Photo by Obie Feldi
Matmos have shared the new video for “Changing States,” the lead single from their newly announced album Metallic Life Review, out June 20th. The video is a close-up visual guide to many of the metallic objects used to produce the track and the album as a whole, a tactile and exquisite exploration into both the sound sources for the record and artist Ted Mineo’s accompanying visual artwork for the record.
Matmos’ singular compositional approach resembles the creation of sculpture. The incredibly detailed pieces that make up each album are created with carefully selected sounds that adhere to a specific conceptual framework. The duo, composed of Drew Daniel and M.C. Schmidt, makes music that defies both category and expectation, shattering notions of what electronic music is by questioning what else it could be. In the case of Metallic Life Review, what may be possible with the sound that metal objects make? By ignoring the categorical genre constraints associated with terms like found sound, music concrète, techno, glitch and, yes, “metal” and pushing into new territory, Matmos’s approach answers this question with gleeful abandon. Underpinning their adventurous and inquisitive spirits is a sense of real feeling, never shying from the difficult and unsettling moments, but embracing the breadth of human experiences that live in communication with the constraints of each project.
Metallic Life Review features Susan Alcorn’s pedal steel and Owen Gardner’s glockenspiel, Thor Harris’ (Water Damage/Swans) drumming, Jason Willett’s (Half Japanese) guitar, and Jeff Carey’s aluminum cans, which were melted, molded into custom aluminum rods, and then bowed and struck. The most dramatic difference from any previous Matmos album is that side two was recorded “live in the studio”, a la Throbbing Gristle’s Heathen Earth. For the first time on recording, Matmos capture the evolving, shifting, slithering dynamic that happens when they play live and let patterns emerge out of chaos and then collapse and re-form. Their playful blend of compositional brilliance and improvisational playfulness meld perfectly, truly capturing ecstatic moments in a way that can only happen live. Metallic Life Review is a musical love story transmuted into sound, the result of a life filled with curiosity and powered by boundless exploration. Matmos have again made something spellbinding, brilliant and emotionally resonant.
Matmos will be touring throughout 2025 around the UK, Europe and US, including an album release show at Knockdown Center in New York.
Matmos tour dates:
May 23 – Wiltshire, UK – Acid Horse Festival
May 25 – Glasgow, UK – Baked Beans on the Doorstep
May 28 – Berlin, DE – Silent Green
May 30 – Pordenone, IT – Astro Club
Jun. 1 – Fano, IT – Bagli Elsa
Jun. 2 – Roma, IT – Monk
Jun. 4 – Genova, IT – Giardino di Mentelacole
Jun. 6 – Milano, IT – Museo della scienza
Jun. 7 – Bologna, IT – DumBo
Jun. 12 – Vienna, AT – Flucc
Jun. 14 – London, UK – Rio Cinema
Jun. 21 – New York City, NY – Knockdown Center
Jun. 25 – Philadelphia, PA – Solar Myth
Jun. 29 – Chicago, IL – Constellation
Jul. 3 – Louisville, KY – Art Sanctuary
Jul. 8 – San Francisco, CA – Great American Music Hall
Jul. 11 – Los Angeles, CA – 2220 Arts
Jul. 16 – Portland, OR – Holocene
Aug. 30 – Washington, DC – Black Cat
Nov. 22-28 – Santa Cruz de Tenerife, ES – Espacio Cultural el Tanque / Keroxen Festival
