Chad R. Matheny has been releasing eccentric, lyrically-denseunderground pop music since 1998, often under the name EmperorX. After training in physics, philosophy, and music composition,Matheny paused academic work and spent much of the past twodecades crossing the world on buses and bullet trains to make musicat locations ranging from a small but packed symphony hall inPortugal to an emtpy trade fair dome in northern Lebanon to literally-underground metal bars across Ukraine.He often tours alone with a guitar and synth, but sometime sharesbills with fellow travelers including Ratboys, The Hotelier, The Worldis a Beautiful Place and I Am No Longer Afraid to Die, Foxing, AJJ, TheFront Bottoms, and Xiu Xiu.He produced the new Brian Sella album Well I Mean, co-produced theSub Pop album Bits by jangle punk legends Oxford Collapse alongsideEric Topalski of Don Caballero and Storm & Stress, and composedvideo soundtrack music for non-profit organizations including PlannedParenthood and SEIU. In 2011 and 2012, Matheny's ambient workKeeling Curve was used in a multimedia installation by photographerJoel Sternfeld that was featured in a retrospective exhibition atMuseum Folkwang.