une
facon de revisiter, intimement, l'oeuvre de Taylor Deupree.
E/I
(US)
After
everything is over, there might still be something left. Northern,
a title that might sum up a big chunk of culture and cultural
dysfunction. constructs a fairly dispassionate and detailed
look at what can be made of the remains. The imperatives of
deconstructed music are unrelentingly observed in Northern
and its seeming contradictions. The pieces exhibit a high level
of organization; they intimate structure, they impel attention,
cross over to embrace either active or passive listening, all
the while remaining resolutely in pieces. Seemingly subsumed
by any number of steps away from the instrument and the score,
the audio is neither disparate nor disjointed nor capable of
yielding to the purely intuited yammering of collage, assemblage
or traditional lures of the concréte. While being pulled
together by a deft touch for voicing and processing of the instrumental
and found sources, we are persistently denied any access to
the usual and recognizable forms. Instead, we hear a music built
almost completely on and by association, proximity and juxtaposition.
The traits that enforce a sense of inter-relatedness are defined
by substituting typical organizational principles for a more
personal and organically built toolkit comprised of sonic characteristics,
durations, envelopes and the spatial characteristics of the
soundstage. Deupree lends us access to a genuine alternative:
music that is different not due to merely assuming a posture
while remaining the same in every other measure, but different
due to its organizing principles. K. LEIMER
ETHEREAL
(FR)
Il
y a trois ans, Taylor Deupree nous livrait sur 12k, son propre
label, Stil., excellent album de minimal techno fondé
sur la répétition. Depuis, on l'avait surtout
croisé dans des projets partagés : disques avec
Kenneth Kirschner ou Christopher Willits, albums de remixes,
etcS¹ Northern est donc l'occasion de retrouver l'Etats-unien
pour un travail solitaire.
Peut-être plus mélodique que Stil. (on est toutefois
pas sur le terrain d'une electronica mélodique), Northern
propose des séquences au chromatisme identifiable (petites
notes, suites mélodiques comme en suspension, utilisation
filtrée d'un mélodica, d'une guitare ou d'un piano
électrique) que viennent à peine troubler quelques
glitchs ou micro-larsens. Cet «apaisement» des sonorités,
relayé par des tessitures plus «abordables»
que par le passé, ne conduit toutefois nullement Deupree
à verser dans la facilité, celui-ci s'évertuant,
au contraire, à ne jamais laisser ses textures dans l'intranquilité.
Travaillant l'imagination de l'auditeur (également titillée
par une pochette aux accents enneigés), cet album se
veut le reflet du déménagement de Deupree, ayant
quitté Brooklyn pour s'installer dans la forêt,
via ces «vents électroniques» soufflant un
air qui se voudrait engourdissant (A Dead Yellow Carpet) ou
ces sonorités pas très éloignées
du tintement de la glace (Shell Shell Bye). Arrivant même
à rendre émouvant des textures dont on a pu souvent,
lorsqu'utilisées par d'autres artistes, souligner le
caractère désincarné, l'Etats-unien sait
extraire d'un agrégat épuré des consonances
quasi-poignantes (Haze It May Be).
Parvenant donc à conjuguer rigueur et esthétisme
dans ses choix musicaux tout en rendant sa production un peu
plus accessible que par le passé, Taylor Deupree signe
avec Northern une nouvelle réussite, témoignage
indéniable de la grande qualité de son auteur
qui, sachant se faire rare en solo, n'intervient que pour le
meilleur. - François Bousquet
FAIL
ME (UK)
Visually
supplemented by a set of postcards depicting a stark, snow covered
forest. But these landscapes aren't bleak; more like familiar,
comforting places seen in a different light.
The looped melody of the title track is quite beautiful in its
execution, never played straight as each variation is violated
by digital interrupts. Continues narratively with subtle shears
of noise and drone on 'A dead yellow carpet'. The break in the
weather represented by cloud-breaking guitar on 'Shell Shell
Bye' is a wondrous moment. Endlessly listenable, considerately
played. This is more than you can ask for from any artist.
FLUID
(PL)
Kiedys
mowito sie o post-techno, microsound, clikc'n'cuts, ale teraz
juz nikt nie stara sie wymyslac nowych terminow na taka muzyke.
Mimo wszystko Taylor Deupree wciaz odkrywa nowych tworcow poruszajacych
sie na obszarze minimalnej elektroniki bazujacej na cyfrowych
btedach, syntetycznych melodiach i oszczednych beatach. Do tego
po dwoch latach przerwy na kolejnym krazku "northern"
pokazuje, ze sam tez jest w formie, a nowym zrodtem inspiracji
dla niego stata sie przeprowadzka na przedmiescia Nowego Jorku
z halasliwego Brooklynu. Czuc to wyciszenie w operowaniu harmonia
i klimatem w "Northern" kiedy bazuje na szumach w
"A Dead Yellow Carpet" czy wspiera sie falami sinusoidalnymi
w "everything's Gone Grey". Repetywne struktury jeszcze
delikatniej rozciaga subtelnymi dronami nawet w dziesieciominutowe
kompozcyje, ale przy tym nie tonie w nudnym ambiencie. Zreszta
atmosfere tego albumu samemu najlepiej oddat na czarnobiatym
zdjeciu na okladce, na ktorym widac osniezony las przez zaparowane
okno.
