The Sales Department

The Sales Department is MD Matheson’s latest musical incarnation who previously put out several albums as Beef Terminal; a layered  guitar, drum machine and synthesis project predominantly released on the Noise Factory Records. Those familiar with Beef Terminal will immediately recognize surviving elements such as field recordings of voices that materialize from ambient ether, deft beat programming, and moody atmospheres. This time, Matheson put aside his guitar to focus more on melodic synthesis and deep ambiance delivered with subtlety and finesse.

Measured Life by The Sales Department $14.00

Understated beats and oft-brooding atmospheres pierced with rays of optimistic melody are hallmarks of moody Measured Life and is both emotionally complex and well-crafted cinematic ambient. The prevalent style of Measured Life is ambient that often washes over IDM beats while melodic structures linger and haunt long after the CD player stops. Two samples show the breadth of this excellent effort by MD Matheson such as ambient interplayed with beat-driven melody:

and pure, deep-ambient:

(Ambient, IDM)

The Sales Department - Accounts EP $8.50

The Sales Department debut 5 track ep clocks in at just over 25 minutes and released on Montreal-based indie label This Quiet Army and while the packaging is low-key, the music is anything but. Subtle, psychedelic ambient IDM made during Matheson’s travels in China, Thailand and his home base in Toronto, Canada. (IDM, ambient)