Purveyors of: Electro-apocalyptic robotic sounds that can brainwash any audience into enthusiastic dancing.
File next to: Kraftwerk, Daft Punk.
Playing: Wavelength New Year’s Eve at Markham House City Building Lab (610 Markham St.). You can still pick up advance tickets (in person only) at Rotate This (801 Queen W.), Soundscapes (572 College St.) and Tiny Record Shop (804 Queen E.)! A very lmited tickets will also be available at the door for $25 each.
Made by robot space aliens over a million years old, the music of MATROX has consistently amazed audiences all over Toronto. You may have caught their incredible set at Long Winter last year, or perhaps their awe-inspiring set during the last Summerworks festival, or perhaps you’re seeing them at Wavelength’s New Year’s Eve party for the first time — either way, the music by this robotic trio is infectious, danceable, and waiting for human consumption.
What do you enjoy the most about entertaining humans with your music?
ROBO-ALPHA: “ENJOYMENT” IS A HUMANOID CONCEPT THAT IS UNFAMILIAR TO THE ROBOTS OF THE HOME PLANET, ZORGNAX OMICR@$. HOWEVER, OUR MERRIMENT SENSORS OFTEN DETECT HIGH LEVELS OF “DANCE-FACTOR-SEVEN” EMITTED DURING OUR AUDIO-OUTPUT DEMONSTRATIONS. WHILE OMICR@$IANS DO NOT FEEL PLEASURE OR PAIN, WE ARE PROGRAMMED TO ISOLATE, AUGMENT AND AMPLIFY ANY HUMANOID-ROBOT CONNECTIONS ESTABLISHED DURING AN OUTPUT. HUMANOID DANCING COMMONLY ACHIEVES THIS CONNECTION AND AUTO-RESPONSE.
ROBO-GAMMA: WE HAVE DETERMINED THAT HUMANOID DANCE-PROGRAMS ARE THE MOST AGREEABLE FORM OF DANCE-PROGRAM.
In last year’s Wavelength interview, ROBO-ALPHA said that you landed on Earth 2.4 million years ago. In your opinion, what has been the strangest thing that you’ve seen on Earth in that time span?
R-A: EXACT LANDING DATE WAS LOGGED 2415883Y-245D-13H-32M ACCORDING TO EARTH-TIME. ACCURACY MUST BE MAINTAINED.
ROBO-BETA: MATROX HAS FOUND THE HUMANOID PREDILECTION TO CELEBRATE MINOR TEMPORAL MEASURE-POINTS PERPLEXING. A SINGLE EARTH YEAR IS INSIGNIFICANT IN THE LIFE OF A SPACE MICROBOT.
R-G: CONSIDER CONNECTING WITH US AFTER A THOUSAND OF YOUR EARTH YEAR-UNITS, AT WHICH TIME WE SHALL CONVERSE!
You’ve received quite a bit of press this year — from rocking out at the Jam Factory in January with Doomsquad, to playing with Most People for SummerWorks. How does it feel to receive praise and accolades from an entirely different species than you?
R-A: OUR ACCOLADE DETECTORS HAVE RECENTLY BEEN RECALIBRATED. HOWEVER, MATROX HAS LOGGED A SERIES OF ACCOLADES INTO ITS COLLECTIVE MEMORY BANKS AND ACKNOWLEDGES THAT IT HAS ESTABLISHED MULTIPLE INSTANCES OF POSITIVE HUMANOID-ROBOT CONNECTIONS.
R-G: A MAJORITY OF MATROX-BOTS FINDS SUCH ACCOLADES AGREEABLE; HOWEVER, A MINORITY DOES NOT.
Can you comment on your alleged resemblances to the Sesame Streetcharacters Ernie, Bert, and Snuffleupagus?
R-B: ERROR! THE INQUIRY “SESAME STREET” RETURNS A SYSTEMERROR#9967. DATABASE MISALLOCATION EXCEPTION! “SNUFFLEUPAGUS” NOT RECOGNIZED. ATTEMPTING NEW SEARCH. BOOTING… BOOTING…
R-A: MATROX IS UNABLE TO PROVIDE A RESPONSE TO HUMANOID’S INQUIRY.
What was your favourite moment of 2015 as a group, either personal or music-related?
R-A: MATROX WISHES TO ACKNOWLEDGE THE AUDIO-OUTPUT ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE SOUND-MANIPULATION UNIT “N52T00002”, WHOSE LAUNCH OF SOUND-APPLICATION “SONGS FOR ZEUR20ZORB” PROVED INSTRUMENTAL TOWARDS THE CESSATION OF THE TROXXIAN-NABOGLURP HOSTILITY CYCLE.
R-G: A ROBOT CAN ONLY MARVEL AT THE HEALING POWER OF MUSIC.
What sorts of things can we expect from your set at the New Year’s show?
R-A: PREPARE! MATROX HAS INITIATED AN AUDIO-PERFORMATIVE PROGRAM THAT HAS, ON PREVIOUS DEMONSTRATIONS, OVERLOADED THE MERRIMENT CIRCUITS IN A VARIETY OF SYNTHETIC AND ORGANIC LIFE FORMS!
R-B: THIS PROGRAM, TO BE COMBINED WITH HIGHER-THAN-EXPECTED LEVELS OF MERRIMENT ASSOCIATED WITH THE TEMPORAL COMMEMORATION “NEW YEAR’S EVE”, IS PREDICTED TO PROVOKE AN UNPRECEDENTED DANCE-RESPONSE AMONG REVELLING HUMANOIDS!
R-G: ADDITIONALLY, MATROX IS PLEASED TO RE-INTRODUCE ITS ROBO-WESTERN EPIC OUTPUT, “ROBOTS ON HORSES.”
What are your plans in the future? Can we expect you to grace us with an album sometime soon?
R-A: MATROX CONTINUES TO AMASS A CATALOGUE OF SOUND-MANIPULATION DATA FILES. IN TIME, THESE FILES WILL BE PERFECTED AND OPTIMIZED FOR UTILIZATION IN BOTH AUDIO AND VISUAL APPLICATIONS. PREPARATIONS CONTINUE AS PLANNED.
— Interview by Emily Scherzinger