Brush Flier EP / August Happenings

Hey! We are only 20 days from the end of summer, and it has been a long hot one here! The drought here in Colorado continues to make it a challenging season. When a thunder storm rolls through, it feels momentous. A big moment and also a millisecond.

Or twenty minutes, as is the case for the new EP I announced today with RVNG. More on that below, some writing about 3 albums I have been enjoying lately, and a few reminders about live engagements I have coming up.

When I make albums I record WAY WAY WAY too much usually, and then zoom my focus in on tracks that feel especially cohesive to make “the record”; that often means tracks I actually really love sometimes just don’t suit the record’s direction or the story that the work seems to be trying to tell. This process sucks sometimes…

I recorded Tender / Wading over two-ish years and ended up embracing the fact that it was a very diaristic, autobiographical record about me and my family settling into a new life that was/is both challenging and also blessed by good fortune and wonder. That meant a lot of my favorite songs from those sessions that engaged with more whimsy and imagination and day dreamy head spaces just didn’t land into that album’s world.

Today, it is a pleasure to announce the Brush Flier EP with two of the six songs out now, and the other four out in September (to celebrate T/W turning one year old!).

These six songs are hallmark versions of things I opt to cut from a record because they aren’t really telling the same story… Some of the weirder, spacier, funkier (???), darker, dubbier moments from those T/W sessions compressed into a 20 minute reverie. A daydream between chores. A foggy night zoning to the toads taking me so far from where I was.

I am making video work for the whole program; check out the first two songs in one click below! I made these videos with 100% in camera magic and really minimal editing intervention. Just a magical vintage telephoto lens on a DSLR, some cranked settings, and having the patience to let the light dazzle the sensor just right…

Thanks to RVNG for giving these songs a spot to fly. Thanks to Stephan Mathieu for the incredible mastering work here. Thanks to WWFG for the bee-autiful design 🐝 .

I have been a more casual follower of Topdown for a while now, spending a decent amount of time with each release but never really landing on loving any of it specifically. I guess I mean that I love the project, but had yet to love a specific release. This new LP is really something special, and is the first Topdown album that I can say I specifically love. I think it is an excellent starting point for anyone ready to explore this catalog that is both sprawling and singular. This recent interview with Philip Sherburne is a great and in-depth piece that can act as a guide for those looking to explore more. I find it most fascinating to learn the secrets/system format behind the 5 minute tracks and the idea of songs as snap shots or cross sections.

I got to know Jason’s work as a label dude, putting out his music as naps on Patient Sounds back in the 2010s. This new record is a wonderful turn in his discography; it is still very much Jason — whisper quiet in places, full of nuance and tiny glittering melodies and sine wave mastery — but it also introduces this very playful noisy and near-dance quality. Gurgley and weird but still sweet electric music! It feels like a revelation, a gentle explosion of joy and fierce kindness.

I was/am very infatuated with Hana’s last album, Soon, and this new one was a record I was giddy to see announced. It has been out only a few days now, but I am already sure it is going to live on in my listening for the next long while. A perfect balance of deeply human music — singing, guitar, piano — that also invites the world to sing along. Hana makes dog music, bug music, grass and sea music. Field recordings, delicate passages of collage, and other sound ephemera accentuate (or beautifully obfuscate) Hana’s lovely songs.

Below are graphics and details regarding 3 engagements I have on the horizon. A busy cluster in mid to late August.

I am playing in Salt Lake City at the UMOCA on August 23rd with my boy Chaz Prymek. We are opening for my RVNG label mate Frances Chang, whose new album is pretty spectacular. $15 suggested donation at the door. 7pm!

Onestraw and Ghost Canyon Fest are collaborating on this daytime show on August 29th. The show is at 12:30pm at the Bug Theater. Though I am not playing this one, I am glad it is happening and I will be there helping and listening to these awesome artists. Get tix for this one HERE.

I am darting from Ghost Canyon in Denver to Boulder to play a set at Tulagi | Boulder Roots music festival. I will be playing at Paradise Found Records at 8:15pm or so! I will be tired and happy and exploring a weirdo mostly improv set of clarinet, percussion, sampler, and electronics. Tix for this fest HERE.

That is all for today! Thanks for reading!

For now, from the tall grass,

-Matt