Matt Weston
Communism Has Appeared On The Scene
USA 7272MUSIC #017 2 x LP (2024)
Latest release from this one-man powerhouse of composition and performance currently living in New York State.
Perhaps I am just feeling overly-sensitive, but this whole intense double LP passes on a palpable sense of alarm…each of these five experiments whip up an environment or ecosystem that appears actively hostile to human existence, a pit filled with wild animals or a chamber laced with toxic gas. My instinct is just to get out quick, but I can’t – I’m hemmed in by the magnificent controlled audio chaos on all sides, like 20-foot high walls. It is accurate, I think, to refer to each piece as an “environment” since composer himself says that this release manifests “an increased emphasis on site-specific sonorities”, something we’ve been aware of for many years – without having seen him do it, my fantasy version is that here’s a percussionist who can “play” an entire building with mallets, and not simply by striking the metal fire escape or pounding bricks, but exploiting the aural dynamics of the room for every last drop of juice…echo, reverb, acoustic bounce-back in all forms is not only desirable, but an active ingredient in the hands of this Weston, once limbs begin to fire up and soon enter hammer-mode. Also part of my fantasy is that he does it at night, breaking into sealed warehouses or creeping through air vents in mode of snake, as an earnest of his outlaw status. Those brave enough to hear the whole LP can savour some seconds of “documentary” recording of the workmen in the area who are oblivious to his musical actions. We also learn, from the terse, close-lipped press note, that some of these environments are “artificially-constructed” or “simulated”, which might mean he’s just as handy with a nailgun and an Atari flight simulator as he is with his drums, synths, and other assorted weaponry.
So much for the performative side of Communism Has Appeared, which so far is every bit as vital and electrifying as his previous published statements, with certain “upgrades” for the 2024 version – layers of density and complexity so far unmatched on ‘Here They Come Spinning Out Of Turn’, where the act of listening is like going on a marathon jog, and ‘Isolate Maul Kill’ which instantly frightens off civilians with its nasty unlistenable elements – squealing snakes spring to mind – very judicious use of free noise. Turn we must to the “alarming” dimensions of this release…Weston has always been politically engaged, say I with my typical gift for understatement, and I think on social media he has been very outspoken on matters of contemporary injustice wherever it’s found. Hints are encoded on today’s release, for instance all of side four is titled ‘From The River to the Sea’ which has been used as a chant by pro-Palestinian protesters, but more direct and poignant to my mind is that afore-said ‘Isolate Maul Kill’, which opens the record. There’s a brief recorded snatch of some service or machine going wrong…it’s that voice of the woman simply saying “wait”, as if faintly impatient with the customer, suggesting in a micro-second an imminent technological collapse which is going to leave us all in a helpless state. Computers saying no, cash machines malfunctioning…in my paranoid anguish, it seems Weston is predicting a horrible future where all technology will indeed be turned against us, and used by the powers first to isolate us, then cripple us, before “they” move in for the death blow.
Matt Weston has never shied away from expressing his own feelings of isolation and alienation, but it always amazes me how he devises new artistic ways of doing so. Even the title of this release is probably a double-edged sword; the “threat of communism” has been a post-war chimera for paranoid Americans ever since the time of Senator McCarthy and the Hollywood blacklists, but Weston brings it close to home with his bizarre cover art – détourned images of a generalised, idealised suburban scene where the perspectives are impossible and multiple windows appear in the wrong places. I can’t decode what this all means, but it’s as unsettling as heck. If this is another chapter in Weston’s ongoing critique of his home country, just bear in mind it was released at a date before we started seeing some of the more extreme outrages of the current President, in his apparent bid to wreck everything from the post-war consensus to world peace, economic stability, human rights, and even basic common sense. To put it another way, I can’t wait to hear what Weston will say next. From 26 March 2025.