In The Visualist: http://www.thevisualist.org/2014/11/todd-mattei-territories/
Territories, Todd Mattei’s first solo screening in Chicago, brings together a selection of his video work spanning the last 11 years. Mattei’s videos open up a portal to a science (non-)fiction landscape that is littered with familiar objects, myths, fonts and concerns from our contemporary world. Through his use of video collage, dramatic text and atmospheric sound, Mattei encourages us to feel rather than know our way through these territories.
Included in the screening are four new pieces from 2014, including two premieres, a music video for Chicago’s Owls and an excerpt from an in-progress vampire movie.
“My videos are not persons (this goes without saying, I suppose). My videos are smaller territories built from the experience of my person. They are strictly partial, and when you watch them you will feel the places where different kinds of parts combine, overlap, bump into each other, or suddenly disappear. They are like this because this is how I think life is. Or life in my territory, at least.
The worlds of my videos are shattered, pieces are lying all over the place. But the pieces are alive, and they are striving towards light and union.“ – Todd Mattei
Bio:
Todd Mattei is an artist, working primarily in video and photography, residing currently in Chicago. Todd has screened or exhibited in such places as Chicago Filmmakers, Pittsburgh Filmmakers, Milwaukee Art Museum, Artists Television Access (San Francisco), Pacific Film Archive, Carrie Secrist Gallery, Sober and Lonely (Johannesburg), the Nightingale, and more. He received his MFA from the University of Illinois, Chicago, in 2006.
Todd is also a musician, and has contributed to the production of more than 20 full-length recordings, most notably with the bands Joan of Arc (Polyvinyl Records, Jade Tree Records, Perishable Records), Sharks and Seals (Brilliante Records) and Male (Other Electricities).
Profiled in the Chicago Tribune for electronic music act, Litesalive. Profile written by Jessica Hopper.
For most solo musicians, going it alone is the chance to be in absolute control of his or her sound. For guitarist/composer Todd Mattei, his Litesalive project is a chance to create a complete sensory experience, pairing his experimental and atmospheric songs with video.Mattei, who spent years as a guitarist in popular art-rock band Joan of Arc, uses effects and pedals to distort and change his guitar to the point where it is often unrecognizable -- strumming gets looped into a clipped chugging, later it's transmuted to a hush whirring, or layered into a colossal crunching. "I love when someone tells me that (it's unrecognizable),"says Mattei. "But it might be because as a listener I am not as drawn to rock as certain other kinds of music, at least not in comparison to many of my musician friends. I like the sound of strings, piano and organ. Those are the things that I have always tried to emulate with a guitar, though, for a long time I was not conscious of it." 6 p.m. Friday; Co-Prosperity Sphere, 3219-21 S. Morgan St.; Free (all ages); coprosperity.org Read the full Todd Mattei interview
http://www.spin.com/2014/03/owls-im-surprised-video/
Long-quiet emo outfit Owls finally made their return this month with Two, the follow-up to their self-titled 2001 debut album. Before the LP hit iTunes, frontman Tim Kinsella and co. teased the comeback with a trailer and a pair of tracks: “I’m Surprised…” and “Ancient Stars Seed.” Now, the Chicago foursome have shared an eerie music video for the former. Directed by Todd Mattei, the clip depicts a séance-like scene: Owls hide in the shadows and play their instruments, while the camera follows a mysterious card game. What’s being gambled isn’t clear, but judging from the decor (glasses of red wine, display fruit, a human skull), the stakes are high. Watch it above.
Owls tour dates:
May 16 – Chicago, IL @ Subterranean
June 27 – Santa Ana, CA @ Constellation Room *
June 28 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Roxy Theatre *
June 29 – San Francisco, CA @ Bottom of The Hill *
July 11 – New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
July 12 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Mr. Small’s Theatre
July 13 – Washington, D.C. @ Black Cat
July 14 – Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer
July 15 – Cambridge, MA @ The Sinclair
* = with Into It. Over It.