CNVR02
release date: 02.Jan.2005

SCOTT TAYLOR - Castaway

Smallfish . january 2006

Simply a marvellous collection of sound pieces and collage which show off Taylor's penchant for processing field recordings and environmental sound and turning it into very listenable textural work. The first couple of pieces are on the drone-based tip and really set up the rest of the album with some particularly large swathes of sound that really fills your head. From there it's a varied selection that manages to be subtle, yet extremely powerful.

[ Mike Oliver ]

_______________________________________________________________________________________

De:Bug - 31.05.2005

43 Minuten düster ambiente Tiefdruckgebiete von Scott Taylor, den es vor seinem ersten Netzrelease auf Con-V auch schon auf die 2004er 'Spire' Compilation auf Touch gespült hatte. Taylor lässt es entfernt grollen und nutzt dies als Ausgangspunkt um seinen ökologisch-apokalyptischen Visionen in Form von 'Castaway' Ausdruck zu verleihen. In diesen Wetter-Szenarien akkumuliert Taylor nächtliche Quellwolken, deren weiträumiges Donnern wie in 'Nightfall' heftige Niederschläge nach sich ziehen und die in kalte, statische Winde eingehüllt sind. Der Großteil der CDR wird jedoch von ruhigeren Field Recordings geprägt, die in ihrer Bedächtigkeit auf das Unterbewusstsein des Hörers zielen, um ihn dort für die aufkommenden Wetterfronten zu sensibilisieren. So manches mal wird man davon eingekreist, und dann wird es auch spannend dronig. Eine CDR mit apokalyptischer Atmosphäre, pendelnd zwischen Nieselregen und Wolkenbruch.

[ Sebastian Redenz ]

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Dusted Magazine - 19.04.2005

Employing much the same methodology as Chris Watson and Peter Cusack, Scott Taylor spends his time patrolling sprawling city landscapes and various urban settings, carefully documenting the sounds he finds there with his microphone. But, whereas those aforementioned artists are happy to take a backseat to the environments they record, directing all the focus of attention upon the world's taken-for-granted natural phenomena, Taylor attempts to leave his personal imprint behind – re-civilizing civilization.

Feeding field recordings into his computer, Taylor builds up dense audio collages, adding echo and reverb to complete the snapshots of sound. As in the work of Francisco Lopez, identifying the source material is not always possible, but the opening two tracks of Castaway seem to place great emphasis on elemental forces, as the timbres of amplified winds and rain ricochet off city infrastructures to create a deep, aggressive drone of Köner-esque proportions. “Nightfall,” in particular, sees Taylor use this natural sound world to create a wall of distortion, a ferocious assault of ear-bending fury. The elements continue to prevail up until two minutes into the third track, “Manhattan.” Featuring extra recordings courtesy of Hidekazu Minami, this piece slowly blossoms into a shimmering thing of tranquil beauty, like an excerpt from one of Fennesz's most recent albums. Chords seemingly grow from the nucleus of the one preceding it whilst, in the background, the not so musical machinations of industry make for an interesting counterpoint, producing one of this album's several highlights.

As Castaway progresses, the humanistic elements gradually take the ascendancy. Taylor's re-civilizing ethic begins to predominate. The choral segment of “Against All Odds – Rescue” could be taken from the infamous performance of that loyal band of musicians which remained on board the Titanic as both ship and crew met their watery end. This segues beautifully into the final short piece, “Last Orders.” A junkyard phonograph starts up and the old record's surface noise almost obliterates the delicately fingered piano as it plays a sad barroom lament before a final, unfinished note is left suspended in mid-air.

[ Spencer Grady ]

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Vital Weekly 457

The name Scott Taylor is slowly getting around, through his various releases on Sijis Recordings and Con.V. They have just released a CDR by him. Taylor is a man running around, armed with a microphone... or rather standing still with his microphone. With great care recording the rain pouring down on a reverberating surface. Upon returning home he puts these recordings on his computer and starts to built a collage out of them. Adding a little bit of computer treatments, just a little bit time stretching on a few occassions or the addition of some extra echo and reverb, otherwise he likes to stick the pureness of his recordings. It's not always easy to identify what the sources are, but my best guess is that there are rain, cars passing, restaurant muzak and even an old record spinning somewhere. Just as before Taylor plays the ambient soundscape card, and he does that with great care. Inspired by people like Francisco Lopez (for his obscured soundsources) and Daniel Menche (for his processing), Scott Taylor finds his own little niche in the market. One thing I must get rid off: I hope the title of this CDR was not inspired by the horrible film of the same name.

[ Frans de Waard ]

_______________________________________________________________________________________