GAZ
ETA (PL)
Reviewing
an album full of winter themes is a bit of a misnomer. When
it's a sweltering 35 Celsius outside, it's rather odd to look
at these stark pictures [all taken by Deupree] done during the
dead of winter. Taylor Deupree who has recently moved from New
York to the quiet backyard town in northern New York State must
surely have felt some inspiration by his new surroundings. How
else do you explain the revelations on the record? How can you
explain the continuing stark haunting that prevails much of
this work? King of microtones, Deupree now shifts away from
the static and the quiet glitching and moves into a more "organic"
territory. It's not as if he's picked up an acoustic guitar
and gone on a PBS-sponsored tour of the west. Though, on second
thought, a guitar does make an appearance within the mass of
the music presented here [what's more, it's clearly recognizable!].
I hear bells chiming quietly away in the musky wind and I hear
something that resembles an old organ though this is heavily
processed, though edges have been removed. On "Haze It
May Be" there is particular delicate twinkling of a piano
filtered through a computer. While sine waves are audible throughout,
the stillness that prevails on the record is not broken. Surprising
is Deupree's use of melodica on the closing piece "November".
It appears out of nowhere and is accompanied by processed piano
loops that permeate the piece throughout. This is a creaseless
creation, full of wonder and surprise everywhere you turn. Microtonal,
ambient and revelatory to the core, "Northern" is
very much a record for all seasons and places. Deupree has again
proven himself to be the master of introspective music.
GO
MAG (ES)
"Everything's
gone grey." El titulo del tema que abre "Northern"
parece dejar claro, desde el primer zumbido digital, que la
neuva entrega de Taylor Deupree es un disco adusto e introspectivo.
Y Algo de cierto hay en ello: buscando un lugar mas apropiado
para su hijo enfermo, y que ademas le permitiera disponer de
un mayor espacio para su propio estudio, Deupree cambió
el ano pasado los paisajes urbanos de Brooklyn por una casa
en el norte del estado de Nueva York, en intimo contacto con
la naturaleza. Y lo que en principio iba a ser un sencillo cambio
de aires, termino convirtiendose en el hilo conductor de este
disco que nos ocupa, cuyo titulo hace refrencia a la manera
en la que se deja sentir el invierno (la estacion en la que
el disco fue concebido y grabado) en los nuevos dominios del
dueno de 12k: esa sensacion borrosa e irreal, esa textura neblinosa
y gris que parece transmitir un frio glacial, y que tan bien
queda reflejada en la portada del disco, un fotografia tomada
por el propio
Deupree desde la ventana de su estudio. Asi que todo se estaba
volviendo gris, como deciamos al principio, y nuestro hombre
decidio traducir esos tonos palidos a sonidos. Para ello, y
como ya hizo en "January" (04, su ultima entrega en
solitario), recurrio a elementos suaves y sutiles: texturas
volatiles, tempos al borde mismo del colapso, cambios apenas
perceptibles, loops perdidos en la distancia y ritmos que se
disuelven en el interior de formanciones melodicas. Ademas,
y como venia sucediendo en sus discos recientes (el ya citado
"January", basado en sus experiencias durante una
gira por Japon, o sus grabaciones en directo con Christopher
Willits, sobre todo el exquisito "Mujo"), "Northern"
introduce los adjetivos 'nostalgico' y 'telurico' dentro del
abstractor vocabulario del ya ex-neoyorquino, y no solo por
el uso extensivo de instrumentos 'reales', sino tambient por
la incorporacion de numerosas grabaciones de campo a la mezcla.
Material altamente procesado, pero que sigue transmitiendo sus
calidas propiedades desde el interior de unos temas que se contruyen
de manera paciente y sosegada, acumulando capas y sonidos sin
prisas, estirando el eco de la atmosferas hasta que, de repente,
todo se transforma en un magma luminoso y quebradizo. Una formula
que puede parecer sencilla, pero que nadie maneja como Taylor
Deupree. Un Taylor Deupree en estado de gracia, que acaba de
entregar el que quizas sea mejor disco de su carrera. Una absoluta
obra maestra. -Vidal Romero
GONZO
(BE)
Soundscape-artiest
Taylor Deupree heeft zijn stek in het hart van Brooklyn omgeruild
voor de rustige bosrijke omgeving van upper New York. De frisse
lucht en een trits stevige boswandelingen in het ondergesneeuwde
landschap hebben de Amerikaan goed gedaan. "Northern"
toont Taylor Deupree in bloedvorm. Taylor Deupree zette zichzelf
op de kaart met "Stil." een debuut dat uitblonk door
het samenspel van melodie en minimalisme, maar verloor zich
daarna in een resem van samenwerkingen en bracht net teveel
nieuw materiaal uit in een te korte tijdspanne om de kwaliteit
op peil te houden. Op "Northern" scherpt nij zijn
productie-technieken aan. Piano en gitaar versterken de fieldrecordings
en zorgen ervoor dat het strakke minimale geluid meer dan vroeger
raakpunten krijgt met melancholische popmuziek. Met "Northern"
heeft Deupree een tweede adem gevonden en laat hin zien da hij
samen met mensen als Fennesz, Tim Hecker en Pimmon tot het slecte
kransje van soundscape-artiesten behoren die zich neit vastrijden
in het strakke kader van het genre.
INDIEPOPROCK.NET
(FR)
For
his new album, the new Yorkean sound illustrator, Taylor Deupree,
founder of the label 12k on which leaves "Northern",
were strongly marked by his removal of the center of Brooklyn
to the peace of a life in edge of forest. Far from the noise
of the urban activity, it was left inspired by nature in full
winter, at which time it composed this new opus. Deupree continues
its research task there on sonorities, textures while playing
with soft electronic microphone-melodies. Unperceivable movements
of a sunbeam on snow, squealing of a flake melting, such is
the magic that it proposes to us to discover and to listen.
