vinylfanatics.com

**★★★★☆**

In the annals of experimental music, few concepts have been as simultaneously absurd and profound as Matmos deciding to compose an entire album using only the sounds of their Whirlpool Ultimate Care II washing machine. Drew Daniel and M.C. Schmidt, the Baltimore duo behind some of electronic music's most wonderfully perverse moments, have always been magpies for the unconventional – previous albums have incorporated the amplified neural activity of crayfish, the sounds of liposuction procedures, and contact-mic'd surgical operations. But even by their own deliriously inventive standards, "Ultimate Care II" represents a singular achievement in domestic alchemy.

The album's genesis traces back to the pair's frustration with their perpetually malfunctioning washer. Rather than simply calling a repair service like sensible adults, Daniel and Schmidt saw opportunity in mechanical failure. They spent months documenting every conceivable sound their appliance could produce: the rhythmic thrum of the spin cycle, the hydraulic gasps of water intake, the metallic percussion of an unbalanced load, even the musical tones of the control panel buttons. What emerges from this obsessive sonic archaeology is nothing short of revelatory – a meditation on the hidden musicality lurking within the most mundane corners of modern life.

Musically, "Ultimate Care II" exists in that liminal space between ambient techno, musique concrète, and something approaching industrial music, though these genre classifications feel woefully inadequate. The opening track "Washing Machine" establishes the album's hypnotic logic immediately, transforming the familiar domestic drone into something approaching spiritual transcendence. Daniel and Schmidt's genius lies not in disguising their source material but in revealing its inherent rhythmic complexity. The washing machine becomes a percussion ensemble, a synthesizer, a rhythm section, and a melodic instrument all at once.

The album's centrepiece, "Spin Cycle," builds from a single repeated mechanical phrase into something approaching dance music nirvana. It's a testament to the duo's arranging skills that they can make the mundane act of laundry feel like participation in some ancient ritual. The track's 12-minute duration allows the listener to fully inhabit the machine's temporal logic, where cycles repeat with variations so subtle they become profound.

"Rinse" offers perhaps the album's most beautiful moment, extracting ethereal harmonics from water pressure and valve mechanics. Here, Matmos achieve something approaching the sublime – the piece unfolds with the patience of a classical composition while maintaining the textural richness of the most sophisticated electronic music. It's ambient music in the truest Eno-esque sense: fascinating when attended to closely, but equally effective as environmental sound.

The closing "Fabric Softener" brings the album full circle, incorporating field recordings of the duo discussing their process while the machine churns away in the background. It's a cheeky bit of meta-commentary that never feels precious, instead highlighting the collaborative relationship between artists and their unlikely muse.

What makes "Ultimate Care II" more than mere conceptual stunt is Matmos's deep understanding of how to make genuinely engaging music from their self-imposed limitations. Every sound has been carefully considered, processed with the duo's characteristic blend of academic rigour and playful experimentation. The album works both as a piece of conceptual art – a statement about finding beauty in the overlooked – and as pure listening pleasure.

Since its release, "Ultimate Care II" has cemented Matmos's reputation as electronic music's most inventive conceptualists. The album has inspired countless imitators and influenced a generation of sound artists to look more carefully at the sonic environments that surround us daily. It stands as proof that experimental music needn't be forbidding or academic – sometimes the most radical act is simply paying attention to what's already there.

In transforming the humble washing machine into an instrument of genuine musical expression, Daniel and Schmidt have created something both deeply weird and surprisingly moving. "Ultimate Care II" reminds us that music exists everywhere, waiting to be discovered by ears curious enough to listen. It's domestic life as avant-garde art, household chores as spiritual practice, and ultimately, one of the most quietly revolutionary albums of recent memory.