Label: Matador
Total Time: 45'51"
Grabber: EAC v0.95 pb5
Codec: Mokeys Audio v3.99
Size: 260.63 MB

Rarely has an electronic duo been as inventive and original as Matmos. The two members, Andrew Daniel and Martin Schmidt, clearly evidenced this fact with the release of 2001's A Chance To Cut Is A Chance To Cure. On the album listeners found two electronic obsessors splicing up old surgery tapes and pasting bits of them back together to form an entire opus. That task of taking a single subject and letting it influence an entire album's worth of songs is a feat not easily obtained or sought after by musicians, but Matmos pull it off with out breaking a sweat. So it shouldn't be any surprise that their newest album, The Civil War, is yet another concept record. This time they've set their lazer-guided vision on themes revolving around, you guessed it, The Civil War.
Of the nine-tracks that take up fourty-five minutes of the album, almost all quickly refer to the old time music of the early Americas. Within seconds of hearing "Zealous Order of Candied Knights", you immediately get the sense of patriotism and pilgrimage. The bagpipes, the tribal drums, the hefty horns, it makes you feel as if you're in the middle of watching Braveheart, or perhaps listening to a "jam" band composed of former Pogues members. On "The Stars and Stripes Forever", you get bass bumping rhythms followed by samples of old soldier anthems to create an alternate universe where dance clubs are war zones. It's this mish-mash of ideas and styles that continues Matmos' reign at top of the electronic genre. The album's standout track, and the disc opener, "Regicide", clearly illustrates this point by managing to combine wind instruments with R2D2 blips and vacuum cleaner static. Now could anyone else possibly do the same and make it an enjoyable listen? I think not.
Matmos, while perhaps having picked a less interesting subject than their last album, have created a record with a set direction and tone. It's that sort of premeditation that makes them such admired visionaries and has respected artists, like Bjork, beckoning for their talents. It's their ability to continually keep people guessing what's going to happen next that makes them, fundamentally, great artists. [lightupthesky.com]

Track Listings:
1. Regicide
2. Zealous Order of Candied Knights
3. Reconstruction
4. Y.T.T.E. (Yield to Total Elation)
5. For the Trees
6. Stars and Stripes Forever
7. Pelt and Holler
8. Struggle Against Unreality Begins
9. For the Trees (Return)