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.