{{short description|American singer and songwriter}} {{Use American English|date=July 2020}} {{Use mdy dates|date=July 2020}} {{Infobox musical artist | <!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject Musicians --> | name = Emperor X | birth_name = Chad Randall Matheny<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ascap.com/repertory#/ace/search/workID/901802241 |title=ACTION |website=ASCAP |publisher=American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers |access-date=November 11, 2023}}</ref> | birth_place = Louisville, Kentucky, United States | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1979|4|8}} | image = Chad-matheny-2016.jpg | caption = Matheny in 2016 | image_size = 200 | background = solo_singer | alias = | origin = Jacksonville, Florida, United States | instruments = {{hlist| Guitar| keyboard| vocals}} | genre = {{hlist| Alternative| noise pop| noise rock| lo-fi| folk| indie folk| filk}} | occupation = {{hlist|Singer|songwriter}} | years_active = 1998–present | label = {{hlist| Bar/None Records| Discos Mariscos| Snowglobe Records| Bakery Outlet Records| Burnt Toast Vinyl| Plan-It-X Records| Tiny Engines<ref>{{cite web|title=Tiny Engines biography page|url=http://tinyengines.limitedrun.com/bands/emperor-x|website=Tiny Engines}}</ref>| Dreams of Field Recordings}} | website = {{URL|http://www.emperorx.net}} }} '''Chad Randall Matheny''', known professionally as '''Emperor X''', is an American singer and songwriter. He has been based in Berlin, Germany since 2012.<ref name=":0" />
==Early life and career== Born in Louisville, Kentucky in 1979,<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/11735-tectonic-membranethin-strip-on-an-edgeless-platform/ |title=Emperor X: Tectonic Membrane/Thin Strip on an Edgeless Platform |date=1 July 2004 |website=Pitchfork |language=en |access-date=10 March 2019}}</ref> Matheny got his start in music when he was given a Casio SK-1 by his grandparents at age nine, and recorded his first album on a Tascam four-track before the age of 20.<ref name="auto">{{cite web|last1=Ubl|first1=Sam|title=Tectonic Membrane/Thin Strip on an Edgeless Platform Review|url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/11735-tectonic-membranethin-strip-on-an-edgeless-platform/|website=Pitchfork|access-date=2 March 2016}}</ref>
Matheny tours across the United States regularly and performs around the world as well, including tours in Mexico, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, and the European Union.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Matheny|first1=Chad|title=A poorly-formatted but complete {{sic|LST|hide=y}} of every Emperor X performance ever so far|url=http://emperorx.net/pastshows.html|website=Emperor X Official Website|access-date=2 March 2016}}</ref>
In a self-described attempt to "address the diminishing utility of physical copies of music and the expanding role of marketing in the experience of art",<ref>{{cite web|last1=Wasoba|first1=Ryan|title=Emperor X On Stock Responses And Performative Marketing|url=http://blogs.riverfronttimes.com/rftmusic/2011/10/emperor_x_interview_tour_western_teleport.php|website=Riverfront Times|access-date=2 March 2016|archive-date=October 29, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111029111944/http://blogs.riverfronttimes.com/rftmusic/2011/10/emperor_x_interview_tour_western_teleport.php|url-status=dead}}</ref> Matheny often hides or buries one-off physical copies and associated visual artwork of b-sides at GPS coordinates and posts them online as a part of a geocaching game to unlock MP3 copies of the audio. For the release of the 2011 Emperor X album ''Western Teleport'', 41 "translucent purple audio cassettes" were buried across North America, many of which remain undiscovered. This received a feature on NPR's "Weekend Edition" program.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/2010/10/08/130436918/digging-for-tunes-with-emperor-x|title=Digging For Tunes With Emperor X|website=NPR}}</ref>
In 2012, he left the United States for Berlin, where he found that the country's trains helped him tour easier as a near-blind musician.<ref name=":0" />
In 2014, Matheny was commissioned by ''99% Invisible'' to write a song titled "10,000-Year Earworm to Discourage Settlement Near Nuclear Waste Repositories (Don't Change Color, Kitty)" based on Françoise Bastide and Paolo Fabbri's concept of a millennia-long nuclear waste warning message in the form of a folk song about genetically engineered cats. Matheny wrote it to be "so catchy and annoying that it might be handed down from generation to generation over a span of 10,000 years".<ref>{{cite news |title=Raycats and earworms: How scientists are using colour-changing cats and nursery rhymes to warn future generations of nuclear danger |url=https://www.cityam.com/how-scientists-are-using-colour-changing-cats-and-folklore-warn-future-generations/ |access-date=7 November 2020 |work=CityAM |date=24 November 2014}}</ref>
