Matmos – “Plastic Anniversary”
No one can accuse Matmos of a lack of conceptual rigor. The experimental electronic duo have made albums using samples from medical procedures, Civil War folk songs, parapsychological experiments, and a washing machine. And now, Drew Daniel and M.C. Schmidt are making an album exclusively using sounds made by plastic objects.
Although plastic usually signifies a first anniversary, Matmos’ upcoming Plastic Anniversary celebrates Daniel and Schmidt’s 25th year as musical collaborators and as a couple. We’ve already heard one song from it, “Silicone Gel Implant” — which, the title indicates, was made with sounds from a breast implant. Today, they’ve shared the title track.
“Plastic Anniversary” is a martial fanfare that uses poker chips, PVC pan flute, plastic ocarina, trumpet, and trombones played by members of the horn and drumline sections of the Whitefish Highschool Bulldogs from Whitefish, Montana, and “a plastic fish fashioned into a jock strap — the very same fish that Daniel was wearing as a go-go dancer when he met Schmidt in San Francisco.” Listen to it below.
Plastic Anniversary is out 3/15 via Thrill Jockey. Pre-order it here.