New DJ set online

Here's a recently recorded digital mix I did using a bunch of different tracks I like from various genres. I did my best to integrate them together in new ways. It's not without a few mistakes here and there but I thought it was a fun mix to share, running nearly 3 hours in length... for this reason, it's downsampled to 128kbps in quality.

Click here to listen (or right-click to download)


DJ set mixed live using Ableton Live
(this set includes custom edits and additional original loops & fills)

Errorsmith "Stiff Neck" (Errorsmith)
Trentemøller "Always Something Better (Trentemøller Remix)" (Poker Flat)
Pan Sonic "Teurastamo" (Mute/Blast First)
M.I.A. "Bamboo Banger" (XL)
Adriano Canzian "Macho Boy (Pink Remix)" (Gigolo)
Matthew Mercer "Beautiful" (unreleased)
Yaz "Didn't I Bring Your Love Down" (Mute)
Twerk "Quirnjik_Sorvey" (Mille Plateaux)
OMR "The Way We Have Chosen (Ellen Allien Remix)" (Bpitch Control)
MMM "A3" (MMM)
Working For A Nuclear Free City "Innocence" (Melodic)
Underworld "Cowgirl" (Wax Trax)
Radiohead "Reckoner (Microfilm Remix)" (unreleased)
Dominik Eulberg "Lotuseffekt" (Cocoon)
Microfilm "After Dark (OCD Soundsystem Mix)" (Fiche)
Duran Duran Duran "Faceblast" (Planet µ)
Matthew Dear "It's Over Now" (Ghostly)
Nine Inch Nails "My Violent Heart" (Nothing)
Ark "E-Cone (Akufen Remix)" (Circus Co)
Matthew Dear "It's Over Now" (Ghostly)
Duran Duran Duran "Faceblast" (Planet µ)
Mossa "Colorado Bitch" (Frankie Rec)
Modeselektor "Turn Deaf!" (Bpitch Control)
Tamion 12-Inch "Fuck You Tami" (Ersatz Audio)
Smash TV "Body Rock" (BPitch Control)
Pase Rock "Lindsay Lohan's Revenge" (Fully Fitted)
Oneida "Caesar's Column" (Jagjaguwar)
Peaches "Slippery Dick" (XL)
Arabian Prince "Strange Life" (Stones Throw)
Jabberjaw "Girlfriend" (Perlon)
String Theory "Stepp In/Out" (Lumpen)
Björk "Innocence (Simian Mobile Disco Remix)" (One Little Indian)
TTC "Pas d'Armure (dDamage Remix)" (Clapping Music)
Burial "Archangel" (Hyperdub)
Tricky "Christiansands" (Island)
Boards of Canada "Happy Cycling" (Warp)
Autechre "Arch Carrier" (Warp)
Argy "Evaquate" (Raum...musik)
Uffie "Brand New Car" (Ed Banger)
Meat Beat Manifesto "Give Your Body Its Freedom" (Wax Trax)
Blonde Redhead "In Particular" (Touch & Go)
OMR "The Way We Have Chosen (Ellen Allien Remix)" (Bpitch Control)
Bit_Meddler "Shitmix2000" (Planet µ)
Apparat "Tel Aviv" (Shitkatapult)
Voigt & Voigt "Vision 04" (Kompakt)
Apparat "Tel Aviv" (Shitkatapult)
PJ Harvey "White Chalk" (Island)
Argy "Evaquate" (Raum...musik)
Baxendale "I Built This City (Michael Mayer Remix)" (Kompakt)
Skinny Puppy "Smothered Hope" (Nettwerk)
Michael Mayer "Speaker" (Kompakt)
Avenue D "Do I Look Like a Slut?" (Electric Blue)
DMX Krew "Denki No Merodi" (Rephlex)
Madonna "Hollywood (Micronauts Remix)" (Maverick)
Errorsmith "Stiff Neck" (Errorsmith)
Vanity 6 "If a Girl Answers (Don't Hang Up)" (Warner Bros.)
Mossa "Colorado Bitch" (Frankie Rec)
Sweet Reinhard "Stille Hände" (Profan)
Siriusmo "Simple" (Boys Noize)
Akufen "New Process" (Perlon)
Ark "E-Cone (Akufen Remix)" (Circus Co)
Sweet Reinhard "Stille Hände" (Profan)
Bizz O.D. "I'm Comin' Out of Your Speakers" (Force Inc)
Microfilm "BFF" (Fiche)
Richard Devine "Swap, Trigger" (Schematic)
Jabberjaw "Girlfriend" (Perlon)
The Gossip "Nite" (Kill Rock Stars)
Chris Deluca & Peabird "Deadly Wiz Da Disko" (K!7)
Richard Devine "Swap, Trigger" (Schematic)
Themselves "Hat In the Wind" (Anticon)

