News / / 14.09.12

MATTHEW DEAR

BEAMS (Ghostly International)

15/20

Matthew Dear, aside from being one of the best looking men on the planet, is somewhat of an ambidextrous sort in modern music. As revered techno and house DJ often under his Audion moniker, he has landed dates in some of the biggest clubs on the planet, but unlike many of his contemporaries Dear has ventured into the full- band live arena with consistently superb results. The follow-up to the head-turning Black City is hardly a departure, but it’s superb. Dear’s warped, distinctive, low-pitched vocal speeches still form the cryptic central point to the music and there is a fair amount of industrial clatter and plodding funk rhythm in the sound, particularly on stand out trackFighting Is Futile. But one of the most distinctive characteristics in Dear’s music is the texturing and layering of sound, much of which is contrasting and at musical odds with one other. For example on Up & Out, highly tuned guitars rub against deep bass giving the sound intensity even when the rhythm is sluggish. Beams is the sound of a man completely at home with his sound and oozes confidence and swagger, particularly on the uber cool Get The Rhyme Right. He continues to bring something to the party unlike any producer in electronic music.

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Words: Thomas Frost

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