Emperor X

Emperor X
Background information
Origin	Jacksonville, FL, U.S.
Genres	Noise Pop, Noise Rock, Folk, Folk-Rock
Years active	1998 – present
Labels	Bar/None Records Discos Mariscos Snowglobe Records Bakery Outlet Records Burnt Toast Vinyl Plan-It-X Records[1]
Associated acts	The Cadets, Applied Communications, Beatcancel, Neosporin
Website	http://www.emperorx.net
Members	C. R. Matheny
Notable instruments
Acoustic Guitar, 12-String Guitar, Delay Pedal, Keyboard

Emperor X is a noise pop/folk music project headed by American musician Chad R. Matheny. The project often performs and records with little more than Matheny on an acoustic guitar and a dynamic microphone, but sometimes also employs large groups of musicians on percussion instruments, various electronic noisemakers, brass/woodwind/string ensembles, and traditional rock instruments.

Emperor X 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.^[2][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 tape cassettes" were buried across North America, many of which remain undiscovered.^[5] This received national attention including a feature on National Public Radio's "Weekend Edition" program.^[6]

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)
• Central Hug/Friendarmy/Fractal Dunes (2005, Discos Mariscos)
• The Blythe Archives Volumes One and Two (2009, Burnt Toast Vinyl/self-released)
• Western Teleport (2011, Bar/None Records)
• Nineteen Live Recordings (2013, Plan-It-X Records)
• The Orlando Sentinel (2014) ^[7]

EPs and singles

• Dirt Dealership 7" (2007)
• Wuss/Strike/River/Preacher/Magnet/God/Unwuss free online EP (2006)
• Defiance (for Elise Sunderhuse) double cassette (2010)

Tour-only releases

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

External links

• "Weekend Edition" story on an early version of Matheny's tape burial project
• artist bio on Bar/None website
• Emperor X official website
• Discos Mariscos
• Interview with Cokemachineglow
• Interview with dot-alt.com
• Last FM E.X page
• Emperor X on Allmusic
• Concert review from UCLA Radio
• Lengthy article on PopMatters
• Music Review
• L Magazine review
• Pitchfork review of Tectonic Membrane...
• mention by David Cross
• Interview with Artist Connection Podcast

References