mattmercer.com relaunched

I've had two sites registered under my name for years now, one for my design & work (matthewmercer.com) and one for my music (mattmercer.com).

Up until a few years ago, I semi-regularly updated my site with some free tracks and a schedule of live events (back when I would do regular laptop PA performances). That all trailed off in 2005 or so, and then I just took the site down completely when I migrated ISPs in late 05/early 06.

I decided to revive the domain, having just worked with my buddy John to pull together the newly relaunched Microfilm site. I re-used the template, changing the look and feel and overall intent of the site a little. Microfilm's site is about introducing our music to the world and encouraging people to support us by buying our releases legitimately. mattmercer.com does that as well, but it's mostly about a visual tone with a running archive of tracks that goes pretty far back.

My official releases (two 12" records for Forte and Neutonmusic, as well as a couple mini-albums on my own via Tunecore/iTunes/Amazon) leaned heavily on cut-up samples and angular dance music, but I've always been somewhat of a tinkerer. I had just gone through loads of archival tapes this summer and ripped a bunch of session recordings to my computer, edited them into tracks and wanted to post them somewhere. I've included a good chunk of them here (some I either deemed not up to snuff or just tried to at least vaguely edit a bit), and the sound varies significantly, all while remaining electronic and instrumental. I'll let you peruse them at your leisure, but here is a rough guide to the disparate sounds you'll hear, and a loose frame of reference depending on your particular taste.

The top-heavy part of the playlist is the most recent, "official" material that is more slick, dancefloor compatible for the most part. The two Secrets 12" records are sprinkled in the middle along with compilation tracks I did for Ware and SubVariant (in addition to the tracks I contributed to now-defunct 409's comps under the alias Systm), and pretty much everything else is previously unreleased. There are tracks that are straight up house ("Where Did I Go Wrong?"), italo-disco ("Beautiful," "Preacher"), melodic IDM ("Walking Down a Side Street," "Fine Cutlery," "Honey Drizzle," "Dot Dash Dot," "Fairweather"), deep atmospheric techno ("Unassisted Living," "Wormhole", "Liquid"), slow ambience ("Scape," "Simmer & Shimmer"), gloomy soundtracks ("November," "Orange Skies," "Barely There") and some assorted oddities ("Seele" was total machine error music, for instance). I have a strong affinity to these early unreleased so-called "Vault Tracks" because many are from a totally different period of my life, and they were also all created entirely on a few hardware devices, no computer involved -- most tracks from 1999-2001.

It's all a bit self-indulgent, I know... but I wanted to share this living archive. I'll likely be expanding it as I begin to record new music under my own name, which I am planning to resume this winter. I may roll out some download functionality eventually, but for now it's streaming-only. However, the quality is quite good, so hopefully you enjoy some of it.

Click here to visit mattmercer.com

Growing: <i>All The Way</i> (The Social Registry CD/LP/digital)

The last time I really heard this psyche-experimental act, it was on their second album, The Soul Of The Rainbow And The Harmony Of Light, which consisted of four looooong drone tracks, all color and atmosphere but shapeless. It shimmered with energy and a radiance, but it was an end to a means -- it was what it was and that was that. Fast-forward to four years later, and a lot has changed.

The duo of Joe Denardo and Kevin Doria still rely on bass and guitar as their respective axes of choice, but the tone is All The Way is considerably livelier and lighter than the wall of sound that characterized their older material. The running theme on these 6 tracks (plus one live version) is tremolo, with guitar patterns on delays cutting in and out of the mix. Often times the start-stop rhythm as defined by these effects serves as the rhythm section of the track, with no traditional drums or programming to speak of.

