On Friday, June 6, Trade welcomed Matthew Dear for another magical night at Trade presented by Link Miami Rebels. A man of many talents – Dear is a DJ, a dance-music producer, an experimental pop artist and a bandleader. He co-founded both Ghostly International and Spectral Sound. He’s had remixes commissioned by The XX, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Spoon, Hot Chip, The Postal Service, and Chemical Brothers; hes made mixes for Get Physicals Body Language and Fabric mix series. He also maintains four aliases – Audion, False and Jabberjaw – each with its own style and distinct visual identity. You never really know what you will get with Dear and on June 6 – he played darker than I’ve ever heard him play before.
2010 saw the release of Dear’s third album, Black City, a darkly playful soundworld that envelops the listener like the arms of a malevolent lover. Black City was met with near-unanimous critical praise, earning top marks from Mojo, Uncut, Q, URB, and the Village Voice, ending up on countless year-end lists, and earning Pitchfork’s coveted Best New Music nod. A worldwide tour followed, in which Dear and a newly expanded band continued to hone their live chops with vicious focus.
Matthew Dear’s latest full-length, 2012’s Beams, is both a drastic departure from and worthy successor to Black City’s gothic masterwork. A suite of weird, wild, and queasily optimistic rhythm-driven pop songs, Beams is the latest chapter in the continuing evolution of one of music’s most fascinating minds. After over a decade of exploring pop’s outer limits, Matthew Dear now inhabits a rarified corner of the musical universe: no longer tethered to any one genre, respected by his peers, and blessed with a bottomless well of creative energy. Now is Matthew Dear’s moment, and it sounds like nothing else.
LINK MIAMI REBELS’ JULY UPCOMING SHOWS
GUTI presents:
• PEOPLE LIKE US on July 3
• Jimmy Edgar on July 10
• Paul Ritch on July 17
• Justin Martin on July 31
