Matthew D. Gantt – Isomoprhs
1.13.18 by Ryan Masteller

Right off the bat I got “isomorphs” confused with “xenomorphs,” and boy, did I feel pretty stupid. I’m not going to pretend I have a healthy grasp on what an isomorph, or “isomorphism,” is, so don’t expect a lengthy treatise on any math or science stuff. All I know is, if I was a kid again and I called one of my brothers an isomorph, you can bet he’d shoot back “YOU’RE an isomorph” before tackling me (and eventually being subdued by my overall superiority). (I can kick both of their behinds in basketball too.)

That has nothing to do with Matthew D. Gantt, who rebounds from his stay at Orange Milk (the vibrant “Split Series Vol. II” with Future Daughter, which I covered, duh) with a slam dunk of a cassette tape called “Isomorphs,” which is where the initial and now probably obvious confusion sprang from. Planting his pivot foot and looking down court for an open teammate, Gantt realizes he has the stadium to himself this time, because who is he, Joel Embiid? He doesn’t need four other jokers hanging around and cramping his style. He’s just fine on his own, thank you very much.

“Isomorphs” blooms from the opening seconds of the title track and stretches from there, blasting all kinds of weird samples and tones and sources into polyphonic fractals whose nexus point lost all molecular connection right from the get-go. Kind of like this backboard following a Darryl Dawkins dunk. And he does it all from the comfort of his iPhone 5s, which I roll my eyes at because c’mon, dude, we’re in X territory now. Although I shouldn’t talk – my idea of technological advancement is making the balloons go on an iMessage. Which I giggle at.

From there it’s the pump fake of “New.Wav (BMF),” darkwavish, nocturnal drone electronics that flow into “Ephemera,” the B-side, the main event, an eleven-minute run of unanswered layups, jump shots, and three-pointers. Yeah it bleeps, yeah it bloops, yeah it blocks shots, but in the end it’s a science experiment gone irreversibly right. You don’t need a scorecard to get that “Isomorphs” put up a triple double while I was listening to it. It’s just obvious.

For those of you wondering how I got from “xenomorphs” to the NBA (and let’s face it, basketball’s WELL down into the bottom tier of my least favorite sports), I’ll probably tackle you if you ask me. So, to tide you over till we meet again, here’s a Bandcamp link to Oxtail Recordings, where you can purchase “Isomorphs” for a mere $7 if you’re one of the fifty lucky stiffs who get there in time.