Matmos is an experimental

electronic music Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...

duo formed in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

and based in

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

. M. C. (Martin) Schmidt and Drew Daniel are the core members, but they frequently include other artists on their records and in their performances notably including

J Lesser J Lesser is the stage name for Jason Doerck (born December 19, 1970). Between 2003 and 2006 Doerck was a member of the now defunct laptop group Sagan, alongside Blevin Blectum, Wobbly, and video artist Ryan Junell. Early years Born and raised ...

. 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 voice, three-octave vocal range, and eccentric public per ...

, both on studio recordings and live tours. After being signed to

Matador Records Matador Records is an independent record label, with a roster of mainly indie rock, but also punk rock, experimental rock, alternative rock, and electronic acts. History Matador was created in 1989 by Chris Lombardi in his New York City ap ...

for nine years, Matmos signed with

Thrill Jockey Thrill Jockey is an American independent record label established by former Atlantic Records A&R representative Bettina Richards and based in Chicago. History Richards started the label in 1992 with $35,000 of family and personal capital, while ...

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 "Alarm Call" is a song recorded by Icelandic singer Björk for her third studio album ''Homogenic'' (1997). It was released as the fourth single from the album, peaking at number 33 in the United Kingdom. The sped-up radio edit of the song was us ...

". Then the duo worked with Björk on her albums ''

Vespertine ''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 ...

'' (2001) and ''

Medúlla ''Medúlla'' is the fifth studio album by Icelandic recording artist Björk. It was released on 30 August 2004 in the United Kingdom by One Little Independent Records and in the United States by Elektra Entertainment. After the release of her ...

'' (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 on 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 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 Cafe Oto is a venue for free jazz, experimental and free improvisation performances located in the Dalston district of London, England. Founded in 2008 Cafe Oto (''sound'' or ''noise'' in Japanese) is located in the heart of Dalston and provide ...

an
Metal
In 2015, Matmos appeared in ''

Soundhunters ''Soundhunters'' is a transmedia musical project created by Nicolas Blies and Stéphane Hueber-Blies (also known as the Blies brothers), Marion Guth, and François Le Gall. It was broadcast on the Franco-German channel Arte in 2015 and deployed ...

,'' a documentary directed by Beryl Koltz and broadcast on the Franco-German channel

arte Arte (, , ; ' ('), sometimes stylised in lowercase or uppercase in its logo) is a European Union, European public service Television channel, channel dedicated to culture. It is made up of three separate companies: the Strasbourg-based Europea ...

as well as on many channels abroad. In September 2023, the duo announced their album ''

Return to Archive ''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 com ...

'' would be released marking the seventy-fifth anniversary of the

Smithsonian Folkways Smithsonian Folkways is the nonprofit record label of the Smithsonian Institution. It is a part of the Smithsonian's Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, located at Capital Gallery in downtown Washington, D.C. The label was f ...

label, with a three-hour free concert at the

Hirshhorn Museum The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden is an art museum beside the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. The museum was initially endowed during the 1960s with the permanent art collection of Joseph H. Hirshhorn. It was designed ...

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

in which they remixed

field recording Field recording is the production of audio recordings outside recording studios, and the term applies to recordings of both natural and human-produced sounds. It can also include the recording of electromagnetic fields or vibrations using diff ...

s from the label's catalogue in

octophonic sound Octophonic sound is a form of audio reproduction that presents eight discrete audio channels using eight speakers. For playback, the speakers may be positioned in a circle around the listeners or in any other configuration. Typical speaker conf ...

Hit Em

In 2024, Daniel

tweeted A tweet (officially known as a post since 2023) is a short status update on the social networking site Twitter (officially known as X since 2023) which can include images, videos, GIFs, straw polls, hashtags, mentions, and hyperlinks. Around ...

about a new musical genre called "Hit Em" which he claims to have learned about during a

dream A dream is a succession of images, ideas, emotions, and sensation (psychology), sensations that usually occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. Humans spend about two hours dreaming per night, and each dream lasts around ...

while he was asleep; in the tweet he described the genre to be fixed at 212 BPM and

time signature A time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, and measure signature) is an indication in music notation that specifies how many note values of a particular type fit into each measure ( bar). The time signature indicates th ...

. The post went viral, with electronic music producers attempting to create examples of the fictional genre.

Personal lives

Schmidt and Daniel are a couple. Daniel received a Ph.D. in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

with a dissertation on the literary cult of melancholy directed by Janet Adelman. He is an associate professor in the English department at

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

. That had the band moving from San Francisco to Baltimore in August 2007. Daniel also has a personal dance music project,

the Soft Pink Truth 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 ...

. He is a contributing writer to ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork or hay fork is an agricultural tool used to pitch loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. It has a long handle and usually two to five thin tines designed to efficiently move such materials. The term is also applie ...

'', an online magazine, and he wrote the ''

33 1/3 33 may refer to: *33 (number) *33 BC *AD 33 *1933 * 2033 Science * Arsenic, a metalloid in the periodic table * 33 Polyhymnia, an asteroid in the asteroid belt Music * La 33, a Colombian salsa music band Albums * ''33'' (Luis Miguel album) (2 ...

'' book about

Throbbing Gristle Throbbing Gristle were an English music and visual arts group formed in Kingston upon Hull by Genesis P-Orridge and Cosey Fanni Tutti, later joined by Peter "Sleazy" Christopherson and Chris Carter. They are widely regarded as pioneers of in ...

's 1979 album '' 20 Jazz Funk Greats'' in addition to two books of literary criticism. 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, private art school, 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 Mis ...

, and is a professor of music technology at Johns Hopkins University's

Peabody Institute The Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University is a Private university, private music and dance music school, conservatory and College-preparatory school, preparatory school in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1857, it became affiliat ...

and the president of the High Zero Foundation, which organizes Baltimore's annual

High Zero High Zero is an annual festival, beginning in 1999, of Experimental Free Improvised Music in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. It is hosted by the Red Room Collective, a volunteer group that sponsors weekly concerts in improvised music and exper ...

festival of improvised music. Both Schmidt and Daniel appeared in the Sagan music short ''Unseen Forces'' by Ryan Junell.

Discography

Albums

EPs

* '' Full On Night'' Split Disc with

Rachel's Rachel's was an American chamber music group that formed in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1991. Former Rodan guitarist Jason Noble played music individually and referred to himself as Rachel's but then began collaborating with core members violist Ch ...

(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 ...

'' (2001 Feb 12, OLE-501) * ''Rat Relocation Program'' (2004) * ''For Alan Turing'' (2006) * ''The Ganzfeld EP'' (2012, on

315)

Limited edition

* ''Matmos Live with J Lesser'' (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 RecordsMatmos at Myspace
{{Authority control Electronic music groups from California Intelligent dance musicians American electronic music duos American male musical duos LGBTQ-themed musical groups American LGBTQ musicians Musical groups established in 1995 1995 establishments in California Thrill Jockey artists Matador Records artists Locust Music artists Electronic music groups from Maryland