Behind his mac and his knob tables or whatever he is using, Matthewdavid (yes in one word) looked focused and moved very meticulously, acting like a scientist specialized into this knob turning business. With his clean look of computer-new-age guru, his serious glasses and thin multicolor necklace, he was playing a few tracks from his last album ‘Outmind’ released on Flying Lotus’ Brainfeeder, last April.
The Amoeba crowd was attentive and captivated, I was once again feeling like a tourist exploring a foreign territory, not necessary a bad thing, but always disconcerting.
His sound was really complicated to describe, these electronic guys use so many layers, so many sound bits, that their tracks have certainly nothing to do with any classic songwriting, so how do you begin with these breezy complicated collages?
First, I would say that, right away, there was no aggressiveness, no hardness, but rather smooth waves of an ocean of sounds, curling like a tamed animal between the hands of the master. The first thing he played was windy and spacey, and was giving birth to a whole ocean or the universe itself. It was peaceful in a cold way, slow and pulsating, and Matthewdavid was moving in slow motion, looking very concentrated and inspired. Suddenly, more layers were added, one sounding like a synth, then some beats, and then some chopped voices.
There was nothing predictable in all this, and this may be the main attraction, it was a strange journey that was bringing you from one track to another without even a stop, with a deep bass almost all along, damaged-bugging sounds, and some beats that at times were synchronizing your exact heartbeats, at other times were forming a tunneling ambiance.
There were bits of song samples, some soul music injected here and there, distorted and lost in this foggy and dense atmosphere, the whole thing ending up to be so experimental that I got lost myself in this cacophonic universe a few times. Overall, it was plain mysterious, although not for everyone, and most of the time you were getting the impression Matthewdavid was trying to get the most out of all these sounds, splitting, shredding, cutting and distorting them with a well-contained furor.
But I’m still puzzled by this series of fuzzy, glitchy compositions that seemed to inundate some people by such an intense pleasure.