Detroit techno artist Matthew Dear, one of the key innovators behind the Ghostly International label, has recorded under a variety of aliases through his career. Under his own name, he's released a pair of acclaimed albums that melded minimal techno with full-fledged songwriting.
As Jabberjaw, he's delivered a series of now-classic underground singles, digging into a rough, glitchy style of minimal tech-house that laid the ground for the popularity of "minimal" for much of the past decade. His Audion project on the other hand serves as a potent reminder that Matthew Dear was a gifted producer of tracky dancefloor techno long before Leave Luck To Heaven made him an underground star.
Possibly in counterpart to his song-based work, Audion found the artist in particularly aggressive mode, delivering tracks that could be brutally minimal, but which also showed the inventiveness characteristic of Dear's work.
Under his own name, he's released a pair of acclaimed albums that melded minimal techno with full-fledged songwriting.
Rave-style buzzes, sirens and drones melded onto the austere template pioneered by labels like Berlin's Tresor were the order of the day. Titles like Just Fucking, Suckfish and Noiser told the tale in terms of what to expect - tracks made for the peak moment of a techno DJ set. This was further reinforced by consistently excellent cover art which probably induced more than a few acid flashbacks among record buyers.
