Matmos
The West

Above you, does a leaden gray sky stretch out, an anonymously bland uniform skein? Are you feeling lazy? Is it a day when your gaze wanders wherever it pleases, trying to run as far away as possible from the square meter you're in? There's a remedy for everything... for example, try listening to Matmos. Now, they won't solve your problems, but they will bring a few smiles to your face.

I adore these two Californians, I adore their irony and their curiosity about everything that is worldly. I adore the fact that before approaching them, one needs to sit down and be prepared for anything. I love the fact that despite being experimental and extremely quirky music, you don't need to be musically cultured to appreciate them... you just need a "certain sensitivity." I love their workshop of imagination, their very oblique unpredictability, and their mature naivety.

"The West" is marked 1999 and maybe it's less cartoonish than "A chance to cut..." and "The civil war", but it's also more deep. For the first time, the duo plays with real instruments, and there are really many (all kinds of wind and brass, every conceivable string). The first time I listened to it, it seemed like an incident of sounds for its own sake; but over time, this record becomes monumental. Yes, because never as in this case does it make sense to talk about familiarity: when you know all the sounds well, their ambiguity melts away and the two Californians seem to share their music with you, that is, they seem to want to blur the line between the one who makes the music and the one who listens. That's when the music becomes intimate, when it feels like you're having a chat with Matmos on a sand dune, when you feel embarrassed if there's anyone else listening to the record besides you, in the same room.

P.S. A special mention goes to "Last Delicious Cigarette", the first track: I keep discovering new things with each additional listen; it seems there's something mysterious about this piece, something that the two don't want you to discover in a friendly and playful way. I've fallen in love with it