From all accounts, it sounds like the Matmos show was a sight to behold. Featuring beaten roses, dry ice, and vaguely homoerotic onstage spanking, it seems Matmos converted more than a few people to their fanbase. Despite the largely universal praise for Matmos, one of the common threads in describing the show was wonder at opener Kitundu’s output, especially with his phonoharp, a Frankensteinish combination of a harp and a turntable. After yesterday’s in-store I can understand the fascination. While the onstage performers were creating soundscapes filled with nuance and detail, it was Kitundu and his phonoharp that proved the most engaging, with equal portions of my attention going toward the aesthetics of the instrument and attempting to discern which parts of the music it was producing. It wasn’t quite enough to make me question my missing the show at the Triple Door (Osunlade was great), but I’m happy I got to experience some taste of it and to see the phonoharp doing its thing. After the show I tried (and failed) to pick up on an explanation of how it all works, but no matter, you can see it in action (along with some of his other creations) here.