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Matmos | |
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Background information | |
Origin | San Francisco, U.S. |
Genres | |
Years active | 1995–present |
Labels | |
Members | M.C. Schmidt Drew Daniel |
Website | Official Site |
Matmos is an experimental electronic music duo formed in San Francisco and currently based in Baltimore. 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. Apart from releasing twelve full-length studio albums and numerous collaborative works, Matmos is also well known for their collaboration with Icelandic singer and musician Björk, both on studio recordings and live tours. After being signed to Matador Records for nine years, Matmos signed with Thrill Jockey in 2012. [1] The name Matmos refers to the seething lake of evil slime beneath the city Sogo in the 1968 film Barbarella . [2]
In 1998, Matmos remixed the Björk single "Alarm Call". Subsequently, the duo worked with Björk on her albums Vespertine (2001) and Medúlla (2004), as well as the 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 unconventional samples including "freshly cut hair" and "the amplified neural activity of crayfish" on their first album [3] 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. [4]
In 2011, Matmos participated in a programmed evening of events with the visual arts organisation Auto Italia South East. The event was produced in collaboration with record label Upset The Rhythm and included contributions from experimental electronic musicians Jon Wiese and Birds of Delay. Matmos have since collaborated with a large number of visual artists and arts organisations, including Cafe Oto and Metal. [5] [6]
In 2015, Matmos appeared in the documentary Soundhunters directed by Beryl Koltz and broadcast on the Franco-German channel arte as well as on many channels abroad. [7]
In September 2023, the duo announced their forthcoming album Return to Archive , marking the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Smithsonian Folkways label, with a three-hour free concert at the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, D.C. in which they remixed field recordings from the label's catalogue in octophonic sound. [8]
DREW DANIEL @DDDrewDanielhad a dream I was at a rave talking to a girl and she told me about a genre called “hit em” that is in 5/4 time at 212 bpm with super crunched out sounds thank you dream girl
Jul 29, 2024 [9]
In 2024, Daniel posted a tweet about a new musical genre called "Hit Em" he claims to have been told in a dream while he was asleep; in the tweet he described the genre to be fixed at 212 BPM and 5
4 time signature. [10] [11] [12] The post went viral, with electronic music producers attempting to create examples of the fictional genre. [10] [11] [12]
Schmidt and Daniel are a couple. [13]
Daniel received a Ph.D. in English from the University of California, Berkeley with a dissertation on the literary cult of melancholy directed by Janet Adelman. He is currently an associate professor in the Department of English at Johns Hopkins University. [14] This brought the band to relocate from San Francisco to Baltimore 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 , and has written the 33 1/3 book on Throbbing Gristle's 1979 album 20 Jazz Funk Greats as well as two books of literary criticism. [14]
Schmidt formerly worked as a teacher in the New Genres Department at the San Francisco Art Institute, and is now a professor of music technology at Johns Hopkins University's Peabody Institute and the president of the High Zero Foundation, which organizes Baltimore's annual High Zero festival of improvised music. [15]
Both Schmidt and Daniel appeared in the Sagan music film Unseen Forces by Ryan Junell.
Year | Album details |
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1997 | Matmos
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1998 | Quasi-Objects
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1999 | The West
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2001 | A Chance to Cut Is a Chance to Cure [16]
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2003 | The Civil War [17]
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2006 | The Rose Has Teeth in the Mouth of a Beast [16]
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2008 | Supreme Balloon
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2010 | Treasure State [18] (with So Percussion)
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2013 | The Marriage of True Minds [16]
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2016 | Ultimate Care II
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2019 | Plastic Anniversary [19]
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2020 | The Consuming Flame: Open Exercises in Group Form [20]
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2022 | Regards/Ukłony dla Bogusław Schaeffer
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2023 | Return to Archive
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Intelligent dance music (IDM) is a style of electronic music originating in the early 1990s, defined by idiosyncratic experimentation rather than specific genre constraints. The music often described with the term originally emerged in the early 1990s from the culture and sound palette of styles of electronic dance music such as acid house, ambient techno, Detroit techno and breakbeat; it has been regarded as better suited to home listening than dancing. Prominent artists in the style include Aphex Twin, Autechre, Squarepusher, μ-Ziq, the Black Dog and the later duo Plaid, as well as earlier acts such as the Future Sound of London and Orbital.
Vespertine is the fourth studio album by Icelandic recording artist Björk. It was first released on 18 August 2001 in Japan by One Little Indian Records and in the United States by Elektra Entertainment. Björk aspired to create an album with minimal and intricate electronic music to evoke an intimate and domestic feeling, in contrast with the louder styles of her previous studio album Homogenic (1997). She enlisted producers such as Opiate, Console and the duo Matmos, and has also worked with harpist Zeena Parkins. Production on the album began whilst filming her role in Dancer in the Dark.
Live Box is a set of 4 live CDs, a live DVD and a 36-page booklet by Icelandic musician Björk, released in August 2003. Each live CD roughly corresponds to one album in her four album solo discography. The 4 live CDs were later released separately in June 2004
A Chance to Cut Is a Chance to Cure is the fourth studio album by American electronic music duo Matmos, released in 2001. The album consists primarily of samples of medical procedures, including plastic surgeries, liposuctions, hearing tests and bonesaws. The album maintains a sense of humour in contrast with the serious nature of the audio being sampled. The exception to the medical samples is the song "For Felix ", a piece dedicated to their deceased pet rat Felix, performed entirely on his cage.
