N...

For .N, graphic designer and electronic producer Taylor Deupree focuses on nanotechnology, the science concerned with impossibly miniscule molecules. The field not only converges several different areas of research (chemistry, biotechnology, computer engineering) but is itself a science many experts believe represents a breathtaking venture for scientists and computers in the 21st century. Surprisingly, Deupree manages to bring listeners into the microscopic world of sub-molecular space; his productions are largely free of both bass and rhythm, leaving only brittle, high-frequency sound tools and an abstract production style that sounds just this side of random. The fifth track, "Build," evokes rather well the construction of atoms one molecule at a time, with constant blips of gleaming synth and the occasional burst of faraway computer static. Though Deupree's hardly fettered by any preconceptions of what nanotechnology actually sounds like, these tracks -- experimental, freeform, obviously just as focused on the space between sounds as on the sounds themselves -- are just about what you'd expect to hear while floating from molecule to molecule within individual atoms. And of course nanotechnology is the perfect subject for a producer in league with the heavily computer-processed style dubbed microsound by fellow Ritornell/Mille Plateaux producer Kim Cascone. ~ John Bush