Matt & Kim: Grand
Life's Grand for Matt & Kim
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Saturday, 20, Jun 2009 10:58
Artwerk Music, out June 22nd.
In a nutshell...
Upbeat, quirky, smashed up pop-punk.
What's it all about?
This is Matt & Kim's slightly toned down second album, consisting of eleven tracks. Daylight opens the album with laid-back indie beats, before the tempo is upped by track two. Good Ol' Fashion Nightmare, with its echoing drum beat and synth sounds is sure to get your head nodding along, with the fourth track slowing it down before leaping into I Wanna with Kim's crazy keyboard melodies keeping it short and sweet. Lead single Lessons Learned is something of an indie-punk anthem while Turn This Boat Around brings the album to a stand-still, creating almost an ethereal effect until it hops back into the craziness of instrumental Cinders. The album ends with an outro of Daylight as a remix tying it all together.
Who's it by?
Matt & Kim are actually a couple in real life and hail from Brooklyn, New York. Matt Johnson and Kim Schifino formed the band in 2004 and have since gathered a strong following for their energetic performances and dance-punk style, as well as a reputation for their DIY approach to music.
As an example.
"We cut the legs off of our pants/Threw our shoes into the ocean/Sit back and wave through the daylight/Sit back and wave through the daylight/Slip and slide on subway grates/These shoes are poor man's ice skates/Fall through like change in the daylight/Fall through like change in the daylight." - Daylight
Likelihood of a trip to the Grammys
Although this album places Matt & Kim's craziness as more accessible to the masses, there is probably still room for these punks to wow their audiences. It's not so much an album to be critiqued, but rather something to be enjoyed by fans and newcomers alike.
What the others say
"Armed with a litany of beats, Casiotone melodies, and slightly atonal singing, Brooklyn duo Matt & Kim attempt to bring minimalist dance music to the masses. They mean well, but their sophomore album, Grand, is an endless string of uptempo rhythms, sing-along attempts, and ubiquitous synth sounds that moves quickly from quirky and fun to borderline tedious, all in less than 30 minutes." - The Onion AV Club
"On the longtime couple's second effort, Johnson and Schifino take the noise down a notch to make an album that's smoother around the edges, more coherent and much easier on the ears. Songs like Daylight and Spare Change focus on sunnier melodies, while I'll Take Us Home and Good Ol' Fashioned Nightmare are centered on cleaner refrains. But even though Grand is a bit toned down from Matt and Kim's first albums, it maintains the spunk, high energy and carefree attitude that caught people's attention in the first place." - Laura Leebove, Billboard
So is it any good?
Grand is much more dynamically and texturally diverse than their previous efforts showing the band's maturity, but this is not necessarily a bad thing.
The album is raring to go from start to finish, showing the band haven't lost their touch in delivering raw synthesised punky pop to those that want to have fun with their music. In a time when serious songwriters are praised and divas race up the charts, it's nice to listen to something a little less obvious and simply exciting for a change. The standout tracks are the single Lessons Learned, upbeat effort I Wanna and the quirky Good Ol' Fashion Nightmare. If after one listen Grand doesn't make you want to get up and jump around the room with a goofy grin on your face, then nothing will!
9/10
Gemma Alver