"Green Flag" kicks things off with a jaunty guitar-as-bass loop, layered with fluttering, light chords and odd, froggy sounds that gurgle overhead. But if "Green Flag" is a lighter, catchier opening, "Wrong Ride" veers into more dreamlike territory, with a persistent in/out tremolo on all of its guitar sounds (with one notable exception of a solitary droning tone underneath). Just as it begins to feel repetitious, the signal blows horizontally outward into something far more spectral and radiant. It's a refreshing change of pace from the extended exercises of their older material, because here the duo seems acutely aware of when a sound or pattern has overstayed its welcome; just as it starts to feel static, something changes. "Rave Pie Only" is the centerpiece of the album (and the band apparently agrees; it appears again as a live add-on), a swirling psyche-fest that makes brilliant use of flanged guitar distortion as a simulated kick drum, pounding at a good clip for the duration of the song as weird squiggles of glee cascade from above. "Innit" is the joyous counterpart of the opening track, mostly built around a droning, syncopated pattern and airy, light chords over it. "Lens Around" and "Reconstruction" finish out the original material with variations on the style, again making use of unusual effects and guitar phrases to create rhythmic structures without drumming. However, the bonus live version of "Rave Pie Only" is a good example of where they take things as more of a band; with a full-on drum kit, the song is significantly more obvious and aggressive, but no less fun. If anything, it's a sort of last, excessive hurrah as the rather short album wraps up.

It's an interesting idea, piecing together tracks using guitars as a means for everything. It's something I would have assumed I'd already heard, but I'm at a loss for anything all that comparable, as the duo appear to have struck gold in their own distinct way. All The Way is an effective fusion of pop and abstract psychedelia, all swirl and shimmer but with an approachability that tames it, makes it as warm and inviting as it is exciting.


mp3: Innit
more info: Official artist site | Myspace | Discogs |
buy it: Bent Crayon | Forced Exposure | Boomkat | ToneVendor | Amazon | Emusic | iTunes

Basic Channel: <i>BCD-2</i> (Basic Channel CD/digital)

Perhaps no batch of techno records has been more influential in the grand scheme of things since the initial rush of Basic Channel records, courtesy of Moritz Von Oswald and Mark Ernestus. I can only listen to these records with a tinge of revisionism, partially due to my age and, with it, the fact that I was just not listening to techno at all at this point in time. But when you consider the musical landscape of the early 90s, even as far as techno is concerned, they really were forging new ground. This was the heyday of hardcore and rave, and labels like Warp had only just barely shifted out of their much-loved "bleep" phase into the so-called "Artificial Intelligence" of early Autechre, B12 and Black Dog.

The music pumped out by this pair, however, completely deviated from the norms of the time. They started with techno cut from the same approximate cloth as American visionaries like Jeff Mills, but theirs was a different touch. Whereas Mills could be fast and furious, something about Von Oswald and Ernestus's approach seemed understated, muted, almost sublime. They harnessed the power of repetition and created a plodding, minimal hypnosis through their early records, tools for the floor just as much as compelling, mesmerizing home listening. And they released it all on vinyl with little to no information about the label, producers, or sometimes even track titles.

Of all their various aliases (which include Rhythm & Sound and Maurizio), Basic Channel is perhaps the deepest and most spacious. Their records moved from minimal functional tools into progressively more and more distilled, sublime material, sometimes dropping out the kick altogether and letting the repetition and patterns of their synths run indefinitely, with only subtle variations and nuances to indicate progress. It's a testament to how well-crafted most of their tracks are that they are able to hold a listener in captivity for upwards of ten or fifteen minutes with only slight variations on the surface. One might argue that it is the lifebreath, the pulse of the music, that is really doing the work, and all the sounds and surface are merely utility to lend some context.

The duo has championed vinyl over any other format ("Buy vinyl!" appears on their CD releases), but they are not so opposed as to avoid digital media altogether. In 1995 they pressed a variety of tracks to CD as BCD, which went through a variety of packaging (one of which required that you nearly destroy the exterior to get to the disc, another of which – the metal box – was notorious for actually cracking the disc itself when removing it from the case) and seemed to showcase the act's most abstract, understated moments. "Radiance" and its variations were often totally beatless, as was the shuffling, shapeshifting "Mutism" (if ever there was a track that lived up to its title, this is it) and "Presence." BCD-2 is a long overdue companion to that first compilation disc, basically populated with tracks that were left off the first installment. Herein the tracks are preserved in their full original length, and, as a result, many tracks are significantly longer. The variety is more dramatic, and the tracks themselves are ordered in chronological order. It's much more of a retrospective for the moniker than the first disc.

