Compost Karaoke by Matt Bachmann

Matt Bachmann has grown obsessed with listening to film scores–getting lost in their striking themes and the incidental pieces that bring the listener from point A to B. It’s no wonder his latest record, Compost Karaoke, sounds like a soundtrack to a film that has yet to be made, like some kind of imaginary documentary of natural decomposition. Weaving elements of propulsive jazz, bedroom chamber music, and 80s Japanese synthwork, Bachmann tells a story that’s as dramatic as it is intimate, beautiful as it is bombastic. Cinematic in sound and structure, Compost Karaoke unfolds like a journey through a honeycomb – each track a unique chamber connected by sonic fibers to the whole. Compact vignettes act as connective tissue, scaffolding the longer repetitive thematic pillars.

Compost Karaoke is Bachmann’s fourth release with Orindal Records and his first release since becoming a licensed social worker in New York. For Bachmann, Compost Karaoke translates to “songs of change,” marking a transition from past years dominated by touring as the bassist of Mega Bog and his own music to rooting in new work. He explains:

“At the heart of this transition was a personal struggle between the ‘clouds’ (art) and the ‘earth’ (the systemic problems of New York/US/world). Doing this more earthly work and having less time for the clouds changed my relationship to music. I had been so inside the music world that I had become blind to its generosity– the way it brings us together and allows us to collectively feel, dream, and escape. Making this record was a lifeline– an opportunity to put my sometimes isolating earthly work aside, and dream a bit with friends.”

Riding this renewed spirit of collaboration, Bachmann leaned heavier on his oldest creative confidants. He enlisted Derek Baron (Reading Group Records) to write woodwind arrangements for the skeletal piano sketches and recorded Baron on drums during an overnight session at the Bunker Studio in Brooklyn; Jeff Tobias (Modern Nature, Sunwatchers) expanded on Baron’s arrangements in moments of improvised rapture on alto saxophone and bass clarinet; and James Krichenia (Big Thief) gummed up the groove with hand drums and percussion. Decorated with synths, vibraphones, and guitar pedal sonic reimagining, Compost Karaoke is a musical habitat wholly unique, yet nodding to Bachmann’s guiding stars—Ryuichi Sakamoto, Natural Information Society, and RJ Miller, to name a few.

To achieve a healthy compost, you need both greens (food scraps) and browns (dead leaves, cardboard, etc.). Compost Karaoke is Bachmann’s attempt to strike a balance; the score to his latest life transition. For the listener, the imaginative movies that play along in their heads are endless.