Matthew Dear, Headcage EP
Matthew Dear , Headcage EP [Ghostly International]
» Bust out a pair of your favorite pastel colored dancing shoes with the fancy wingtips because dance floor provocateur/impresario and electro-architect Matthew Dear’s new Headcage EP is here to once again expand your EDM knowledge palate. As with M. Dear’s catalogue from 2003’s Leave Luck to Heaven to now, his works speak of a timeless experimentation in redefining rhythmic principles within the electro-organic song construction paradigm. We invite you to join us as we explore Headcage ‘s 4 track cycle in accordance to each song’s content and merit.
“Headcage”
The lead off title track opens with the locomotive chugs of percussive blends that sound as if they are finding a voice of their own as Dear’s own breaths and sniffs lead into his dance instructional rap. The track operates like a calculated cacophony of 80s FM friendly synth pop turned up on one channel while the masterful sequencing allows the drum mechanizations to bounce the rhythm samples in perfect time while the production bends as Dear beckons you to “come with me” into a night of bouncing from one clandestine garage front venue to the next.
”In The Middle (I Met You There) Featuring – Johnny Pierce”
Blame it on the Johnny Pierce collaboration but “In The Middle” sounds like Dear’s take on contemporary styles and trends. The wacky vocal samples wack back and forth between a righteous back beat, power keys while Pierce lays down festival-goer-pleaser lyrics like “the waves will keep on crashing in, sometimes we lose sometimes we win, you saved me from myself again, but we all know how this will end.” The strange magic of the nasal vocal loop makes it a Dear original, almost commentating on a style of radio and stadium friendly pop. We are surprised only because we are not accustomed to Dear commenting on sound trends outside of his own strange electric universe.
”Street Song ”
At the midway point, Matthew turns it down and makes the vocals warpy and the loops extra hypnotic. “Street Song” slogs like a string of song bridges spliced to a bongo beat while his vocals slur, sustain a bit longer than necessary on the vowels but reward with tape slow down, speed up effects that gurgle to the surface when you are feeling to damn sober to be listening to this-kind-of-music. Still, the diehard Matt Dear deserves more oddities than the half baked vocals and aural hypnotism alone.
“Around A Fountain”
And finally here Mr. Dear brings home the hallow chorals of sound amid soft digitally programmed beats that usher in the vocal sounds from “Street Song” into the background of “Fountain.” The low frequency bass lines work at underground levels that move the track with an earth shake that keeps the harmonizing chopped vocals falling into different patterns to frame the sparse lyrics. The lovers’ farewell line, “one thing is clear you live in reverse” almost comments on the tape effects heavy quality of the EP as the well arranged self-made choir sends the finale up to the unknown.
Matthew Dear on Headcage is taking his sound further out of the respects of dance music structure norms into some fun shifts while entertaining the indie trends and sounds as affectations within his work. With an artist of such an extensive back catalogue and commitment to electro- craft we like to hear M. Dear sounding like the future jam creator that he is capable of and less like a remixer of the Naked and Famous. That said, we await the LP follow up with heads and expectations high.
Posted on January 17, 2012
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