Matmos Announce Washing Machine-assisted 'Ultimate Care II' LP

BY Sarah MurphyPublished Nov 6, 2015

Experimental electronic duo Matmos impressed with The Marriage of True Minds back in 2013, and they're ready to follow it up with something a little more unconventional. The two-piece, consisting of M.C. Schmidt and Drew Daniel, have recorded a new album entirely composed of sounds from a washing machine.
 
Titled Ultimate Care II, the laundromat-friendly soundtrack is set to arrive on February 19 via Thrill Jockey. Special "very dirty laundry" (brown and white swirl) and "clean laundry" (blue and white swirl) coloured vinyl editions will be available.
 
Composed as a single 38-minute track, the record is primarily driven by the sounds of a Whirlpool Ultimate Care II machine, which were captured in the duo's Baltimore basement. The piece includes normal operating sounds, as well as the machine being "rubbed and stroked and drummed upon and prodded and sampled and sequenced and processed."

In addition to the washer itself (which was "not available for comment"), musical contributions arrive courtesy of human beings like Dan Deacon, Jason Willett of Half Japanese, Sam Haberman of House of Lords and Duncan Moore of Needle Gun.
 
There's no word yet on whether a follow-up dryer record is in the works, but Matmos have revealed that they will attempt to create a live show from the album, which is expected to tour the United States and Europe next year.
 
Ignore your ever-growing mountain of dirty laundry a little bit longer and listen to an excerpt from the forthcoming Ultimate Care II in the player below.
 

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