Mattiel
“Count Your Blessings” b/w “Whites of Their Eyes”
Burger Records
white vinyl…limited? eh, I don’t know. It’s sold out on her Bandcamp. Black vinyl still available
Another flat out stunner, proof positive that there’s never a shortage of compelling music out there.
Was hipped to this by the Burger Records mailing list. Burger puts out SO MUCH STUFF that it is incredibly hard to parse. My simplified way of doing so is only paying attention to what they put out on vinyl and that seems to work for me.
The video dropped into the email list is for “Whites of Their Eyes” and shows suitable artistry coupled with a four-on-the-floor glam basic drum attack with trebly fuzz attack. Seems like it should be commonplace and easy to do, but based on the number of records that cross my desk that disappoint, well, there’s a disconnect somewhere. Combined with an interesting video…man, my time at TMR has only heightened my awareness that an INTERESTING video is increasingly difficult to do. When the audio and visual both knock it out of the park…bliss.
I immediately went to the Burger website and ordered the single. I emailed my wife and said “I think you’d really like this artist…seems like she could be your missing twin cousin"
Her response, hours later, was “you’re right.”
Early Monday a 12” mailer arrives from Burger.
“Wow, quick arrival,” I think to myself, "not the kind of delivery I was expecting from Burger.”
I open it up to find the following message…
“Hey Ben!
Hope all is well!
I’m send you & Jack a present. Mattiel met Jack a while back & she cites his influence w/press
We really want y’all & the world to enjoy! Thank you for caring much love & respect!!!
xo, Lee Rickard”
Inside the package was two copies of the Mattiel single and two copies of the test pressing of her LP.
Burger sent all of this before I’d even HEARD the music, and the instant I had heard the music, I bought it, not knowing that it was already on its way to me for free.
Clearly, this is destiny.
And the a-side is solid, light Winehouse soulful vibes with tasteful horn accoutrements. There’s a Jonah Swilley in the credits and I’m curious as to whether or not he’s the brother of Jared from the Black Lips. The production here is aces, really helps keep this from veering off to pastiche which is a bigger challenge than one may think. You don’t just put on a black tie and all of a sudden have credibility working R&B music. There’s a bit more to it than that.
Overall, a crazy good two-sider further re-affirming my faith in the youth and the rock and roll underground. Also, old-style tip-on sleeve for a 7” shows that someone out there cares. This thing FEELS important on top of actually BEING important.
So since I’m now flush with extra copies of the single, let’s do a contest below. Post a comment. Best one wins a copy of the 7-inch mailed directly to their home or place of business. “Best” is completely subjective to me.
My comment is the recipe for some good blueberry muffins, courtesy of Jennifer Segal at Once Upon a Chef.
Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour, spooned into measuring cup and leveled-off
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 cup milk
2-1/4 cups fresh blueberries
2 tablespoons turbinado sugar (also called raw sugar or demerara sugar)
For Cooking
Non-stick cooking spray
12 paper muffin liners
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners. Spray the pan and the liners with non-stick cooking spray.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter and granulated sugar for about 2 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl and beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla extract and almond extract. (The batter may look a little grainy — that’s okay).
Gradually add the flour mixture, alternating with the milk, beating on low speed to combine. Add the berries to the batter and fold gently with a spatula until evenly distributed. Do not overmix.
Scoop the batter into the prepared muffin tin (an ice-cream scoop with a wire scraper works well here); they will be very full. Sprinkle the turbinado sugar evenly on top of the muffins.
Bake for about 30 minutes, until lightly golden and a cake tester comes out clean. Let the muffins cool in the pan for about 10 minutes. Run a knife around the edge of each muffin to free it from the pan if necessary (the blueberries can stick), then transfer the muffins to a rack to cool completely.
this woman has some grace slick toughness and a touch of gwen stephanie in her stylings…. no question in my mind that she probably has an Alison Mosshart sense of humor to boot!!! thanks for making INTERESTING a relevant word in this community again Ben!!
white eyes and white bones – I once broke a girl’s collar bone when I fell giving her a piggy back ride. I had to look into her eyes afterward.
This has been sitting in my inbox waiting for me to decide if I needed to order a copy….and now you say it’s sold out! Silly me thinking too long…Now to dig and find one…(or hope it just lands in my mailbox?)
I turned off the Monks on Tidal and pulled up Mattiel to check these out and, dammit, now I’m adding another woman to the growing list of female vocalists I really dig. Considering I went decades barely listening to any women who weren’t Janis Joplin, Tina Turner, or Annie Lennox, you have no idea what a feat y’all have accomplished in getting me to not only tolerate but actually enjoy more female voices. Are these really the only songs Mattiel’s released so far?
Music influences us all and for this and TMR we are forever grateful!
of course I spelled it incorrectly… The Gartrells.
I hope this is the best comment
I would assume Jared and Jonah are related.
I’m only assuming this because they are both in the Gartells.
https://thegartrells.bandcamp.com/
Great vid.
Great vid.