Pitchfork

As our own Mark Richardson said in his recent Forkcast post about new song "Rainbow Flag", experimental electronic duo Matmos have largely eschewed the lavish, overarching concepts of previous records in favor of something simpler on Supreme Balloon.

While adhered to just as strictly, Supreme Balloon's concept is just "a lighthearted 'cosmic pop' record made entirely out of synthesizers," according to Matador's missive about the record. The label will release Supreme Balloon in the U.S. on May 6 and in the UK/Europe the day before. And not just any synthesizers: "the exotic and antiquated synths used on the record heavily spotlight the classic 60s/70s/80s consumer electronic rigs of Arp, Korg, Roland, Waldorf and Moog, and feature modular systems from Electro-Comp, Doepfer and Akai (hell, even a stylophone and a Suzuki Omnichord show up)."

The duo of M.C. Schmidt and Johns Hopkins English professor/occasional Pitchfork scribe Drew Daniel are joined by several contributors on Supreme Balloon, including Sun Ra Arkestra member Marshall Allen, electronic music artists Jon Leidecker (aka Wobbly), Jay Lesser, Matthew Curry (aka Safety Scissors), and Keith Fullerton Whitman (aka Hrvatski), and pianist Sarah Cahill. And on the bonus track "Hashish Master" (available on iTunes and vinyl only), minimalist legend Terry Riley.

Although the full tracklist isn't available yet, the album will include the previously mentioned "Rainbow Flag", as well as "Mister Mouth" and a "'cover' of French baroque composer Francois Couperin's 'Les Folies Francaises'", according to Matmos' website.

In live land, Matmos will perform four times in NYC next week, but, this being Matmos, none of them are traditional concerts. The first, taking place February 18 at the Advent Lutheran Church, is "A So Percussion event with M.C. Schmidt performing 45' for a Speaker by John Cage," according to Matmos' MySpace. The next three are all at John Zorn's space the Stone, as part of a month-long series curated by Zeena Parkins. On February 21, Blevin Blechdom and Chris McIntyre will perform, joined in some capacity by Schmidt and/or Daniel. On February 22, Schmidt will join Lesser and Nate Boyce in Phase Chancellor, "an improvisational 3 synthesizer trio". And finally, on February 23, Matmos will perform two sets, playing stuff from the new album as well as a "'cover' of 'The Backyard', the final act of the Robert Ashley tele-opera 'Perfect Lives'".

Also: Drew Daniel's 33 1/3 series book about Throbbing Gristle is out now.

Matmos:

02-18 New York, NY - Advent Lutheran Church (M.C. Schmidt and So Percussion)
02-21 New York, NY - The Stone (Blevin Blechdom with Matmos members)
02-22 New York, NY - The Stone (Phase Chancellor)
02-23 New York, NY - The Stone (two sets)