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cold, hot & Grooves



dear list,

As a few were asking, here's the observations that were worked into a revie=
w
of Taylor Deupree & Frank Bretschneider's _Balance_, for the now defunct
EMR, on the cold/hot parables found in Grooves magazine Issue 7.

best, tV

-//

Frank Bretschneider and Taylor Deupree
Balance
(Mille Plateaux)

[1]=20
=20
Pulsating blue-white and the lines draw themselves across a space; the spac=
e
is folded, once, twice, and again, and the blue becomes green. At the fold
Frank Bretschneider and Taylor Deupree.
=20
[2]=20

In issue o7 of Grooves magazine, practically every interview with an
experimental =B3electronic=B2 artist accounted for the artist=B9s uniqueness
through the use of =B3warmth,=B2 vocals, =B3organic=B2 influences, or live
sounds/instrumentation in a minimal or otherwise experimental context,
resulting in the artist=B9s very own niche, genre, or sound. This artist was
then contrasted to the =B3multitude=B2 of pseudo-musicians who, it would seem,
tend to operate from their bedrooms and produce clickety-click music withou=
t
soul or subtlety (it can be assumed that the interviewed artists don=B9t have
bedroom gear but studios). For example: =B3Unlike the glut of software-based
producers, Munk makes use of live sounds=B2 (Manual interview, 12); =B3By
believing that there is purity and emotion in noise, the Texan-born artist
[Nic Endo] has consistently defied and dissected conventions to carve her
own niche=B2 (Nic Endo interview, 14); =B3Among the multitude of click and
nano-electronic desktop musicians emanating from an increasing array of
mostly German and American labels, it is sometimes rare to find those
willing to inject a discernible human pulse into the proceedings=B2 (Dan
Abrams interview, 18); =B3Vocals and guitar are about the last thing you=B9d
expect to find in electronic dance music, let alone in the stripped-down
settings of minimal technno=B2 (Safety Scissors interview, 24).
=20
The observations from the respective journalists, while certainly valid,
become clich=E9d in their repetition. Perhaps an underlying theme that
somewhat explains the current infatuation with emotive tendencies in
experimental electronic music can be found in a quote from Rafael Toral=8Bin
an interview in the same magazine: =B3I think what first fascinated me in
music was its ability to carry emotions of strange kinds, not found
elsewhere in life=B2 (16).
=20
But this theme is contradictory: the emotions selected for accolades are
usually those from =B3outside=B2 genres and sites, be it through live
instrumentation, the =B3organic,=B2 or the human voice. Can electronic music
convey emotions that bear no resemblance to its exterior?