Deep, introspective and beautiful, this jewel of electronica
will be perfect to spend the next winter well to the heat.
KINDA
MUZIK (BE)
Ondanks
de suggestie van mistige herfstmuziek door titels als 'November'
en de zwart-witfoto's op de uitklaphoes, laat dit nieuwe album
van Taylor Deupree zich prima beluisteren in deze zomerse tijden.
Donker of treurig is het zeker niet. Je zou het zelfs speels
kunnen noemen hoe die verknipte geluiden over elkaar glijden.
Een langzaam bewegende collage van gefriemel, getingel en gepingel
is de prachtige uitkomst.
Deupree houdt van fragiele muziek. Als baas van het Amerikaanse
label 12K brengt hij schitterende albums uit vol fijngevoelige
ehm.. ambient. Ook zijn eigen albums, die uitkwamen bij labels
als Mille Plateaux, Audio.nl en Sub Rosa, staan vol kleinschalige
geluidscapriolen. Op Northern is dat niet anders. Misschien
is het deze keer wat organischer en secuurder, zoals al die
computerbewerkte geluiden van gitaar, piano en melodica in slow
motion over elkaar heen kruipen. Maar nog steeds even voorzichtig
als in de geluidsspinsels van Sanso X-tro, Mileece of Tu'm.
Alsof ze bang zijn dat er iets breekt.
Zachte plukjes aan de gitaar, gerommel van de elektronica, getingel,
een aantrekkende synthesizer. Dat is alles. Het zijn minimale
bouwsels vol bedeesde tonen die opzwellen, uitrekken en weer
ineenkrimpen. Schijnbaar eenvoudig schuiven lange, romige tonen
en elektronisch verkruimelde brokjes ineen. Rustig en berustend
zonder een moment te vervelen. Althans, als je dit album de
aandacht geeft die het nodig heeft. Dan is het een prima kameraad
voor de oren die van verdwalen houden. - Thijs Menting
LOST
AT SEA (US)
Taylor
Deupree, both as an artist and as the man behind the dapper
12k label, has well and truly wedged himself into a niche over
the last few years. As 12k continues to give life to the minimalist
electronica ?sound?, Deupree adds his two cents with his solo
recordings and sporadic collaborative works, and the two separate
entities appear to work together, albeit in parallel. He has
since upheld his reputation as a remarkably single-minded presence
in the field of electronics; he?s absorbed his musical background,
and he knows where he?s going.
Stil., originally released in 2002, remains Deupree?s most identifiable
album. In relation to the Deupree/12k context, it emerged as
a mechanical piece of music, as if very little had been left
to chance, and instead systematically looped to create an air
of hypnotism. Given Deupree?s relocation from the hustle and
bustle of Brooklyn to rural upstate New York, Northern?s distinction
is noticeable from the onset. Opening track "Everything?s
Gone Grey" doesn?t possess the density of the Stil. material
? instead it is granted a spacious production in which a pair
of crystalline sine waves surface and fold into to a random
composition of sparse electric piano tones. It is kept very
light and tranquil, whereby any hint of static or interruption
remains subtle. "Northern" awakens to a dawn of electronic
rustles ahead of a loosely-formed structure of piano chimes
that swing in and out of a series of slow-moving swells.
Though Deupree tends to play on repetition, he manages to garner
his compositions a degree of subtle urgency with light showers
of surface texture. His technique serves to weave light instances
of noise in and around the passages of sound, which adds to
Northern?s sense of randomness. His instrumental capacity is
expanded into guitar recordings in the case of "Shell Shell
Bye" and melodica with "November." "Shell
Shell Bye" sways independently of itself, providing an
aural equivalent to Northern?s winter-embracing cover photograph,
whereas "November" possesses an unmatched sparseness,
noticed particularly on the heels of the relative clamour of
"Haze It May Be." Nonetheless, Deupree?s trademark
serenity and attention to detail is retained throughout the
course of the album, and Northern justifies itself as a fitting
instalment in Taylor Deupree?s ? and 12k?s ? credible discography.
MAPSADAISICAL
(US)
More
microscopic minimalism from polymath Taylor Deupree, sound designer,
graphic designer, interior designer, and founder of the 12K
label. As you would expect, this is precision engineered stuff.
Given
Taylor Deupree’s overlapping careers - and professed belief
in the interlinking of sound, design, and surroundings - the
choices of upstate New York for the recording, and of monochromatic
leafless trees for the cover of Northern are instructive. Indeed,
it is hardly possible to envisage a less urban electronic record.
Like the forest, an outer appearance of quiet disorder belies
the activity and structure within.
This
contrast between the natural and synthetic can be heard in the
title track, as a processed electronic piano near-melody plays
over what sounds like someone scrabbling around the forest floor
for berries. The conflict between the winter weather and the
need to keep warm is another key element of the record, as in
the bitter icy wind attempting to blow away the underlying warmth
of “A Dead Yellow Carpet”, and in the way “November”
stokes an electronic campfire with woozy, breathy mellotron.
Sine waves colour spaces between sparse electronic rhythms before
static falls like rain on leaves on “Everything’s
Gone Grey”, before water is evoked further on “Shell
Shell Bye”, rippling as wind fusses chimes and a guitar
is strummed with the lack of purpose born of being miles from
the city’s stress. “Haze It May Be” may be
my favourite, as a gentle nagging electronic riff is chased
through the woods and smothered by choral buzz.
