Don't be too surprised if California-born, West Coast-raised, Toronto-based Noah Pred follows other Toronto techno producers such as Jake Fairley, Mike Shannon, Jeremy P. Caulfield and even long-time hold-out Adam Marshall over to Europe.

Considering that Pred is one of the rising stars in the North American scene, it probably won't be too long before the lure of Berlin becomes too strong.

"It's in the cards, but personally it's something I don't want to force. I don't want to move over there prematurely," Pred says from his parent's home on Salt Spring Island, B.C. "I want to make sure there is a demand for what I am doing. There's so much more of a market there, but there's also so many more people fighting for their share of that market. I don't want to just jump into the fray."

An established DJ and live act with a residency with the Fukhouse crew, Pred also knows his way around the studio. Along with releasing downtempo, IDM and electronic dub tracks under the alias Shen, he also offers up a unique take on techno. Coaxing deep, rich textures from natural sounds, Pred's recent album, Ecocosm, explores the idea that the concepts behind an ecosystem can be applied as a metaphor for techno.

"I have always had a great affinity and reverence for the natural world. It's definitely a source of inspiration for me. I have always attempted to apply principals from the natural world into other areas of my life," says the soft-spoken producer.

Originally conceived as a live performance piece for the New Forms festival, the album ultimately took three years to create as Pred was sidetracked by other projects. Comprised of hundreds of field recordings that he processed and wove into a stunning digital techno tapestry, Ecocosm is both beautiful and forceful.

"It can also be viewed as a metaphor for our economy," Pred says. "What humans do is we take natural resources and we transform them through one process or another into some kind of fuel or commodity."

Along with spending time in the studio, turning out thought-provoking techno, Pred runs two labels, Sentient Sound and Thoughtless Music. While his new labels have been successful right out of the gate, Pred still doesn't have all the answers.

"The biggest roadblock that we are all dealing with now in music and everything else is just the sheer onslaught of information. I definitely wonder how people's inundation with information in this digital age will affect their demands for art and music in the coming years."