[Microsound-announce] [12k.line] Taylor Deupree "Stil." (re-issue) available now

[richard chartier / LINE]

12k.MARCH 4.2006

The re-issue of Taylor Deupree's landmark cd "Stil." is now available 
on 12k's Limited Edition Series. the "Stil." re-issue (12k2002) comes 
in a hand-numbered edition of 500 and has been remastered at a high 
resolution (96k).


it is available now and shipping from our online shop: 
http://www.12k.com/shop

"stil." press release on 12k.com: http://www.12k.com/2002.html

what the press had to say about 
"Stil.": http://www.12k.com/1020reviews.html


- - - - 
Stil. is the much anticipated follow-up to Taylor Deupree’s critically 
acclaimed 2001 cd Occur (12k1013). Where Occur found itself exploring 
the non-repeating patterns of nature, inspired by the sounds of life 
outside of Deupree’s Brooklyn studio, Stil. was initially inspired by 
the work of photographer Hiroshi Sugimoto, whose Seascapes images 
masterfully combine repetition and minute change. Stil. thus became the 
sonic opposite of Occur: a set of compositions based on extreme 
repetition and the exploration of stillness. 

Arranged in four long pieces, Stil. is based on the complex repetition 
of looping passages. The underlying idea is that a pattern repeated for 
long enough begins to reveal hidden pulses and movements not initially 
apparent. Elements and frequencies overlap to create subtle new 
intersections, drawing the listener in, and suspending them in this 
brief moment of frozen time. 

The sound of Stil. is built using melodic and granular passages 
juxtaposed in variable-length loops, creating layered and imbedded 
rhythms and highly variable structures of repetition. For example, the 
title track is based entirely on oscillating variations in a single 
0.33 second tonal fragment. Subtle manipulations of the sound’s loop 
positions create an extraordinary palette of movement and fluctuation, 
rewarded by deep listening.

Stil. is an engaging and hypnotic listen, drawing on Deupree’s past 
experience in ambient music. The pieces on Stil., while considered 
“long” by the usual standards of CD track times, are only fragments of 
what are intended to be longer works that extend for many hours. This 
release has inspired a new direction for Deupree’s future work: 
exploring the freezing of time and the possibilities of stillness 
within the temporal medium of sound.
- - - -



[ THE WIRE, UK]
A steady, lulling, synthetic ambient drone with a slow two-note 
oscillation, a pulse of sorts, opens Deupree’s latest minimalist foray. 
The ears are bathed in a soft hum, with gentle changes in density, and 
after some minutes he introduces barely audible electric nicks, or 
pricks of static with no breadth of depth - just minute incisions on 
the temporal surface. It’s a plain, meditative style - just four 
lengthy tracks examining simple misphased pulses, or delicately 
modifying a single quavering whirr like a muted generator noise, soft 
and woolly. And yet, compared to some of the sparser pulse productions 
on the 12k label, Deupree allows a certain amount of organic breadth 
here. One track segment starts to shift harmonically to different one 
levels, serenaded by various mysterious clicks, peeps, and breathings 
from the digital woodland; another is more of a looped soundscape with 
hints of tolling bells and bowed bass emerging behind the veil of 
digital abstraction. 


[ ALL MUSIC GUIDE, USA]
Stil . has one weakness: It’s too short. There are four tracks on here 
that are equally intruiging separated from one another or listened to 
in their entirety. But these compositions were designed to unfold over 
a long duration of time, too long to be documented on any sort of 
media. Stil . focuses on the variations found in changes to minute 
sound loops  layered one on top of another, and the results are 
breathtaking. Warm sinewaves that aren’t glitched up to levels of 
pretensiousness are abundant, giving the notion of activity to what 
could possibly be deemed frozen and static. And Stil . can be deceptive 
if close listening isn’t employed -- the results are so subtle that it 
can lead to a notion that it’s nothing but a bunch of stagnant drones 
carelessly looped together. But nothing could be further from the 
truth, as it’s easily Deupree’s finest, most beautifully executed 
release to date.

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