Usually when bands have "concept albums" I'm sort of hesitant on getting into it. I don't really know what the problem is, but most of the time I see them as being somewhat silly, over-ambitious, or pretentious. I guess you can say they're one of my pet-peeves when it comes to music. While not by basic standards a concept album, the Rat Relocation Program EP is part of Locust Records' "Met Life Series", a group of environmental sounds in which a normal field recording is done on one track, and then remixed on the other.
This particular release follows the story of a rat, and this is made quite evident in the title of the album itself, the song titles (being 'Rat' and 'Rat Relocation'), and most importantly the liner notes, which state:
"A street rat was breaking into our apartment, eating our food and chewing holes in our clothes. Since we already had a pet rat, the prospect of trying to kill one rat while feeding another struck us as intolerable hypocrisy, so we bought a non-lethal "Have-a-Heart Trap". After several days of luring the invader closer and closer towards and then inside the trap with peanuts, we captured her. The first track is an unedited recording of the rat protesting its incarceration. The second track is our response, in which the timing and duration of the rat screams from the first track have been preserved. The following morning we took the rat to a wealthy suburban neighborhood and set it free."
Now, it may sound sort of goofy in a way, but you have to remember that this is Matmos, and the content is what matters. Sadly, that doesn't even matter much here. The first track is as it says; containing random noises which can be interpreted as this rat simply running around the cage, squealing, and being annoying. The second track is where things get interesting...I guess. While staying true to the sounds of the original, the manipulated version still has the rat's escape attempts recorded in full force with some less-than-intriguing changes. Typical Matmos break-beats litter the two track rat-infested album, that runs for a good 30 minutes might I add, but don't make for much desirable listening.
Overall, the album's story is, sadly, the best thing this EP has to offer. I only recommend this album to strongly devoted Matmos fans and people that don't mind listening to a half an hour of okay music...or...noise.
