Call For World Saviours

Description

Mesmerizing D-I-Y electronic music from Cumbria, UK. Influenced by the Berlin School but, even more, by Tim Blake. Released 1984 on cassette only. FIRST TIME ON CD & VINYL! The proclivity among musicologists for mapping out routes on the sonic autobahn invariably encourages us to think in terms of generic signposts, with artists clustered in densely populated created hubs. Bridges span topographic oceans, from electronic industries to techno bunkers. Journeys are mapped out from Ash Ra Tempel to La D?sseldorf. Carl Matthews is by no means immune to the maelstrom of geocaching notebooks. Krautrock (tick), guerrilla D-I-Y cassette-era artist (tick), under-rated UK electronic composer (tick). Man with a beard, surrounded by synths. Tick. Best of all, he was once described as the Edgar Froese of Cumbria. The Tangerine Dream legend needs no introduction here, but the Cumbrian question deserves further scrutiny. Indeed, in spite of the irresistible urge felt by many a chronicler of electronica to claim Carl Matthews for the Berlin School, this is unquestionably an artist who wrote, recorded and released music far from the madding krautrock crowd. Instead, he worked in isolation, splendid or otherwise. Meanwhile, the question remains, is there a suspension bridge which connects Carl Matthews to the mainland European tradition of Harmonia, Cluster and Tangerine Dream? "I was at a crossroads in my life aged 28, early influences were of course krautrock i.e., NEU!, Kraftwerk, Cosmic Jokers etc... but one day I was listening to Tim Blake's New Jerusalem, and my inner voice said 'I can do that ?'" Carl recalls. "I eventually got a job working two years in a cotton wool factory to pay for my electronic equipment, and that's how my musical career started." Whilst his music clearly bears the hallmarks of superb craftsmanship - his mesmerizing soundscapes more than a match for any of his contemporaries - Carl Matthews was, and still is, a truly independent artist, all the way from the means of production to the published recordings. If it is possible to identify a scene along the lines described above, Matthews was not part of it. "I was totally alone in doing this, as no one was interested in my musical taste at that time. As far as I know the electronic/New Wave music scene in Carlisle was virtually zero." Happily for fans of his music, recent years have seen a resurgence in activity. Unwaveringly self-effacing, Carl Matthews continues to make music which is liberated from the constraints of ego, allowing us to wander at our leisure through the magnetic fields of his imagination. Today, in his own words, he is "an old guy who likes making sounds for library/ production companies", which says it all, really. He has shed the artifice of the artist to create music which reaches us completely unfiltered. The signs are all there in Call For World Saviours ? music which is both timeless and very much of its time, a disappearing act on the part of its creator whose c

Description

Mesmerizing D-I-Y electronic music from Cumbria, UK. Influenced by the Berlin School but, even more, by Tim Blake. Released 1984 on cassette only. FIRST TIME ON CD & VINYL! The proclivity among musicologists for mapping out routes on the sonic autobahn invariably encourages us to think in terms of generic signposts, with artists clustered in densely populated created hubs. Bridges span topographic oceans, from electronic industries to techno bunkers. Journeys are mapped out from Ash Ra Tempel to La D?sseldorf. Carl Matthews is by no means immune to the maelstrom of geocaching notebooks. Krautrock (tick), guerrilla D-I-Y cassette-era artist (tick), under-rated UK electronic composer (tick). Man with a beard, surrounded by synths. Tick. Best of all, he was once described as the Edgar Froese of Cumbria. The Tangerine Dream legend needs no introduction here, but the Cumbrian question deserves further scrutiny. Indeed, in spite of the irresistible urge felt by many a chronicler of electronica to claim Carl Matthews for the Berlin School, this is unquestionably an artist who wrote, recorded and released music far from the madding krautrock crowd. Instead, he worked in isolation, splendid or otherwise. Meanwhile, the question remains, is there a suspension bridge which connects Carl Matthews to the mainland European tradition of Harmonia, Cluster and Tangerine Dream? "I was at a crossroads in my life aged 28, early influences were of course krautrock i.e., NEU!, Kraftwerk, Cosmic Jokers etc... but one day I was listening to Tim Blake's New Jerusalem, and my inner voice said 'I can do that ?'" Carl recalls. "I eventually got a job working two years in a cotton wool factory to pay for my electronic equipment, and that's how my musical career started." Whilst his music clearly bears the hallmarks of superb craftsmanship - his mesmerizing soundscapes more than a match for any of his contemporaries - Carl Matthews was, and still is, a truly independent artist, all the way from the means of production to the published recordings. If it is possible to identify a scene along the lines described above, Matthews was not part of it. "I was totally alone in doing this, as no one was interested in my musical taste at that time. As far as I know the electronic/New Wave music scene in Carlisle was virtually zero." Happily for fans of his music, recent years have seen a resurgence in activity. Unwaveringly self-effacing, Carl Matthews continues to make music which is liberated from the constraints of ego, allowing us to wander at our leisure through the magnetic fields of his imagination. Today, in his own words, he is "an old guy who likes making sounds for library/ production companies", which says it all, really. He has shed the artifice of the artist to create music which reaches us completely unfiltered. The signs are all there in Call For World Saviours ? music which is both timeless and very much of its time, a disappearing act on the part of its creator whose c