"Hidden Place" is a song recorded by Icelandic singer Björk for her fourth studio album Vespertine (2001). Written and produced by Björk herself, "Hidden Place" was released as the lead single from Vespertine on 30 July 2001 by One Little Indian Records.
"Pagan Poetry" is a song recorded by Icelandic singer Björk for her fourth studio album Vespertine (2001). It was released as the second single from the album on 5 November 2001, by One Little Indian Records. A moderate commercial success, the single peaked at number 38 in the United Kingdom and number 15 in Canada.
"Cocoon" is a song by Icelandic singer Björk for her fourth studio album, Vespertine (2001). Written and produced by Björk and Thomas Knak, it was released as the album's third single on 11 March 2002 by One Little Indian Records. Inspired by her relationship with artist Matthew Barney, Björk wanted to create a record with a domestic mood. Working with Knak, she wrote "Cocoon", a song which is lyrically about a woman who describes making love with her lover during their post-coital hibernation, and includes frank sexual narrative related both explicitly and through over-sharing and metaphor.
"It's in Our Hands" is a song by Icelandic recording artist and songwriter Björk, released as the first and only single from her first greatest hits album Greatest Hits (2002). It was written by her and co-produced by her along with Matmos. Musically, "It's in Our Hands" is an electronic song that is influenced by glitch music, abstract sounds, ambient and synthpop. The song received favorable reviews from many music critics and reached number 37 in the United Kingdom.
J Lesser is the stage name for Jason Doerck. Between 2003 and 2006 Doerck was a member of the defunct laptop group Sagan, alongside Blevin Blectum, Wobbly, and video artist Ryan Junell.
The Soft Pink Truth is an experimental house music side-project from Drew Daniel, one-half of experimental electronic music duo Matmos. Daniel started the project on a dare from Matthew Herbert that he could not produce a house record. Do You Party?, the first album from the Soft Pink Truth, was released in 2003, and featured, among other original songs, a cover of Vanity 6's "Make Up".
"Who Is It" is a song recorded by Icelandic singer Björk for her fifth studio album Medúlla. It was released as the lead single from the album on 18 October 2004 by One Little Indian Records. Björk wrote "Who Is It" during the recording sessions for her previous album, Vespertine (2001), when it was known as "Embrace Fortress"; she left it off the album it as she felt it came from "a different family". The final version features throat singer Tanya Tagaq and beatboxer Rahzel, and lyrics reflecting the dialogue between mother and child.
Funk carioca, also known as favela funk, in other parts of the world as baile funk and Brazilian funk, or even simply funk, is a Brazilian hip hop-influenced music genre from Rio de Janeiro, taking influences from musical styles such as Miami bass and freestyle.
Supreme Balloon is a 2008 studio album by American electronic music duo Matmos, released via Matador Records.
Björk Guðmundsdóttir is an Icelandic singer, songwriter, composer, record producer, and actress. Noted for her distinct voice, three-octave vocal range, and sometimes eccentric public persona, she has developed an eclectic musical style over a career spanning four decades, drawing on electronica, pop, dance, trip hop, jazz, and avant-garde music. Regarded as the "Queen of Experimental Pop," she is one of the most influential pioneers in electronic and experimental music.
The Greatest Hits tour was the fifth worldwide concert tour by Icelandic musician Björk. It was launched in support of the release of her Greatest Hits album, her box set Family Tree, and to coincide with the release of her Live Box collection. The tour was supposed to take place one year earlier, but it was delayed as Björk gave birth to her daughter. The first dates of the tour were announced just two months after the birth. The tour kicked off with two shows in London on May 24, 2003, and ended with a rescheduled performance in Toronto on September 3, 2003. The tour visited Europe, Asia and North America with 28 shows in total. Björk wore outfits and creations from Jeremy Scott, Alexander McQueen and Shoplifter.
The Vespertine world tour was a tour by the singer Björk that focused on her album Vespertine. She also performed songs from Debut, Post, Homogenic and Selmasongs. She performed 35 shows on this tour and 31 different songs. The tour band consisted of harpist Zeena Parkins, electronic duo Matmos, a Greenlandic choir and a 70-piece orchestra. The tour was released on DVD as Live at Royal Opera House and the concert held at the Orchard Hall in Tokyo, Japan was broadcast on Japanese TV-station WOWOW. A separate release, Vespertine Live, contains a selection of Björk's favourite performances from throughout the Vespertine tour, while a tour documentary, Minuscule, was also released.
The Marriage of True Minds is the ninth studio album by electronic music group Matmos.
Quasi-Objects is a 1998 electronic music album by Matmos, which followed their self-titled debut. Matmos created the album's music by incorporating ordinary sounds recorded around their home.
Return to Archive is the fourteenth studio album by electronic duo Matmos, released on November 3, 2023. It uses non-music material sourced from the Smithsonian Folkways collection in its composition; the album itself was commissioned to commemorate Folkways' 75th anniversary.