Matthewdavid: Outmind

Matthewdavid
Outmind
Rating: Yeah Daddy Make Me Want It

The opening sample on Matthewdavid's (Los Angeles producer Matthew McQueen) debut album Outmind is a welcome to the smog of LA, which is sort of a good description of the sounds that are coming forth, a sprawling mass of textures and beats filtered through a kaleidoscopic haze. Fittingly, it is on his pal Flying Lotus' Brainfeeder imprint, which seems to be the LA stable for experimental beat makers. While I appreciate the fact that you know what you are getting when you find an artist on that label, at the same time, the lack of surprise is disappointing, because you are always going to find an excellently produced record that sounds just shy of Flying Lotus' brilliance. Not to say McQueen is a hack at all. Outmind is always consistently good, but just doesn't have a calling card to announce that it is Matthewdavid; instead, you assume it is Flying Lotus.

While there are 12 individual tracks on Outmind, the album basically begs to be listened to as a whole, each song melting into the next one. I found I was more drawn to the beat heavier tracks. His programming marrying the sludgy thwap of the FlyLo aesthetic with the seemingly random disintegrating beats of Autechre. "Noche y Dia/San Raphael" evokes Boards of Canada passed through a meat grinder.



"Like You Mean It" is all hard edges and stomach pounding bass, drawing from grime and dubstep textures.



"Being Without You" has molasses thick beats herding a bevy of manipulated vocal samples.



"International (featuring Dogbite)" lurches along on a stuttering beat, with a forlorn, drugged out vocal from Dogbite.



These tracks create a hallucinatory feel that infects the entire record. The more ambient, interstitial tracks are covered in tape hiss and other effects that give the album a "found" feel. "Prayers at Bedtime" almost feels like watching waves, if the waves were destroyed buildings and not water.



"Floor Music (featuring Niki Randa)" is a haunting traverse down a dark hallway.



And his collaboration with FlyLo himself, "Group Tea" is a Eno-esque ambient exercise.



That McQueen is an accomplished producer and beat maker, there is no doubt, however, Outmind is a bit of a cypher, giving me just enough to have interest, but still not allowing me to know who he actually is as an artist. The Brainfeeder label attracts a lot of great musicians but it is like they are all beholden to the FlyLo sound and are too frightened to step out from his shadow. Obviously, McQueen has the chops to make some great music, he just needs to find his own signature voice.

Rating Guide

Chilfos: masterpiece; coolest thing I've heard in ages.

Woof Daddy: excellent; just a hair away from being a masterpiece.

Grrrr: very good; will definitely be considered for my top releases of the year.

Yeah Daddy Make Me Want It: good; definitely invites further listens and peaks one's interest for more material.

Meh: not horrible, but certainly not great; could have either been polished, trimmed, or re-thought.

Jeez Lady: what the hell happened? Just plain bad. They should hang their heads in shame and be forced to listen to Lady Gaga ad nauseam as penance.

Tragicistani: so bad, armed villagers with pitchforks and torches should run the artist out of the country for inflicting this abomination on the human race.