Tag Archives: Matmos

Switched On – Berndt / Schmidt – Cloud Machines (Thrill Jockey)

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Reviewed by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

This is the first collaboration between John Berndt, the Baltimore band leader, and M.C. Schmidt, one half of the celebrated duo Matmos. Both have pooled their considertable expertise in avant garde and experimental music in celebration of the comic books of Jean Giraud (aka Moebius) and “the beautiful miniatures of the SKY Records Cluster/Eno/Conny Plank collaborations”.

The result is an electronic record looking simultaneously backwards and forwards.

What’s the music like?

Packed with incident across an eventful three-quarters of an hour. There is so much going on here that repeated listening is essential to absorb and appreciate the sheer scale of the pair’s inventions.

At times their music sounds like an update of Anton Webern or John Cage, so compressed is its thinking, while the pair cast the net ever wider in search of extra instrumental colour. Humour abounds, with witty thoughts bubbling under the surface as the music ebbs and flows. Especially notable are Our Theme, which behaves like the tuning process of an analogue radio, the descriptive Gecko Lazzaro, featuring trombonist Patrick Crossland and guitarist Owen Gardner, and The Analysis of Joel, a playful and colourful shredding of lines from guitarist Joel Knispel.

3000 is typical of the warmth coursing through the album, its percussion suggesting African influences.

Does it all work?

Yes, in a way that makes you want to return often to Cloud Machines to see what else you can spot. There are so many musical happenings it can be difficult to keep up at first, but as the secrets reveal themselves so too does the pair’s full invention.

Is it recommended?

Yes, without a doubt – fans of the pair’s previous work will lap this up. Be assured, the music is every bit as colourful and as far out as the wonderful cover art!

Listen / Buy

Published post no.2,955 – Wednesday 22 July 2026

Switched On – Matmos – Metallic Human Nature (Thrill Jockey)

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by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

M.C. Schmidt and Drew Daniel like to set themselves a challenge when it comes to recording an album as Matmos. Having made entire long players from plastic, or the parts of a washing machine, it comes as relatively little surprise to find that Metallic Life Review is restricted to metallic objects only.

Yet the story goes much deeper than that, with field recordings included to give the album a deeply personal relevance, including scenes from tour, pots and pans from the pair’s childhood, and sounds paying tribute to close friend and steel guitarist Susan Alcorn, along with recently departed director David Lynch.

What’s the music like?

One of the takeaways from this album is that metal can be graceful as well as percussive, and Matmos work in a way that brings unexpected emotions bubbling to the surface.

The tributes to Alcorn and Lynch are especially profound, with Changing States including the former’s work, unfolding gracefully and with a watery profile. The Chrome Reflects Our Image is darker and more volatile, in the spirit of Lynch, but with that characteristic humour that Matmos have always carried near the surface. The Rust Belt, which you can watch below, is a remarkably clever invention:

Speaking of humour, Norway Doorway is a great way to start the album, a creaking door recorded on tour used as the lynchpin for a genuinely funny track. Proof that there is music in everything we hear!

On the other side of the coin sits the title track, whose duration means it has the whole of side two on the LP. Recorded live in the studio, Metallic Life Review is a compelling piece of work and also the most explicitly rhythmic, taking in dub and slow disco as it sets a course. Gradually the improvisations take hold and the music moves where it wants with flair and unpredictability, building in power as it becomes a single virtuoso instrument.

Does it all work?

Yes, it does – somehow! You do need to be in the right mood for Matmos, but at all times their creativity and originality shines through.

Is it recommended?

Thoroughly. Fans will love and recognise the pair’s blend of humour and instinctive creativity, and it shines through here in music of fresh disposition. You won’t hear another album like this in 2025, that’s for sure!

For fans of… Cabaret Voltaire, Soft Pink Truth, Kraftwerk, Yello, Aphex Twin

Listen / Buy

Published post no.2,573 – Tuesday 24 June 2025