Emperor X

Emperor X is the brainchild of Berlin-based American indie folk artist Chad R. Matheny. He began his aural assault in the late '90s with the release of his debut album, The Joytakers' Rakes/Stars on the Ceiling, Pleasantly Kneeling. With his literate, lo-fi leanings, Emperor X would go on to build a sizable grassroots audience in the U.S. and Europe through constant touring, quirky promotions that involved burying physical media in geocache sites, and a prolific string of releases including standouts like 2011's Western Teleport and 2017's Oversleepers International. After he survived cancer, Matheny's music became both more ambitious and focused on releases like 2022's The Lakes of Zones B and C and 2026's Unified Field, the latter of which was recorded in Ukraine during wartime.