Matthew Dear: Black City

Label: Ghostly International

The age-old border between techno chill and pop-analog warmth has been breached once and for all on Matthew Dear's new opus, Black City. Granted, Dear is hardly new to this; he's been edging toward this once seemingly impossible merger for about a decade now. But Black City is where his machines bleed and feel and (dare I say) love, and it's clear even before the piano-driven album-closer "Gem." At the front end, the opening track, "Honey," strikes a cool, almost noirish vibe via its ever-so-slightly restrained pacing, while "Soil to Seed" shows that even a potential dance-floor hit can come across just as warmly vibrant as any acoustic-guitar jam — just give equal prominence to Dear's weirdly slurring vocals and a one-note guitar part as well as the slyly mid-tempo beat. It all takes place in Black City. (Bosco)