Matmos
is an experimental electronic music duo originally from San Francisco but now residing in Baltimore signed to the Matador Records label. M. C. (Martin) Schmidt
and Drew Daniel
are the core members, but they frequently include other artists on their records and in their performances, including notably J Lesser. Much of their work could be classified as a pop version of the musique concrète genre. The name Matmos
refers to the seething lake of evil slime beneath the city Sogo in the 1968 film Barbarella
. The name might also orginate from Swedish, literally meaning "mashed food".
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MATMOS TICKETS
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Notable work
In 1998, Matmos remixed the
Björk single
Alarm Call. Subsequently, Matmos worked with Björk on her albums
Vespertine
(2001) and
Medúlla
(2004), as well as her
Vespertine
and
Greatest Hits
tours. In November 2004, Matmos spent 97 hours in the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts as
artists in residence,
performing music with friends, musical guests and onlookers. The live album
Work, Work, Work
, essentially a "best of" collection of the session, was released as a free download from their website.
Matmos gained notoriety for their use of samples including "freshly cut hair" and "the amplified neural activity of crayfish" on their first album
[1] and "recorded the snips, clicks, snaps, and squelches of various surgical procedures, then nipped and tucked them into seven remarkably accessible, melodic pieces of experimental techno" for their album
A Chance to Cut Is a Chance to Cure
[2].
Personal life
M. C. Schmidt and Drew Daniel are also a couple, as stated in an interview in .
Schmidt formerly worked as a teacher in the New Genres Department at the
San Francisco Art Institute.
Daniel has successfully defended his dissertation on the literary cult of
Melancholy, directed by Janet Adelman at the University of California, Berkeley, and is currently an assistant professor in the Department of English at Johns Hopkins University. This brought the band to relocate their home base to
Baltimore, MD, in August 2007. Daniel also has a personal dance music project,
The Soft Pink Truth. He is a contributing writer to the online music magazine
Pitchfork Media, and wrote an essay about the
Throbbing Gristle album,
20 Jazz Funk Greats for the Continuum Books series, "33 1/3". Both Schmidt and Daniel appeared in the
Sagan music DVD filmed by
Ryan Junell.
The band includes their mailing address in their album liner notes. Currently it is : 2920 Wyman Parkway, Baltimore, MD 21211
Discography
Albums
- Matmos
(1998, OLE-380)
- Quasi-Objects
(1998, OLE-381)
- The West
(1999)
- A Chance to Cut Is a Chance to Cure
(March 13 2001, OLE-489)
- The Civil War
(2003)
- The Rose Has Teeth in the Mouth of a Beast
(2006, OLE-677)
- Supreme Balloon
(2008)
EPs
- Full On Night
Split Disc with Rachel's (2000, Quarterstick)
- California Rhinoplasty
(2001 Feb 12, OLE-501)
- Rat Relocation Program
(2004)
- For Alan Turing
(2006)
Limited edition
- Matmos Live with J Lesser
(2002)
- A Viable Alternative to Actual Sexual Contact
, as Vague Terrain Recordings (2002, Piehead Records)
- “A Paradise of Dainty Devices: interludes, micromedia & sound edits” (limited edition of 100, for their "Wet Hot EuroAmerican Summer Tour", 2007)
- Polychords
: Promo Single released on Matador
References
- Cooper, Sean (2008). "Matmos", AllMusicGuide.com
- Phares, Heather (2008). "A Chance to Cut Is a Chance to Cure", AllMusicGuide.com.