Thomas Dimuzio and M.C. Schmidt are performing together creating and continuing the proud American electronic folk tradition, the blanket term for which has now become commonly, noise, though some might call it “electro acoustic music”, “electronic sound diffusion”, or, “free improv.” Surround sound abounds in an immersive musical experience as the duo performs through their quadraphonic sound system. This is going to be a cool, weird, and genuinely experimental evening. But don’t take our word for it! Hear the critics’ careful raves:
• “…the result was surprisingly coherent and it was fascinating to witness Schmidt, a musician with a very acute sound sensibility, create music out of the oddest objects and situations imaginable, such as processing the sound of throwing many small percussion instruments into his darbouka, as well as the contents of his pockets including his glasses and cell phone, which, naturally, was to ring a few seconds later.” ALL ABOUT JAZZ (review of a trio with M.C. Schmidt)
• “Attending a Thomas Dimuzio performance is like lying underneath a web of freeway bridges with your eyes closed; blocking out all visuals except the brief daggers of light that flicker with each passing car. There is a sense of probable dread—metal, wooden or cigarette debris from the vehicles could fly off and injure you—but also one of hypnotized calm, thanks to the amplified hum of Michelin and Goodyear against greased concrete.” PITCHFORK MEDIA (review of Thomas Dimuzio’s CD “Slew”)
• “… transformed into an amped up chamber orchestra playing Penderecki in a watery cave underneath a building site. Its lush, surprising, sensual stuff… Elsewhere Dimuzio gives us glacial drones, the random fuzz of shortwave radios or the feral blasts of junkyard electronics; insectoid scratches, blasts of clipped distortions and the forlorn clang of an abused piano. Like the fantastically underrated Mnemonists, his work has a narrative, filmic tug that’ll draw you in to its dark corners, ears alert…” BBC.CO.UK (review of Thomas Dimuzio’s CD “Slew”)
• “To thoroughly describe everything they did this evening would take a 33 1/3-sized book. Matmos constantly evolved the organizational and sonic structure of their compositions, serving a naked lunch of aural and visual stimulus wrapped up in a cultish package, blending the experimental and the groovy in perfect balance. Their music and style is utterly fustigating, fostering a tripped-out absorption to the point of losing the plot. Matmos is a rare kind of genius.” EXCLAIM.CA (review of live show with Matmos)
M.C. SCHMIDT is a sound and video artist and a member of the band Matmos (with partner Dr. Drew Daniel). M.C. has been working with audio since 1986, and with video beginning with his tenure as the manager of and instructor in the Performance/Video/New Genres Department at the San Francisco Art Institute, and continuing in the present in Baltimore, where he plays in and curates audio concerts and showings of film and video. He is a curator of the HIGH ZERO FESTIVAL of Improvised Music. He has performed with Peter Rehberg, So Percussion, John Wiese, Bjork, Terry Riley, Antony, and the Kronos Quartet. His work, both within and apart from his work in Matmos, frequently concerns itself with objects, which are examined closely and manipulated to exploit their sonic and visual potential.
San Francisco-based THOMAS DIMUZIO is one of those unsung artistic figures whose influence and abilities have substantially outstripped his visibility. Composer, collaborator, experimental electronic musician, multi-instrumentalist, improvisor, sound designer and mastering engineer – Dimuzio has been busy doing his thing(s) since the late 1980’s, but is still only known to a small circle of electronic music enthusiasts. A true sonic alchemist who can seemingly create musical events out of almost anything, Dimuzio’s listed sound sources on his various releases include everything from “modified 10 speed bicycle” and “resonating water pipe” to short-wave radios, field recordings, loops, samplers and even instruments such as clarinet and trumpet. And while his wide range of musical interests make it impossible to pin a label on him, Dimuzio clearly has an insider’s knowledge of older experimental musical forms such as musique concrete and electroacoustic, as well as more current dark ambient, noise and post-techno styles. He has performed with Chris Cutler, Fred Frith, Tom Cora, Dan Burke and countless other experimental music heavyweights, and is currently one half of the band Dimmer with Joseph Hammer.
