Don and Sherri - Matthew Dear

Don and Sherri

Matthew Dear [Ghostly International...

#18 in this month's The 20

• Written by: Terry Church
• Filed under: The 20: false ghostly international matthew dear spectral

Matthew Dear has been honing his skills under his various monikers over the past few years, but it’s the music produced under own name that seems to have made the biggest impact.

On his latest full album, ‘Asa Breed’, the Ghostly International mainstay has shown the effects of his (at the time) Detroit-area surroundings most with funk-laden cuts like ‘Don and Sherri’.

If you listen closely, you can hear early dance-infused Was (Not Was)).

For the album and for live performances, Dear has enlisted a rhythm section (with a full drum kit and bass) to add to his vocals and electronic (usually laptop) wizardry.

It’s perhaps the inclusion of vocals and a rhythm section that has thrown off many that expected the typical auto-pilot approach to electronic sounds.

But it’s also this approach that adds much more depth and room for growth.

If you’ve ever had the chance to peek inside the head of an outfit that’s added live elements to their otherwise laptop solo sets, you’ll get a glimpse into an ideology that with risk comes reward; even though it ups the difficulty and possibility of error, it would be otherwise impossible to attain the same results.

M.A.N.D.Y. adds some of the trademark punchy, dancefloor accessibility to the cut with their exclusive Beatport remix.

As what typically occurs when Hot Chip, they’ve taken the song over completely with a cover version rather than a remix; but, in the process, some of the best guttural elements of the original are lost.

DJ Koze turns heads, as usual, with a twisted cut-up of the ‘Asa Breed’ cut ‘Elementary Lover’, adding an unexpected but welcomed groove.

In the end, it’s Matthew Dear’s ‘Don and Sherri’ original that’s catchiest, and gives most evidence of an artist with endurance.

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