a bit more;::
-
Vague Terrain Records is pleased to announce its first release, the
self-titled 73 minute CD debut by the electronic duo Matmos.
Using samplers, analog keyboards, field recordings and guitars, Matmos
make atmospheric, idiosyncratic electronica.
Need some reference points?
Imagine the neo-electro of Autechre, the attention to guitar textures and
production detail of Moebius & Plank's "RastaKrautPasta" LP, the
clamorous musique concrete of Tod Dockstader, and the dark cinematics of
Coil- okay, so now you're stuck in a web of derivative signifiers, but
you're getting warm.
There's a lot of lip service paid these days to various electronic-based
music being "experimental"- but Matmos' musical practice genuinely
deserves this much abused term. In addition to incorporating chance
operations into
their sequencing enviroment, many songs are based upon a working
methodology of "conceptual restriction"- songs are built entirely out of
samples from a single sound source: field recordings, contact microphones
on hair, even the sound of an amplified synapse from crayfish nerve
tissue. Sometimes these samples and recordings are built up into
elaborate rhythmic sequences verging on (but tweeking) the by-now
familiar subgenres of trip hop, drum and bass and electro; sometimes
these sound sources are kept beat-free, and sculpted into frighteningly
noisy atmospheres, or shot through with eerie silent pauses and gaps.
Based in San Francisco, Matmos is Drew Daniel and m. c. Schmidt. The band
members biographies reflect their brainy, decentered approach to
electronica-- Daniel is currently getting his PhD; Schmidt helps manage
the
conceptual art department of the San Francisco Art Institute. Daniel is a
veteran of the indie rock scene in Louisville, Kentucky, and has
collaborated on film soundtracks and, oddly enough, hip hop projects with
Jeff Mueller(of June of '44) and Jason Noble (Rachel's band, formerly of
Rodan). In addition to radio DJing, Drew has DJed in jungle and trip hop
clubs in England (while attending Oxford University) and San Francisco
(Klubstitute, Low Rider), and has been making experimental electronic
music since high school. m. c. Schmidt has been making experimental
electronic music for many years, as the leader of avant garde drone
outfit X/I and industrial occultists IAOCore, in which he did time with
current members of Amber Asylum and Tipsy. He also curated the legendary
San Francisco noise music/performance art space FOURFIVEFIVETENTHSTREET
for four years.
The WIRE (UK) described the Matmos debut CD as a "must buy containing
untold wonders . . . Electronic Valhalla" and listed it as one of the
1997's best electronic albums in their "97 Rewind"; having completed
remixes of Japanese
noise artist Otomo Yoshihide and US noise/gabber unit *Spacewurm, the
band is
currently at work on a follow up collaboration with Dave Pajo of
Tortoise, as well as an album for SF label Drop Beat.
-
[btw, the drop beat album was cancelled and 'quasi-objects' was released
on vauge terrain, instead]
also, check out
http://www.slip.net/~mcess/ for an erm... odd IAO Core site that, amongst
other things, has an article on the most effective way to rob a bank.
later/mlt
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