For the first official live archive from Matmos, the duo have presented a number of exclusive tunes recorded live in various locations all around the world with fellow San Franciscan electro-cowboy, Jay Lesser. They make no obstruction of the fact that nearly all of these tracks are improvised, but as the A-team of electronica, you can rest assured that this is a hand-picked collection of the uttmost quality control.Vague Terrain
The first striking quality is the superb recording quality of everything, and from a collection like this, it's no easy skill threading everything together to sound like a congruent album. Performances culled from various tapes include both stage and radio station performances dating from 1997-2001 have been arranged and flow together like an album that these three would be expected to make. It's a mixture of organic and electronic sounds, samples. Few tunes use beats and pulses while a number of others which are completely all over the place, tracked in an order to give a healthy variety of the styles. Fans of their older stuff should most certainly not hesitate to get this now, as a large portion of the tracks are remeniscent of the first two albums, while tracks like the phenomenal tenth track could easily be an outtake from their third full-lengther, 'The West'. People more akin to last year's album and the more linear tunes from the group might find most of this a bit too weird, but if you have the most remote inkling to becoming turned on, you'll regret not ordering the limited edition. Oh yeah, don't forget to enclose a personal photo when you order.
 
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