Matmos is an American experimental electronic duo of
Martin Schmidt and
Drew Daniel active since the mid-1990s and based in Baltimore, Maryland.
The band is named after a seething lake of evil slime from the ’68 cult sci-fi film
Barbarella (Motion Picture Soundtrack). Matmos gained prominence for its postmodernist approach and the ability to create listenable music from various bizarre objects. On most releases, Matmos scrupulously list all samples and sources, ranging from amplified crayfish nerve tissue, cow uterus, snails and contact microphones on human hair to life support systems, inflatable blankets, solid gold coins, and plastic riot police shield.
Daniel and Schmidt create concept albums, taking turns to decide on the next record’s topic. Matmos has explored various diverse concepts: surgical procedures on 2001
[m=17057], a Western/country genre (’99
[m=17044]) and Medieval music (2003
[m=17073]), various types of plastics (
[m=1510156] in 2019), Whirlpool washing machine (
[m=958262] from 2016), Ganzfeld experiment & parapsychology (
[m=521821] in 2013).
Martin Schmidt met Drew Daniel in San Francisco in the early 1990s, and they soon began making music together, self-releasing an 8-bit mono mixtape/demo cassette
In Lo-Fidelity circa 1993. Schmidt and Daniel were also members of a glitch project
Disc with
Miguel Depedro in 1997-98, and played in occult-avantgarde band
IAO Core, appearing on ’98
Armadillidium Vulgare album. Between 1999 and 2008, Matmos were signed to the Matador label. The duo joined Thrill Jockey Records in October 2012 and released its 12th studio album,
[m=2637398], in May 2022. Matmos also runs
Vague Terrain private imprint and has published over dozen of collaborative albums and EPs on other prominent international labels, including [l12114], [l264], [l13047], [l552], [l130482], [l25455] and [l2507].
Matmos developed a rotating cast of guest musicians throughout the career, regularly working with
Lesser, Jon Leidecker (Wobbly),
Thomas Dimuzio,
Keith Fullerton Whitman,
Karl Ekdahl, Dan Deacon, Jason Willett, Owen Gardner and other members of Horse Lords,
People Like Us, and
Matthew Herbert. In 1998, an Icelandic superstar
Björk invited Matmos to remix her
[m=34355] single. The duo further collaborated on her 2001
[m=37082] album and toured internationally as core members of Bjork’s live band on
Vespertine (August–December 2001) and
Greatest Hits (May–September 2003) world tours. From 2011 to 2013, Matmos played in the stage ensemble for
Robert Wilson’s production
The Life and Death of Marina Abramovic with
Doug Wieselman (guitar, clarinet),
Gaël Rakotondrabe (piano) and
Oren Bloedow (guitar, bass).
The band contributed music to a few soundtracks, including Daria Martin’s Minotaur film and works of Berlin-based choreographer Ayman Harper. Drew and Martin also made music for hardcore gay fetish porn, with selected tracks released on 2002
A Viable Alternative To Actual Sexual Contact CD-R. They recorded a song with
David Grubbs for
Les Invisibles, a 2012 documentary about elderly French gays and lesbians, and appeared on
The Urbz: Sims In The City (Video Game Soundtrack) video game soundtrack.