If "Enforcement" seems slightly foreign or bolder than most of BCD, it's for a reason; it's one of their earliest releases from 1993 and is sometimes credited to Cyrus ("Produced by Cyrus" appears on the sticker). It's a good indication of their presumable influences, channeling the energy found in the likes of US producers Jeff Mills and Robert Hood, but in a more streamlined, minimal nature. "Phylyps Trak" owes even more to that harder edge, bristling with electricity and a decidedly faster tempo. But the trajectory of their sound becomes clearer from there; gone is the more aggressive touch of "Phylyps Trak" as we navigate through the deep waters of "Inversion," an extended, meditative pulse that is here in its full near 18-minute glory. The quicker pace of "Octaedre" and "Octagon" do lend a different quality than the near-perfection of "Inversion," but they all work to complement one another. In a way, BCD-2 is just the other side of the coin from its predecessor comp; whereas BCD was all open space and subtraction, BCD-2 is more utility, but without sacrificing the keen minimal edge that set these records so sharply apart from their contemporaries.

The fact that a genre was borne from these releases is a testament to how much the two nailed this sound the first time around. Put on Daniel Stefanik's "Starless" from last year and you'll hear a dead ringer homage to these seminal releases, and that's just one of any number of so-called dub techno efforts to hit shelves in the past 15 years that owes pretty much everything to Basic Channel. Despite how much I've attempted to summarize these records in this post, there really isn't a whole lot to say about them that hasn't probably already been said before (and perhaps better, or at least more concisely). Thankfully Von Oswold and Ernestus have seen fit to release this sister companion to their first CD, even if it pains them to press something other than vinyl. It opens their music up to a whole other arena of listeners whom it would supremely behoove to acquire, listen and learn.


mp3s: Enforcement | Inversion
more info: Basic Channel | Discogs | Circonium Discography
buy it: Hard Wax | Bent Crayon | Forced Exposure | Boomkat | Amazon MP3 | iTunes

New Microfilm site is live!

Another self-promotional blurb as our 2nd album, The Slingshot Orchestra is about to be released next week... we've relaunched our web site which now includes simple links to buy our music online, as well as the ability to stream it all from our site.

Check out our site here for a sneak peek at our new album as well as a chance to hear our entire backcatalogue in one central place!

Antonelli: <i>Soulkiller</i> (Italic CD/LP/digital)

Stefan Schwander is, or at least was, one of my musical heroes. I think in the world stage of techno, he's a bit unsung, preferring to remain in the shadows a bit as he works his hand at what can sometimes seem rather utilitarian instrumental music. When I first heard Antonelli Electr.'s Me, The Disco Machine in 2001 or so (a couple years after its release, even), I was bowled over by its clever intersection of repetitive, minimal structures, vague disco references (without anything so overt that I'd call the music itself proper disco), a touch of electro-pop and his own special style of syncopation. Schwander shares with Jörg Burger what I consider a knack for surprise as far as his sequencing and layering of chords, basslines and beats. While the tracks themselves usually are quite spare as far as the number of elements at any one time, and they often mutate and build and change rather gradually, there is often the introduction of a kick drum, a bassline, a hi-hat or other device that is completely off the pacing that the listener may have anticipated.

Schwander seemed to move away from the vague pop sensibility of Me, The Disco Machine with the records that followed. Click was entirely instrumental, and seemed to focus in on stiff but spry Detroit techno by way of German minimalism. Love And Other Solutions loosened up a bit and was a little more romantic in tone, less mechanical but still quite minimal. And while I never fully heard The Blackout Sessions, it seemed to veer much further into the weird mid-tempo electronic soul of Jan Jelinek and his Farben moniker, ditching much of the dancefloor verve that made his earlier records so special to me.

