Junk Culture
(Illegal Art)
Deepak Matena, the brain trust behind this fractured musical project, understands the value of a great name. He took his musical moniker from the title of OMD's 1984 album, obviously understanding the deeper implications of such a loaded pair of words.
In keeping with the name, Matena (like Illegal Art labelmate Girl Talk) mines the detritus of decades of pop culture, stitching together a laundry list of song samples and random bits of noise to make new compositions. Some are recognizable (you'll catch a bit of "Feel Good, Inc." here or a taste of "Take The Money And Run" there), many are lost under washes of reverb and static or choppy edits. The result is a head-spinning batch of tracks that make for a brilliant soundtrack to the quick clicking, constantly updating, always plugged in species that we are devolving into.
A track like "American Minute Song" plays out like a car stereo with a malfunctioning scan feature jumping forward and back with trills of rhythm, vocal hits and synth noise. Then he drops the aforementioned Steve Miller Band drum sample that leaps to a bit of easy listening organ accompanied by a hip-hop beat. And then back it goes into something approximating disco before speeding up into oblivion and on to the next track.
Even when playing it straight, which happens only on the EP's opening track "West Coast," you still get the sense that you are shaky ground. Pretty soon the cracks start appearing in the foundation and the whole thing crumbles in front of you. It's sure as hell a lot of fun sifting through the rubble.
Standout tracks: "American Minute Song," "For Elise" ROBERT HAM
