Matthew Dear, Beginning of the End: The Spectral Sound Singles (Spectral Sound/Ghostly International, 2008)

Listen: “Irreparably Dented”

When he emerged in the early 2000s, Matthew Dear had as many aliases as he did electronic styles. But he proved adept at all of them, whether it was the screaming bloody sex techno of Audion, the studious blips of False, or the trailblazing jams of his early work for the Ghostly dancefloor offshoot Spectral, which are collected here as Beginning of the End. “Irreparably Dented,” “Stealing Moves,” and a remix for each kick off the set; Dear’s first microhouse bangers, their 4/4 time signatures are bolted onto frames dipped in solvent and cleaned to the stainless steel. EP’s 1 and 2 make up the center of the set, “Dog Days” from 2003’s Leave Luck to Heaven appears in extended, Pantytec remix, and “acapella” forms (the latter is really just a 30-second vocal track), and “Anger Management” and “Future Never Again” close it out. “Pulpse” and “Killjoy,” two leftovers from the Heaven sessions, act as a finale. Beginning of the End is a solid document. It delineates Dear’s presence in one of the more notable electronic niches of this decade and sets up the era that would follow — highlighted by Heaven and 2007’s celebrated Asa Breed — when he brought vocals and moody electro-pop sentiment to the very foundation he’d just helped fashion. Electronic music’s march forward won’t be stopped by mere humans. But every now and then, we can look back and consider the journey. — Johnny Loftus