Matmos is an experimental electronic music duo originally from San Francisco but now residing in

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore was d ...

. 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 Björk Guðmundsdóttir ( , ; born 21 November 1965), known mononymously as Björk, is an Icelandic singer, songwriter, composer, record producer, and actress. Noted for her distinct three-octave vocal range and eccentric persona, she has de ...

, both on studio recordings and live tours. After being signed to Matador Records for nine years, Matmos signed with Thrill Jockey in 2012. The name ''Matmos'' refers to the seething lake of evil slime beneath the city Sogo in the 1968 film '' Barbarella''.

Notable work

In 1998, Matmos remixed the

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 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''. In 2011, Matmos participated in a programmed evening of events with the visual arts organisation

Auto Italia South East Auto Italia is an artist-run project and studio in Bethnal Green, London, England. It commissions and produces new artwork, collaborating directly with emerging artists. Throughout its history, Auto Italia’s work has taken many forms, ranging ...

. The event was produced in collaboration with record labe
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 an
Metal
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.

Personal lives

M. C. Schmidt and Drew Daniel are also a couple, as stated in an interview in ''

BUTT Magazine ''BUTT'' is a biannual magazine that features photography and interviews about alternative gay and queer culture and sexuality. Historically, the magazine has been marketed as for gay men. ''BUTT'' was founded in 2001 by Gert Jonkers and Jop van B ...

''. Schmidt formerly worked as a teacher in the New Genres Department at the

San Francisco Art Institute San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) was a private college of contemporary art in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1871, SFAI was one of the oldest art schools in the United States and the oldest west of the Mississippi River. Approximately ...

. 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. This brought the band to relocate their home base 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 Media, and wrote an essay about the

Throbbing Gristle Throbbing Gristle were an English music and visual arts group formed in 1975 in Kingston upon Hull by Genesis P-Orridge, Cosey Fanni Tutti, Peter Christopherson, and Chris Carter (British musician), Chris Carter. They are widely regarded as pi ...

album ''

20 Jazz Funk Greats ''20 Jazz Funk Greats'' is the third studio album by British industrial music group Throbbing Gristle, released in December 1979 by the band's label Industrial Records. It is known for its tongue-in-cheek title and artwork, and has been hailed ...

'' for the Continuum Books series ''

33 1/3 (Thirty-Three and a Third) is a series of books, each about a single music album. The series title refers to the rotation speed of a vinyl LP The LP (from "long playing" or "long play") is an analog sound storage medium, a phonograph ...

''. Both Schmidt and Daniel appeared in the Sagan music film ''Unseen Forces'' by Ryan Junell.

Discography

Albums

EPs

* ''

Full On Night '' Full On Night '' is a collaborative EP between Rachel's and Matmos. It was released on Quarterstick Records in May 2000 and contains two tracks. Matmos remarks that: :"The Precise Temperature of Darkness" is a reconstruction of "Full On N ...

'' Split Disc with Rachel's (2000, Quarterstick) * ''

California Rhinoplasty "California Rhinoplasty" is a song and an EP by Matmos. The song is originally found on their 2001 album ''A Chance to Cut Is a Chance to Cure''. The recording is composed entirely from samples of plastic surgery performed in California ( rhi ...

'' (2001 Feb 12, OLE-501) * ''

Rat Relocation Program Rats are various medium-sized, long-tailed rodents. Species of rats are found throughout the order Rodentia, but stereotypical rats are found in the genus ''Rattus''. Other rat genera include ''Neotoma'' (pack rats), ''Bandicota'' (bandicoot ...

'' (2004) * ''

For Alan Turing For or FOR may refer to: English language *For, a preposition#Definition, preposition *For, a complementizer *For, a grammatical conjunction#Types of conjunction, grammatical conjunction Science and technology * Fornax, a constellation * for lo ...

'' (2006) * ''

The Ganzfeld EP ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in ...

'' (2012, on Thrill Jockey 315)

Limited edition

* ''

Matmos Live with J Lesser Matmos is an experimental electronic music duo originally from San Francisco but now residing 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 per ...

'' (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 * '' I Want Snowden/Sheremetyevo Breakdown Blues'', split single with the Disco Yahtzee Empire (2013)

References

External links

*
Matmos page at Matador Records
*
Matmos at Myspace
{{Authority control Electronic music groups from California Intelligent dance musicians Folktronica musicians American electronic music duos Male musical duos Queercore groups LGBT-themed musical groups American LGBT musicians Musical groups established in 1995 1995 establishments in California Thrill Jockey artists Matador Records artists Locust Music artists