I’ve been listening to this for a few weeks now, and have
found it a thoroughly rewarding and most evocative experience,
allowing me to experience such an array of contradictory feelings
and emotions in an hour, in the fashion that only the greatest
pieces of art can do. Northern is a record designed to live
in. Bring warm clothes, mind.
MUSIKLANDET
(NU)
En
kittlad trumhinna men inte merJag är så att jag gärna
vill ha bevis för mina bedrifter, hur små de än
må vara: initialer på en High Score-lista, ett brutet
revben, en tår i ögonvrån eller åtminstone
en intrikat känsla att leva på i ett par minuter.
Eller sekunder. Någonting.
Taylor Dupree är en Brooklyn-bo som lämnade storstaden
för att bosätta sig i skogarna i de norra delarna
av delstaten New York. Platser som han anser gynnar hans intresse
för stillhet och känslan av att tiden står stilla,
något som han ger utlopp för med hjälp av sin
laptop och här och var även akustiska instrument.
Jag har lätt för att gilla det jag hör. Som när
den blyga träflöjten dyker upp mellan brusljudet som
flyger från den ena högtalaren till den andra i "A
dead yellow carpet". I likhet med de flesta andra börjar
jag dock tröttna rätt ordentligt när samma monotona
sekvens loopas gång på gång i flera minuter
i Duprees låtar som gärna drar ut på det i
upp mot 10-minutersstrecket (en låt är strax över).
Det skimrar fint, det brusar och sprakar fint och det skakar
och skaver hemtrevligt. Taylor Dupree odlar sin särart
och lyckas antagligen med att uppnå sin vision vilket
rimligtvis borde göra honom till en mer harmonisk konstnärssjäl
än många andra. Dock är ju hans vision lättare
att uppnå än många andras. Istället för
att försöka stanna tiden borde Dupree istället
försöka beröra och engagera ett helt album genom.
När en akustisk gitarr letar försöker leta sig
fram genom massorna av elektroniskt klingande vindspel i "Shell
shell bye" tvivlar jag inte ett dugg på hans förmåga
att lyckas med en sådan mission. "Northern"
är angenäm och avslappnande men lämnar inga spår,
förutom en försiktigt kittlad trumhinna.
MUSIQUEMACHINE
(.COM)
As
a child I was fascinated by falling snow, I’d watch from
our houses largest window.The heavy flakes spiralling and drifting
down, altering the everyday landscape into a wonderful white
almost glowing world. Northern recaptures this wonder and the
beauty of slowly falling snow perfectly. Influenced by Taylor
Deupree move from New york City out into the US country side,
at winter time. Its endless rewarding and soothing music that
relaxes, but not enough to sleep- just in case you miss an elegant
and enchanting sound texture.
The album is constructed using soothing electronics tones and
altered organic instruments like guitar and pipes and percussion.
All meld together to make a truly captivating and beautiful
collection of sound paintings- glitchy element are present,
but they have a very calming, cold feel to them. Though out
the tracks balance winter glow with heart warming meldioes.
The tracks taking the listener through deserted forest painted
white, the morning sun just touching the crisp leafs. It brings
to mind the joy of been a child, sliding down icy slops on home
made sledges. The feel of snow flakes on upturned faces.
One of the most gorgeous and delicately enchanting albums I’ve
come across this year, once the album finishers and you’ll
find you aching to play it, all over again.
NEURAL
(IT)
State
of New York, much quieter than brooklyn, where this artist worked
and lived for several years. Diluted textures, loops and field
recordings, electric piano, guitar and subdued iterated melodies,
a nice balance of synthetic and introspective nature. The inspiration
is directed with subtlety, simple and chaotic at once, with
elegant scores and sounds that are never insisted in a single
direction, feeling always concrete. It's a good production,
his first solo since "January" (2005) and the first
one for 12k since "Stil." (2002). - Aurelio Cianciotta
OCTOPUS
(FR)
Ce
n'est pas le moindre des paradoxes que d'avoir écouté
pour la première fois ce disque sous un chaud ciel estival.
Northern, comme son nom l'indique, évoque le nord. Mais
un nord cotonneux et luminescent plutôt que rugueux et
balayé par les vents. Un nord, finalement, à l'image
de son concepteur, Taylor Deupree, qui revient ici pour la première
fois depuis January, paru chez Spekk en 2004, à un travail
de production en solitaire. Isolé dans son nouveau lieu
de vie au milieu des bois, le musicien américain opère
un repli sur soi sincère qui donne à sa musique
une chair cristalline rêveuse, une consistance nouvelle
qui s'attache à des lignes musicales coutumières,
minimales et granulaires. Ainsi, la profondeur se manifeste
plus ici par le sensible que par le sensoriel, comme sur un
"Haze it may be" qui se révèle subtilement
narratif, coulé dans une nappe de bruits légers
et flottants. Dans cette sphère apaisante, les sources
instrumentales, la guitare, le mélodica et surtout le
piano électrique semblent se dissoudre naturellement
au contact des field recordings, sauf sur l'ultime morceau,
"November", qui renoue avec quelques points de rupture
plus sonores. Avec ce disque, Taylor Deupree pourrait bien ensorceler
votre été. Après ça, il ne manquerait
plus qu'il neige en Juillet. - Laurent Catala
english translation:
They are not least paradoxes than to have listened to for the
first time this disc under a heat estival sky. Northern, as
its name indicates it, evokes north. But a cottony and luminescent
north rather than rough and swept by the winds. A north, finally,
with the image of its originator, Taylor Deupree, which returns
here for the first time since January, published at Spekk in
2004, with a work of production as a recluse. Isolated in his
new place from life in the medium of wood, the American musician
operates a fold on oneself sincere which gives to its music
a rêveuse crystalline flesh, a new consistency which sticks
to usual, minimal and granular lines musical. Thus, the depth
appears here by the sensitive one than by the sensory one, as
on a "Haze it may Be" which subtly appears narrative,
cast in a tablecloth of light and floating noises. In this alleviating
sphere, the instrumental sources, the guitar, the mélodica
and especially the electric piano seem to dissolve naturally
in contact with the field recordings, except on the ultimate
piece, "November", which joins again with some sounder
frangible joints. With this disc, Taylor Deupree could bewitch
your summer well. After that, it would not miss any more but
it snows in July.
