Matmos - turning back to the future

The stage set-up is back to front with the instruments facing the backdrop/projection screen. This reversed setting is later explained to be for our benefit to see what the members are doing: thus, ‘MMIB’ - that‘s Matmos' Man In Black - is generally displaying his back for the entire show, ‘MMIP’ (Matmos' Man in poncho) is only seen in profile. Drummer is facing us the right way but he is unable to see the two members although manages to deliver the military drumrolls on ‘Reconstruction’ that chilled the soul; there is an additional tuba/guitar player.

‘MMIB’ also likes to employ unusual object to produce sounds and tonight‘s choice is a bowl of water into which he blows via a straw that mic transmits; the image is on the screen and we watch the bubbles dance… in amazement. Matmos have never been a usual kinda outfit and unexpected is their trademark, as their fifth album, ‘The Civil War’, promotes.

This is the San Franciscan duo who are among the most creatively adventurous artists in electronic music today: expectations of an inspired mash of programmed jinks and ghostly medieval instruments - hurdy-gurdy made an appearance and sounded more alien than any modern gadget - were granted and enhanced with a lesson in avant-thinking.

Easily combining differing elements - you could dance at one moment and develop paranoia the next or a hallucination evoked the following - Matmos recall Suicide, Krautrock, Iggy Pop, Incredible String Band, Terry Riley, Brian Eno… the list is long, too varied and utterly irrelevant. Returning for a two-track encore, they claimed it to be - the first ever, Matmos even bring out a bassist but the songs still sound like nothing else you can listen to around. This is art with a capital letter.

Matmos don’t perform ordinary shows [they presented their first installation at the Yerba Buena Museum of Contemporary Art in SF last November] and only Drew Daniel - who favours samples such as the sound of plastic surgery in their uber-electronica - could call his side project Soft Punk Truth and have it perform after the band. It made us all feel pinky-mellow on the inside… M. C. Schmidt is the other partner in this exquisite sonic experiment.

Electronic music can be as boring as a platonic relationship [to a man] but tonight feels febrile. Nothing vainglorious here, not a lo-mo! That was tomorrow, that was.