"Sounds like a drunk college kid imitating Tom Waits." That was what my wife heard when she heard Matthew Dear's voice. And it's pretty much true, except during the moments where Dear sounds like a drunk college kid imitating Berlin Trilogy-era David Bowie. It's part of the man's charm. Dear never intended to become a singer. Once upon a time, in the early-'00s era when some music critic coined the term "microhouse," Dear was one of many producers doing twitchy, architecturally fascinating things with classic techno sounds. But on the 2003 single "Dog Days," Dear added his own heavily treated voice to the mix, adding a dark synthpop slither to his own nervous thump. That song caught on, and it became a whole new sound.