ONDEFIXE/BENZINE
(FR)
Fallait-il
voir dans la relecture de l'album Every still day des japonais
Eisi un signe annonciateur d'un certain virement de bord de
la part de Taylor Deupree ? Et bien oui et non. Car même
si ce véritable dentelier du minimalisme électronique,
par ailleurs designer et gérant des structures 12k et
Happy, s'était alors attaqué à un format
plus ouvertement « pop » pour un résultat
tout bonnement magnifique, il revient avec Northern vers des
climats auxquels il nous avait habitués avec ses précédents
efforts solo (Stil., January).
Néanmoins, de manière palpable, on sent une dérive
vers des formes musicales moins systématiques et mécaniques
que par le passé, plus accueillantes et organiques aussi.
Ainsi sont régulièrement incorporées des
sources acoustiques (traitées à des degrés
divers, déstructurées puis ré-agencées
minutieusement) telles que guitares, piano électrique
et mélodica (sur Northern et November, à l'esthétique
sonore proche du récent Sewn des Mountains), voire quelques
volutes de flûte de pan apportant une touche de mysticisme,
sur A dead yellow carpet, chahuté par de légers
chuintements chaotiques.
De nature éphémère, fragile et tranquille,
sa musique mêle ces sources acoustiques à un bain
sonore où flottent ondes sinusoïdales, fines émissions
digitales mélodiques et rythmiques, animées par
des micro-mouvements perpétuels et incessants.
Evoquant la lente chute des flocons de neige, les forêts
muettes et étendues monochromes hivernales, la réverbération
des rayons solaires sur une fine pellicule de glace, Northern
semble laisser davantage d'espace à la spontanéité
et à la libre expression de l'âme d'un jeune père
ayant quitté le bitume grisâtre de Brooklyn pour
une campagne verdoyante. Un déracinement et une paternité
aux reflets ici perceptibles. (8.0)
RARE
FREQUENCY (US)
As
one of the early pioneers of ultra-minimal post techno (aka
microsound), 12k founder Taylor Deupree has long focused on
very small, very delicate sonic gestures. On Northern, which
is his first solo album since 2004’s starkly beautiful
January, he silences the last, lingering vestiges of the techno-inspired
heartbeat that had long (however obliquely) structured his work,
in favor of lightly chaotic rhythmic structures and relatively
lush, unclinical sounds. Deupree sees this shift in his musical
evolution as a reflection of his changed surroundings, the result
of a recent move away from the urban bustle of Brooklyn to the
ostensible tranquility of his childhood hometown in upstate
New York. This rural relocation inspired Deupree to leave the
carefully sculpted pinprick trebles and sub-bass pulses that
were his trademark for so long for a more organic, acoustic
palette that includes field recordings, piano, and acoustic
guitar. But, thankfully, this is not a self-indulgent, fractured,
folktronic jangle-fest. On the face of it, each of the six pieces
on Northern is quite lovely and it’s easy to be entranced
by their pleasant charm; however, there is always a whirlpool
of quietly unceasing movement beneath the placid surface. Restless
static-filled textures and dog-whistle sine tones both underpin
and undermine the gentle melodic ebb and flow. Overall, it remains
a serene, meditative CD, but one that harbors an interesting
series of subterranean tensions. Fine stuff.
RIF
RAF (BE)
Ronduit
prachtige, minimalistische elektronica-scapes van de wonderlijke
Taylor Deupree die elektrische gitaar, piano, melodica en field
recordings bewerkt tot geestesverruimende composities, met schrille
elektrische vonken in de bloedbaan die in een hartveroverende
slowmotion door je trommelvlies glijden. Het wintert in ons
oor!
SKUG
(DE)
Steter
Klang höhlt den Verstand: TAYLOR DEUPREE dockt zwar leicht
in Minimal Music-Gefilden an, schafft aber dank geloopter Field
Recordings, die mit Melodica, Gitarre und vor allem improvised
Piano in eine Oase der Ruhe zerfließen, eine ganz eigene
Atmosphäre. In dieser muss man sich mal zurecht finden
und kommt dann via CD-Cover drauf, dass Deupree die Stille eines
verschneiten Waldes inspiriert hat. Trotz Kälte herrscht
ein melancholisch warmer Flow, den Noisesprengsel konterkarieren
und somit ein klein wenig Unfrieden ins recht beschauliche Klangbild
hieven. »Northern« (www.12k.com) klingt betörend
und immerhin gleichzeitig ein bisschen verstörenD.
SMALLFISH
(UK)
I
think it's fair to say that Taylor Deupree is one of the most
highly regarded electronic composers currently involved in the
world of minimal, textural and contemporary soundscape music.
