Starting in 2000, the prolific London-based Spanish composer
Mattin launched a plethora of projects over a broad stylistic range.
Sakada (2001) was an improvisation with
AMM's percussionist Eddie Prevost and
New Zealand's laptop musician Rosy Parlane.
Mendietan (2002) was another digital collaboration with Parlane.
Other collaborations included:
Trainging Thoughts (2004) with Taku Sugimoto and Yasuo Totsuka;
Building Excess (2004) with Radu Malfatti, Klaus Filip and Dean Roberts;
Pinknoise (2004) with Japanese vocalist Junko;
Via Vespucci (Antifrost, 2004) and S3 (2005) with Dion Workman;
Shyrio no Computer (2004) with fellow computer improviser Tomoya Izumi;
Going Fragile (2006) with Radu Malfatti;
Achbal al Atlas (Little Enjoyer, 2006) with Tim Barnes;
Conrad/Barnes/Mattin (PSI Phenomenom, 2006) with Tim Barnes and and Tony Conrad;
Songbook vol 4 (Azul Discografica, 2006), recorded live with Anthony Guerra on second guitar, Tomoya Izumi on vocals, and Taku Unami on computers;
Universal Prostitution (2006) with Lucio Capece on mixing board under the moniker No More Music at The Service of Capital;
and many other released only on CDR.
Gora (Two ThousandAnd, 2003) collects solo live performances for computer noise.
Proletarian of Noise (Hibari, 2006) is a solo experiment that somehow involves a webpage.
Mattin's main project was the Spanish combo Billy Bao, fictionally credited to
Nigerian vocalist Billy Bao and featuring guitarist Xabier Erkizia.
Their R'n'R Granulator (WMO/R, 2005), that also features guitarist Anla Courtis, keyboardist Pablo Reche and drummer Alberto Lopez,
harked back to the era of
Pere Ubu and
Throbbing Gristle.
After the
pure guitar-driven chaos and noise of Dame Kritmo and
the brief epileptic attack of Evapogoration,
the 14-minute Para Ahuyentar Ratas, Humanos Y Atros Insectos begins as a
dissonant garage rave-up but soon decays into a shapeless drone that further
decays into a distant rumble.
The 19-minute El Grado Zero Del Pulso is a concerto of
very slow drumming simulating heartbeats with some discreet electronic noise
emerging at the end.
Deflag Haemorrhage/Haien Kontra was a duo formed with drummer Tim Goldie documented on Luxury (2005) and Humiliated (2009).
Mattin's other rock band, Josetxo Grieta, debuted with
Euskal Semea (2006), followed by
The Art of Disctraction (Ozono Kids, 2008).
Mattin's releases in the second half of the decade also included:
A New Form of Beauty (2007), a tribute to the Virgin Prunes classic, with Matthew Bower of Sunroof and Skullflower;
Attention (2007) with Taku Unami;
Junko & Mattin (2008) with Junko.
Billy Bao's
EP Fuck Separation (2007) contains just two lengthy pieces: the
relentless metal-voodoo dance Borders Of Mass Deception
and its continuation Jail Logic, that simply introduces a bit more
chaos until dissolving in the end.
The single Accumulation (2007) contains ten grotesque surreal
one-minute pieces, each a rhythmic refinement and beefed up version of the
previous one with increasing psycho vocals. By the eight minute, there is
only chaotic drumming, strumming and screaming, and the last minute is just
random sounds without a real rhythm.
Billy Bao's second album
Dialectics Of Shit (Parts Unknown, 2008)
wrapped their sloppy and chaotic garage-rock
in squalls of white noise and in bursts of anthemic riffs,
halfway between the psychedelic freak-out of
Red Crayola and
the visceral attack of Detroit noisemeisters
MC5 and the
Stooges.
That tactic was best demonstrated in
I Am Billy Bao Right Here Right Now and
You Get Me You Get The Kicks,
while the limping
Pere Ubu-an dance Tight Ass Bleeds, the
pounding screaming Factory Of Repression,
the deformed Jimi Hendrix-ian glissando solo of Basque Blues,
and the anguished bluesy
Tom Waits-ian I Am A Mirror/Putrefied Egos
framed a broader approach to the mental apocalypse.
Their
deconstruction of garage-rock borders on white noise in the two
Untitled pieces (fourth and ninth
tracks) and on percussive mayhem in
My Life Is Shit.
They also mix vinyl and disc defects in their dysfuncional harmony.
Hell had rarely sounded nicer.
All the songs last exactly three minutes.
May08 (Parts Unknown, 2009)
contains five untitled tracks.
The first piece is a filthy psychotic rave-up. The second one is a
funk-punk of sorts that adds African-style horns.
The third one is a lazy recitation amid bombardment-like guitars.
The fourth one is a repetitive tribal war dance for android tanks.
The fifth one is 16 minutes of chaotic guitar noise, frantic drumming,
monster bass riffs, hellish growling, relentless strumming, and
apocalyptic rumbles.
Sacrilege (Afterburn, 2009) collects
Dialectics,
Fuck Separation,
and
Accumulation.
The mini-album Urban Disease (Pan, 2010) contains two
simpler jams that hark back to space-rock of the 1970s.
Mattin's solos at the turn of the decade were
Object of Thought (Presto, 2010) and
Exquisite Corpse (Azul Discografica, 2011).
Elektra Bidasoa (Ferns, 2011) was a collaboration between Xabier Erkizia of Billy Bao and Francisco Lopez that used the sound of hydroelectric plants as source material.
Buildings from Bilbao (Burka for Everybody, 2012) runs the gamut from
the chaotic Down On The Streets to the pounding freak-out Loose
via conceptual pieces of abstract noise like Dirt and Fun House,
but seems improvised on the fly.
Communisation (Insulin Addicted, 2015)
contains only two compositions,
Debt - The Crisis to Come (10:00) and
Communisation - The Revolution of Our Times (20:14).
The former is deranged voodoobilly with psychotic crooning with a noisy coda.
The latter is an unfocused collage of found sounds and found voices.
The Lagos Sessions (2016), divided in four 15-minutes chunks,
is an indulgent and redundant collage of
field recordings, conversations, improvised jazz jams and warped songs.
