DJ Matt Cee on sound artist Matthew Ganucheau – Riffs

DJ Matt Cee on sound artist Matthew Ganucheau

When I was 17 years old I met Matthew Ganucheau at a ‘rave party,’ where he stood out as the only performer creating live music with synthesizers, laptops, and other digital toys as opposed to playing vinyl. Being a precocious—and annoying—teen, I spent months learning everything I could from him. Not only did he pass on the music software, knowledge and guidance I needed to start producing my own original electronic music, but he even invited me to visit him in Boston while he attended Berklee School of Music. This trip still resonates with me.

Ganucheau is a Louisiana native now in San Francisco, where he has shed the conventions of contemporary live music performance. He displays much of his interacive work at the annual Burning Man festival. One piece, called Subway, is a subway bench that plays the recorded noise of New York City subways and adds layers of ambient sound contingent on how many people are in the seats. There is even a hidden sub-woofer to add the visceral feeling of an approaching subway train.

Now, clearly Howl!, the event I DJ at Spanish Moon, is a far cry from Ganucheau’s reality-manipulating aesthetics, but without the interest he took in me I would have abandoned my musical aspirations years ago.