Rightly so as he has a wonderful back catalogue on labels such
as Audio.nl, Raster Noton, Sub Rosa, Spekk, Noble and plenty
of others.
His recent penchant for collaborative work has seen him engaging
in musical companionship with artists such as Kenneth Kirschner,
Eisi and Christopher Willits, and whilst these are all beautiful
examples of how to work together as a unit, there's something
exceedingly special about a solo Deupree release - particularly
when you consider the last thing he released on his own 12k
imprint was the classic 'Stil.' in 2002.
The anticipation for 'Northern' has been nothing short of rabid,
to put it mildly.
To break this piece of work down into it's constituent tracks
and sounds would be to do it a serious injustice as it seems
to have been conceived as a complete work from the very outset.
Whether that's the correct assumption or not, I'm not sure,
but the tracks on this 51-minute work of sheer brilliance seem
to hang together in such a coherent way that it seems impossible
to imagine them any other way.
Deupree's work is concerned with the simple, beautiful way that
machines can convey an atmosphere or emotion and his well-known
love of minimalism is clearly a vehicle for this souful machine-style
music - you will always find an element of beauty in his work
regardless of whether it's a stripped-down, rhythmic piece or
a more texture based, hypnotic work. That's part of the beauty,
I always find... the deconstruction of sound and the reorganization
that gives every tone its own unique nuance.
'Northern' takes the processed manipulations of his previous
work and, in my opinion, steps it up a gear with a wonderful
infusion of the synthetic with the quite overtly organic.
From the first notes of 'Everything's Gone Grey' to the final
notes of the stupendous 'November' you are treated to a lush,
cleverly constructed symphony of sound that feels at once familiar,
yet completely refreshing in every way.
Deep, lilting, melodic elements sit happily with drifting textures
and slowly evolving digital sounds, creating a sense of timeless
beauty and emotional warmth. Lone guitar strums punctuate the
sense of melancholy and even the wood flute sounds seem to have
a certain mysticism about them. 'Northern' is without doubt
Deupree's most musical work to date and, at times, has an almost
traditional style to the sounds... something it shares in common
with Sebastien Roux's 'Songs' or Sawako's 'Hum', albeit in a
very different guise.
The snowy cover artwork perfectly reflects the feelings the
album invokes with its heartwarming sound and evocative tones
and he's clearly been inspired by his new surroundings as you
can genuinely imagine slowly meandering streams and stark forests
full of depth and a fragile iciness whilst experiencing the
music. It's definitely a world away from the bustle of his old
stomping ground in Brooklyn!
Ultimately you need to hear this CD for yourself to appreciate
just why it's such an essential and important release. And it
merely cements the reputation of one of our most important modern
musicians even further.
One of the best releases of the year without a single doubt.
SONHORS
(FR)
Designer sonore new-yorkais et fondateur du label 12k en 1997,
Taylor Deupree est réputé pour ses subtiles expérimentations
et manipulations de fréquences, nappes et sonorités
micro-électroniques. Depuis près de dix ans, il
s'affirme comme l'un des protagonistes de choix, capable de
repousser les frontières du minimalisme.
Inspiré par les paysages de la nature en hiver, ce dernier
album solo de Taylor Deupree depuis 2004 (Spekk, Japon) explore
encore plus en profondeur les espaces sonores composés
de douces abstractions et beauté intemporelle, déjà
présents sur ces derniers travaux. Taylor Deupree a récemment
quitté la forte densité urbaine de Brooklyn, pour
la tranquilité d'une forêt non loin de New-York.
Northern est le premier témoignage sonore de ce nouvel
environnement. Textures minimales, sublimes arrangements mélodiques
et chaleur émotive, les réalisations sont emprunts
d'une profonde mélancolie, le disque est d'ailleurs dédié
à l'un de ses amis d'adolescence Bryan Charles Striniste
avec lequel il commença ses expérimentations électroniques,
il y a de cela près de 20 ans.
Limité à 2000 exemplaires, Northern est une symphonie
introspective habilement construite, où s'entremêlent
douceur et chaos, bruit et chaleur. A écouter également
: ses collaborations avec Kenneth Kirschner, Frank Bretschneider,
Eisi et Christopher Willits ainsi que les productions de LINE,
une subdivision de 12k, fondée en septembre 2000 avec
Richard Chartier.
SOUND
FIX (US)
Taylor
Deupree left our beloved Brooklyn for upstate New York and found
inspiration in the tranquil, desolate forests. Imagine that?
If it weren’t for the fact that he’s created one
of the most beautiful electronic albums of the year, we might
be more prone to quibble with his preference in geography, so
we won’t. Consider this the perfect companion piece for
Mountains’ Sewn; while that album evokes the summer months
and all its warmth, Northern is its polar opposite, though every
bit as beautiful.
STYLUS
(US)
Ambient
music is a stillness that scatters thought. The focus created
becomes too intense, insular, monomaniacal. Waxy, flickering
images in bric-a-brac. It calls on the subliminal, pulling up
flashes of frame and sunlight, those myriad daily movements
that slip between the cracks until night fractures a locked
box and tosses it all together again, parts misaligned and disconnected
now in symphony and clearer for their hellshot placement. Longevity
and repetition, raised to a shout by subtle growth, become dynamic
translations of sight.
