Suffering Jukebox

This morning's episode features an interview with Gomeroi artist Liam Keenan, who records and releases music as Meteor Infant; as well as under his own name. Pilliga Circumstance, Liam's latest release under the Meteor Infant moniker, was recently released through Ramble Records. Find out more about Liam Keenan/Meteor Infant (and purchase his music) here https://ramblerecords.bandcamp.com/album/pilliga-circumstance here https://holdingcandles.bandcamp.com/music and here https://room40.bandcamp.com/album/your-music-encountered-in-a-dream

Nick's Pick of the Week is Matmos' Metallic Life Review. You can hear the whole album in all the usual places, or purchase it here https://matmos.bandcamp.com/music and my review can be read below.

Matmos: Metallic Life Review (Thrill Jockey)

Released 20th June 2025

Matmos are one of the most playful groups existing within the realms of experimental sound. Partners in life (and in music), Drew Daniel and M. C. Schmidt have been creating together since the mid 1990s. Live, they are hilarious and an absolute joy to watch, offering a much needed respite from the ultra-serious attitude that pervades so much of the avant-garde community. Metallica Life Review, the group’s fifteenth studio album, features compositions made using various metallic items, ranging from pots, pans and cans to cemetery gates and tape-deck reels.

Comprising of two distinct sides, the first half of the album is made up of five individual tracks and runs just shy of twenty-minutes. Side two, however, is one continuous song that (in a first for Matmos), the group recorded live in the studio. Their intent being to capture the improvisations and evolutions that happen during the group’s live performances. As the album’s title-track and centrepiece, it achieves its objective in spades, demonstrating Daniel and Schmidt’s uniquely personal, creative relationship.

Each track on Metallic Life Review showcases the depth of creativity that Matmos can glean from all manner of objects —as anyone who has seen them perform can attest. Album opener, Norway Doorway has a creaking industrial ambience that wouldn’t be out of place in a horror film, whereas The Chrome Reflects Our Image (unsurprisingly dedicated to David Lynch) echoes the otherworldly eeriness of Twin Peaks’ main theme. On the other end of the spectrum is the Gamelan influenced Changing Patterns and the steam-punk dance of Rust Belt, the album’s only advance single.

For a group with such avowedly unorthodox practices, Matmos' music lacks the veneer of inaccessibility that surrounds so much of today's experimental music. Their whimsical approach to composition and general sense of humour makes them approachable to listeners who aren't typically predisposed to unconventional styles of music. Metallic Life Review is a continuation of Matmos' commitment to traversing the endless possibilities of sound, a vital and joyous artefact from a pair of musicians unlike any other.Nick Stephan