Label: Matador Format: CDS,12″
Taking as its sample base the sounds of plastic surgery operations, “California Rhinoplasty” does precisely what the title describes; only funkily. Not for Matmos the obvious route of ambinece as the bones rasp and the noses are broken with a hammer. Instead, every sound becomes grist(le) to their sampler’s mill to make a groovy shuffle of sprightly plops, squeaks and chugging bass. Part of the fun comes from trying to discern the drills in the fizz of a high tone or the smack of suction in the rhythm; the most obvious sound is that of the bleeping heart monitors. Just for laughs, MC Schmidt plays a mean nose flute to accompanying the nasal reconstruction; jaunty whictlings lead into the jolly noise that cauteized muscle makes. Never mind the sample-spotting though; what counts is the bouncy glee of the track, which trots along from tempo to groove with deceptive ease, to cheery effect.
For the almost obligatory remixes to flesh out the EP, Matmos sent just the raw samples used on “California Rhinoplasty” to Docktor Rockit and Surgeon for second and third opinions. The former’s “Surgery With Clanking Beats” becomes a monologue on the the nose itself with the plastic surgery sounds lurking in the background, initally dry then slithering into muffled, demented beats. After a while the music becomes evocatively emotional, and Matthew Herbert‘s words become a rant on the subject of rhinoplasty and a big sniff or two. Surgeon opts to evoke anaesthesia through drones and the rolling plod of the more percussive samples. Floating in the ominous miasma are the voices of the operating theatre; perhaps the patient is awake after all?
Matmos have been long term Coil fans, so it’s something of a pleasure to report that their interpretation of “Disco Hospital” is reassembled from a bundle of autopsy training films, hospital trolley rattles and the hum of talk in the ER. The compositional resemblances to the original are complete, but set off a couple of degrees to left, right or above as seems appropriate, and fittingly includes some squeaky chair courtesy of Cyclobe‘s own Stephen Thrower, formerly of Coil.
-Antron S. Meister-
Matmos – California Rhinoplasty EP (A Second Opinion)
“California Rhinoplasty” is taken from the latest Matmos album A Chance To Cut Is A Chance to Cure. What else do you do with samples of Californians having nose jobs? You make a fun Electro-House track, of course. Matmos follow this up with a cover/tribute to Coil with “Disco Hospital”.
Having sampled surgeons in the first place it seems appropriate that Matmos got the Surgeon, a.k.a. Anthony Child, in to do a remix. Along with Doctor Rockit, he was sent the original samples rather than the finished work to remix. In this way Matmos ensured that everyone was working from a clean sheet. In between the scalpel I-Ching clatterings, Doctor Rockit’s “Surgery With Complications” mix contains an increasingly frenzied narration of nasal anatomy, while Surgeon’s “Second Opinion” is a slow anaesthetised fog.
Another thumbs up for Matmos.
-a.p.-
