Taylor Deupree - Polr (Raster Noton/031, 2000)

mp3 / 320 / 92mb / rs | rel. 2000

Boomkat wrote this for the 2006 reissue:

"Well here’s something I didn’t think we'd have in again. Taylor Deupree’s single Raster Noton album released back in 2000 on the label’s Static series (which saw releases packed in an anti-static bag) has been out of press for years now, totally unavailable to the masses – and now it’s back once again. Since 2000 Deupree has amassed a sizable fan-base, not least due to his ever-reliable 12k imprint. The upstate NY based label has tirelessly amassed a bulging throng of tantalising releases from Shuttle 358’s world beating ‘Frame’ to Ghislain Poirer’s minimal outing ‘Il N’y A Pas De Sud’ but it has been Deupree’s own albums which have shown the most consistency and progress. On 2002’s ‘.Stil’ he showed he wasn’t afraid to move into more melodic territory, and then threw this sentiment even further with ‘January’ (on Spekk), ‘Post Piano’ (on Sub Rosa) and his most recent excursion ‘Northern’. For those of you who have become accustomed to Deupree’s glacial melodic structures and who haven’t ventured too far into his earlier experiments prepare to be confounded – Polr is something different entirely. Taking a chunk of influence from the untouchable Sahko camp with an assured nod to Mika Vainio, ‘Polr’ has melodic elements submerged almost to the point of inaudibility beneath static clicks and pops, electrical pulses and weighty sub-bass blips. Rhythms are formed carefully and precisely, almost urging the tracks into 4/4 territory but never straying into anything that could be mistaken for ‘formula’ – instead Deupree tricks and trips his way through the tracks and ends up with a record that sounds like something Autechre might have made if they had been confined to an icy cave somewhere in Northern Europe. If you are already a fan of Raster Noton’s impeccable output then the fire in your belly should already be burning white hot for this very special cd – and the added interest of it being from the one and only Taylor Deupree should have fans tripping over themselves. A fabulous statement in icy minimalism – buy it before they disappear for another six years."