"No microphones were used on this album," state the liner notes of The Supreme Balloon. That would be a pretty bold statement for a lot of artists, but it's an especially striking one for Matmos, who have taken recording normally non-musical sounds and then reconfiguring and recontextualizing them to an exquisite level. That may be exactly why Drew Daniel and Martin C. Schmidt opted for nothing but electronically generated tones on this album. Not because they've tapped out their usual approach, which is confined only by any sound they can pick up with a microphone and any way they want to tweak it, but because sticking to a purely electronic palette -- including an array of classic synths like the Moog Voyager, ARP 2600, Stylophone, and Korg MS 2000 -- is so traditional that it's radical, and just a shade less concept-driven than the aesthetics that guided their earlier albums. While it may be Matmos' least conceptual work in some time, The Supreme Balloon is the duo's most overtly playful music since A Chance to Cut Is a Chance to Cure. They spend most of the album making their electronics sound as inorganic as possible, with stiffly thumping and hissing percussion and whimsical melodies that bubble, bleep, and toot, as on "The Rainbow Flag," which hops and jerks like a wind-up toy. The album's shorter songs celebrate the vintage electronic pop of the '60s and '70s as well as the era's gear; "Les Folies Française"'s synth-baroque and "Cloudhoppers"' warm analog tones hark back to Jean-Jacques Perrey, Dick Hyman, and library music. Despite The Supreme Balloon's retro leanings, it has the same wit and intelligence of all of Matmos' previous music, which is just as important to their overall sound as their inspired sampling and sound editing have been. The layers of squiggles, zaps, and beeps on "Mister Mouth" -- which features the Sun Ra Arkestra's Marshall Allen on the EVI (electronic voice instrument) -- aren't so far removed from A Chance to Cut Is a Chance to Cure's "Memento Mori," and "Exciter Lamp"'s flutters and taps could fit in on almost any of their earlier albums. The simplicity of these short pieces feels almost as radical as The Supreme Balloon's electronics-only rule, especially after The Rose Has Teeth in the Mouth of a Beast's intricacy, but "The Supreme Balloon" itself shows that Matmos didn't completely downsize their ambitions on this album. Billowing out past 20 minutes, the track's epic length, Krautrock underpinnings, and droning, Eastern-tinged melodies undulate and unfurl effortlessly and never drag -- which is a pretty supreme achievement. And, while The Supreme Balloon's nostalgic synthetic playground is a smaller statement than some of Matmos' other albums, it's still a strong one.
Matmos - Supreme Balloon(Matador, 2008)9 out of 10Supreme Balloon is a Disneyland of synthesized music, its listener given a choice of many lands in which to play — electro-funk, house, Baroque, classic video game, minimalism, and more — with an overall architecture designed for fun, harmless thrills and the eating of color-striped unicorn lollipops. I won't pretend to know what most of the sy
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3:47 mins.Just picked up the new Matmos "Supreme Balloon" yesterday and it is oh so great. "Polychords" is one of my faves so far but truly digging the whole cd. This song really jumps. Love it. Here's a fan vid someone made for it on youtube & it's quite appropo since the song sounds like Nintendo game music:The songs are surprisingly short except for the over 24 minute title track opus whic...
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Matmos - Supreme Balloon(Matador, 2008)9 out of 10Supreme Balloon is a Disneyland of synthesized music, its listener given a choice of many lands in which to play — electro-funk, house, Baroque, classic video game, minimalism, and more — with an overall architecture designed for fun, harmless thrills and the eating of color-striped unicorn lollipops. I won't pretend to know what most of the sy
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Matmos revealed the tracklisting today for their upcoming LP Supreme Balloon. The album features only 7 songs (though they could be pretty long songs) and will be released via Matador on May 6th. Tracklist:1. Rainbow Flag2. Polychords3. Mister Mouth4. Exciter Lamp5. Les Folies Francaises6. Supreme Balloon7. CloudhopperLoads of info and a free mp3 of "Rainbow Flag" is available on the album pa...
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I found 2 great interviews today when I was surfing around my 2 fave UK music sites. One features The Cool Kids talking with Hattie Collins about life, music and the difference between their hometown Chicago and Hattie's UK home. Hattie is such a fantastic writer and this interview is a great read:The Cool Kids and Hattie Collins on RWD MagThe Cool Kids:The other is with experimental electron...
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It's been difficult trying to find more info on what Matmos is up to these days. Like I said yesterday, the east coast is getting their turn with Matmos' magnificent electronic experiments ever since the duo moved from SF to Baltimore. Well, I finally found the definitive word on what's new, thanks to Prefix Mag. The electronic musicians will release a new album on May 6th via Matador. The ...
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Matmos is back ... maxing out their synthesizers : 100% This time M.C Schmidt & Drew Daniel hold back their urges to sample the universe {no sounds of bible pages turning, liposuction surgery, dogs barking, cards shuffling, and acupuncture tools here} In fact, a microphone wasn't even used during the creation of the new album : Supreme Balloonbut one heck of a happy helium-filled hula - squir...
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| Title | Lyrics | Buy |
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| 1 Rainbow Flag |
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| 2 Polychords |
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| 3 Mister Mouth |
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| 4 Exciter Lamp and the Variable Band |
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| 5 Les Folies Françaises |
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| 6 Supreme Balloon |
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| 7 Cloudhoppers |
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| 8 [Untitled Hidden Track] |
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| 9 [Untitled Hidden Track] |
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Click to purchase…
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 "Supreme Balloon")
