[PREORDER] Martin Schmidt & John Berndt - Cloud Machines

*Indie Exclusive Egg Yolk Vinyl LP*

Cloud Machines is the debut full-length collaboration between M.C. Schmidt of legendary electronic duo Matmos and John Berndt, the Baltimore avant-garde institution behind High Zero Festival, the Red Room collective, and the Geodesic Gnome ensemble.

Recorded in Baltimore and Montreal between 2012 and 2025 and arriving on Thrill Jockey on June 12, 2026, the ten-track set is a love letter to two of the duo's strongest mutual influences of the 1980s — the Moebius comics of Jean Giraud and the SKY Records Cluster/Eno/Conny Plank collaborations — reinventing that lineage through decades of accumulated experimental practice.

Across a lithe 42 minutes, the album turns sharp stylistic corners. Side A's "Analysis of Joel" refracts the prepared guitar of Joel Knispel, while Berndt takes a solo turn on the synth etude "The Balcony." Side B's centerpiece, "Gecko Lazzaro," is a slow-burning groove featuring trombonist Patrick Crossland and a guitar solo from Owen Gardner of Horse Lords.

Mastered by Rashad Becker. Cover illustration by Karen Eliot. Pressed on Indie Exclusive Egg Yolk vinyl with a detail-rich inner sleeve.

Tracklist

Side A

1. The Sound of Glink
2. Analysis of Joel
3. "3000"
4. Our Theme
5. Trigger Effect

Side B

1. The Balcony
2. Gecko Lazzaro
3. Fragile Parlor Music
4. Comrade Knee
5. Cloud Machines