CHRONICLES OF THE WASTELAND.
Time for a quick excerpt from the TNUC history books…
It was a cold, bleak November in 1997 and Uncle T needed some magic in his life. Something unexpected, even supernatural. He walked the streets at night until he wore holes in his socks. He hit the music clubs. He went to the movies. He read books. He played video games. But he needed something more.
One day he visited his local record shop to pick up the new album by Le Matos ‘Chronicles of the Wasteland’. He went home, dimmed the lights, cracked his bedroom window, cracked a sudsy beer and lay back to listen. Before he could drift into a state of musical solitude, an incredibly lovely barbaric babe appeared at the foot of his couch! What happened afterwards would be an invasion of his privacy and an intrusion on his dream diaries, but use your imagination…
Just when I thought this genre was growing tiresome as of late, Montreal-based electronic warlocks Le Matos return with a 10 track synthy superbeast of an album that’s awakened something inside of me. Leave it to a group we’ve been listening to and writing about all the way back to their Phoebe Cates cover of ‘How Do I Let You Know’ to make this happen. By this point I suppose people assume TNUC is biased when it comes to anything these lads produce, but really what keeps me coming back to is the amount of FEELING they inject into instrumental music. Music fans who argue about a lack of emotion in instrumental electronica shouldn’t have anything to whine about when this pummels through their stereo.
Much like the sleek and vibrant sound of the first record, on Chronicles the band again filter candy coated melodies through a venom-fueled production style that feels enormously cinematic before you even realize a visual accompaniment actually exists (we’ll get to that in a bit). One key difference between this album and their debut is that some of the tracks take a slow-burn direction rather than pummeling from the jump – which in effect creates a bigger, vaster atmosphere from start to finish. The end result is a more “full” sound and this seems like a natural progression for the band. That’s not to say these tracks don’t thrust like the wind because believe me, THEY DO. Before you buy it from Mondo, have a taste of the entire release below.
The second course of the double album is the motion picture soundtrack to Turbo Kid, the “BMX-powered post-apocalyptic splatterific love story” starring Michael Ironside! Yes, it’s been a banner year for Le Matos as they were tapped by executive producer Jason Eisner (Hobo with a Shotgun, Treevenge) to provide the full score for Turbo Kid. I haven’t seen the film yet but based on the description and what the band have done on this album, I think I’m due for a white-hot blockbuster.
Vinyl/Digital Orders:
Mondo: http://bit.ly/1YMPI3L
Bandcamp: http://bit.ly/1N0jSv2
Watch Turbo Kid:
iTunes: http://apple.co/1lADOv9
Amazon Video: http://amzn.to/1QXYb2C
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