Western Teleport is an album by musician

Emperor X Chad R. Matheny, known professionally as Emperor X, is an American singer and songwriter. Early life and career Born in Louisville, Kentucky in 1979, Matheny got his start in music when he was given a Casio SK-1 by his grandparents at age nine, ...

(real name Chad Matheny), his first in six years. It was released on October 4, 2011 on

Bar/None Records Bar/None Records is an independent record label based in Hoboken, New Jersey. Early history Tom Prendergast started Bar/None in early 1986 in Hoboken, New Jersey. Having previously worked in pirate radio and booked and promoted bands in his na ...

, and marks Emperor X's debut release for that label.

Background and promotion

Matheny said ''Western Teleports title was influenced by his "obsession" over technological advancements while he was living in

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. He also described it as "a dark record from my average kind of record," adding that "It's coming out of a pretty dark, exploratory, sweaty, breathless place in my life." To promote the album, Bar/None, with the help of the

Alternative Distribution Alliance Alternative Distribution Alliance (ADA) is a music distribution company owned by Warner Music Group, which represents the rights to various independent record labels. ADA provides "independent artist and label partners with access to the resource ...

, buried 41 "nodes" at different random locations throughout North America. The nodes contain a cassette with either B-sides or early versions of songs on ''Western Teleport''. Matheny has credited his inspiration for the idea of burying cassettes for others to find when he became concerned about the environmental impact of making multiple copies of the same album. Still, he wanted to preserve the organizational structure of an album. He later concluded that the best way to ensure that the physical musical recording had its own worth while also ensuring the music would be heard was to make just one copy of each song. After

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

interviewed Matheny about this project in 2010, he caught the attention of Bar/None Records, which released the album the following year. The album's opening track, "Erica Western Teleport," has been described as "... a model example of the bummer jam template." Many people have also described the song as being relatable with regard to their own lives.

Reception

The album received generally favorable reviews from music critics, and was ranked as one of the 10 most underrated albums of 2011 by ''

Salon Salon may refer to: Common meanings * Beauty salon, a venue for cosmetic treatments * French term for a drawing room, an architectural space in a home * Salon (gathering), a meeting for learning or enjoyment Arts and entertainment * Salon (P ...

''. Dan Weiss, one such critic, compared Emperor X to

They Might Be Giants They Might Be Giants (often abbreviated as TMBG) is an American alternative rock band formed in 1982 by John Flansburgh and John Linnell. During TMBG's early years, Flansburgh and Linnell frequently performed as a duo, often accompanied by a d ...

because of their shared penchant for catchy songs and nerdy subject matter. Blogger "Imaginary Liz" compared the album's sound to "early

Mountain Goats The mountain goat (''Oreamnos americanus''), also known as the Rocky Mountain goat, is a hoofed mammal endemic to mountainous areas of western North America. A subalpine to alpine species, it is a sure-footed climber commonly seen on cliffs and ...

as interpreted through an

Elliott Smith Steven Paul Smith (August 6, 1969 – October 21, 2003), known professionally as Elliott Smith, was an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Smith was born in Omaha, Nebraska, raised primarily in Texas, and lived much of hi ...

vibe."

Track listing

# Erica Western Teleport # Sig Alert # Canada Day # A Violent Translation of the Concordia Headscarp # The Magnetic Media Storage Practices of Rural Pakistan # Defiance (for Elise Sunderhuse) # Anti-Rage # Allahu Akbar # Compressor Repair # Sincerely, H. C. Pregerson # Erica Western Geiger Counter

References

{{Authority control Bar/None Records albums 2011 albums