Mathew Jonson ... Classic or Dud?

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I've realized that he's never going to make the Wagon Repair + Wax Trax record that I want, but nonetheless ... Return of the Zombie Bikers? FM David?

On his way to classic.

― Cameron Octigan (Cameron Octigan), Sunday, 10 September 2006 20:51 (nineteen years ago)

IMO pretty dud.

He has had a few great tracks, but is extremely inconsistent and at worst just boring and humourless.

― Ronan (Ronan), Sunday, 10 September 2006 21:00 (nineteen years ago)

Humourless isn't even the right word, geeky?

― Ronan (Ronan), Sunday, 10 September 2006 21:01 (nineteen years ago)

Classic - Typerope, Magic Through Music, Folding Space, Followed by Angels, Marionette. his best stuff makes other minimal records sound very cold and dreary IMO

Not so classic - his remixes, his breakbeat stuff

― Good Dog (Good Dog), Sunday, 10 September 2006 21:07 (nineteen years ago)

I wouldn't say dud at all, but I am usually a bit underwhelmed by him - his tracks always seem to mark time. "Typerope" always and forever the exception.

You could also mount an argument that he extended minimal house an invitation not to groove, and lots of people decided they wanted to go to his party.

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Sunday, 10 September 2006 21:16 (nineteen years ago)

Good when he's good but stupendously overvalued by real ale technoheads in general. And yes, placeholder tracks is very much his niche I reckon.

― just say no to individuality (fandango), Sunday, 10 September 2006 21:19 (nineteen years ago)

what Good Dog said. also lets not forget hes a member of Cobblestone Jazz!

― Python... No Bite :B (flezaffe), Sunday, 10 September 2006 21:23 (nineteen years ago)

I don't understand why everything he's released under his own name in the past year sounds like Zombie Bikers. The singles mentioned by Good Dog + Freedom Engine - classic.

― Jena (JenaP), Sunday, 10 September 2006 22:16 (nineteen years ago)

I wouldn't say dud at all, but I am usually a bit underwhelmed by him - his tracks always seem to mark time.

Hmm, yeah -- by coincedence I'm just encountering him now this second, thanks to that F compilation on Cocoon. Right before his track were two really great ones by Gregor Tresher and Andreas Kauffelt; his in contrast is more, 'ah, okay -- good enough, I guess.'

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 10 September 2006 22:22 (nineteen years ago)

wow, I love that track on Cocoon F - pure snake-charming techno.

― Good Dog (Good Dog), Sunday, 10 September 2006 22:31 (nineteen years ago)

Has he fallen out of favour recently or just been quiet? I kind of get the impression Carl Craig on a roll has usurped him somehow.

― just say no to individuality (fandango), Sunday, 10 September 2006 22:32 (nineteen years ago)

"You could also mount an argument that he extended minimal house an invitation not to groove, and lots of people decided they wanted to go to his party."

>>> I agreed with this.

"I don't understand why everything he's released under his own name in the past year sounds like Zombie Bikers."

>>> I also agreed with Jena. Definitely a limited sound palette.

ALSO ...

I think it's maybe his "party" that, for me, makes him sort of more in the classic category than dud. He has helped move techno away from the sometimes "groovy" aspect, and I like that very much. Given the choice, I would pick Coil or Nitzer Ebb over funky, groovy tech-house any day.

― Cameron Octigan (Cameron Octigan), Monday, 11 September 2006 01:15 (nineteen years ago)

"Given the choice, I would pick Coil or Nitzer Ebb over funky, groovy tech-house any day."

This is kind of a forced dichotomy though isn't it? "Groove" applies as much to Perlon, Sub Static, Mobilee, Get Physical and so on and so forth as it does to Plastic City.

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Monday, 11 September 2006 01:24 (nineteen years ago)

Both cuts on Typerope are incredible. He's a bit inconsistent but I'd wager classic stature on his better work.

― Nick Disabato (nickd), Monday, 11 September 2006 03:29 (nineteen years ago)

apart from his sub static ep i didn't really see what the fuss was about when his first batch of records came out but the last and the forthcoming cobblestone jazz records are mindblowing and his new solo single is great too.

as for the 'groovy; asepect, i think he's pretty groovy, AS ARE COIL!!!!

