SMM: Context

Record Review: Ghostly International’s SMM: Context

SMM: ContextV/A: SMM: Context (Ghostly International, 3/1/11)

Christina Vantzou: “11 Generations of My Fathers”

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In most cases, if the typical, well-respected independent label were to take a risk in compiling an ambient-heavy compilation with artists who were mostly unknown outside their respective hyper-insulated circles, most fans of that label would probably skip the compilation without much thought.

But then there is Ghostly International, a Ann Arbor, Michigan-based label with an eclectic roster comprising Matthew Dear, Loscil, Shigeto, and Dabrye, among others. For its new compilation record, Ghostly chose to dust off SMM, an offshoot of the label created back in 1994, to present a refined aesthetic within a particular — to borrow from the compilation’s title — Context.

Matthew Dear

Concert Photos: Four Tet & Matthew Dear @ Metro

Four Tet, Matthew Dear, and Jon Hopkins played to a packed house recently at the Metro in Chicago. Dear and his band warmed up the crowd with a thumping set of avant-electro jams before Kieran Hebden, a.k.a. Four Tet, took the stage with nothing more than a table full of laptops and gadgets. Hebden never spoke a word, simply nodding a “hello” before launching into an hour-and-a-half DJ set.

Matthew Dear

Audion: Billy Says So EP

Matthew Dear spent the end of 2007 basking in universal praise for his poppy vocal full-length album Asa Breed. In 2008, he brought back his harder techno alias Audion with this three-track release for Spectral Sound (Ghostly International’s minimal techno imprint).