Reviewing

Isomorphs and Plastics

Matthew D. Gantt

Eight-channel performance and iteration of Isomorph and Plastics, two suites of procedural electronic composition first released with Oxtail and Orange Milk Recordings, respectively.
LOCATION: Hunter College
Black Box 5th floor, Hunter North Building
Enter at 69th Street between Lexington & Park Avenues
May 7th 2018 – TIME  7 pm
Produced by Harvestworks in partnership with the Integrated Media Arts MFA at Hunter College.
A satellite event of Creative Tech Week 2018

Isomorphs and Plastics

Following up on Plastics (Orange Milk ’17), Isomorphs filters smartphone noise, trap sample packs and modular squelch through twenty-first century indeterminacy and digital pseudo-sensuality. Inspired in equal parts by John Cage’s chance operations, random MIDI structures, San Fransisco Tape Music Center experiments and Lex Luger’s revolutionary production circa 2010, Gantt reckons with the impossible density of contemporary media by arbitrarily dividing it into electronic compositions or arbitrary duration. Isomorphs fastens the sonic vocabulary of an iPhone 5s onto a frame of procedurally generated MIDI. Taking cadences from the source material as a starting point, these sounds are orchestrated with a variety of media signifiers (arena-rock guitar, auto-tune sludge, sci-fi synths), and re-presented in both raw and mediated states.

Artist Bio

Matthew D. Gantt is a composer and conceptualist based in Brooklyn, NY. His practice focuses on procedural systems and the idiosyncrasies of the technology that facilitate them, as well as the overlap between production and consumption of digitized culture. Recent projects include tape releases for Orange Milk and Oxtail Recordings, an eight by eleven foot graphic score for interdisciplinary performance, and a series of VR environments containing procedural motion and spatial sound. While living in New York, Gantt has performed or presented work at a range of spaces, including Pioneer Works, Roulette, Issue Project Room, New Museum, the Stone, and internationally at the IRCAM Academy in Paris, France. He received an M.M. in composition from CUNY Brooklyn College, teaches music technology at Sarah Lawrence, Kaufman Center and Harvestworks, and worked as a studio assistant to electronics pioneer Morton Subotnick from ’16 – ’18.

ADDITIONAL LINKS, PRESS AND VIDEOS:
https://www.tinymixtapes.com/chocolate-grinder/listen-matthew-d-gantt-isomorphs
https://www.instagram.com/gan.tttt/
http://gantt.works/

Future Daughter & Matthew D. Gantt :: Ekphrasis / Plastics EP (Orange Milk)


Matthew D. Gantt

Matthew D. Gantt is an artist, composer and educator currently based in
Troy, NY. His practice focuses on sound in virtual spaces, generative systems
facilitated by idiosyncratic technology, and digital production presets as sonic
readymades. He worked as a studio assistant to electronics pioneer Morton Subotnick
from 2016 – ’18, and has been an active participant in the NYC creative community,
presenting or performing at spaces such as Pioneer Works, Issue Project Room,
Roulette, Babycastles, Silent Barn and similar, as well as abroad (IRCAM Academy,
ICST Zurich, MUTEK Mexico, Synthesis Gallery, Berlin). Gantt has taught electronic
and experimental composition across institutional and grassroots contexts, including
Harvestworks, CUNY Brooklyn, Bard College, Sarah Lawrence, and community workshops
aimed at creating equitable access to developing technologies. In Fall ’19, he
joined the Games and Simulations, Art and Sciences PhD program at Rensselaer
Polytechnic Institute/EMPAC, researching spatial sound, virtual reality and the
experimental arts practice as a frame to refigure new possibilities for immersive
media futures.