Matthew Dear

Matthew Dear's Big Hands and the Mobius Band, Tue., Oct. 2, 9 p.m., $10 in advance, $12 at the door, Johnny Brenda's, 1201 N. Frankford Ave.

by Brian Howard

dance/electronic

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When Matthew Dear burst into quasi-mainstream attention with 2003 minimal techno/microhouse marvel Leave Luck to Heaven and its companion EP Backstroke, people were taken with the Texan's mix of kick and click (and, I assume, the term "microhouse"). Here was IDM you could actually dance to, and dance music you could sit and listen to. Of course, Dear'd been mostly MIA since then, touring Europe, performing as his techno alter-ego Audion, and, by some accounts, resting on his laurels. But his new Asa Breed (Ghostly International) proves that even if Dear had been busy taking a victory lap around Europe's minimal techno circuit, he hadn't been sleeping. From the opening beats of "Fleece on Brain," Breed smacks immediately of that ominous, softly brooding Dear sound. But as the album moves along, you notice something significant. These aren't tracks. They're songs. The (pretty, really) lead single "Deserter," the acoustic guitar-driven "Midnight Lovers" and the morbidly celebratory "Good to be Alive" all feel like they sprouted from hooks, not beats like much of Heaven. Backed by a drummer and a bassist (aka Matthew Dear's Big Hands) on this tour, Dear is apparently freed up to do more singing and more knob twiddling.

Matthew Dear's Big Hands and the Mobius Band, Tue., Oct. 2, 9 p.m., $10 in advance, $12 at the door, Johnny Brenda's, 1201 N. Frankford Ave., 215-739-9684, www.johnnybrendas.com.