Matt Krefting: Finer Points (Open Mouth)
The only alumni we struggle with more with than Oberlin involves the motley misfits of Hampshire. To say there is a Hampshire type isn’t accurate. Hampshire leans anti-type. Unlike Oberlin folks who have the entire world (music and otherwise) figured out, Hampshire’s precocious confidence feels more woozy/foggy, a study in aura and affect.
In the early 2000s we stumbled across the Apostasy Recordings imprint and its standout Son of Earth-Flesh on Bone Trio Cdr (which includes the timely “As If We Are A Number [A Stone For John Shaw’s Beard]). Apostasy and Son of Earth were experimental music b/w non-music and Western MA when most of us just had AOL accounts. Not Freak Folk [sic] at all, though sometimes lumped in with, Son of Earth consisted of Matt Krefting, artist/actvist/archivist Aaron Rosenblum (great solo work and with Sapat) and John Shaw (Magik Markers). See Son of Earth’s Pet and Improvements for a taste of their non-music experiments.
Which leads to Matt Krefting’s amazing Finer Points, released on Bill Nace’s Open Mouth back in January 2024. Like the latter Son Of Earth LPs, this new recording consists of miniature sound studies, gestures in tone, mood, and what comes just before melody. Atmosphere and ambiance spread across these six pieces, pattern and repetition too, expertly evoked in the cover art and smart design.
We saw Krefting perform this arm of his practice more than decade ago, his system involved two tape recorders, can’t recall if they were 4-tracks, as it seemed more crude. The show was in someone’s apartment in the hinterlands of Bushwick; what made the set so curious involved hearing one machine stop, followed by the sound of a tape popping out, then another tape popped in, all while the music kept going continuously. It felt both simple and complex, all of us focusing on the “finer points” Krefting had isolated.
Lp was recorded with Emily Robb down in Philadelphia.
Krefting and the Son of Earth/Apostasy folks have long-standing Shackamaxon ties.