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HistoryTexas-born Dear moved to Michigan as a teenager, where he was inspired by the sound of Detroit Techno.
Dear met Sam Valenti IV at a party while attending the University of Michigan, after which the two started the record label, Ghostly International, based on a shared love of electronic music.
Dear’s first single was 1999’s "Hands Up For Detroit" (co-produced by ghettotech pioneer Disco D, who performed under the name Daisha).
Successive singles, such as "Stealing Moves" and the chart-topping "Mouth to Mouth" (as Audion) were issued on Spectral Sound, Ghostly’s offshoot that focuses on dancefloor music.Dear’s first album Leave Luck to Heaven appeared in 2003 and was praised widely as a seminal fusion of pop and minimal techno.
The album’s single "Dog Days" became one of Spectral’s best sellers and a favorite of international DJs like Richie Hawtin.
Dear followed the album with Backstroke in 2004 and has also begun working under the harder-edged Audion alias, apart from additional monikers False and Jabberjaw.In 2007, Matthew Dear released his sophomore full length, Asa Breed.
Matthew and his band, Matthew Dear's Big Hands then began a US promotional tour and a European tour as the opening act for Hot Chip.
2008 saw the re-release of Asa Breed as the Asa Breed Black Edition.
This re-release added 5 new songs, including a remix of Don and Sherri from Hot Chip and the video for the song, shot in downtown New York City.In 2010, Dear opened for Interpol, performing on their first three dates in the UK.Matthew Dear's fourth album, Black City, was released on August 17, 2010.
It conceptualizes a futuristic metropolis that never sleeps.
Dear describes 'Black City': "Well, there's a kind of timelessness to it in the sense that I don't want things to run on a 24-hour clock.
It seems like a city that's always awake, maybe always dialled in electronically, and cannot be turned off.
It's this imaginary weird never-sleeping town.
But yeah it's full of lust, and love, and dark shadows.
Weird things around the corner…"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 Dears latest full-length, 2012’s Beams, was 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 became the latest chapter in the continuing evolution of one of music’s most fascinating minds.
After over a decade of exploring pops 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.On stage, Matthew Dear performs with a multi-pieced live band, unraveling the tightly wound album tracks into kaleidoscopic walls of sound.
They have supported Interpol, Hot Chip and Depeche Mode on their world tours, and have performed sold-out shows from London to New York City.InfluencesDear has listed Talking Heads, David Bowie, Adonis, Nitzer Ebb, and Roman Flügel as inspirations.When asked who he is influenced by as Matthew Dear, "Definitely I'm influenced by Brian Eno and a lot of his work.
I've said it before but he is one that is so interesting to listen to on all formats whether it be his production with other bands, whether it's his solo work or whether it's his collaboration work with other artists.
He's probably the number one."