Western Teleport Archives - Various Small Flames https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/western-teleport/ New and independent music Fri, 29 Jul 2016 10:55:43 +0000 en-GB hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 https://i0.wp.com/varioussmallflames.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/cropped-finalwhite-e1490809629909-1.jpg?fit=32%2C32&ssl=1 Western Teleport Archives - Various Small Flames https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/western-teleport/ 32 32 88787050 Emperor X https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2014/01/22/emperor-x/ Wed, 22 Jan 2014 17:51:00 +0000 http://www.wakethedeaf.co.uk/?p=293 Late last year, Emperor X (aka Chad R. Matheny) released two brand new songs. The first, ‘Brown Recluse’ is rather reserved, with soft vocals and and acoustic guitar, although Maheny’s trademark hallucinatory, hyper-intelligent lyrics are still present. The second track, ‘At A Rave With Nicolas Sarkozy’ is more reminiscent of the experimental indie rock of 2011’s Western Teleport. Both tracks are highly recommended and you can buy both over at Bandcamp. There was also a festive Emperor X EP, Jetzt […]

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]]> Late last year, Emperor X (aka Chad R. Matheny) released two brand new songs. The first, ‘Brown Recluse’ is rather reserved, with soft vocals and and acoustic guitar, although Maheny’s trademark hallucinatory, hyper-intelligent lyrics are still present. The second track, ‘At A Rave With Nicolas Sarkozy’ is more reminiscent of the experimental indie rock of 2011’s Western Teleport. Both tracks are highly recommended and you can buy both over at Bandcamp.

There was also a festive Emperor X EP, Jetzt Christmas, which certainly offers a unique take on Christmas. Current highlight is ‘The 2013th Noel’ which begins as a spoken word electronic piece before morphing into a “cover” of ‘The First Noel’, substituting the line “…born is the king of Israel.” with a whole host of references (ranging from the general of the new Free Syrian Army to the captain of FC Porto). It’s less a Christmas song than a 2013 version of Billy Joel’s ‘We Didn’t Start The Fire’, and worth your time even now Christmas has gone.

Much earlier last year, Emperor X also released a live album, Nineteen Live Recordings, a compilation of excerpts recorded between 2008 and 2013. Maheny traveled between venues by bus carrying only his guitar and a bag of effects pedals and the results are amazing.  The album was released on Plan-It-X Records.

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]]> 293 Emperor X https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2012/06/10/emperor-x-2/ Sun, 10 Jun 2012 20:15:46 +0000 http://www.wakethedeaf.co.uk/?p=595 Chad Matheny (AKA Emperor X) is an extremely interesting and pretty inspirational man. He is essentially a songwriter but is far from the usual bearded-man-with-a-guitar cliche. It’s difficult to pigeonhole; he has been labelled ‘noise pop’ and ‘lo-fi speed-folk’ by some, his sound ‘a swollen interfusion of capricious brilliance’ by others. He sings about anything and everything in a delirious flow of information, a flood of times and places, metaphors and allegories. He sings about broken A/C units (Compressor Repair […]

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]]> Chad Matheny (AKA Emperor X) is an extremely interesting and pretty inspirational man. He is essentially a songwriter but is far from the usual bearded-man-with-a-guitar cliche. It’s difficult to pigeonhole; he has been labelled ‘noise pop’ and ‘lo-fi speed-folk’ by some, his sound ‘a swollen interfusion of capricious brilliance’ by others. He sings about anything and everything in a delirious flow of information, a flood of times and places, metaphors and allegories. He sings about broken A/C units (Compressor Repair – see video below), fanatical religious groups (Allahu Akbar), death and disaster (Defiance [for Elise Sunderhuse]). No matter the subject each song is crafted to convey a message or construe an idea, each word meaningful and necessary. Songs that reward careful and repeated listens.

Alright so his songs are well-crafted and thought out but why is he inspirational? Well he dropped a master’s degree in physics to pursue what I presume are his real interests (something which takes an admirable amount of guts) and self-releases his albums. Not only that but Matheny has shunned the modern techniques of promotion and relies on live performances and word of mouth to gather attention. Once you have found him however, you discover that his blog is an entertaining read and is far more than the usual self-promotion blurb. He recounts tales of shivs and bleeding armpits and considers the effects of architecture on human behaviour. He also buries master tapes in various locations when touring, a ‘geocoded cooperative exercise’ as he calls it, which fans can find and dig up in a global treasure hunt. Cool huh?

I’ve arrived quite late to his music and therefore haven’t really experienced it chronologically, which probably means I’ve missed some real gems somewhere in his discography (some of which dates as far back as 1998). That said, the newer releases are proving more than enough to be getting on with for the time being, with certain songs (I’m looking at you Allahu Akbar) being stuck in my head for days at a time. I look forward to delving deeper. Emperor X will be touring the US and coming to European shores for the first time this summer so get out and see him. You may also find a tape or two near you.  Full tour dates are here (on the right hand side).

A new record is in the pipeline, with ‘Nap Time for Tom Coughlin’, a mix of numerous songs, available now over at The Bomber Jacket’s page.

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