While Schwander has continued to release 12" records with a certain amount of regularity, Soulkiller is his first LP of uptempo tracks in some time. True to those earlier albums, the tracks themselves are fairly lengthy, with its 8 tracks approaching an hour as an album. The crisp, clean, metered feel of Schwander's Pop Up collaborations or the streamlined Detroit-cum-Germany tech house of Click come to mind as the title track kicks things off. It's a slow build, for sure – there are no melodic elements whatsoever for the first minute and a half, when a flanged square bass line comes in. Then the layers build, and build, and build – some panning, persistent chords, a secondary bass line that adds an extra amount of swagger... once he has all the pieces in places, then Schwander begins to subtract, add, vary on the formula, never losing that insistent kick and descending tick-tick-tick-tock high pitched rim shot that frame the entire track. It's deceivingly simple as it dares you to not bob your head. "When Terry Sings" is presumably a nod to Specials singer Terry Hall, a smooth-rolling house track characterized by extended chords and buoyant, clean bass. It's not Schwander's first reference to music of the past; Me, The Disco Machine featured a generous and more obvious tribute to Hamilton Bohannon. He continues that tribute with a track here called "Hamilton." It doesn't have the same irresistible slap bass that nailed it on Disco Machine's "Bohannon," but Schwander's own personal funk is hard to deny here. But his is a sort of anti-funk, operating at the far opposite end of the spectrum from more commonly "funky" electronic acts out there, all efficient and no-nonsense.

So it's probably not without a sense of humor that Schwander has titled this opus Soulkiller, deriving inspiration from sources like Bohannon and Terry Hall and rendering them virtually soulless by common standards. But there is a wonderful sort of mechanical, computer soul at work here, something that resonates with me and no doubt others. So when he lays down a track toward the end called "Cold Entertainment," it's hard not to smile. It's as if he's acknowledging the public at large's misconception of electronic music, poking fun at his own aesthetic, but with a wink; it may be repetitive, minimal, electronic, even stiff at times, but soulless it most certainly ain't.

mp3s: Soulkiller | Hamilton
more info: Official artist site | Italic on Virb | Antonelli on Virb | Discogs
buy it: Amazon MP3 | Bent Crayon | Forced Exposure | Boomkat |

Andy Stott: <i>Unknown Exception</i> (Modern Love CD/digital)

28-year-old producer Andy Stott has quite a string of records under his belt, much evidenced by this second CD release which collects many of his recent vinyl releases for Boomkat's sophisticated minimal techno imprint, Modern Love. While Stott's earlier work veered more toward Detroit and classic techno, he's moved into progressively deeper waters with records like ZLV and Massacre, channeling the same deep, low-end dub that informs the classic work of Rhythm & Sound or Maurizio. He does so with a contemporary ear, though, careful to not completely repeat what's come before. The variety is refreshing here, especially when by and large this could be labeled "dub techno" – only a few tracks explicitly deliver on the promise of such a microgenre, and when they do, they really shine. But there are just as many sidesteps that touch upon somewhat familiar sounds, albeit in a way that feels cohesive, with Stott's fingerprint on each unique track.

The common theme in the tracks that comprise Unknown Exception is a deep, clean, buoyant low-end. From the first fade-in of "Fear of Heights," a repetitive, bobbing bassline sets the stride. The references to dub are in the delay and reverb on the chords and melodic phrases, sprinkled throughout what is a surprisingly uptempo basskick – it feels quite chill and slow, but is really moving at a good clip. The same can be said for second track "Bad Landing," which has a familiar reggae-dub organ pattern and melody; the throwback to dub is there, but over a similar upbeat bass kick (but staggered rim shot) and bouyant bassline. But not every track here is such a thorough dub-techno hybrid. "Long Drive" is a sedate nod to Detroit techno, while "Credit" is more fully formed in that direction with pronounced claps and warm pads, giving it a nostalgic tint while still looking forward. He's not afraid to dial it all back to the bare essentials, as indicated by "Fine Metallic Dollar" or "She's Gone Wrong," two of the most skeletal tracks of the minimal techno variety (think Richie Hawtin's M_nus label), but these more no-nonsense workouts are balanced by the deep, slow dub of "See In Me" or the beautifully repetitive "Hostile" or lightly melodic "Replace" as a closer.

