by Steve Huey
It didnt take long for Ann Arbor, MIs Matthew Dear to catapult himself into the front rank of microhouse producers, emerging in the early 2000s with a string of high-quality releases for Spectral Sound, Plus 8, and Perlon (under several aliases). Born and raised in Texas, Dear first discovered electronic music at age 16; he later attended the University of Michigan, where he met future Ghostly International label founder Sam Valenti IV. He started DJing at parties and eventually moved into production. In late 1999, he and Daisha teamed up to deliver the inaugural Ghostly 12 release, Hands Up for Detroit. Dear wound up on Ghostlys more dance-oriented subsidiary Spectral Sound, for which he debuted in 2001 with the 12 Irreparably Dented; another, Stealing Moves, followed in 2002. That year, Dear signed to Richie Hawtins Plus 8 label under the alias False, and issued three 12 singles of minimalist house up through early 2003, which were later gathered on a self-titled CD compilation. 2003 was his busiest year yet: as Jabberjaw, he released the Girlfriend 12 on Berlins Perlon label, and returned to Spectral Sound for EP1 and EP2 that summer. Late in the year, he released his first-ever full-length album, Leave Luck to Heaven, also on Spectral Sound. Titled after the loose English translation of the word Nintendo, the album earned positive notice from a number of publications, and spun off the highly acclaimed single Dog Days. The Backstroke EP followed in 2004, and Asa Breed — his most song-based release to date — came out in 2007.