Record of the Week: Chaz Bundick Meets The Mattson 2 - Star Suff

I enjoyed shopping at Freakbeat Records in Los Angeles on Sundays because usually Ric Menck of Velvet Crush worked there.  Aside from drumming with Velvet Crush, Ric is also Matthew Sweet's drummer of choice on albums and tours (actually, along with other Velvet Crush members at times). 

Ric is about a year older than me and since he plays in bands that I love, it is not surprising that our musical tastes are similar. So, I am always keen to hear what Ric's latest recommendations are or, as in this case, what he decides to play in the store when he is working.  The last time I was there, Ric played this CD while I was shopping and it definitely got my attention.

The band is essentially The Mattson 2 and Chaz Bundick is a prominent guest of the band on this CD. I don't know much about either The Mattson 2 or Chaz Bundick.  According to Discogs, the Mattson 2 appear to be two brothers (Jared and Jonathan), while Chaz Bundick appears to be a U.S. producer.  Ric mentioned that the brothers may be from San Diego, or at least the general SoCal region. 

When I mentioned to Ric that I wanted to know what he was playing in the store that day, he told me that every time he plays a Mattson 2 record in the shop someone always come up and asks him who is the band that is playing.  So, I guess I am not alone in thinking that this band is on to something.

In trying to think about the music that The Mattson 2 plays it may be better to try and let you know what images came to my head while I played them on my home stereo.  Honestly, the first band that came to my head was Tame Impala from Australia.  This record has that modern psychedelic feel to it but it also contains some jazzy and progressive elements to it.  I use the term "prog" on purpose because certain of their songs reminded me of Yes albums, especially Relayer and Going for the One.  I am not claiming that the band is a prog band but I did hear a little Yes in some of the passages. I think it is the mixture of jass, rock and psychedelic music that really carries this record for me and the songs never really meander since the melodies of the various songs are all quite nice.

In order to get a sense of what I am talking about here is a video from the album for the song Star Stuff.  Here is another taste of the band performing live a song from the album called JBS. JBS has more of that jazzy sound that I discussed above but so melodic. I need to find the rest of their albums.

Record of the Week - Artful Dodger - The Complete Columbia Recordings (CD)

Those that follow power-pop closely, especially mid 70s power pop, are probably already familiar with this band from Virginia.  Their great song, Wayside, was included in a key various artists compilation, DIY: Come Out and Play - American Power Pop 1 (1975-1978), that was quite popular amongst the rabid pop fans of the early 90s. 

In order to listen to Artful Dodger records today, one usually has to search used record bins. I found at least one that way and have seen their other releases in various shape around Los Angeles.  This CD is then a welcome addition to my collection because it gathers their three albums for Columbia Records on 2 CDs in a nice package.  So, less time digging through used bins for Artful Dodger albums (at least momentarily).  In addition, the liner notes are excellent and are penned by Jeremy Cargill- so you know they will be good.

The first album, for my taste, is the best one of the bunch. Aside from opening with Wayside, there are other great songs like, It's Over, that are both melodic and have a bit of bite to them. The bite, in part, comes from the throaty vocals of Billy Paliselli.  Most of the songs on the first LP are written by guitarist Gary Herrewig and Paliselli and they make a nice songwriting combo. They seem to carry much of the first album and their songs are excellent.  The other songwriter in the band was Gary Cox, who is no slouch by any means, but his songwriting tended to be a more pure pop sound; a sound with less bite but more polish.  In fact, on the third album (Babes on Broadway), Cox carries more of the songwriting credits and actually pens a song that could easily be mistaken for an mid-era Bee Gees composition (Who in the World).  Not surprising, as Cox wrote more songs, Artful Dodger became a little less crunchy and a bit more polished. Becoming a bit more polished is not a bad thing if the melodies are still there and luckily for us Artful Dodger was always melodic.

Artful Dodger was a good band and based on some of the live videos that you can find on YouTube, a pretty good live band.  While they never quite reached the high standards of their first LP, the next two albums had enough good songs on them for it to make it worth while to buy this CD. Yes, you should still hunt those used bins for the vinyl copies as well!

Records of the Week: Last of the Garage Punk Unkowns Volume 1 and Volume 2

I cheated. Instead of one "Record of the Week", I decided to go with two. I actually listened to Volume 1 a while ago but only was able to listen to Volume 2 within the last week. I initially thought about just posting about Volume 2 by itself but that did not really make any sense. Also, I figured if you like Volume 1 you are also going to like Volume 2 so I might as well discuss both at the same time.

Now to the record

Tim Warren is a legend in 60s garage punk rock circles and deservedly so.  His Crypt Records label has been putting out some of the finest 60s garage punk compilations, including the greatness found in:

• Back From the Grave
• Garage Punk Unkowns
• Teenage Shutdown
• Sin Alley
• Strummin' Mental

The story about these two volumes is that Tim had enough new material to put out some new Teenage Shutdown volumes but the stamper was lost or thrown away by the LP manufacturer. So, based on the material that Tim had, and the sparse information he had on the bands, a decision was made to put out this series: Last of the Garage Punk Unknowns since it was similar to the previous series Garage Punk Unknowns. Got it?

Not much information is known about most of the bands on these records so the liner notes are limited but the liner notes still carry that Tim Warren humor and charm! In fact, so little is known about the bands on these records that Tim admits in the liner notes that many of the pictures of the bands on the jacket are not even of the bands on the record!

Trust me, it does not matter. You will love the pictures and you will love the music on these compilations.  These records are on the Crypt label so it carries that seal of quality.  Highly Recommended.  By the way, as of this writing, I think they are up to Volume 8 or so. I just ordered the LPs and CDs of Volume 3, 4, and 5! I am behind!

If you want to taste a little, try this link