Perhaps, as such, it’s no surprise that Taylor Deupree
has stayed atop the microsound industry for so long. Besides
such landmark solo releases as Stil, the slight recess of January,
and collaborations in the past two years with Christopher Willits,
Kenneth Kirschner and experimental Japanese trio Eisi, Deupree
remains a steady presence in the art scene surrounding post-techno
as a graphic designer and visual creator. His interests in the
trappings of image and presentation have perhaps never been
as prominent in his music as in Northern, which was recorded
in upstate New York after leaving his Brooklyn home. The serene,
severe composure of this more isolated setting can be heard
in each of the album’s six frigid compositions. In fact,
the album’s cover is the perfect representation of the
music hidden therein: stern but open, a border of white surrounding
snow-dusted, winter-dead trees—one so vague and eternal
it’s possible to read almost any desired subtext. It’s
that edge of frame, that willingness to allow for any and all
interpretation while hinting at one particular moment, that
makes Northern, along with similar releases by Chihei Hatakeyama,
Mountains, and Marsen Jules, one of 2006’s must-hear ambient
releases.
For the most part, Deupree relies on the same elements that
have made his last few solo releases so exemplary. He spreads
electric piano tones over still, revolving rings of sine wave
and static pulp; as the electronic elements gain hold, his fleshy
acoustics split the wire, crossed-over in texture as a melodica
holds the horizon Deupree’s backlog of field recordings.
Reminiscent, for example, of much of the textural transition
between organics and electronics on Stil, opener “Everything’s
Gone Grey” combines glowing tones with fractured chimes
and slow gulfs of static to create gentle release. The title
track is likewise an exercise in extended restraint, pushing
looped electric piano into gentle folds of noise until they
both ascend into a powdery froth.
In the album’s second half, Deupree references Northern’s
patient rise by tightening its loops and reintroducing the hush
of pace. “Haze It May Be” is one of his most dizzying
compositions yet, building a jagged tone into a choral outreach
that uses its paucity of sound and noise to elevate the gurgling
guitar loop Mountains would be proud of. Closer “November,”
however, uses its prominent electric piano and melodica to disperse
the album’s parlor-moon mood, starting all foul and Augustus
Pablo before sheathing that riverside taunt with static and
subtle reverb. But of course it dissolves—pulse silences
instrument and hypnotism ensues. With Deupree, it has to. That’s
his electronic memory bank of post-techno; slice up the odd
slabs of today and reassemble them, out of place and sequence;
allow them the odd genius of perpetuity, of repetitive, bleary-eyed
recall.
TERZ
(DE)
Großartiges
Label, hier endlich wieder mit Musik vom Mastermind selbst.
Die Musik reflektiert nicht nur Deuprees zunehmendes Interesse
an Ruhe, Verlangsamung und dem Beachten von kleinen, aber stets
aktiven Bewegungen, sondern ist auch Ausdruck seines Umzuges
von Brooklyn in die Wälder von Upstate NY, wo das Album
im letzten Winter aufgenommen wurde. Eine Winterplatte mitten
im Hochsommer, unglaublich. Die Musik ist derart schön
und gleichsam aufwühlend, dass ich fast den Winter wieder
herbeisehne. Wahrscheinlich das Ambient-Album des Jahres.
TOUCHING
EXTREMES (IT)
It's
virtually impossible not to appreciate the gentle movements,
kissed by faint colours and timid resonances, which "Northern"
is made of. Inspired by the author's recent move from Brooklyn
to upstate New York, in a more direct contact with natural elements
and far from urban chaos, this music - conceived on electric
piano, melodica, guitar and field recordings - reflects Deupree's
impression of what surrounds him now, his being connected with
something too profound to be expressed by mere words. Shifting,
looping organizations of spurious melodies try to move a basic
staticity where what seems fixed is instead undergoing a process
of tranquil decomposition - or changing its state, if you will
- just like a snowman under the sun, his body progressively
giving, becoming shorter and hunched while his button eyes and
carrot nose remain with the same smiling expression until everything's
over. Nostalgically elegant, this is probably Deupree's most
personal statement, a record imbued in delicate sadness.
THE
VIBES (IT)
entrancing
seasonal ambient
Un ritorno da tempo atteso quello di Taylor Deupree, pioniere
del filone espressivo (non solo musicale) noto come "post-techno"
operativo nel pieno della malia urbana par excellance -quella
di Brooklyn- e da qualche mese trasferitosi nel più tranquillo
entroterra dello stato di New York, che in parte ispira la "fotografia"
di questo disco non propriamente estivo, ma che nella sua "asincronia"
stagionale conserva un alto livello di suggestione per gli organi
di senso. Come è intuibile, Northern è principalmente
ispirato alla natura decadente invernale, in cui il senso del
tempo attutito dalla staticità (apparente) dei suoi connotati
fenomenici irrompe nelle placide textures, nei movimenti sotterranei,
nel soffocato loop e nell'uso di certi effetti risultando in
una drammatica fotografia delle transmutazioni circostanti.
Il nuovo corso della musica di Taylor Deupree -da sempre caratterizzato
da frequenti capitolazioni al classico incedere techno pur restando
un elemento "accessorio" delle sue strutture sonore-
procede di pari passo con la sua declinazione per la fotografia,
il cui soggetto è la natura colta nella sua "staticità"
(se non può parlarsi di natura morte, si può certamente
richiamare la stessa natura in uno stato agonizzante...). Che
non sia solo un documento di "fotografia sonora",
lo si evince non solo dal fatto che non si ricorre alla field
recording, ma anche da un dato "personale" -che avvicina
il disco a certi episodi intimisti dell'elettronica più
recente (Marsen Jules, Janek Schaefer)-, che ancora queste sonorità
alle memorie di Taylor, il quale ha esplicitamente dedicato
questo disco ad un amico dell'adolescenza (un certo Bryan Charles
Striniste), con cui cominciò a sperimentare nel vasto
territorio della musica elettronica circa 20 anni fa.
