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| Pitchfork |
 Matthew Dear's transformation, from bedroom techno polymath to live-band leader, occurred over such a long, seamless stretch that it's easy to take for granted just how surprising (and rewarding) it's been. In 2003, Dear's wonky vocal anthem, "Dog Days", could have been taken as a micro-house producer's novelty, a cheeky attempt at merging sappy indie pop with alien sound design. But while he kept on recording "straight" techno in a bewildering array of styles, Dear's records under his own name continued shucking dance music's rules, rhythmic and otherwise. Techno's precision kept his Afrobeat and art-funk fixations from devolving into jam-band aimlessness. And lessons learned from those genres made his machine textures appealingly strange, rather than preset bland. The four song Headcage EP both picks up where Dear's last record left off and shakes its influence enough to suggest where he might be headed next.Or maybe not. Like any good techno producer, Dear appreciates the EP as an artform in itself, rather than a way to rush out a set of not-too-dissimilar songs to keep fans happy between albums. That said, it might also be the least "techno" material Dear's recorded. Two of the songs verge on a kind of singer-songwriter's ambient, floating by with almost no backing at all. A third sounds like a sensitive rocker got hold of a Soulja Boy track and decided to make the best of it, with winning results. This is Dear as laid-back charmer, rather than forbidding electro architect. Compared to the dark (but not bleak) journey of 2010's Black City, where Dear transposed the "nighttime drive" claustrophobia of old-school techno to a set of intricate almost-rock jams, Headcage shakes off the late-night jitters for a sound so airy it threatens to evaporate into murmurs and empty space. Black City's density suggested that Dear was drawing aesthetic energy from what most of us would just suffer as the stress of living in a tightly packed urban environment. Here he seems to be yearning for the room to chill. The dark electro of Headcage's title cut, vaguely reminiscent of various early-1980s British synth-pop bands without quite sounding like anyone specific, might inititally trick you into thinking the EP will be the afterparty to Black City's bash. But Dear relaxes into something more comfortable and blissful as Headcage plays out, suggesting two possible routes for his music in the future. "In the Middle (I Met You There)" is one of the most surprising cuts Dear's put his name to since "Dog Days", a love song crooned (by the Drums' Jonny Pierce) over a bright hip-hop loop, not too dissimilar from the 8-bit fizz being peddled by producers like Clams Casino, that he fleshes out with shifting layers of keyboard buzz. It's as delightful-- chillwave with actual hooks and a sound rich enough to swim in instead of just wash over you-- as it is unexpected....full text |
| Residentadvisor |
| While there's a certain disconnect between the Matthew Dear at the helm of 2003's classic Leave Luck To Heaven and the thoroughly crossed-over Matthew Dear of today, reconciling the two doesn't require too much in the way of mental acrobatics: you can hear Dear's pop impulse rattling around behind Leave Luck's still-straightforward techno, a drive he'd mostly severed from his club music roots by 2007's Asa Breed and fully grown into by the massive, murky Black City last year. Dear's latest, the four-track Headcage EP, finds the New Yorker continuing to explore what it might mean for him to be a pop star, even going so far as to bring in some outside help on the production end. "Headcage" is the fruit of a collaborative session at Brooklyn's Rare Book Room studio between Dear and the Swedish production team of Van Rivers and the Subliminal Kid, whose similarly idiosyncratic take on pop helped birth Fever Ray. The co-producer angle honestly strikes me as strange, since Dear's vocals have rarely been the highlight of the records he's put out under his own name. Jammy in form and thick with loopy percussion, "Headcage" is a start, but it's a bit disappointing considering its pedigree. "In the Middle (I Met You There)," however, finds Dear at his best. With Jonny Pierce of The Drums on lead vocals, Dear can really dig into the beat, which with touches of hip-hop and waterfalling organs might be one of his best solo tracks. "Street Song" and "Around a Fountain" round out the EP, the former sounding half-lost to the night (in a good way) and the latter like a 4 AM rainstorm, with Dear's lonely falsetto in the caress of quiet, mysterious drums....full text |
| Earbuddy |
| “Headcage”, the title track to Matthew Dear’s newest EP is what can only be described as evolution. Electronic music is one of the hardest sells on casual music listeners not familiar with the genre or its nuances. And many times I will side with them on certain acts in the genre with no redeeming human elements. It’s hard to find a connection with expansive collages of synths, drum loops, and bass without a human voice to guide you through them as they stretch into infinity. Headcage doesn’t lack for accessibility. Only one track on the Headcage EP runs past the 4 minute mark, and all of them feature Dear’s vocals. And, as the opening title track can attest, electronic music hasn’t sounded this cool or exciting in a long time. Sounding like a John Carpenter version of Phil Collin’s “In The Air Tonight”, “Headcage” moves along at a very chill pace, never making great strides or culminating in some heavy climax. Instead, synthesizers join in with the amazing percussion for Dear’s chorus, Your momma won’t care / if you stay out tonight / throw your rocks in the air / let’s go have fun tonight. It’s the kind of song you throw on as you’re driving to the club. “In The Middle ( I Met You There)” follows the title track, and it’s quite a change, building off a hip hop beat with dreamy electro-pop. Vocal duties are mostly handled by Jonny Pierce (of Brooklyn outfit The Drums), singing mostly in falsetto while Dear uses his the husky growl near the song’s end. Dear’s voice floats throughout the quiet natured “Street Song”, sounding as if he’s singing to you while on an acid trip. The vocals on “Street Song” serve as the main instrument on the song while the music bed is so low that it barely makes an impression. Dear chooses to switch from his baritone to a falsetto, and it works quite well at keeping the track dreamy. Closing track “Around A Fountain” combines the best elements of “Headcage” and “Street Song” with percussion that sounds as if it’s trickling from sky mixing with Dear’s dual form vocals. The restraint of the overall album is quite interesting as opportunities do present themselves where Dear could expand on his beats into full throbbing, dance-heavy climaxes. Instead, he chooses a more relaxed demeanor. It results in the album being moodier and perhaps even more intelligent than what some of his peers would do if in control of the songs. Instead of building the fireworks’ bang, he’s improved the dazzle of the lights....full text |
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