Played Phoenix last night, amidst state of emergency, storms, but really fun show, and thank you Phoenix for coming out…..just finished a house concert in Ojai that was also super fun……i’m really glad i get to do this…i’m really lucky…..

m

New CD review from Philadelphia….check it out…

Welcome to my new year…..i hope you enjoy it…..i know that i will…..and thanks for such a great year before……

m

Went to see The Swell Season the other night at The Paramount Theater, right here in Austin…strangely, i don’t see alot of live music these days….maybe it’s just the schedule, playing most of the nights every week, so not much time left to go back to the same bars i’ve just played to see music…..and i had forgotten what it can be like to see a truly amazing show……Glenn Hansard and Marketa Irglova were fantastic…i mean, super fantastic…..and then the rest of The Frames joined them on stage…..and to see a band that has played that long together, i mean, you can just feel how tight they are, but also how loose, and happy, and comfortable…..and that mix of precision, relaxation, and showmanship……that’s the best music that can be made…and i don’t mean just this band on this night……but wow, so much fun to see a show like that….

and if i  might break from the positivity train for one moment, just throwing this out there…….when you’re at a show like that, and it’s so amazing, and you’re letting yourself get lost in the music, and the lights, and every aspect is just perfect…..why can’t you fully enjoy that moment without taking 100 crappy cell phone pictures of the stage from 100 yards back?…why can’t you just enjoy that moment, on it’s own?…please put your damn phone back in your pocket….you might not even notice, but the person behind you actually doesn’t really want to watch the whole show through your cell phone……

but all in all, an amazing night that only reminds me that i must go see more live music….

m

Shows have been going great….lots of driving….some baseball games…some npr…..however, i miss you Austin…i will be home soon…

I posted some new photos on the Look page from the CD Release show…..thanks to Michael Kackman for sending me some nice shots of us on the stage…

CD review: ‘Animal Boy’ by Matt the Electrician

By Michael Corcoran | Monday, October 12, 2009, 02:20 PM

Matt the Electrician

‘Animal Boy’

(self-released)

Grade: A

“Sweet” is a word that doesn’t mean what it did when I was coming up. Kids now use it like “awesome” or “excellent,” but sweet is a word that can say a lot. For instance, when I tell you that Matt the Electrician’s new album “Animal Boy” is entirely sweet you know that it’s melodically kindhearted. You know it tells rich, simple stories and that it’s the kind of record you don’t download to your computer because music like this should be on something that goes around and around.

Sweet is the sound that can lighten your mood. It’s the right Journey cover (“Faithfully”) at the right time (opening track), interpreted without a single drop of campiness. It’s a falsetto-pop song like “Divided By 13” that sounds like it came from a dream that had all the old, vintage video games. “Innocence” and “sincerity” are two other words that have had better days.

“Animal Boy” sounds like ex-working electrician Matt Sever and co-producer Mark Addison, who each also play about a dozen instruments, couldn’t wait to get into the studio every morning. They’ve made a big little record that gently, warmly takes the listener from a rainy night in Osaka, Japan, to the customer service department of Walmart. The album’s most representative instrument is the breezy “banjolele,” which tells its own story of a hillbilly buying a one-way ticket to a tropical paradise.

It’s been a great couple of months for singer-songwriter albums in Austin, with Lee Barber, Bob Schneider, Robert Earl Keen and Sam Baker putting out music that sounds like it will last. Put “Animal Boy” in with that bunch, and give it a gold star if you’ll take Squeeze over Leonard Cohen every day of the week but Sunday.

Backstage

Backstage before our SOLD-OUT show at The Cactus Cafe…..that’s right, i said SOLD-OUT!!!…..thank you everyone who came out….you rule!

another blog post…this time an interview done by the ever talented Spike Gillespie….check out the austinist

m

My favorite music blog, songsillinois, has posted something about the new record……go check it out, and read it every day while you’re at it….

m