― stirmonster (stirmonster), Monday, 11 September 2006 05:01 (nineteen years ago)

aw you haterz! his live sets are awesome. really groovy, really danceable. i saw him do a live set at a big party last year in berlin and he totally blew everyone else who was djing that night (richie hawtin, etc) out of the water. i like almost everything he's done.

stirmonster otm about the cobblestone jazz stuff. "india in me"!

― geeta (geeta), Monday, 11 September 2006 06:39 (nineteen years ago)

I think my negative feeling about him comes from the sheer number of mixes I've heard which get turned off swiftly of the arrival of the vaguely-low-key-trancey-but-way-too-long Mathew Jonson track (I'll usually end up finding out later) ... and that mix of "all Mathew Jonson" tracks which turned up around the time he was getting the most press and was SO boring. OTOH he's been almost the highlight of some (far fewer though) mixes, and has at least a handful of memorable tracks even if they aren't ones I'd seek out and want to buy especially.

― fandango (fandango), Monday, 11 September 2006 07:01 (nineteen years ago)

also search 'dump truck' by cobblestone jazz! i love that record so much. every dj i've seen everywhere is caning 'dump truck' as far as i can tell...it crosses over so well into all different kinds of sets. i've heard it in minimal techno dj sets in nyc and it sounds fucking great. then i saw prins thomas play 'dump truck' between some full-on disco records and it sounded fucking great. then a few days later i saw ewan pearson play and he played 'dump truck' alongside some electro-house sounding stuff and that sounded great as well.

― geeta (geeta), Monday, 11 September 2006 07:02 (nineteen years ago)

geeta you're doing it again

(making me mad envious)

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Monday, 11 September 2006 07:46 (nineteen years ago)

"Dump Truck" is on Heidi's upcoming Monza Club Ibiza mix on Get Physical, too. OH NO IT IS SPREADING

― Telephonething (Telephonething), Monday, 11 September 2006 08:53 (nineteen years ago)

Behind The Mirror, Decompression, Sub Atomic. Classic.

― micarl (micarl), Monday, 11 September 2006 09:17 (nineteen years ago)

Dud just because his bad moments remind me of all the worst moments in techno. Like late-90s Sven Vath, or something. Especially because I bought a couple of his records despite not liking them because I was thinking "well there must be SOMETHING to justify all the hype".

On the other hand the "Extrapoliert" remix is awesome. Best thing he's done. Taken on its own, unmitigatedly classic.

― Jacob (Jacob), Monday, 11 September 2006 09:55 (nineteen years ago)

Too many classics to be dud!

Thomas Schumacher played dumptruck at the party I was at the weekend.

― Bn1 (Bn1), Monday, 11 September 2006 10:23 (nineteen years ago)

marionette (both versions)::::: classic. havent heard anything else that touches this though

― -- (688), Monday, 11 September 2006 10:25 (nineteen years ago)

stirmonster: "he's pretty groovy, AS ARE COIL"

>> uh ... yeah, but Coil are just about anything at some point.

― Cameron Octigan (Cameron Octigan), Monday, 11 September 2006 10:34 (nineteen years ago)

For 'Marionette (live mix)' alone as-classic-as-Rome. With added Decompression, Zombie Bikers, Folding Space. Don't like his remixes with the exception of the Hiem remix.

― Omar (Omar), Monday, 11 September 2006 10:50 (nineteen years ago)

Others not mentioned: She Is He, Alpine Rocket (w/ Luciano, Cobblestone Jazz's The Fifth Element, 911 How Can I Help You, Modern Deep Left Quartet's Babyfoot EP...

Has he fallen out of favour recently or just been quiet?

This new one on Wagon Repair is the first 'Mathew Jonson' 12" of the year.

I kind of get the impression Carl Craig on a roll has usurped him somehow.

Which would be ironic since Craig was one of the first to take notice of Jonson.

― Andy_K (Andy_K), Monday, 11 September 2006 10:53 (nineteen years ago)

i love the drum sounds! and the way you can kind of feel a very not-techno element in his techno tracks. his favorite music is hip-hop, not techno, from what i've heard.

(dear god, i am posting to ILM from an AIRPLANE. how nerdy is that?! i'm somewhere over the atlantic ocean and the plane is wired with internet access.)

also: andy k otm!

