Matmos premiere “Changing States” video via The Quietus; ‘Metallic Life Review’ LP out 6/20

 

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