Following the critical success of their last full-length The West, San Francisco-based electronic duo Matmos push their rhythmic collage tendencies even further on their Matador debut, sidestepping that record's pastoral orientation in favor of an electro cut-up concept album that samples recordings of plastic surgery and medical technology. After gaining the trust and cooperation of surgeons and patients, the band was allowed to record in operating rooms and clinics. Back in the studio, Matmos performed surgery of their own upon the sounds they had gathered, building rhythms from the clanks, rasps and snips of the scalpel, kick drums from the sound of bones being broken, and rich drones from the buzz of human skin conducting electricity through acupuncture points. Matmos members M.C. Schmidt and Drew Daniel (both doctors' sons) felt that a "dark" record would be too easy to make out of such Grand Guignol content. Instead, they make surprisingly approachable, quasi-pop music by combining these extremist sound sources with drums and guitars played by some of the crew from The West (Steve Goodfriend of Radar Bros./For Carnation, Mark Lightcap of Acetone). The result is challenging sound art that you can tap your toes to. 7 big tracks.