Two against nature.

Surgery sounds like music to Drew Daniel and Martin Schmidt, two lovers who create the electronic tunes of Matmos.

"This is not gonna play at the White Party!" jokes Martin Schmidt of Matmos. Schmidt and his partner, Drew Daniel, are talking about "Lipostudio ... and So On," their song that samples the gurgling sounds of liposuction surgery, which appears on their new CD, A Chance to Cut Is a Chance to Cure. "I would love it if somebody started to layer liposuction noises onto circuit house music!" Drew says.

Schmidt and Daniel are life partners as well as musical partners. Working under the name Matmos, this San Francisco duo currently occupies white-hot status in a genre that prizes the genius of those who can make the most inventive and infectious loops out of the least likely samples. The reason for the fuss is multifold: Electronica leading lady Bjork recently asked Matmos to fill the opening slot on her upcoming world tour. She's also asked them to be in her touring band. And now with their latest CD, Matmos has made a '70s-style concept album that's as heavy on atmospherics and beats as it is on message.

"There was a decision to use sound based on medical technology, or the body, as the theme," Daniel explains of A Chance to Cut. Both sons of doctors, these musicians stitched together samples taken from rhinoplasty, laser eye surgery, and other procedures for their CD, creating a sonic dissertation that addresses issues pertinent but not exclusive to gay culture.

"House music as a genre is so bound up in `the beautiful people'--that you can make yourself beautiful and perfect," Daniel says. "And, of course, if a song is made out of liposuction, it definitely lends itself to [body fascism]." If this all sounds a lit tie too ponderous, not to mention nauseating, don't worry--Schmidt and Daniel manage to put it all in an accessible context that's gaining them a larger audience.

But for Schmidt, their audience is lacking in one important area. "There are no gay groupies for electronic music," Martin wryly complains. "We'd like that to change!" Daniel adds, "After we play a show, cute little geeky fans of electronic technology come up and they wanna know what software we're using. And within the first few seconds, they say, `My girlfriend and I really enjoy your music.'"

"They make quite sure that we understand that even though they love our equipment -- they don't love our equipment," Schmidt says with a laugh.

Groupie jokes aside, both Schmidt and Daniel--who have been together for eight years--realize that not everyone would understand their desire to explore and record the rhythmic textures made by a human skull (as in their song "Memento Mori"). "We've had boyfriends who didn't make music, and I much prefer this," says Daniel of their artistic collaboration. "It's kind of two against the world."

"And sometimes it ends up like two against each other," Schmidt quips.

Gdula is a freelance writer who has written for The Washington Post.

Find more on Matmos--and where to order their CDs--at www.advocate.com