EarthQuakerDevices | 6 years ago
“It seems like it’s quite devious.”
Matmos should know, given their history of making music out of surgical sounds and washing machines. We met up with the pioneering experimental electronic duo (and Björk collaborators) to take the Pyramids Flanger pedal for a whirl thru samples, synths, and beats. Learn more: http://eqd.rocks/pyramids
Matmos: http://vague-terrain.com/
Matmos is M.C. Schmidt and Drew Daniel, aided and abetted by many others.
Currently based in Baltimore, the duo formed in San Francisco in the mid 1990s, and self-released their debut album in 1997. Marrying the conceptual tactics and noisy textures of object-based musique concrete to a rhythmic matrix rooted in electronic pop music, the two quickly became known for their highly unusual sound sources: amplified crayfish nerve tissue, the pages of bibles turning, water hitting copper plates, liposuction surgery, cameras and VCRs, chin implant surgery, contact microphones on human hair, rat cages, tanks of helium, a cow uterus, human skulls, snails, cigarettes, cards shuffling, laser eye surgery, whoopee cushions, balloons, latex fetish clothing, rhinestones, Polish trains, insects, life support systems, inflatable blankets, rock salt, solid gold coins, the sound of a frozen stream thawing in the sun, a five gallon bucket of oatmeal. These raw materials are manipulated into surprisingly accessible forms, and often supplemented by traditional musical instruments played by them and their large circle of friends and collaborators. The result is a model of electronic composition as a relational network that connects sources and outcomes together; information about the process of creation activates the listening experience, providing the listener with entry points into sometimes densely allusive, baroque recordings.
Since their debut, Matmos have released over nine albums, including: Quasi-Objects (1998) , The West (1998), A Chance to Cut Is A Chance to Cure (2001), The Civil War (2003) , The Rose Has Teeth in the Mouth of A Beast (2006), Supreme Balloon (2008) and The Marriage of True Minds (2014). In 2001 they were asked to collaborate with the Icelandic singer Bjork on her “Vespertine” album, and subsequently embarked on two world tours as part of her band. In addition to musical collaborations with Antony/Anohni, So Percussion, Terry Riley, The Kronos Quartet, David Tibet, the Rachel’s, Lesser, Wobbly, Zeena Parkins, and the Princeton Laptop Orchestra, Matmos have also collaborated with a wide range of artists across disciplines, from the visual artist Daria Martin (on the soundtrack to her film “Minotaur”) to the playwright Young Jean Lee (for her play “The Appeal”) to Berlin-based choreographer Ayman Harper. From 2011-2013 they were part of the ensemble for the Robert Wilson production “The Life and Death of Marina Abramovic”, featuring Marina Abramovic, Antony and Willem Dafoe. Their most recent album “Ultimate Care II” was released in 2016 on Thrill Jockey records and was made entirely out of a washing machine; with Nico Muhly they have created the score for the film “How To Talk to Girls At Parties”, directed by John Cameron Mitchell and starring Elle Fanning, Alex Sharp and Nicole Kidman, released May 2018 in theaters.
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Video: Chris Tran
Additional Camera: Jeff France, Brad Thorla
Audio: Jeff France
