In describing the collaborations of two musical groups or artists, we’ve previously made the comparison of combining peanut butter and chocolate. It’s a pretty easy comparison; chocolate goes with everything and who can say no to peanut butter? But what if a musical marriage isn’t so easily described. What if the two tastes are more complex than two base ingredients? What if this new musical sensation is like filet Mignon and bubble gum ice cream?

That’s the only way we can describe Treasure State, the collaboration between So Percussion and Matmos. So Percussion is the meat; their avant-garde percussion compositions are tiny pieces of technical art, a demonstration of fusions of Steve Reich and Paul Lansky with their own unique touches. Matmos, on the other hand, make great, sometimes frantic pop with the sound of live snails (and other more musical noises, too). While individually they may be dynamic, their combined creation of 21st century electro-classical music is the the definition of a collaboration; members of both groups got their chance to tweak and edit the whole album, creating a mish-mash of tracks that range from straight up hallucinatory to some good old jazz tracks, albeit in their own unique way.

Treasure State is available July 8th as a digital download and as a physical copy July 13th via Cantaloupe. Both acts are headed out for a June tour, so check back for those dates shortly.