a few thoughts about matmos and influence
I've been thinking about Matmos recently. I'm afraid that people will hear 2& and think that we were very influenced by them. But in fact, neither Heather nor I have listened to enough of their music for this to be true.
I just can't listen to their music for extended periods. It's like after the first 5 minutes or so I get most of the jokes. And the suggested deep authenticity (the fact that they really did record the sounds of people really getting plastic surgery and that piano really was drug across the desert and recorded) doesn't sustain their work for me. I guess I'm more interested in the sounds themselves than their professed point of origin.
I understand their appeal, and I love the fact that they've totally incorporated the San Francisco absurd-slapstick aesthetic into their work, and Drew's pretty cute especially when he does that little head-bob dance thing he does on stage. But really, is all that work necessary to get the texture of sound they're looking for? Well, as long as they think so, I guess it is.
Speaking of influences, here are a few people I really admire:
Pierre Bastien
Luciano
Un Caddie Renversé dans l'Herb
Robert Ashley
Laurie Anderson
Hans Otte
Alemu Aga
Alva Noto
Luc Ferrari
William Basinski
Alvin Curran
Klaus Nomi
DAT Politics
Oval
Boredoms
Ligeti
AMM
Ryoji Ikeda
Yoko Ono
Comments
>that piano really was drug across the desert and recorded
Rod,
In so far as an irreducible element in your musical ouvre (to the extent that I am familiar with it) seems to be concerned with primarily "in silica" sonic phenomenon [Mommy, where do silicon chips come from, anyway?], it could be said that your music has, in a manner of spekaing, always been about desert(s) (i.e., in both the the "Varesean" sense and in the sense of the empowering confines of supercollider, etc.). Matmos, it seems, just decided to RETURN to the desert.
Or, in other words:
I've been through the desert on a horse with no name
It felt good to be out of the rain
In the desert you can remember your name
'cause there ain't no one for to give you no pain
Na, na ...
Posted by: r. | June 3, 2006 8:35 PM
Rob, If I do ever find sweet love with a record label, can I use this as liner notes? :D
Posted by: roddy | June 6, 2006 1:12 PM