Odd little fellow with a big head; a flip/broad-sided Charlie Brown with the Devil's arms (i.e. longer than the legs, there or thereabouts), playing a kinda degraded disco at 3 in the morning.
Almost no one is listening.
I wander over, uncertain. Last time I asked what a DJ was playing I got embroiled in a nasty conversation about Tropicalia (not the animal park nr Minehead) which left me with a bad taste in my mouth.
What the hell-
-What's this?
"Matmosmate."
-Eh?
"Matmos"
The music was clippy-cloppy and gulping. Very loudly. Someone flicked a finger at the dry ice switch.
-Named after the Lava Lamp?
"Matmosmate. Mat-mos. I think they used to be in Van Der Graaf Generator."
He might have said something else but that sent me down a lot of happy blind alleys.
-Good stuff, yeah. Do you have the record?
If you could hear eyes roll, you'd hear them now. He showed me the cover: California Rhinoplasty and then nodded at my t-shirt: Coil - Unnatural History
"There's a Coil cover.[UNINTELLIGIBLE] with the same samples..."
Then he rolled off, the track ended. Something mildy Yes came on.
Turned out that the name came from Barbarella and as far as I know Pete Hammill and the Matmos boys have never gotten it together - though I can see it happening - but the music and the Coil reference was intriguing enough to set me searching and eventually I got hold of the record and heard the Coil cover - sounds like Coil with all organic material substracted; colder still.
That night ended in a whimpering mess - some girl with a par-boiled face was crying into Cinzano, a man with a Taboo/Mirage promotional t-shirt was starting to vacate his brains through his eyes, causing the kind of stillness that precedes Ballardian violence...
But I had a new band.
Matmos - Disco Hospital
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