Matmos has skipped the synth porn and gone straight to the synth splooge with its gallery of goodies highlighting its latest release, Supreme Balloon:

What follows are some pointers and backstory about the songs on the new Matmos album “Supreme Balloon”. When there are no editors in sight this sort of thing can easily go on for far too long so please proceed with caution, especially if you are squeamish about gear porn and namedropping.

As Matmos albums go, this one is not about strenuous conceptual gymnastics but the simple enjoyment of traditional synthetic cuisine served in an informal atmosphere.

Yep – they’ve unleashed a blow-by-blow, track-by-track breakdown of hardcore synth action.

Here’s a preview of their track, Rainbow Flag, along with the synth splooge:

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Rainbow Flag

The arcs of rising and falling pitches that start this song reminded us of a rainbow, and the title stuck: any resemblance to fluttering symbols of homo-nationalist pride are side effects. People have asked us about the Latin kitsch aspect of the song, and we plead guilty to a great love of the Richard Hayman “The Genuine Electric Latin Love Machine” Moog novelty LP from 1969. Having lived in the Mission District of San Francisco for seven years up until our recent move to Baltimore, we have had enough casual exposure to actual Mexican and Salvadorean music to know that this bears only the faintest relation to the real thing. Keith Fullerton Whitman contributed some tasty squelches and zaps from his Doepfer modular synth to brighten the corners, but not everything on here is that high-tech. Consider the lowly stylophone, a handheld novelty instrument popular with British schoolkids that was immortalized during the rave era in the cheesy techno banger “Stylophonia” by the fabulously named UK crew Two Little Boys. The stylophone that is played on this record was sent to us in the mail by a well-wisher and we thank him for this unexpected present. We are even more grateful to Safety Scissors, who forgave us when M. C. Schmidt broke his MS-20 filter knob by tweaking it too vigorously while recording the “horn” part of this song. It’s all been patched up now.

Just goes to show what can happen when you tweak your knob too hard on the horn part……

via Califaudio