His tracks feel related and from the same set of hands each time, but none of the tracks on Unknown Exception feel dull or redundant. He's edited well and managed to craft a well-paced album out of these pre-existing standalone releases... it's an album filled with tracks that can function on the floor but are perhaps even better in the deep of night, for isolated at-home listening.


mp3s: Fear of Heights | See In Me
more info: Myspace | Discogs | Modern Love
buy it: Bent Crayon | Forced Exposure | Boomkat | Amazon

Craque: <i>Gamma</i> (Test Tube digital)

Matt Cooke Davis is the mind behind Craque, a project of highly abstract instrumental electronic music that often defies easy categorization. He's not afraid of melody or traditional rhythm, even at times can lay down a healthy groove, but most of his music is characterized by heavily processed and manipulated sounds derived from everyday objects. Typically, though, these sounds are far removed from the source and take on a weird, synthetic life of their own.

Gamma is a free mini-album for the Test Tube netlabel, and from the first few seconds of "Penetrarette," Craque is already bending sound into something surprising, a whirling rush of color and texture. It's a brief palate cleanser, wiping out whatever may be in your mind to prepare you for the more subtle and strange longer pieces to follow. "Cirkulit" is built largely around an oddly catchy synth phrase, but the rhythm section, consisting largely of clicks, blips, and fragments, skitters around it, often disorienting you in the process. Like "Cirkulit," "Gruven" (perhaps a play on phonics) is anchored by an off-kilter musical phrase -- in this instance, a series of delayed guitar chords and an odd melodic pattern. "Matterbuss" incorporates some buried field recordings and has a strange free jazz quality about it (in spirit more than sound) while "Orgaslsp" is probably the most unusual of the bunch, with an insistent, rhythmic synth sound that reminds me of heavy breathing, sounds darting in and out of one another as this odd machine gasp persists in rhythm. He saves the most direct beat for last on "Liberation," a downtempo groove that references hip hop in the most leftfield of ways, pitting weird pitched cymbals and choppy samples against a smooth bass synth that ties it all together.

It's another in a series of free digital releases that Craque has produced in the last couple of years, definitely worth a gander for any fan of abstract electronic music. His own approach to strangely infectious grooves takes a bit of time to set in, but it's hard to deny once it does.

more info: Official artist site | Myspace | Test Tube album detail
download it for free: click here

Microfilm: <i>Teenage Symphonies EP</i> (Fiche digital)

For those who never heard about it (I don't think I even mentioned it here on my own blog), I thought I'd write a post about my project Microfilm's last EP, released over the summer. This is less a review and more just a bit of self-promotion, but I'd like to do my best to give this blurb some substance for anyone curious about what Microfilm has been up to lately.

Our second full-length release, The Slingshot Orchestra, is going to be available on November 11th through a variety of online stores, and I thought I'd preface that with a promotional post about this EP, which includes a track from the new album, several remixes, and an exclusive extra track. The original single is pure pop, the most pop thing we've done to date, with a more than subtle nod to Peter Hook and New Order and my own take on Kompakt's specific recent brand of pop. It's included in vocal and instrumental form, but the remixes then veer off in a variety of directions. The Astrolabe contributes an awesome slab of pure early 90s Shep Pettibone house, while my own "Little Darlings" version is a more functional minimal techno treatment. The "Olivia Hussey" reprise is another reworking we did ourselves, applying a new context to the original vocoder chorus with concrete sounds and IDM programming. Spanish laptop-folk act Monica Y Carlos contribute their own take on the track, using only the original vocal and carving an entirely different track out of it. (Neither the Astrolabe nor Monica Y Carlos had access to the finished track; we only gave them the vocal and had them run with it -- then played the original for them after the fact.)

It's an indication partially of where we headed with the album, away from the more electrohouse and diced up samples of the first album and into something a little more fully formed, more pop, more lush, less obvious. It's still dancefloor compatible, but with advances toward actual songs rather than the off-the-cuff dance tracks we did so quickly last time around.

You can hear the original via this wonderful video that French art group Les Beautiful Fools put together for us:


mp3: Teenage Symphonies (Olivia Hussey's Reprise)
more info: Official Microfilm site | Myspace
buy it: Amazon | iTunes | Emusic