Feel Out (self-released)
Matthew Ryals, the guy behind this electronic project, holds a degree in classical guitar performance, but you wouldn’t know it from listening to this esoteric EP, which he recorded on a laptop in his small home studio. Album opener “Clearing” begins with what sounds like air escaping a hose before the soothing blips and bleeps kick in. “Stepwise Motion” is a bit louder and makes use of a bit of distorted keyboard before drum machine beats show up. The repetitious “Between Ourselves” slowly builds into something that recalls a Philip Glass composition and “Cloud and Sea” benefits from odd electronic ratcheting noises. The project isn’t exactly accessible but does carry on the experimental EDM torch that people like Aphex Twin once held high. It’s a dirty job but someone’s gotta do it.
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This article appears in Mar 5-11, 2014.
