2007 [Import]

I enjoy many kinds of music, but in the last decade or so I've been particularly hooked on the electronica genre. I'm not sure as to why. It just seems to catch and hold my interest better than other types of music. Under the electronica banner, I seem to own most CDs put out by The Chemical Brothers and Orbital. Plus, I'd have to give a nod to The Crystal Method and The Prodigy. Good stuff all. There are many, many others, of course, but my tastes have been leaning in the direction as represented by those groups. Well, I've gradually burned out on the Brothers and Orbital seems to be gone for whatever reason. During this wind down, a fellow named Matthew Dear seems to have emerged as my leading practitioner.

I'd regard Matthew Dear to be an electronica genius. No question. He has a unique signature sound and weaves a magnificent sonic landscape. He can be light and frolicking or deep and somber. He can be funny. No matter what, Matthew Dear is always interesting, although I don't particularly care for his vocals. Dear's latest CD, "False 2007" has me overwhelmed. It surpasses anything I've heard by him or any other electronica artist. When I finished listening for the first time, I felt like rising and shouting "Bravo!"

Dear subdivides his "False" CD into 14 tracks, each with titles and sometimes subtitles. What this might mean, I have no idea. The entire CD is essentially one continuous composition and I'm hard pressed to separate the different "songs" without resorting to watching the counter on the CD player. He starts out by gradually gliding into "Indy 3000" and 14 "tracks" later fades out with "Forgetting." In between is a continuous, ever-changing stream of sounds with moods ranging from light and humorous to dark and somewhat disturbing. It's magnificent! The stream of sounds blend smoothly together and present fascinating listening throughout the CD. The CD has a few voices added in the latter third, but there are no vocals. All the rest is a masterful blending of electronic lines of sound entering, changing and exiting and blended with the others in a seamless sonic tapestry. This is very interesting stuff! It's not at all like a series of songs, rather it's more like an extended symphonic piece with many different moods. I was mesmerized throughout the entire listening period.

I love this CD. I'd say it's Dear's magnum opus, without question. What will this fellow come up with next? Out of curiosity, I asked my fiancée what she thought of it. She said I shouldn't play it around her again unless I'm listening with the headphones.

Gary Peterson

Cool, icy, minimal: that's Matthew Dear's _2007_ (under his False alias) in a nutshell. From the mysterious drones that lead in "Meat Me in the Market," Dear takes a straightforward rhythm and ornaments it with simple loops that always seem to hover right outside your consciousness. The tracks are segued in a way that the divisions seem meaningless; the resonanting bass notes the appear halfway in "Alright Liar" ease seamlessly into the high, spectral tones of "Plus Plus." The closest thing you'll get to a developed melody tinkles into "Face the Rain," but it, like the other sounds on this album, is merely a brushstroke on a larger canvas. The long squeals that punch through the haze on "Fed on Youth/H L M/ D L G" come almost as a revelation, even as it's echoed in the next track. For a guidepost comparison, I'd point to I. A. Bericochea's _Rojo_ (also on M_nus). Though I feel that _Rojo_ is more tight, _2007_ is still right up my alley as well.

The entire album for only a dollar? Two words: buy this.

Greatest ambient album I've ever listened to.

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