Matthew Dear: Design Tangents Episode Five
The musician, composer, DJ and fine artist on his creative process and making the music for our podcast
We first stepped into the Michigan studio of musician, composer, DJ and fine artist Matthew Dear in 2007 to chronicle his sonic creations for a COOL HUNTING video. Over the years, we’ve continued to track the milestones of this prolific creator, and we easily agreed that Dear would be the ideal subject for episode five of the COOL HUNTING podcast, Design Tangents—especially considering the fact that he created the music for the series.
As with previous installments of Design Tangents, the conversation unfolds in unexpected ways—from the parallels between fishing and releasing music to being the founding artist at Sam Valenti’s Ghostly International record label. Dear also addresses his immersion into visual arts, from making “dad memes” to dropping NFTs and finding meditation through creation.
You need to be an editor. You need to be a manager. You need to be a graphic designer. You need to be a copywriter for your own press releases—all on top of being a musician.
Dear, who teaches a class at the University of Michigan, offers plenty of insight on his craft throughout the discussion. “How do you make a mark or how do you get recognized in this day and age? How do you release music and be seen? ” he asks us (and his students). “You need to be an editor. You need to be a manager. You need to be a graphic designer. You need to be a copywriter for your own press releases—all on top of being a musician.”
During the podcast, Dear guides us through his process and emphasizes what’s most meaningful. “For me it’s always been necessity,” he says. “I don’t like the idea of making stuff that doesn’t need to be made.” Learn more from Dear, and get insight on the music he crafted for the podcast, by listening to episode five now.
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Design Tangents is presented by Genesis and produced and edited by SANDOW Design Group. Special thanks to the podcast production team: Rob Schulte, Hannah Viti, Wize Grazette and Samantha Sager and to Amber Lin for creating our show art. Discover more design podcasts from SURROUND at surroundpodcasts.com.
