After the phone adventure, I had an unexpected aggressive bender last weekend and I just haven't had a lot of time to write. Today I'll change that, but it's probably not the story you are expecting.
I first heard of Matt and Kim the way most people probably did. I was driving to the beach and this poppy post-grunge song comes onto the radio almost sounding like early Third Eye Blind, or really any band of the late 90's.
"Who is this?" I asked, surprised that this song could have gone under my radar for so many years.
"Matt and Kim, Daylight, it came out last year."
It was unique insomuch as that genre had seemed to fade from recent memory. It was the early 2010s, Rock n Roll was dead, EDM was going mainstream and popular music was a hodgepodge of Hip Hop and electro bands such as MGMT and Passion Pit. Matt and Kim felt like a throwback act.
I didn't think of them until years later. After a long morning of pounding Fireball at a USC tailgate, I boarded a city bus to LA Center Studios. Diplo was hosting his first ever Mad Decent Block Party and my roommate had secured us VIP backstage passes. I was working on that lot at the time, Mad Men was filming it's fourth season. Interstellar was prepping in the offices next to mine. When we walked through the main gate I saw a young woman, late 20's crowd surfing to a feel good electro-punk anthem. The crowd was fairly small but electric, an energy that was absent from the main stage. How could a 2 piece band with only a drum set and keyboard drive such a powerful sound that was more overwhelming than 100,000 watts of bass?
Who is that?
"Matt and Kim."
Who the fuck are Matt and Kim?
The short answer is, I don't know. They are billed as an indie-rock band from Brooklyn, but I would be more inclined to call them and Electro/Post-Punk/Dubstep/Pop act...whatever the fuck they are, they're awesome.
It will then come as no surprise that after a classic Moony fueled debacle at Townhouse a few weeks ago, a group of us decided to purchase tickets at 2 o clock in the morning...something I forgot, until yesterday.
"Hey man, don't forget about tonight."
"What about it?"
"Remember when we bought those Matt and Kim tickets?"
Oh ya...
I downloaded their newest album instantly. It's excellent, but like one of my other favorite bands, OAR, nothing could prepare me for the live show.
Last night I drank three beers, took one hit off a joint and it was probably the best concert I have ever been to in my life. I didn't dance with a gorgeous girl, drunkenly suck face. I didn't do secret dips into my pocket, no one was there to offer any key bumps. I just watched the band. I jumped up and down. I sang the words, it was amazing.
Matt and Kim have a science to their live show. It is fast and furious, in their 75 minute set I would imagine they played 12 songs along with various famous hip hop teases, (Ante Up, X Gon' Give it to ya, to name a few) and extensive crowd work. Kim routinely stands on top of her drum kit and demands that people in the audience have sex, get hammered or at the very least kiss a stranger. Matt jumps around the set like the front man from Wolfmother looping his keyboard with everything from classic synths to thumping bass.
The set starts off poppy and energetic building to a crescendo that includes jammy, dubbed out versions of some of their newer hits. As popular taste in music has shifted as to has Matt and Kim's style while still managing to maintain the same positive energy that makes you say to a neighbor "Isn't this just fucking lovely?"
Really all genres of music were covered, between Matt shredding punky power chords on a Fender, to Kim walking out into the crowd to offer up a lap dance, you never know what the next moment will bring. I feel comfortable saying that even if you're not into their particular brand of music, it is indisputable that they put on a hell of a show.
After they closed out with the first song of theirs I ever heard, I distinctly remember being in a daze; watching Kim toss dozens of balloons into the crowd I wondered if I would be ok to drive home.
But wait, I had 3 beers over 4 hours...and one hit of a joint an hour ago. The show just lulled me into a sort of spell that I had to decompress a bit before I walked back to my car. I remember strolling down Hollywood Boulevard and thinking to myself, "Man, if there was some girl that I wanted to just fall in love with me, I would take her to that show." Or maybe I'm just a little crazy because when I was saying all this shit to my friends they were kinda looking at me sideways...ya man, it was really good. But relax.
Maybe they already knew. I'm just late to the party.
I hear people talk about music sometimes and how it affects them and I always kinda give the 'ya cool whatever' response, but I think I get it now. Matt and Kim are a lot of fun. I want to go to more of their shows. I want to play their albums during pregames. I want to sing the words to "Hoodie On" when I drive through the desert alone.
I will admit that some of my high praise may have drifted into hyperbole, but I cannot recommend the show enough, if you're into positive vibes and having a good time you'll thank me. Check it out. They're performing again tonight (at the Fonda in Hollywood, $34 for balcony [props to the Fonda too for having a NICE little brewpub attached with over 40 beers on tap]) for those of you with an ambitious streak, you won't regret it.
#SingleDudeMusic
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