2024.04.15 Hardly Raining
Baltimore experimental electronic duo Matmos performed at Here-After on April 15, 2024. Matmos includes partners Martin Schmidt and Drew Daniel.
The pair sampled unconventional musical instruments—a balloon, metal bowls, textured tile, pouring water, duck calls, a broken record—and constructed them into banging dance tunes. They used quadraphonic sound to provide each seat a unique and all-encompassing sonic experience. Read a review of the show here.
Matmos has released 14 studio albums over their nearly three decades as a band. The most recent was Return to Archive on the Smithsonian’s Folkways Recordings label, in which they reassembled non-musical sounds into catchy compositions.
It was a nearly full house, and the audience was keen to participate when invited. A number of local synthestists attended, including someone in an adjacent seat who had driven five hours from Spokane for the show.
Seattle experimental singer–songwriter Evelyn Frances opened, alternating between guitar, vocals, effects, flute, and created electronic instruments. Her songs slowly sketched vivid characters and scenes, on themes like wondering what the neighbors think about them (“three whole years spent watching us watching them“) or the ick and grit of New York City (“a beautiful island of garbage and dirt and spit and sperm and shit with millions of beautiful strangers)”.
Gallery: Matmos & Evelyn Frances