[3]
=20
Balance is the name of this album and it maintains itself over the course o=
f
forty-five minutes. Audio with quicktime visuals from Frank Bretschneider
for the track =B3Autodrive.=B2
=20
Balance swings on a pivot. Each careful, powerful sound=8Ba precise
knife-movement of the sonic spectrum=8Bexhibits its contrapuntal opposite.
Together, they trace the outline of a ghostly fulcrum. As the sounds
interact, a field of fulcrums rise out of a misty haze. The mood is serene.
=20
Balance is an intensive psychosomatic journey that begins by echoing two
identities. Bretschneider=B9s ever-evolving, tension-filled yet contemplative
rhythms propel the piece and send it along a trajectory. If Bretschneider i=
s
the German engineer, Deupree is the genetic surgeon, mutating perfect
strains of sound that act as building blocks of the organism-track that
slice through the high and low frequencies as virii.
=20
[4]=20
=20
Exhibiting a warmth that is present yet clearly distilled=8Aactually, I want
to say =B3play,=B2 for the strange descending toybox sound that slides through
the background of =B3Freeze Frame=B2 hints at humour=8Bbut then it is gone and th=
e
overwhelming sine-wave bass conduces a swelling sensation in my head.
Suddenly, I am made aware of the echoed pop and slight click=8Bthen the
trilled static-frequency=8Band just as I become aware, three elements hithert=
o
unknown to me disintegrate and a sine wave overcomes my ears. It is only no=
w
that I come to my senses and realise that I am on the sixth track,
=B3Autodrive,=B2 which breathes and hums like a heartbeat and pulses tones that
conjure up visions of cleanly lit operating rooms eroticized with the
sterile bodies of medical professionals. I have been listening for thirty
minutes.
=20
Later, I watch the QuickTime video for =B3Autodrive=B2 and I am entranced by th=
e
gliding architectural beams=8Bit is close to what I imagined when the album
began. Standard imagery? Perhaps, but only as self-referential honesty,
given Deupree=B9s avowed interest in architecture=8Bsee his Tower of Winds with
Savvas Ysatis=8Band Bretschneider=B9s dedication to design-influenced audio
patterns=8Bwitness his Curve. Whereas Curve was a slow-building monster of
delicate proportions, closer to Tomas Jirku=B9s Immaterial, Balance is a
constantly changing piece with a sound palette that I can only describe as
sliced and pared by Deupree. Deupree=B9s sound is immediately recognisable
from his use of frequencies as well as the precise, stellar, and
orchestrated level of production that seems to leave absolutely no element
to grunge, to dirt, to random and ugly chance, despite the whole sounding
like it is living on its own and in its own time. The side that Deupree
presents to us in this collaboration is similar to his and Dietrich
Schonemann=B9s DrumKomputer project (see releases on Victoria, BC=B9s
itiswhatitis recordings). Although different in that DrumKomputer is a
pumped dj-jam of minimal frequencies and midrange head-kicks embracing
electro rhythms, Deupree=B9s unmistakable love for the precise range of any
frequency=8Bthe sine-wave bass, the clear pop, the floating tones, the
omnipresent yet almost indiscernable microsound peels, the sharp and gated
percussion=8Bis what makes his recent work so memorable.
=20
Emotionally this is very different from Deupree and Savvas Ysatis=B9 Tower of
Winds. Structurally, it bears a resemblance only in that sounds arise and
fall out of silence, such as the rising opening of the first track,
=B3Interlock.=B2 Yet it is in comparison to Tower of Winds that Bretschneider=B9s
structural controls become apparent. Bretschneider has charted the grid and
drawn the map. Deupree is at the edge, sending sounds off like sonar pings
and awaiting their response, allowing the music to move further in a carefu=
l
and plotted course that nonetheless defies attempts to outguess the subsoni=
c
maneouvres of the pair.
=20
[5]
=20
Balance ends with =B3Bluetime.=B2 The cover art by Deupree on the disc is green=
,
but blue and its variations are the audio-visual conjunction. Bretschneider
actualizes this in his video, straying pulsing lines overtop one another in
syncopated montages that synchronise to the rhythms of =B3Autodrive.=B2 Detaile=
d
watching of the video reveals that more than just the main elements of the
rhythm have been visually represented. Slight variations and vibrations
demonstrate the microscopic attention to the sound structure, which is
represented visually through architectural motifs.
=20
[6]=20
=20
Minimalism at its best embraces the possibility of the embrace. In the
conjoining of the two bodies, arms wrapped around the other, one may
eroticize the encounter or stab the other in the back=8Bor both. Whatever the
outcome=8Bwhich allows for a singular occurrence at every meeting of
chests=8Bwarmth pervades a slight isthmus of air. It is the memory of this
warmth with the other that draws us back to collaborate.
=20
Minimalism has never been a solitary or singular activity, for it leaves
open the possibility of other sounds entering the equation. In some
respects, Balance is not a minimalist album. Silent pockets are sparse and
what appears as silence at first glance is not so much filled as leavened
with sonic potential.
=20
[7]=20
=20
Personally I think it is possible to dance about architecture.
=20
[8]=20
=20
Bretschneider and Deupree are warm, organic, emotional, unique artists doin=
g
stuff no one else is and they have studios.

tobias c. van Veen -----------
http://www.quadrantcrossing.org
http://www.thisistheonlyart.com
--- tobias@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
---McGill Communications------
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