Emperor X

Born in Louisville, Kentucky and long associated with Jacksonville, Florida, Chad Matheny has since the late 1990s developed under the name Emperor X a project situated between indie rock, lo-fi, noise pop, folk and experimental songwriting. Based in Berlin since 2012, Emperor X builds his songs around edgy guitars, oblique melodies, dense lyrics and a production that is often deliberately rough, in a balance between intimate songcraft and sonic derailment. His discography begins with The Joytakers' Rakes/Stars on the Ceiling, Pleasantly Kneeling in 1998, then Tectonic Membrane/Thin Strip on an Edgeless Platform in 2004 and Central Hug/Friendarmy/Fractaldunes in 2005, before a foray through The Blythe Archives volumes in 2008 and 2009. With Western Teleport in 2011, released on Bar/None, Emperor X expands his audience while continuing a highly independent practice, marked by regular tours in the United States, Europe, Canada, Mexico and Australia. His career also includes peripheral projects such as burying tapes tied to his releases or commissioning 99% Invisible for 10,000-Year Earworm to Discourage Resettlement Near Nuclear Waste Repositories in 2014. After Oversleepers International in 2017, Emperor X continued this work with The Lakes of Zones B and C in 2022, in a vein still mobile between off-centered pop, artisanal rock and conceptual writing.