Downstreaming by Mattie Konig

In the description of my October 2019 Dark Skies EP, I discussed how the world around me was undergoing great change, and I pledged that I would “take my sound in bold and unfamiliar new directions”. The first year of the new decade has brought more bold unfamiliarity than I could ever have anticipated or expected. A deadly pandemic has uprooted our comfortable, established norms while also exposing their fatal, insidious flaws; the Overton window has ceased to follow Euclidean standards of craftsmanship; and the creative potential of artificial intelligence technology has broadened in fascinating, funny, and terrifying ways.

And caught up in the middle of it all there’s me.

If ever there was a time to create an extended, multi-part suite - a goal I have aspired to fulfil since I started making music way back in 2012, when my role model was the sidelong prog epics of the ‘70s - now is that time. The result, the 33 minute long Downstreaming, is a summation of both my musical journey and my journey as a person; it delves into my nostalgic past, wild present and uncertain future, and tries to find beauty in the limited prospects of each; it concentrates my frank and neurodivergent lens in a way my past albums maybe only hinted at; it delivers all this through a whirlwind maelstrom of jazzy post-rock, anthemic electronic pop, dark industrial ambience, and even explorations of genuinely uncharted musical waters (thanks to OpenAI’s cutting-edge Jukebox neural network).

So is this truly my last song, a full stop to eight years of music? Mattie’s Last Tape? That isn’t necessarily my intention; if nothing gets in my way then more music will follow, even if I sense it will differ from the stream of autobiographical diary-type albums I’ve released more or less consistently since 2016. But Downstreaming is probably the definitive statement of that corpus nonetheless, and if fate outside my control ordains nothing more from me, I hope this release is a fitting and conclusive climax.

Remember: it’s only downstreaming, and it’ll be ok in the end.

Tracklist

1.	Downstreaming	33:39

Credits

released August 1, 2020

Mattie Konig - composition, production, sequencing, vocals, keyboards, percussion, field recordings, cover design
Lola Smith - cover photograph
Pepper - cover dog
Some sections composed with the help of OpenAI Jukebox
All other samples and musical/lyrical quotations copyright of their respective owners

License