Return to Archive

In 1948, Moses Asch founded Folkways Records with a self-proclaimed mandate to record the sounds of the entire world. From the Sounds of North American Frogs to Speech After the Removal of the Larynx, Folkways documented the audible nooks and crannies of existence on hundreds of LPs produced by field recordists, scientists, and experimentalists probing the margins of the human soundscape. Seventy-five years later, electronic music duo Matmos have diced, looped, stretched, and recontextualized these recordings on their new album Return to Archive, which was assembled entirely from the so-called non-musical sounds released on Folkways. On just the album’s first track, dolphins, beetles, telephones, humans stretching the limits of their vocal cords, a shortwave radio, and metal balers co-mingle in a fantasia of sound both everyday and extraordinary. Each track on Return to Archive morphs its source material into something completely unexpected, honoring and expanding on Folkways’ legacy of sonic exploration. Featuring Evicshen and Aaron Dilloway.

Track Listing

1	Good Morning Electronics	Matmos	01:05
2	Injection Basic Sound	Matmos	02:55
3	Mud-Dauber Wasp	Matmos	03:35
4	Music or Noise?	Matmos	04:12
5	Why?	Matmos featuring Evicshen	04:03
6	Lend Me Your Ears	Matmos	03:46
7	Return to Archive	Matmos featuring Aaron Dilloway	13:28
8	The Way Japanese Beetles Sound to a Rose	Matmos	01:28
9	Going to Sleep	Matmos featuring Aaron Dilloway	06:45