Rachel's/Matmos
Full on Night EP
[Quarterstick/Touch and Go]
Rating: 7.8
This two-track EP is a wonderful study in contrasts. Though both these lengthy pieces (14 and
18 minutes) are ostensibly remixes of the Rachel's track "Full on Night" (which originally
appeared on their first record, Handwriting), the two approaches couldn't be more
polarized. Rachel's remix is actually more of a remake. Rather than tamper with the original
source tapes, the band laid down all new tracks in 1997 and toyed with them in a way that still
sounds like a band playing together. Matmos, on the other hand, took recordings from that
session and subsequent live dates and twisted the sounds into something unrecognizable and
transcendently powerful.
Rachel's have their fans, but I don't count myself among them. To me, Rachel's is a band that
exists to fill a void for narrow-minded indie rockers. They're part of a trend of non-rock
music being marketed in somewhat watered-down form to college kids. Other examples of this
abound. For those hoping for a dip of electronic music but are unwilling to take the digital
plunge, there's IQU. Want to hear some ambient music? Well, the Olivia Tremor Control has this
thing called the Black Swan Network. And if you want to hear "classical" music, forget Kronos
Quartet performing a Terry Riley piece, or actually picking up some Ravel, just get Rachel's.
The aforementioned bands are pretty good, of course, but they owe at least some of their
popularity to the fact that they come pre-packaged to indie rock fans and don't have to compete
with the heavy hitters of their chosen genre. That said, I have to admit that Rachel's new
version of "Full on Night" is appealing. It starts slow, building with a distant drone, and
then veers toward a Slint-like guitar introduction (there's that Louisville lineage). All the
rock elements of the piece are in place, but when the piano-and-strings stuff comes in,
interest wanes. It's damn hard to make a nice recording of a cello and piano engaging any
more-- our ears are too quick to remember lame film scores to stay focused. But enough odd
guitar bits and processed strings pop up on "Full on Night" to give the piece some power, and
it builds to a surprisingly rocking and dissonant finish.
What Matmos manage to do with the song, on the other hand, is mind-blowing. The band had
previously struck me as a marginal, second rate Autechre, channeling some of the same electro
influences in pieces that depended too heavily on uninspired loops. But Matmos' take on "Full
On Night" (re-titled "The Precise Temperature of Darkness") shows staggering compositional
talent and sampling virtuosity of the highest order.
Some of the credit has to go to Rachel's for providing both the conceptual framework for the
piece in addition to a host of cool sounds. But what Matmos does with the raw material far
surpasses the source. First, they deftly build sustained guitar scrapes and digital distortion
into a hypnotic bass melody somewhat reminiscent of Bjork's "Human Behaviour." Then, as noisy
cello screeches and ringing guitars strings pile one atop the other, the piece slowly transforms
into a towering wall of percussive terror. It undulates and twists with perfect logic from one
complex and fascinating section to the next-- this is what Godspeed You Black Emperor! might
sound like if they ever get out of their rut. This track is the Mogwai Fear Satan of
the laptop set, and one of the finest extended electronic compositions in many years.
-Mark Richard-San