Northern si può dividere idealmente in due parti. Nella
prima Mr.Deupree insiste su elementi che in parte già
caratterizzavano i suoi più recenti lavori da solista,
in particolare le sottili transizioni dei textures dall'"organico"
all'artificiale: udibile loop quasi impercettibile di pianoforte,
che vengono posti strato su strato su sinusoidi, che sembrano
disegnare anelli nello spazio uditivo dell'ascoltatore, mentre
altri elementi sonori sembrano voler descrivere le altre "presenze"
del paesaggio circostante. Nella seconda Taylor sembra inserire
un idea di movimento, nonostante il setting rimanga tutt'altro
che concitato: qualche tonalità bassa e l'intervento
di gorgoglii strumentali (notevole quello della chitarra in
Haze It May Be) bastano a raggiungere lo scopo. Il sound oltre
che rarefatto e "circolare" si fa progressivamente
ipnotico; pregevole il livello della sperimentazione, che sarà
apprezzato da quanti prediligono questo aspetto di un disco.
Aspetto che Taylor non ha mai nascosto di voler perseguire,
il fatto di non ritenere di dover "campare" di musica
(visto che trae remunerazione principalmente dalla sua attività
di grafica), consente a Mr.Deupree di avere ampia libertà
di movimento sul piano espressivo -si potrebbe anche in questo
caso insistere sull'importanza del fatto di non dover trarre
sostentamento dalla musica nonchè della scelta di "autoprodursi"
(la 12k è di proprietà di Taylor...)-. Ad integrale
beneficio di chi apprezza questo tipo di ricerca...
TRAX
(ES)
Jugar
con el silencio presenta sus riesgos. Este argumento suele esgrimirse
para atacar a aquellas musicas que, como la de Sylvain Chaveau,
Marsen Jules o el actual Deupree, abogan por la reflexion y
una férra resistencia a las prisas sin caer en ejercicios
de vacuidad fútil. Al último álbum del
dueño de 12k se le nota sobradamente la soledad del entorno
natural y el discurrir invernal en el norte del estado de Nueva
York, donde ha parido esta obra conceptual. El caer de la nieve
entre bosques desalmados a merced de una apologia del "menos
es más" gracias a frecuencias digitales plácidas,
grabaciones de campo sutiles y postproducción a raudales.
Telúrico y espectral, aunque con el suficiente toque
humano para no caer en lo anodino. Deupree en estado puro ejerciendo
de duermevela.
VITAL
WEEKLY (NL)
From
the outside it may seem that Taylor Deupree is a busy bee, music-wise,
but 'Northern' is his first solo release in two years. Deupree
is always busy with his own 12K label (and off shoots Line and
Happy), playing live concerts and working with others, so perhaps
time is a bit sparse to do his own music. Recently Deupree moved
from urban Brooklyn to upstate New York, and the change of atmosphere
is a fact. Well, or not? Deupree's music is, at least for a
longer period of time, made of tranquil and silent elements.
Textural music, made with sounds from the environment but also
electric piano, melodica and guitar, but then highly processed.
It is what he has been doing since quite some time now, wether
he was in Brooklyn or Pound Ridge, where he is now. But it seems
that he takes even more time to tell his story. Only six tracks
are present here, mostly lasting around nine to ten minutes.
Deupree wants the listener to sit back and take it all in, but
in a very slow pace. Things develop, that's for sure, but everything
seems to be taking it's time, gradually everything becomes bigger
and bigger, with subtle sounds added, longer sustains. It's
warm music that may perhaps not fit springtime coming (the cover
depicts a winter world), but it's certainly one of the best
Deupree works so far. The
calmest and most slow one. (FdW)
WESTZEIT
(DE)
Ganz
ahnlich im Ergebnis, woh! aber von vollig anderen Randbedingungen
ausgehend vertont Taylor Deupree auf "Northern" seine
Eindrücke nach dem Umzug von Brooklyn in die Ruhe de Wälder
in "upstate New York." Entspannte Mixturen aus fieldrecordings,
e-piano und durchaus auch behandelten Gitarrenklängen,
die biem Hörer vielleicht tatsächlich die angenehm
kalte Einsamkeit, die die Schnappschüsse auf dem Cover
versprechen, auch akustisch illustrieren.
THE
WIRE (UK)
Taylor
Deupree , sound artist
and founder of the 12k label, primly claims that architecture,
modern furniture, and interior design are among the biggest
influences on his minimalist electronic, but here's no sign
of the mass production or soullessness that the quote might
imply. W/its plastic sinewave tones and melodic orbits, Northern
is like a more sculpted version of Oval's warm, hazy soundworld.
But the warped continuum of Markus Popp's music is replaced
with a more tactile sense of time and space. "A dead yellow
carpet" moves as gracefully as ripples from a pebble in
a like, with a sublimely slow oscillation b/w minor and maj
keys. The upper register notes are almost felt rather than heard,
barely audible tones suggesting changes of light or shade rather
than simply melodies.
The airy, tranquil ambience is always achieved w/a minimum of
musical strokes, and even if Northern is simply a series of
laptop sketches, it's satisfying precisely b/c you can trace
the effect of each and every musical line and angle. It's the
kind of album you could curl up and sleep in, which, for a musician-cum-interior
designer, must be about as high a compliment as can be paid.
- Derek Walmsley.
