there's a lot of lip service paid these days to various electronic-based music being "experimental" - but matmos' musical practice genuinely deserves this much abused term. using samplers, analogue keyboards, field recordings and guitars, matmos make atmospheric, idiosyncratic electronica. in addition to incorporating chance operations into their sequencing enviroment, many songs are based upon a working methodology of "conceptual restriction"- songs are built entirely out of samples from a single sound source: field recordings, contact microphones on hair, even the sound of an amplified synapse from crayfish nerve tissue. sometimes these samples and recordings are built up into elaborate rhythmic sequences verging on (but tweeking) the by-now familiar subgenres of trip hop, drum and bass and electro; sometimes these sound sources are kept beat-free, and sculpted into frighteningly noisy atmospheres, or shot through with eerie silent pauses and gaps. based in san francisco, matmos is drew daniel and m.c. schmidt. the band members biographies reflect their brainy, decentered approach to electronica - daniel is currently getting his phd; schmidt helps manage the conceptual art department of the san francisco art institute. daniel is a veteran of the indie rock scene in louisville, kentucky, and has collaborated on film soundtracks and, oddly enough, hip hop projects with jeff mueller (of june of '44) and jason noble (rachel's) In addition to radio djing, drew has djed in jungle and trip hop clubs in england and S san francisco and has been making experimental electronic music since high school. m. c. schmidt has been making experimental electronic music for many years, as the leader of avant-garde drone outfit x/i and industrial occultists iaocore, in which he did time with current members of amber asylum and tipsy.