A cracking double bill at Berghain this June presented by CTM with Thrill Jockey act Matmos headlining and Editions Mego artist Klara Lewis supporting.
Currently based in Baltimore, Matmos formed in San Francisco in the mid 1990s, and self-released their debut album in 1997. Marrying the conceptual tactics and noisy textures of object-based musique concrete to a rhythmic matrix rooted in electronic pop music, the two quickly became known for their highly unusual sound sources: amplified crayfish nerve tissue, the pages of bibles turning, water hitting copper plates, liposuction surgery, cameras and VCRs, chin implant surgery, contact microphones on human hair, rat cages, tanks of helium, a cow uterus, human skulls, snails, cigarettes, cards shuffling, laser eye surgery, whoopee cushions, balloons, latex fetish clothing, rhinestones, Polish trains, insects, life support systems, inflatable blankets, rock salt, solid gold coins, the sound of a frozen stream thawing in the sun, a five gallon bucket of oatmeal.
Since their debut, Matmos have released over eight albums, including: Quasi-Objects (1998), The West (1998), A Chance to Cut Is A Chance to Cure (2001), The Civil War (2003) and The Rose Has Teeth in the Mouth of A Beast (2006) and Supreme Balloon (2008). In 2001 they were asked to collaborate with the Icelandic singer Bjork on her “Vespertine” album, and subsequently embarked on two world tours as part of her band. In addition to musical collaborations with Antony, So Percussion, David Tibet, the Rachel’s, Lesser, Wobbly, Zeena Parkins, and the Princeton Laptop Orchestra, Matmos have also collaborated with a wide range of artists across disciplines, from the visual artist Daria Martin (on the soundtrack to her film “Minotaur”) to the playwright Young Jean Lee (for her play “The Appeal”) to Berlin-based choreographer Ayman Harper. Most recently, they have been part of the ensemble for the Robert Wilson production “The Life and Death of Marina Abramovic”, featuring Marina Abramovic, Antony and Willem Dafoe. Their most recent album, The Marriage of True Minds, was released in 2013 by Thrill Jockey Records.
Opening the night is ascendent Swedish composer Klara Lewis, appearing in support of her upcoming May release on Editions Mego, Too. Lewis’s blurred rhythms flow over texture-rich, sometimes organic, sometimes abstract backgrounds, and create impressions of rich soundscapes that oscillate between warm optimism, strange eeriness and coolly aggressive gestures. The result is a hypnotic vortex that draws the listener into a unique time and idiosyncratic sound world for each piece. Too can perhaps be best described as a captivating form immersive audio theater that completely relies on the sonic imagination of the listener. Klara Lewis’s debut album Ett was released by the venerable Editions Mego label in 2014, and was widely represented on year-end lists as one of 2014’s strongest offerings across the electronic music spectrum. Lewis is supported by the 2016 SHAPE platform.
Matmos & Klara Lewis LIVE
Wednesday, June 1st, 2016 | 21:00 CET
Berghain | Am Wriezener Bahnhof | 10243 Berlin/Friedrichshain
vague-terrain.com | ctm-festival.de | Event @ Facebook
