Emperor X Explained

Emperor X
Birth Name:Chad Randall Matheny[1]
Birth Place:Louisville, Kentucky, United States
Birth Date:8 April 1979
Background:solo_singer
Origin:Jacksonville, Florida, United States
Years Active:1998–present

Chad Randall Matheny, known professionally as Emperor X, is an American singer and songwriter.

Early life and career

Born in Louisville, Kentucky in 1979,[2] 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.[3]

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.[4]

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",[5] 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.[6]

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".[7]

In 2020, Matheny and Christian Holden from The Hotelier started an artist-managed record label cooperative known as Dreams of Field Recordings.[8]

Personal life

Matheny is a former high school science teacher,[9] and in 2004 he stopped his pursuit of a master's degree in physics in order to dedicate his career to music.[10]

Matheny is a testicular cancer survivor and has low vision, which makes him unable to legally drive.[11] [12] [13]

Discography

Full-length albums

EPs and singles

Tour-only releases

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: ACTION . ASCAP . American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers . November 11, 2023.
  2. Web site: Emperor X: Tectonic Membrane/Thin Strip on an Edgeless Platform . 1 July 2004 . Pitchfork . en . 10 March 2019.
  3. Web site: Ubl. Sam. Tectonic Membrane/Thin Strip on an Edgeless Platform Review. Pitchfork. 2 March 2016.
  4. Web site: Matheny. Chad. A poorly-formatted but complete of every Emperor X performance ever so far. Emperor X Official Website. 2 March 2016.
  5. Web site: Wasoba. Ryan. Emperor X On Stock Responses And Performative Marketing. Riverfront Times. 2 March 2016. October 29, 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20111029111944/http://blogs.riverfronttimes.com/rftmusic/2011/10/emperor_x_interview_tour_western_teleport.php. dead.
  6. Web site: Digging For Tunes With Emperor X. NPR.
  7. News: Raycats and earworms: How scientists are using colour-changing cats and nursery rhymes to warn future generations of nuclear danger . 7 November 2020 . CityAM . 24 November 2014.
  8. emperorx. 1222197007512670209. 28 January 2020. Please meet @DreamsofField, an artist-managed record label cooperative that Christian @moldyfish @thehotelyear and I are setting up as our new label home. dreamsoffield.com.
  9. Web site: Deusner. Stephen. The Most Underrated Albums of 2011. Salon. December 24, 2011 . 2 March 2016.
  10. Web site: Emperor X Biography. Bar None Records.
  11. Web site: Indieheads Podcast interview. https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211214/SIdJZ8vwXXA . 2021-12-14 . live. YouTube.
  12. Web site: Greenspan. Sam. Emperor X: 'We Are Much More Than The Sum Of The Diseases And Disabilities We Carry'. NPR. 25 September 2017.
  13. Matheny . Chad . Emperor X . Sjimon Gompers . Chad Matheny of Emperor X . . 6 March 2012 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20120308092057/http://www.imposemagazine.com/features/chad-matheny-of-emperor-x . 8 March 2012 . 25 August 2023.
  14. Web site: Eakin. Marah. Emperor X tries to put Orlando on the map (again) with a new single, EP. The AV Club. June 9, 2014 . 2 March 2016.

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