Emperor X, Nat Lyon Emperor X is the project name of American songwriter and noise pop saboteur C. R. Matheny. In 2004, Matheny dropped his pursuit of a master’s degree in physics to self-release a string of critically-acclaimed lo-fi speed folk. His releases debuted twice in one year in the top ten on the CMJ New Music chart (6/2004, 3/2005) and grabbed the attention of NPR, Pitchfork, All Music Guide, Tiny Mix Tapes and many others. The UK’s Plan B magazine called his music “a swollen interfusion of capricious brilliance.” Blogs and zines compared Matheny’s tracks to The Microphones, Black Dice, and early Modest Mouse, and Coke Machine Glow even suggested that “indie may well have its own Prince.”Dozens of frenzied tours followed, including several international forays into Mexico, Canada, and Australia. The performances – half Billy Bragg-inspired anarcho-electric singalongs, half Lee “Scratch” Perry lo-fi dub live sessions – brought Emperor X’s music to art galleries, bars, bookstores, university symposiums, college radio stations, garbage-strewn pedestrian tunnels, and one very confused laser tag arena in Connecticut. Sometimes Matheny had the aid of a ramshackle, revolving lineup of friends on drone guitars and marimbas; sometimes he employed little more than a shoulder-mounted battery amp and a delay pedal. Emperor X shared stages with indie luminaries like Sebadoh, Nada Surf, Casiotone for the Painfully Alone, The Hold Steady, and John Vanderslice, who dubbed Matheny “a serious genius” on his photo blog after they toured together. Matheny’s reputation as a producer also grew — he co-helmed the 2008 album Bits by Brooklyn jangle punk mainstays Oxford Collapse on Sub Pop Records alongside Eric Topalski of Don Caballero.More recently, Matheny’s quiet release of the ambitious album series/geocaching art project The Blythe Archives garnered spontaneous acclaim across the Internet with zero PR push save word of mouth and frequent touring. Emperor X tracks placed high on many “Best of” lists in 2009 and 2010, including that of Said the Gramophone founder and McSweeny’s contributor Sean Michaels, and found their way onto the in-store playlist of American Eagle Outfitters.In 2010, Emperor X composed music for a parade float commissioned by the Cleveland Art Museum for its annual Parade the Circle event in collaboration with Guggenheim-exhibited artist and Animal Collective costume designer Liza Goodell. The upcoming independent feature Lone Tree Couch features diegetic music by Emperor X. Most recently, Matheny was a featured vocalist and percussionist on Australian neo-grunge songwriter Adam Harding’s new album alongside Dinosaur Jr. bassist Lou Barlow. A recent story on NPR’s nationally-syndicated Weekend Edition featured Emperor X, highlighting Matheny’s habit of burying master tapes at geocache coordinates around the world as he tours.Matheny lives in Los Angeles where he writes and records new music from the top floor of a tenement building overlooking the megaphone preachers, fake ID salesmen, and tamaleros of MacArthur Park. LISTENNat Lyon has issues. In the backwoods hill country of northeastern Connecticut memories go back far. People are plain spoken and opinionated, avoid attention when possible, disdain hypocrisy, and never forget past wrongs. On his newest release, LCRV (Lower Connecticut River Valley), Lyon draws on his swamp-Yankee traditions and shines a light on social, economic, and environmental issues that are both personal and universal. He might be singing about his tiny corner of Connecticut, but he is also singing about your town, your relationships, and your nasty little habits too. The characters in these 12 songs take no prisoners, they take pharmaceuticals to keep their heads and hearts intact – and there are no innocent victims.In an attempt to avoid a wastrel life in those Connecticut hills, Lyon earned a Ph.D. in Anthropology and built a professional life in higher education that he recently abandoned to discover a life unscripted, orrather a life self-scripted through music. He spends his days renovating a two-century-old farmhouse while writing and recording songs that can be described as folk only in the most abstract academic sense. They may actually more closely resemble anthropological field notes set to music. Lyon draws on themes from his family history blended with those of the present day. On the album title track the narrator’s alcoholic grandfather opens his antique store up for business one morning, while his brother’s house/meth lab burns to the ground, which the local volunteer fire department wisely chooses to ignore. And from there it all spirals, or rather stumbles, downwards. In almost every song on LCRV Lyon questions the motives behind his characters in the choices they make- and does not simply report on their actions, or even remotely attempt to romanticize them.These are not traditional folk songs, and they are not pretty. LCRV is an album without excessive outside influences. Nat Lyon simply writes songs about his own invented life and unabashedly comments on the world as he sees it, which might occasionally make the audience cringe. Lyon writes without a filter, embracing the loosest of language, song structure, and lyric form, but the result is rewarding to the active listener. There are acoustic guitars- sure, but there are also processed and sampled sounds, programmed and live drums, reverse electric guitars, and lots of feedback. This unique approach to composing and recording is reflected in the diverse range of acts Lyon has opened for in 2012, which include: Emperor X, Stephen Steinbrink, Jonah Tolchin, and BrownBird. Nat Lyon is not like any one of these artists, but writes somewhere near the edges of each of them. Putting forth the effort to digest the themes and musical motifs is worth the time, and if you do not mind traversing the grey regions between punk/noise and Americana you will not be disappointed. LISTEN