Emperor X

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Template:Short description Template:Use American English Template:Use mdy dates Script error: No such module "Infobox".Template:Template otherScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". Chad Randall Matheny, known professionally as Emperor X, is an American singer and songwriter.

Early life and career

Born in Louisville, Kentucky in 1979,[1] Matheny got his start in music when he was given a Casio SK-1 by his grandparents at age nine, and recorded his first album on a Tascam four-track before the age of 20.[2]

Matheny tours across the United States regularly and performs around the world as well, including tours in Mexico, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, and the European Union.[3]

In a self-described attempt to "address the diminishing utility of physical copies of music and the expanding role of marketing in the experience of art",[4] Matheny often hides or buries one-off physical copies and associated visual artwork of b-sides at GPS coordinates and posts them online as a part of a geocaching game to unlock MP3 copies of the audio. For the release of the 2011 Emperor X album Western Teleport, 41 "translucent purple audio cassettes" were buried across North America, many of which remain undiscovered. This received a feature on NPR's "Weekend Edition" program.[5]

In 2014, Matheny was commissioned by 99% Invisible to write a song titled "10,000-Year Earworm to Discourage Settlement Near Nuclear Waste Repositories (Don't Change Color, Kitty)" based on Françoise Bastide and Paolo Fabbri's concept of a millennia-long nuclear waste warning message in the form of a folk song about genetically engineered cats. Matheny wrote it to be "so catchy and annoying that it might be handed down from generation to generation over a span of 10,000 years".[6]

In 2020, Matheny and Christian Holden from The Hotelier started an artist-managed record label cooperative known as Dreams of Field Recordings.[7]

Personal life

Matheny is a former high school science teacher,[8] and in 2004 he stopped his pursuit of a master's degree in physics in order to dedicate his career to music.[9]

Matheny is a testicular cancer survivor and has low vision, which makes him unable to legally drive.[10][11][12]

Discography

Full-length albums

  • The Joytakers' Rakes/Stars on the Ceiling, Pleasantly Kneeling (1998, self-released)
  • Tectonic Membrane/Thin Strip on an Edgeless Platform (2004, Discos Mariscos)[2]
  • Central Hug/Friendarmy/Fractaldunes (2005, Discos Mariscos)
  • The Blythe Archives Volume One (2008, Burnt Toast Vinyl)
  • The Blythe Archives Volume Two (2009, self-released)
  • Western Teleport (2011, Bar/None Records)
  • Nineteen Live Recordings (2013, Plan-It-X Records, re-released in 2020 on Dreams of Field Recordings)
  • Jetzt Christmas (2013)
  • The Orlando Sentinel (2014, The Bomber Jacket)[13]
  • Oversleepers International (2017, Tiny Engines)
  • The Lakes of Zones B and C (2022)

EPs and singles

  • Wuss/Strike/River/Preacher/Magnet/God/Unwuss (2006)
  • Dirt Dealership (2007)
  • Defiance (for Elise Sunderhuse) (2010)
  • Brown Recluse/At a Rave with Nicolas Sarkozy (2013)
  • 10,000-Year Earworm to Discourage Resettlement Near Nuclear Waste Repositories (2014)
  • Wasted on the Senate Floor (2016)
  • Sad React (2020, Dreams of Field Recordings)
  • United Earth League of Quarantine Aerobics (2020, Dreams of Field Recordings) – as Chad Matheny
  • Suggested Improvements to Transportation Infrastructure in the Northeast Corridor (2023)

Tour-only releases

  • Gasheater/Raytracer (2004)
  • East Coast and Freedom From/Freedom To (2004)
  • Everyone in Jacksonville (2006)
  • Australia Tour Tape (2010)
  • Several New Songs in Various Digital Formats (2011)

References

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External links

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