Matmos: The Back To School 2008 Edition

Now that there’s crispness to the air and the scuttling sound of
leaves falling and banks failing, what of Matmos? Now that Drew has
plunged into teaching “American Nightmares: Burroughs, Highsmith,
Dick” and “Reading Early Modern Affect” at Johns Hopkins and M.C. has
completed his multiple star turns in the High Zero festival and taken
to his closet to contemplate heavenly mysteries, will no more be heard
from Vague Terrain Inc.? What will the gang do after touring with the
“Supreme Balloon Good Times Band” for two months straight and then
going to cooking school immediately afterward? Lots, actually, and we
are now going to fill you in on the currently operative scams,
routines, and capers.

A COMPILATION OF RECENT MATMOS COMPILATIONS AND SEVEN INCH SHENANIGANS

There have been some pretty dazzling contributions to the old
fashioned world of physically material vinyl objects lately, and
luckily enough we happen to have been invited along for the ride:

Fractured Records (London) presents: RECOVERY!
We were asked by high level magic user Kamal Ackarie to contribute to
this totally crazy idea, a box set of 7″ singles in which each side
features a different contemporary artiste digging deep into the
shameful pop-single-loving past of their deepest darkest adolescence
and daring to Ruin the Sacred Truths with a cover version of their
own. After a botched attempt at K.C. and the Sunshine Band’s “Boogie
Shoes” we course-corrected into a cover of “C30 C60 C90 Go!” by Bow
Wow Wow. And here’s our chance to right a serious WRONG on our part-
namely, our cover of this classic piece of smash n grab Mclarenism
(pro-downloading avant la lettre, doncha know) was made possible with
help from friends that we didn’t identify in the very fine print of
the release itself. Let the truth now and forever be known: THIS IS A
COVER BY MATMOS & SO PERCUSSION of Bow Wow Wow’s immortal classic.
There, we’ve said it in all caps, flame war style. Thanks So
Percussion! The whole boxset is worth your time, with a wild
daisychain of great people taking some old school jams out for a ride,
from Ryoji Ikeda’s brutal takedown of AC/DC’s “Back in Black” to
People Like Us & Ergo Phizmiz’ soulful waltz through Wings’ “Mull of
Kintyre.” There are only 500 of these bad boys so step on it.

MORIYAMA ZOO No. 1. : A Tribute to Daido Moriyama
A while back we were asked to contribute a song to a compilation in
honor of the celebrated Japanese photographer Daido Moriyama, whose
amazing photographs of animals would be the conceptual theme of the
compilation. When we made our song, “By Your Side”, we had no idea
what we were really getting into. Our artist copy of the resulting
artifact just showed up a few weeks ago, and goddamn if this thing
isn’t the MOST DELUXE PACKAGING WE HAVE EVER SEEN. I mean, yeah yeah,
that new Metallica record comes in a coffin blah blah blah, but
seriously, this boxset is crazy. How crazy? Japanese levels of budget
craziness are afoot. In the post-bailout economic wasteland that is
the United States right now such luxury is unthinkable. Check it out:
two picture discs in cut-out sleeves, plus the same material on CD in
its own 12″ sleeve, multi-page 12×12 glossy book of photographs,
special die-cut pop-out book dedicatory plaque-thingie with
tracklisting on the back AND a stamped and ready to play with cut out
set of “menko”, AKA pogs featuring circular images of Moriyama
photographs. Plus, all lettering is in shimmering gold ink on ultra
thick black cardstock so shiny n glossy that you feel like a
Neanderthal if you touch it without white gloves. Who’s on the
compilation? David Grubbs, Dirty Three, Nico Muhly, Mount Eeerie, Jan
Jelinek, Lau Nau, DJ Olive, Paavoharju and Matmos too. Find out more
at www.powershovelbooks.com Rob a bank if you must. That’s your
business.

SCUM YR EARTH ARE DOING PARIS SEVEN INCHES AT A TIME
When our Parisian pal Joseph Ghosn told us about this new label he was
starting up called Scum Yr Earth that was going to do a limited
edition series of 7 inches with artwork by Frederic Poincelet we got
all hot under the collar and asked if we could join in the fun. So far
the label has or is about to put out teensy serigraph covered limited
vinyl editions of singles by Class of 69, New Old, and now, with Scum
Yr Earth 03, Matmos. (Also a little bird old us that something new
from Joakim maybe on the way for the label too.) Our contribution is
titled “Matmos Plays the Coupigny,” and both sides are intended as
tributes to, duh, the French engineer Francis Coupigny, the inventor
and designer of the Coupigny synthesizer featured on the “Supreme
Balloon” album which we recorded in Paris at the INA/GRM. In a corny
Pierre Henry injoke that perhaps only Joseph gets, the two sides are
identified as “Live at the End of Humanity” and “Backstage at the End
of Humanity”. There were 100 copies of this commodity pressed up, and
thanks to some poor communication skills on our part while on tour, we
now possess only one copy for our archives, effectively making divorce
impossible. M.C. brought one bonus copy to the True Vine record store
in Baltimore (where he can be found sweeping up most days) but it has
already been purchased so don’t bug them about it. Thanks Joseph for
sending us our copy! You can hassle him some more about this record by
writing josephghosn24 at gmail.com

MATMOS PLAY SONIC CIRCUITS FESTIVAL, BECOME CORRUPT WASHINGTON INSIDERS

It had to happen sooner or later. Living in Baltimore, the vast
tractor beam of evil that is Washington D.C. was bound to pull Matmos
into its sphere of influence, and proof of this will soon be evident
at the Velvet Lounge in our nation’s capital as part of the Sonic
Circuits Festival of Experimental Music, brought to you by some
shadowy special interest group called the American Composers Forum. We
are playing with a list of talent so freaking long that it’s kind of
hard to imagine how we’re all going to fit in there. The lineup:

SONIC CIRCUITS FESTIVAL
VELVET LOUNGE
WASHINGTON D.C.
SATURDAY OCT 4th
2:30 PM to 2 AM
TEN AMERICAN DOLLARS
Matmos
Andrea Parkins
David Watson
Jason Kahn + Jon Mueller
Mattin
Haptic
Dead Letters Spell Out Dead Words
Trio Chroch
Josef Van Wissen
Second Land
Polyphasic
Janel & Anthony
Phog Masheen
Caustic Castle
RDK
Myo
Soft Pieces

Okay, got all that? Neither do we. As with all festivals it’s often
subject to switcheroo as to when people play so just hunker down with
us and make the scene. Check out this website for video clips and
press releases and info and such: www.dc-soniccircuits.org

YO HO YO AND A BOTTLE OF RUM: MATMOS BOARDS GOOD SHIP BRAINWAVES FESTIVAL

We are super stoked to have the chance to perform at this year’s
Brainwaves festival, whose bejeweled lineup has our tentacles aquiver.
In preparation for the wang dang doodle to come, we have just
completed our contribution to the yearly compilation that graces each
festival; we have mixed down and shipped off a shapely little ditty
that ominously showcases our new reggaeton direction. Watch this space
for more disclosures about the mysterious events which will occur at
the Regent Theatre in the Boston Area. Buy your tickets and get your
house in order.

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