By the early 2020s, Matmos Drew Daniel and M.C. Schmidt had earned such a reputation for their intricate sample collages that they were commissioned to create pieces from the works of renowned composers and institutions. After reassembling the music of Polish composer Bogus?aw Schaeffer into fantastical new shapes on Regards/Uk?ony dla Bogus?aw Schaeffer, Schmidt and Daniel helped Smithsonian Folkways celebrate the labels 75th anniversary with 2023s Return to Archive. Though Folkways is famed for its collection of music by artists such as Woody Guthrie and Lead Belly, its also home to non-musical recordings captured in the 1950s and 60s, including Sounds of North American Frogs, Sounds of the Junk Yard, and The Science of Sound. These are the sounds that Matmos piece together, playfully and reverently, on Return to Archive. Daniel and Schmidts use of these recordings as the albums only source lets one of the worlds greatest sonic archives -- and Matmos technique -- shine. As on A Chance to Cut Is a Chance to Cure, Plastic Anniversary, and Ultimate Care II, concentrating on non-musical sources emphasizes the duos brilliance with rhythms and textures. On "Injection Basic Sound," Daniel and Schmidt turn the repetition of the titular phrase and the gurgling, squishing, and sputtering tones of air injected into an esophagus into an inviting groove; on the impish prologue "Good Morning Electronics," they seem to condense the entire Folkways catalog into a minute-long celebration of sound itself. Return to Archive often feels like a collaboration between Schmidt and Daniel and the recordists doggedly capturing the sounds of bottlenose dolphins and the noise the ionosphere makes more than half a century prior. Even when Matmos transform their source material, they remain true to its spirit. When they fuse operatic vocals with screeching ones on the hypnotic "Music or Noise?," the answer to the tracks question is "both." With each listen, Return to Archive reveals more thought-provoking layers and surreal connections. Over a ribbiting rhythm of frog calls, "Why?" lets a childs questions bounce around the stereo field, evoking humankinds innate need to discover and document. On the title track, an announcer discusses frogs while an expansive assembly of sounds made by humans -- engines, chisels, gunshots -- reaches a droning peak echoed by "Mud-Dauber Wasp," an insistently buzzing techno homage to an animal as skilled at repurposing as Schmidt and Daniel themselves. At times, Return to Archive rivals Ultimate Care II when it comes to the more challenging, cerebral side of Matmos music, but its fascinating reflections on how we build on and reframe the past make for a hip, thoughtful celebration of Smithsonian Folkways forward-thinking legacy. ~ Heather Phares

Rovi