Sunday, February 10, 2008

Matmos Up a Floristree

Matmos @ Floristree, Baltimore, MD
Saturday, February 9, 2008

With a set made up of fragments heard at the Baltimore transplant's Red Room show last December along with some new material (and significantly different presentation) Matmos continues to explore a creative territory that reconciles experimentation with an accessible and dance-friendly sound.

To my ears, Matmos seems to be expanding and building upon the music found on the B-side of Talking Heads' Remain In Light from 1980. The intricate, sequenced layers of groove running along side often ironic commentary certainly held a strong David Byrne resonance. This is fertile territory and Matmos does manage to take things much further along with some unusual theater and live video.

Many of the details of this sound were lost within the constant chatter of a large, semi-engaged Floristree crowd that was prone to clumsy dancing. The sound and light problems that plagued this set further compounded efforts to get a clear sense of this material.

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