Roman 6:1, 2. “What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?”

When Johnny Cash quotes Revelation 6 at the beginning of the song, “A Man Comes Around” it’s fucking badass. A gruffly old bible quoting coming from the king of outlaw country? Fuck ya. “And Hell followed with him.” Shit still gives me chills. It made me pee a little. No, I lied, it wasn’t all pee. But this Romans shit? What the fuck? This is some NIV yielding artsy shit. This isn’t old school tobacco chewing King James. It doesn’t sound badass. It’s fucking confusing. I wish I could blow past it. I wish I could take on the mind that some artsy fucks just like to sound strange and quote esoteric bible verses cause it makes their dicks hard and their seats wet. But this is Drew Daniels from Matmos. Their last album (under their band name) was an electronic album made entirely out of the sound created from plastic. The reason? Save the fucking earth. These motherfuckers make concept albums. Their shit is deliberate. He’s a Shakespearean fucking scholar. Dude understands intent. Each track off this album is a single word from this verse so it’s probably super fucking important. Knowing this, I don’t think I have a choice.

It’s time for bible study, motherfuckers.

The book of Romans is a letter. Yep, pad and pen shit. An old school e-mail. In the letter this dude Paul, or the artist previously known as Saul until he tripped balls on hallucinogens one day, is writing a letter—yep you guessed it—to the fucking Romans. In this bit of verse, Paul is talking about the grace of god and all that good shit. But he’s getting tricky with heaven. Check it: If humanity is saved only by the grace of god, and we get this grace when we sin, shouldn’t we sin all the time so we can keep getting buckets full of grace? More sin = more grace. You know the move. We’ve all done it. Piss off the hot ex so you can keep rage fucking. Fake sick to get out of school. Trip the kid in the park because: One, it’s not your kid. Two, it’s hilarious. And three, there’s no one else around. In other words, it’s a dick move. You get what you want, sure, but you’re a cunt about it. This begs the question, why the fuck would you make an album about this?

Drew Daniels is not a fan of Trump’s trumpery.

The election of Donald Trump made me feel very angry and sad, but I didn’t want to make “angry white guy” music in a purely reactive mode. I felt that I needed to make music through a different process, and to a different emotional outcome, to get past a private feeling of powerlessness by making musical connections with friends and people I admire, to make something that felt socially extended and affirming.

Seems like the dude is talking about how to react to *gestures wildly in every direction*. And, fuck me, he makes a good point using the bible. That book. That pissy brick. More times than I wish to say, when someone’s been a huge dick it’s acted as its head. But this time it’s different. Drew Daniels is gay. I’m sure the dude has been on the receiving end of a good bible thumping. And he’s a smart dude. He understands his audience. This verse is directed toward the people that actually listen to his music. And after watching countless educated and angry motherfuckers condemning close minded and sanctimonious motherfuckers that won’t change under duress, he came to understand that we’re all stupid motherfuckers. We can keep tweeting shitty things to someone that dropped out of elementary school about something we feel passionate about. Fuck, you might even get that good feeling of fighting the good fight. But should we keep on being cunts to feel socially validated? Or, in other words, shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?

Oh shit, the fucking music!!!

There’s not fucking way I would have done this bible study unless the shit was dope. This album combines electronica, contemporary classical, funk, pop, and a fuck ton of other genres. This shit is at the forefront of the goddamn game. Is it strange at times? Um, ya. Look at that fucking title. But more than anything, it’s peaceful. It’s restorative. The music matches the message. It’s calming ambient with a message of peace without being flaky as hell. It’s heavily conceptual without being weighty as fuck. It pokes the bear just enough to get that good rage fucking, doesn’t move in, doesn’t eat all the food, and gets to the point without getting murdered. It’s the goldilocks of goldilocks. It’s one smart ass bitch.