A Chance to Cut Is a Chance to Cure


A Chance to Cut Is a Chance to Cure is the fourth studio album by American electronic music duo Matmos, released in 2001. The album consists primarily of samples of medical procedures, including plastic surgeries, liposuctions, hearing tests and bonesaws. The album maintains a sense of humour in contrast with the serious nature of the audio being sampled. The exception to the medical samples is the song "For Felix ", a piece dedicated to their deceased pet rat Felix, performed entirely on his cage.
The two members of Matmos, Drew Daniel and Martin Schmidt, both had doctors as parents, a fact that likely influenced them in the album's creation. The album is sometimes considered a concept album within the glitch or musique concrète genre.

Critical reception

At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, A Chance to Cut Is a Chance to Cure received an average score of 80 based on 13 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Heather Phares of AllMusic described the album as "seven remarkably accessible, melodic pieces of experimental techno." Simon Reynolds of Spin said, "Matmos have captured with discomforting vividness the sheer surrealism of the modern vanity industry, the medieval tortures people gladly endure in pursuit of physical perfection."
In 2017, Pitchfork placed A Chance to Cut Is a Chance to Cure at number 19 on its list of "The 50 Best IDM Albums of All Time".

Track listing

Personnel

Credits adapted from liner notes.
Matmos
Additional musicians