Matmos Continues to Satisfy

Matmos is America's answer to the high art techno that is typically dominated by European artists like Herbert, Aphex Twin and Mouse on Mars. Drew Daniel and Martin Schmidt are as ambitious as they are talented, having taken on bold social and political topics in their music while being no less bold about their sampling(the most notable example being their album A Chance To Cut Is A Chance To Cure, which was created about plastic surgery and using samples from surgical procedures). After their challenging tribute to legendary homosexual figures in history, The Rose Has Teeth In The Mouth of the Beast, it was hard to tell where they could possibly go next, having covered everything from plastic surgery to the civil war to a study in gay/lesbian history.

The answer would be found in their most recent album, the delightfully simple Supreme Balloon. On this album the liner notes indicate that no microphones were used on the album, relying solely on the tones that could be retrieved from the various old synthesizers that they utilized. No overtly social/political themes this time around, just the challenge of exploring some old sounds and finding ways to revive them in an exciting way. In that respect it doesn't seem to meet the high standards of their previous albums, but one listen reassures you that this duo has lost none of their creative spirit.

The opening track Rainbow Flag takes you on an almost complete detour from the very concept of what you expect from a synthesizer, reducing aspects of its sound to mere clicks, buzzes and beeps to create a busybody robotic atmosphere. This high-action backdrop is augmented in many colorful ways, including a primitive sounding arpeggio that rolls up and down (sometimes into something resembling a busy signal) and synth chords that sound something like a trombone section playing an irony-laden harmony.

Polychords is probably the masterpiece of the album, starting from a simple bass line and progressively building itself into something that flowers with quirkiness and charm. The upper chords, which are virtually persistent throughout the song, float over the bass and the lower quasi-baroque harmonies like an impressionistic dream sequence written by Debussy. But as the song progresses and their experimentation with sounds becomes more challenging and integrated into the song itself, you realize that you're not merely hearing impressionism of the earth; it's outer space impressionism, to the heavens and beyond. Beautiful.

Utilizing longtime Sun Ra bandmate Marshall Allen on the electronic voice recorder, Daniel and Schmidt manage to deconstruct the very sound of the synthesizers for Mister Mouth and create a track that sounds every bit like record cuts being turned into a dance track. The song moves through different beats and moods just like a well-mixed piece of house music and various effects cleverly simulate everything from records scratches to dizzying siren sounds and distorted bass hits. This track is the surprise of the album; it takes some time to digest but ultimately it may be as rewarding a track as any on the album.

Exciter Lamp and the Variable Band comes off sounding like a playful romp through the old days of the Nintendo game system. Many of the curious percussion sounds they created and other effects in fact sound like they came straight out of a Super Mario Brothers game. The song has a clever repetitiveness to its theme in various different tones throughout the song and in the end you'll lose yourself in its engagingly nostalgic charm.

Les Folies Française gives an uncharacteristically Bach-like baroque treatment to the synthesizers, exploring a theme worthy of the Goldberg Variations. The treatment is done with their typical high sense of art, extracting the maximum value from every tone the synthesizer had to offer. They brought together a music long forgotten in any popular sense with an instrument one would think the least likely to handle it and made them mesh with an amazing amount of depth and grace.

The title track is a mammoth work, clocking in at over 24 minutes. It has surprisingly similar sound and aesthetic to that of Tangerine Dream, effectively using drones and repetitive groupings of notes over a long period of time to take the mind into a trace-like state where the music takes on an almost spiritual quality. They of course add their own unique brand of tone splashes and sound effects throughout the song, but it is the sheer will of this song to penetrate the listener that makes this such a wonderful track.

The final track Cloudhoppers is like an analog journey through the music of Taylor Deupree. Again, they utilize the simplicity of single notes, this time taking things into the atmospheric realm. Sound drifts in and out, echoing, ringing and fading throughout the song as if passing by in an aural orbit of sound and motion.

While this isn't your typical Matmos album, it is far from a disappointment. The duo of Daniel and Schmidt have proven once again that they are a rare creative force in the world of left field techno. They took a simple, maybe even a novelty concept and not only extracted great complexity from it but also beauty of many faces and layers. They are proof that musics past and present still have little explored areas of reconciliation and they have left the music world that much more room to explore and grow.