Tag Archives: Thrill Jockey

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

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

On Record – Elena Setién: Moonlit Reveries (Thrill Jockey)

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by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

Basque artist Elena Setién last released an album two years ago, the understated but incredibly powerful Unfamiliar Minds – a set of songs begun before 2020 but honed during lockdown.

Glenn Kotche, drummer and percussionist with Wilco, was a fan of the album – and when he was touring Spain with the band, he met up with Setién. The two began collaboration, Setién using a series of drum patterns from Kotche’s series A Beat A Week, after which the drummer started sending in more patterns. Setién enjoyed the irony of her music taking on more rhythmic direction. In her words, “funnily enough, I, being a Spanish artist, sought inspiration in the rhythms of a Chicago drummer to reach something with a Latin feel to it. A somehow surrealistic way to get there.”

Another influence at play in the album was that of Bridget St. John, who Setién sought to emulate in a low register vocal delivery. It became the instrument through which the singer / songwriter could express the dreamlike state of the songs, though her own instrumentation – guitars and keyboards – played a large part too.

What’s the music like?

In a word, dreamy. Yet that is not the only story behind Moonlit Reveries, for these songs often have a feverish quality. Setién has a knack of making intense music from minimal means, but when you listen closely her music is suffused with clever effects and details that give the music a semi-conscious appearance.

She holds her vocal with remarkable poise, and it cuts through clearly, but the instrumental accompaniment that she uses is often haunting and frequently shifts the perspectives of the listener. The gentle undulating guitar of Hard Heart laps like water against the resonant vocals, while Losing Control gets a rippling effect from its shimmering electronics and pizzicato violin. Strange is especially enchanting, Setién singing very slightly out of tune over a throbbing guitar line.

Moonlit Reveries itself is particularly vivid, a hypnotic harpsichord dancing on the horizon as Setien coos softly. Mothers is a deeply immersive song, a tribute to Low’s Mimi Parker with minimalist loops and concentrated, layered vocals that end above delicate cymbals.

Does it all work?

It does – and the more you listen to it, the more Moonlit Reveries has to reveal.

Is it recommended?

Enthusiastically. Elena Setién is a compelling artist, and the restraint in her music is deceptive – for this is an album of great intensity, a set of dreams that take place in slightly balmy conditions but leave their listener with vivid and lasting impressions.

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Published post no.2,094 – Wednesday 21 February 2024

On Record – House And Land – Across The Field (Thrill Jockey)

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reviewed by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

House And Land are from North Carolina, and Across The Field is their second album. The duo – guitarist and instrumentalist Sarah Louise Henson and fiddle / banjo player Sally Anne Morgan – present traditional folk music recast into today’s world.

What’s the music like?

Deceptive. If you listen to the first minute or two of Across The Field it is easy to underestimate the emotions House And Land are capable of conveying, but by the time you get to the rippling guitar of Rainbow Mid Life’s Willows you will have fallen hook, line and sinker for the duo’s fresh faced vocals and imaginative instrumental responses.

That song in particular hits the sweetest spot of emotion, with Morgan’s double-stopped fiddle the perfect foil to Henson’s vocal and 12-string acoustic guitar. It is a rich tapestry of colours, but these orchestrations never get in the way of the song’s message.

House and Land “Across the Field” Album Trailer from Thrill Jockey Records on Vimeo.

The heart of their music is Appalachia, the duo creating their landscape with delicate shades and colours, but some of their music draws from across the Atlantic. Blacksmith shows the duo’s homage to the great Shirley Collins, a close harmony duet over a drone which is then dressed with glockenspiel. There follows a powerful instrumental track Carolina Lady, from past Madison resident Dillard Chandler, which features earthy guitar and Morgan’s fiddle rising through the textures as it takes on an improvised air.

Collins is again the source for the final Ca The Yowes, and here Henson’s alto recorder sets the evocative scene, while Morgan’s banjo shadows the vocals. It is a haunting yet curiously uplifting coda to the album.

Does it all work?

Across The Field is a powerful and deeply personal piece of work. It may be that the voices are on occasion too shrill for headphone listeners, but that’s more a question of the listener acquainting themselves with the tones than the singers needing to compromise. The songs themselves retain their traditional heart but updated for today are very emotive and winningly sung. The inventive and constantly rewarding instrumentation is a treat, always responsive to the substance of each song.

Is it recommended?

Yes, and I speak as very much an occasional listener to folk music. Across The Field inhabits a rarefied space few albums are able to reach.

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