Return to Archive by Matmos

Imagine for a second that you encountered an alien who asks you a bizarre question: what does Earth sound like? To answer that question, Folkways Records was founded in 1948, establishing an unorthodox mission to record musical and nonmusical sounds from sources all around the world, documenting animals, natural processes, and endangered folk traditions. Digging deep into the so-called “non music” folder of Folkways’ catalog, Baltimore-based experimental duo Matmos crafted their new record Return to Archive, flipping these peculiar samples into something vaguely akin to dance music. Matmos pulls a variety of sounds for us, ranging from the benign, like a typical house doorbell, to the deeply disturbing, like the sound of the human voice after the larynx has been removed. As a result, our attention splits evenly between every sound we hear, struggling to locate the sources as the big picture lulls us into a rhythm that feels surprisingly natural. Stretching the limits of so-called “non music,” Matmos encourages us to move through life making music out of the mundane and seeing art in every conceivable space.