The Rose Has Teeth in the Mouth of a Beast

The Rose Has Teeth in the Mouth of a Beast
Studio album by Matmos
Released May 9, 2006 (2006-05-09)
Genre Electronic
Length 61:28
Label Matador Records
Producer Drew Daniel, Martin Schmidt
Matmos chronology
The Civil War
(2003)
The Rose Has Teeth in the Mouth of a Beast
(2006)
Supreme Balloon
(2008)
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic81/100[1]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
The A.V. ClubA[3]
Drowned in Sound8/10[4]
PItchfork8.0/10[5]
PopMatters7/10[6]
Slant Magazine[7]
Stylus MagazineB+[8]

The Rose Has Teeth in the Mouth of a Beast is the sixth studio album by Matmos. Each of the album's songs is dedicated to a notable gay or lesbian person who has influenced the duo,[7] and this influence is reflected in the songs themselves. For examples, "Rag for William S. Burroughs" features the clatter of a type writer and a gunshot, representing the William Tell incident, and "Tract for Valerie Solanas" contains excerpts from the "SCUM Manifesto".

As with earlier releases, the duo make use of field recordings in the music, recordings that range from ordinary things to more absurd sounds, such as a recording of a bovine uterus.[9] The album's title is taken from a line in Ludwig Wittgenstein’s Philosophical Investigations.[7]

Critical reception

The Rose Has Teeth in the Mouth of a Beast received positive reviews from music critics. Review aggregator website Metacritic gives it a score of 81 out of 100 based on 22 critics, indicating "universal acclaim."[1] Brandon Stosuy, writing for Pitchfork, wrote in a positive review that "there are a few moments when the concept's cooler than the result, but in general The Rose Has Teeth's experiments result in frenetic dance tracks doubling as reading lists."[5]

Jonathan Keefe, writing for Slant Magazine, called the album "endlessly fascinating" but concluded that "even armed with a cheat sheet from Wikipedia and a desire to figure out the significance of every last hair clipper and gunshot, the album never engages as anything more than an academic exercise."[7]

Pitchfork placed it at number 47 on the "Top 50 Albums of 2006" list.[10]

Track listing

No.TitleNotesLength
1."Roses and Teeth for Ludwig Wittgenstein"3:24
2."Steam and Sequins for Larry Levan"5:20
3."Tract for Valerie Solanas"5:07
4."Public Sex for Boyd McDonald"5:52
5."Semen Song for James Bidgood"5:02
6."Snails and Lasers for Patricia Highsmith"5:52
7."Germs Burn for Darby Crash"4:10
8."Solo Buttons for Joe Meek"3:33
9."Rag for William S. Burroughs"13:52
10."Banquet for King Ludwig II of Bavaria"3:23

Charts

Chart Peak
position
US Top Dance/Electronic Albums (Billboard)[12] 21

References

  1. 1 2 The Rose Has Teeth In The Mouth Of A Beast, by Matmos Metacritic. Retrieved November 1, 2015.
  2. Heather Phares, The Rose Has Teeth in the Mouth of a Beast review AllMusic. Retrieved November 1, 2015.
  3. Andy Battaglia, The Rose Has Teeth in the Mouth of a Beast review The A.V. Club, May 17, 2006. Retrieved November 1, 2015.
  4. Rachel Cawley, The Rose Has Teeth in the Mouth of a Beast review Drowned in Sound, May 13, 2006. Retrieved November 1, 2015.
  5. 1 2 Brandon Stosuy, The Rose Has Teeth in the Mouth of a Beast review PItchfork, May 9, 2006. Retrieved November 1, 2015.
  6. Kevin Jagernauth, The Rose Has Teeth in the Mouth of a Beast review PopMatters, May 22, 2006. Retrieved November 1, 2015.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Jonathan Keefe, The Rose Has Teeth in the Mouth of a Beast review Slant Magazine, May 19, 2006. Retrieved November 1, 2015.
  8. Scott McKeating, The Rose Has Teeth in the Mouth of a Beast review Stylus Magazine, May 9, 2006. Retrieved November 1, 2015.
  9. "Matmos at Matador Records".
  10. "Top 50 Albums of 2006 (1/5)". Pitchfork. December 19, 2006. Retrieved March 14, 2017.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Album credits, Discogs.com. Retrieved November 1, 2015.
  12. "Matmos - Chart history - Top Dance/Electronic Albums". Billboard. Retrieved March 14, 2017.
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