Articles
2011 Artists' Picks
Spotlight 5
Albums
1982
Marvin Ayres
Big Quarters
Birds Of Passage
Brunborg / Huke
bvdub
Charlatan
City of Satellites
Cokiyu
CYNE
Dakota Suite / Sirjacq
Tomoyoshi Date
Dday One
Vladislav Delay
Ensemble Economique
Esperanza
Frost & Bjarnason
Integral
Lullatone
Mario & Vidis
Dean McPhee
Mint Julep
Muhr
James Murray
Muta
Nicholas: Nu Groove
pacificUV
Papir
Andrew Pekler
Pimmon
Simon Scott
Quentin Sirjacq
Stormloop
Swod
szilárd
Tapage
Carl Taylor
Willamette
Boo Williams
Reissue
Pink Floyd
Compilations / Mixes
Marcel Dettmann
Fabriksampler V4
Inertia: Resisting Routine
Tech My House 5
Visionquest
EPs
0311
A Sun-Amissa
Jacksonville
Arev Konn
Neon Cloud
Phasen
Photonz
Rivers Home
Carl Taylor:
True Faith
EPM Music
Listening to True Faith, I find myself repeatedly returning to a comment Carl Taylor himself made regarding the album's production: “Each track took no longer than three hours to make, all sequenced on the MPC with arrangements created live to keep analysis to a minimum.” Taylor believes that overthinking can suck the life out of a production, with too much refinement draining emotion and spontaneity from the material in question. It's not so much the three-hour detail that's striking, given that digital production methods obviously allow for a rapid production process for those so inclined, but that the tracks sound so meticulously arranged and compositionally structured—surely Taylor must have had sketches for the tracks worked out before flipping on his machines?
No matter: on his second album, the South Yorkshire DJ (twelve years and counting) and techno producer has spun out of thin air ten sleek and sparkling cuts that ooze personality and soul. A veteran of labels such as Bugged Out, F-Comm, Dust Science, Advanced, and F1 Recordings, Taylor brings no shortage of experience to the work captured on True Faith, a fifty-two-minute set that couples previously unreleased tracks with recent singles like “Perplexer,” “Violet,” and “Only U.” The tougher warehouse vibe in Taylor's music comes through in raw cuts like “Onyx” and “Perplexer” where beats slam and chatter with relentless purpose and swarms of surging chords hit with metallic force. Born for the club, “Orbit” is an epic raver in the best sense of the word and a bonafide mind-melter to boot, while “Violet” showcases his gift for melody without any compromise to the tune's dancefloor potential. Throughout the album, warm synth textures, radiant melodies, and funk-inflected techno rhythms elevate Taylor's material, giving it an effervescence and buoyancy that lends it immediate appeal and accessibility. All praise to Taylor for being able to reach a level of polish in tracks that sound anything but unfinished, while at the same time imbuing them with the real-time spark of passion and energy. Listening to True Faith is like some sugar-rush minus the morning-after tooth-ache.
January 2012