Vital Weekly (NL)
Now here’s a kind of compilation I like! In the world of electronic music there is, probably, always various early versions about of a piece and with hard drives to save all of that easy available, they are all being kept. Sometimes a piece of music is created for a limited audience only – installation piece, exhibition catalogue, some such – and then disappears. And there are still true fans out there trying to get all of these. I used to be a real fanatic when it came to my heroes – Organum being one – but not so much these days. Taylor Deupree compiles such a release of some of these pieces for a tour he did in Japan in 2014, and as such only available on the road and through his own label, but not the usual distribution channels. I am sure the fans will know. These nine pieces, spanning 2007-2013, are partly unreleased, rough sketches and partly different versions. You could use this as an introduction to the music of Deupree, if ever you need one, and if you are only half interested you might want to leave it alone. It shows us Deupree at his best: water paint music, sketchy, fleeting perhaps, but in a few strokes he paints a still life, a pond, a forest at dawn or some birds in the sky. Ever since I saw a concert by him, small audience, nice space, humid weather, and rain outside, but the doors open, so rain and music merged nicely together, I am big fan of his music. Carefully played, intimate music, almost Zen like, should I be into that at all, which I am not. I am no longer the fan boy who wants to collect it all, but I agree this is a fine collection. Not just for fan boys, I should think. (FdW)