A: I made an ambient album.
B: So did my fridge.

…or what do latex fetish clothing, Polish trains, laser eye surgery, a washing machine, human skulls, snails and a five-gallon bucket of oatmeal have in common? They have all served as sample sources for the legendary electronic duo Matmos.

They are acclaimed innovators in the world of electronic music and sampling culture. WIRE magazine hailed their debut as “entering electronics Valhalla”. If you’ve ever wondered what it sounds like when snails interrupt the path of a laser and alter the pitch of a light-sensitive theremin, well, Matmos got you covered.

Few artists can turn such raw sound material into surprisingly accessible forms. These are often complemented by traditional instruments. They´ve collaborated with artists such as Björk, The Kronos Quartet, Terry Riley, Marshall Allen (Sun Ra Arkestra), Anohni, Yo La Tengo and Oneohtrix Point Never. The result is a model of electronic composition as a relational network that connects sources and outcomes. Information about the creative process activates the listening experience and gives the listener entry points into sometimes densely allusive recordings that have the direct sensory immediacy of avant-pop.

Drew Daniel and M.C. Schmidt have been making music since 1997, and you can hear it.

Daryl Worthington, who writes for The Quietus and will also appear at NEXT, wrote about their latest album: “a metal album that mischievously sidesteps the clichés of industrial cacophony, bombast and heavy music… people have played metal throughout history and all over the world. Metallic Life Review’s greatest achievement is the way it wanders through this heritage instead of walking a single chrome-plated line.”