In 2020, Matheny and Christian Holden from The Hotelier started an artist-managed record label cooperative known as Dreams of Field Recordings.<ref>{{cite tweet|user=emperorx|number=1222197007512670209|date=28 January 2020|title=Please meet @DreamsofField, an artist-managed record label cooperative that Christian @moldyfish @thehotelyear and I are setting up as our new label home. dreamsoffield.com}}</ref>
==Personal life== Matheny is a former high school science teacher,<ref>{{cite web|last1=Deusner|first1=Stephen|title=The Most Underrated Albums of 2011|url=https://www.salon.com/2011/12/24/the_most_underrated_albums_of_2011/|website=Salon|date=December 24, 2011 |access-date=2 March 2016}}</ref> and in 2004 he stopped his pursuit of a master's degree in physics in order to dedicate his career to music.<ref>{{cite web|title=Emperor X Biography|url=http://www.bar-none.com/emperor-x/|website=Bar None Records}}</ref>
Matheny is a testicular cancer survivor and has low vision, which makes him unable to legally drive.<ref>{{cite web|title=Indieheads Podcast interview|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIdJZ8vwXXA#t=54m05s |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211214/SIdJZ8vwXXA |archive-date=2021-12-14 |url-status=live|website=YouTube}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{cite web|last1=Greenspan|first1=Sam|title=Emperor X: 'We Are Much More Than The Sum Of The Diseases And Disabilities We Carry'|url=https://www.npr.org/2017/09/10/549489252/emperor-x-we-are-much-more-than-the-sum-of-the-diseases-and-disabilities-we-carr|website=NPR|access-date=25 September 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite interview |last=Matheny |first=Chad |subject-link=Emperor X |interviewer=Sjimon Gompers |title=Chad Matheny of Emperor X |work=Impose |date=6 March 2012 |url=https://www.imposemagazine.com/features/chad-matheny-of-emperor-x |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120308092057/http://www.imposemagazine.com/features/chad-matheny-of-emperor-x |archive-date=8 March 2012 |access-date=25 August 2023}}</ref>
==Discography==
===Full-length albums=== *''The Joytakers' Rakes/Stars on the Ceiling, Pleasantly Kneeling'' (1998, self-released) *''Tectonic Membrane/Thin Strip on an Edgeless Platform'' (2004, Discos Mariscos)<ref name="auto"/> *''Central Hug/Friendarmy/Fractaldunes'' (2005, Discos Mariscos) *''The Blythe Archives Volume One'' (2008, Burnt Toast Vinyl) *''The Blythe Archives Volume Two'' (2009, self-released) *''Western Teleport'' (2011, Bar/None Records) *''Nineteen Live Recordings'' (2013, Plan-It-X Records, re-released in 2020 on Dreams of Field Recordings) *''Jetzt Christmas'' (2013) *''The Orlando Sentinel'' (2014, The Bomber Jacket)<ref>{{cite web|last1=Eakin|first1=Marah|title=Emperor X tries to put Orlando on the map (again) with a new single, EP|url=http://www.avclub.com/article/emperor-x-tries-orlando-map-again-new-single-ep-205505|website=The AV Club|date=June 9, 2014 |access-date=2 March 2016}}</ref> *''Oversleepers International'' (2017, Tiny Engines) *''The Lakes of Zones B and C'' (2022)
===EPs and singles=== *''Wuss/Strike/River/Preacher/Magnet/God/Unwuss'' (2006) *''Dirt Dealership'' (2007) *''Defiance (for Elise Sunderhuse)'' (2010) *''Brown Recluse/At a Rave with Nicolas Sarkozy'' (2013) *''10,000-Year Earworm to Discourage Resettlement Near Nuclear Waste Repositories'' (2014) *''Wasted on the Senate Floor'' (2016) *''Sad React'' (2020, Dreams of Field Recordings) *''United Earth League of Quarantine Aerobics'' (2020, Dreams of Field Recordings) – as Chad Matheny *''Suggested Improvements to Transportation Infrastructure in the Northeast Corridor'' (2023) *''Renee Nicole Nicole Renee'' (2026) *''Pissing With the Flashlight On'' (2026)
===Tour-only releases=== *''Gasheater/Raytracer'' (2004) *''East Coast and Freedom From/Freedom To'' (2004) *''Everyone in Jacksonville'' (2006) *''Australia Tour Tape'' (2010) *''Several New Songs in Various Digital Formats'' (2011)
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *[https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130436918 "Weekend Edition" Story on Matheny's Burial Project] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20070928140731/http://www.thelmagazine.com/4/1/musicology/feature6.cfm L Magazine review] *[https://artistconnectionpodcast.libsyn.com/episode-019-chad-matheny-emperor-x Interview with Artist Connection Podcast]
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Category:1979 births Category:American indie rock musicians Category:Living people Category:Singers from Jacksonville, Florida Category:Singers from Louisville, Kentucky Category:Rock musicians from Kentucky Category:Songwriters from Kentucky Category:21st-century American singers Category:Tiny Engines artists