Electric Independence: Matmos
Posted by Motherboard on Tuesday, Feb 15, 2011
Above: the documentary and a slideshow.
If there’s a word for the sort of post-genre electronic music Matmos creates it might be “slippery.” Maybe it’s bending vintage ARP synth sounds into tumbling psychedelia, contact mic’ing a cow’s reproductive tract, or turning human skin into skittering IDM (don’t ask): the important thing is that there’s no way in hell you would have thought of it.
Matmos’ core duo/couple is made up of Martin (M.C.) Schmidt and Drew Daniel, who moved together a couple of years ago from San Francisco to Baltimore where they can generally be found at warehouse noise freakouts or, in Daniel’s case, teaching literature at Johns Hopkins University. You may have heard their work on Bjork’s vital records Vespertine and Medulla, for which Matmos did the production work and contributed virtuosic performances on household appliances and medical instruments.
For the debut of the second season of Electric Independence, Motherboard’s electronic music series, we visited the duo at their Baltimore studio to learn about their collaborative process and the new album they are working on, The Marriage of True Minds. At one point, Jordan ends up on the floor with ping pong balls on his eyes, listening to white noise, and feeling telepathic energy. On his feet, he gets a tour of their most important gear, then chats with the guys about rat cages, stress detectors, their love of Throbbing Gristle, and their love for each other. — Michael Byrne
Host: Jordan Redaelli
Producers: Claire Macdonald, Jordan Redaelli
Project Manager: Thobey Campion
See season one of Electric Independence here.
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