Matmos – A Chance to Cut is a Chance to Cure
June 25th, 2023
After three releases on their own Vague Terrain imprint*, San Francisco electronica duo Matmos visit the sad, vain and vacuous world of California cosmetic surgery on their first widely available effort, A Chance to Cut is a Chance to Cure. Offering gainful sonic employment to such diverse items as an acoustic (bowed) and electric guitar, a clarinet, drums, L.A.S.I.K. laser eye surgery, a hearing test booth, test tones, a wah ukulele, an acupuncture point detector, a plucked and bowed rat cage, a human skull, goat spine and corrective tissue, artificial teeth, rhinoplasty surgery, an endoscopic forehead lift and a chin implant, Drew Daniel and M.C. Schmidt have skillfully pasted together an aural construction paper assignment far beyond third grade expectations. Needless to say, plenty of fresh and strange “pop” sounds for you to rock out to are included. In contrast to that, my favorite track is “For Felix (And All the Rats)” for bowed and plucked rat cage, which offers up a more atmospheric affair with no discernible beats. All in all, A Chance to Cut is worthy—but not as good as The West, so don’t get your hopes up, cheese.
*I really like the one with the aspirin caught inside the jewel case and the really nice sample of a pair of scissors snipping away.
Label: Matador Catalog Number: OLE-489-2 Format: CD Packaging: Jewel case Tracks: 7 Country: United States Released: 2001 More: Pitchfork, Reverb, Smithsonian
Text ©2003 Arcane Candy
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