The notes below were written in 1989 and still convey the philosophy of M4tr’s approach to recording.
“Jude the Obscure” was released in May 1989 and is the second solo release by T/W on M4TR and is seen as a natural progression from the first tape ‘Hope’, which was released twelve months before. The songs on Jude are more inventive and the recording style more experimental e.g., the use of different speeds, machines, tape types with and without noise reduction, the use of microphones (different types in various different rooms) - at one point the whole house became the studio, the bathroom the live room, the bedroom the dead room, etc. The most important thing about JTO is that these diverse factors combine together to create a whole product in which traditional songs of melody and musical structure combine with experimentation to compliment each other and the bitch is raw in places. The use of instruments on JTO creates a bizarre effect, one minute a crazy AXEMAN guitar will disappear into a didgeridoo droning underneath a flute and eastern drum - and the next a floating female vocal will be echoed by a telephone answer machine. The whole experience was a great adventure.”
These notes were published in GAJOOB (more)
There is a re-released CD version available called ‘The Obscure Jude‘