― geeta (geeta), Monday, 11 September 2006 14:16 (nineteen years ago)

(dear god, i am posting to ILM from an AIRPLANE. how nerdy is that?! i'm somewhere over the atlantic ocean and the plane is wired with internet access.)

Hahaha. YOU CANNOT ESCAPE.

I'll give Jonson a second chance, then, but with caution.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 11 September 2006 14:31 (nineteen years ago)

i heard him for the first time at PS1 a month and a piece ago, i think. he started out with some drifting-in-and-out arpeggiation and mixed Zombie Bikers into it. it was great, and really groovy, and the rest of the night was just as fun. most of his releases i've heard a little cold, yes, and run a little long for seemingly only having an idea or two, but they're great ideas! and man i seriously want a recording of that set

― lemin (lemin), Monday, 11 September 2006 15:53 (nineteen years ago)

that comment about tons of his stuff sounding like Zombie Bikers is so true.

― Ronan (Ronan), Monday, 11 September 2006 17:46 (nineteen years ago)

his new one is a lot like it, but it is also great!

i say classic for just about everything.

― breakfast pants (disco stu), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 04:42 (nineteen years ago)

FITE!

This week's Breezeblock - Mathew and Nathan Jonson

This week's Breezeblock show with DJ Mary Anne Hobbs features Mathew and Nathan Jonson

It's brothers vs brother on the Breezeblock, as Canadian techno masters Mathew Jonson and Nathan Jonson (aka Hrdvsion) go head to head with live electronica sets.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/maryannehobbs/ Tue 01.00-03.00 (UK)

― ^ via dj martian (fandango), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 17:24 (nineteen years ago)

this is actually on the r1 "listen again" page already.

― boredom to the left, babylon to the right (fandango), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 17:42 (nineteen years ago)

five months pass...

"Hello,
just wanted to let everyone know in myspace land that MY ALBUM IS FUCKING D O N E !!

RELEASE DATE BEGINGING OF JUNE

WAGON REPAIR

SINGLES FROM THE FORTHCOMING ALBUM SOON!!

and

COBBLESTONE JAZZ WILL BE RELEASING SINGLES FROM THE FORTHCOMING ALBUM SOON TOO. RELEASE DATE MID SEPTEMBER!!!"

http://blog.myspace.com/mathewjonson

ps - fuck u haterz

― fies, Monday, 5 March 2007 14:21 (nineteen years ago)

this is good, also I'm being really dumb upthread.

long tracks being used unimaginatively & ubiquitously because said maker of tracks is flavour of the month != tracks are inherently bad (esp. not Marionette!)

― fandango, Monday, 5 March 2007 16:15 (nineteen years ago)

the new Missing Link 12 is very good as was the last Minilogue Wagon Repair...

― Ronan, Monday, 5 March 2007 16:20 (nineteen years ago)

two months pass...

new remix of Joel Mull is amazing. although sounds like it's from 1992 to me

― resolved, Saturday, 12 May 2007 16:45 (eighteen years ago)

fractals in the video

― 696, Saturday, 12 May 2007 16:51 (eighteen years ago)

did he ever release that lil' kim remix officially?

― lex pretend, Saturday, 12 May 2007 18:51 (eighteen years ago)

three years pass...

Is the album, Agents of Time, being slept on? Listened to it last night and loved it, just really thick, satisfying grooves throughout, and it all *sounds* amazing.

― Matt DC, Monday, 8 November 2010 14:59 (fifteen years ago)

i love it too! i guess he missed releasing an album when he was more in style.

― another al3x, Monday, 8 November 2010 17:20 (fifteen years ago)

eleven months pass...

finally got, and listened to, a copy of the typerope ep. Forgot how A+ it is. Incredible production, especially typerope, but especially magic through music.

― Hills Like White Broncos (EDB), Thursday, 27 October 2011 08:43 (fourteen years ago)

A year later and Agents of Time is officially slept on. "When Love Feels Like Crying" doesn't stick out and that's all to the album/Jonson's credit.

― Jedmond, Thursday, 27 October 2011 09:27 (fourteen years ago)

five years pass...

some proper records though

― saer, Thursday, 2 March 2017 00:17 (nine years ago)

― saer, Thursday, 2 March 2017 00:18 (nine years ago)

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