Matthieu Metzger - SelfCooking

Stuart Kremsky, IAJRC Journal

Cooking for yourself means that the only palate you need to please is your own. Multi-instrumentalist Matthieu Metzger takes that feeling and runs with it on the oddly delightful SelfCooking. Playing a range of saxophones from baritone to sopranino, overdubbed along with various synthesizers and a drum machine, Metzger cooks up all kinds of fun for himself. There's the distorted march rhythms of Présentez arme, the piercing drone of La teneur, the quiet clatter of keys and breath on Huis clos, and the unclassifiable weirdness of Hibernation complèxe, full of synth buzzes and saxophone beeps. Vu de profil l'arrière était sur un côté is really wild, a jumble of almost random bits and pieces that sounds like it's completely backwards for nearly 5 minutes. The collision of overlaid saxophones and keyboards on Lennie R. nue au soleil... is like a battle of bands until a repetitive keyboard part takes over with only slight hints of time and tonal distorsion. Only the unintelligible voice on Le mort joyeux left me totally baffled. Whichever side of the acoustic/electric divide you're starting from, abandon any genre pre-conceptions you might have, wade into this one with an open spirit, and you might find yourself very pleasantly surprised.