🐣 MATT SOKOL — THE ART FACTORY [初演 • PREMIERE]

There is a great deal of urgency in Matt Sokol's 'the art factory', a track brimming kinetic energy courtesy of collusion between breakneck drums and earthy handfuls of synth arranged in robust arpeggios. Melodies cry out in its first half like little robots communicating brightly with chirruping bleeps-n-bloops, evoking the scene assumed by its enigmatic title: an art factory, where art is made; the sound is industrious, cheerful, with dips of intrigue and doom effusing from a couple of key changes within the first minute. Who are these robots on the production line? For whom is this art being made? We wonder.

Talking to us about the track, Matt Sokol – a drummer himself as well as producer – explains the hyperactive beats: "My love for drums and youthful obsession with math rock drumming means I can't help it," he writes in an email to us, "so many of my beats are crazy fast, flying all over the place."

'the art factory' goes through not only key changes, but whole stylistic shifts. At 1:14 the arpeggio falls away leaving a naked footwork beat thumping beneath a new set of spooky, gleaming synths, chiptune-esque (the VGM sound is "ultimately a coincidence" however), signalling a darker twist behind this art factory, a growling crunch of distortion raging till its crescendo at 1:46 summons an overwhelming sinister tone; look at the artwork—is that blood trailing from what we assume is the factory? The track ends with calm and steady beat, gentle guitar riff, with chilled sweeps of the strings—things are back to normal. It is a multifaceted offering. These are more than superficial changes, however, and are reflective of a thought process.

"I think my mind moves faster than average, both in good and bad ways," Sokol tells us. "I can think fast but also sometimes I can think too fast and go down crazy intellectual pathways in my mind that are not useful."

"With music it seems like that aspect of my personality comes out in overdrive."

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• 🔔 'the art factory' will be released as a standalone single on 19th January.
• 🔔 Matt Sokol's debut EP bloomer was released in October last year and you can listen to and purchase it over on his Bandcamp.

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📠
☟ Matt Sokol Internet Presence ☟
facebook ⚘ soundcloud ⚘ bandcamp ⚘ twitter ⚘ spotify

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VULPIXIC – 12AM

Who dis? Dis Vulpixic. Who dat? Musicmaker. Self-taught. Also studying for a PhD in ocean optics. What dat? "Atmospheric and ocean optics is the application of optics and radiative transfer to problems in the atmosphere and ocean," says Wikipedia. Then I went on a Wikipedia voyage and I forgot what I found out and ended up on the 'List of alien races in Marvel comics' – that's what always happens. (Not w Marvel but y'know).

Enough of this utter fatuous nonsense. We talkin about '12am', a track by Vulpixic (I guess the adjectival form of Vulpix), a veritable dream of a track, a pure blue sky day with maybe a few clouds tumbling across it because of an impatient but friendly breeze, a lake rippling and flowers nodding and smiling creatures like tumbleweed made of feathers bounce in meandering herds across verdant meadows.

It's upbeat, led by a three note bassline burrowing beneath it all, gentle beeps scurrying across your field of hearing with a cascade of chimes and metallic percussion added to the luscious mix, occasional glitches halting progress for the same kinda satisfaction I get from looking at architectural models – tiny but minutiae-focused buildings with tiny people doing all sorts of different things. Towards the end, synth vox veils the sound with solemn ambience, a different beat bouncing with restful yet determined zest.

• This comes from an EP (or it's not labelled as such but might as well be) called Rabbit Reasons and you can grab it for just $1 over here. But as you can see you can download this one track for frees.

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☟ Vulpixic Social Media Presence ☟
SoundCloud • Bandcamp

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