Mattroi Writes Music

Currently

March was a blast!  It was a month that saw a lot of the work from the first two months of the year come together.

Mel and I finished her album for RPM and have decided to use some of the tracks as demos for a new project we’re putting together under our old moniker “Boy Girl Party.”  You can get a sampling on her bandcamp.  We’ll also be taking the music live in May:  On the 6th we’re at Bar Matchless; May 20th we open at Cake Shop, and May 30th we’re back at Matchless to close out the month.  There’s already a few really great NYC artists in the band and I’m looking forward to getting a large pop sound for the shows.

Leigh Jones (one of said artists) is releasing her EP.  You can hear the music at her myspace right now.  I play bass on Time Zone.

Spidermusical was a pretty stunning success - we’re working towards bringing it back in the next few months.  Also working on the next Fat Camp launch this summer.  Looking forward to announcing more for both of these guys soon.

Tonight (April 1st) I’m playing a benefit for The Assembly theater company, raising money for their Weather Underground project this summer.  The theme of the night is Heiner Muller’s Heart Play.  A number of groups will be performing their own version of the very short, very open text.  I was asked to write a song for the event, and came up with a weird little bastard-Graceland ditty.  Up soon.

March was busy for Teen Girl Scientist Monthly, with shows at the Flea and 10 Forward Brooklyn, where we debuted a number of new songs.  Our next show is at the Bitter End on 4/29 - there’ll be more new music and merch.  We’re also recording a music video for Fever this month - you can hear that track, and the rest, on our new bandcamp page.  We’ve also got a new facebook fan page.

Currently

February is turning out to be an incredibly busy month.

First and foremost, I’m producing Melissa Lusk’s album for the RPM Challenge (write and record 10 songs in 28 days).  It’s been a blast working with her - Everything she touches turns to melody, and my job has pretty much been pushing the record button and writing some bass parts here and there.  Very excited to lay down the drums and finish up the mixing this weekend.  I’ll post a link next week!

I’m also working on a new project with the Fat Camp guys, Tim and Randy.  I’m writing 3 or 4 songs a night right now for our mid-March opening.  I’ll post a link when this goes public.

I just laid down a bass track for Leigh Jones’ new EP that should be coming out in the next month, and wrote a Mraz/Mayer parody for Beth Lopes’ production of Two Gentlemen of Verona at UC Irvine.  I wrote a handful of flamenco songs for Beth 2 years ago for another production.  This new track will be up later today.

Also on the collaboration front, I’m adding bass and guitar to a track that Avery McCarthy is doing as a part of his ‘What Is…’ project.

AND I’m just starting rehearsals to play bass on Michael Hickey’s score for a musical about the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire.  I’m really excited about this music - it’s not quite like anything I’ve heard before.  Elements of jazz, pop, folk, musical theatre and rock.  Very cool.

Fat Camp is moving forward and there’s upcoming news there as well.  More soon.

Teen Girl Scientist Monthly plays Ars Nova tonight, Cakeshop on the 28th and Bitter End on April 29th

Original Song for Valentine’s Day

Need a last minute Valentine’s Day gift for a music lover? Want to sing a song to your sweetheart that they’ve never heard before?

For $100, I will write and record a song to your specifications (genre, subject matter, lyrical suggestion, etc.).

I’ll include the lyrics and chords to your song, along with the recorded demo, in an email.

The song will be yours. You own the song and can do what ever you please with it.

You’ll receive your song no later than 8pm on Sunday, February 13th - the day before Valentine’s day.

Contact me via my craigslist ad: http://newyork.craigslist.org/mnh/crs/2205970675.html

Looking Back on the Song Cycle

I finished the Song Cycle a few weeks ago, and aside from occasionally noting how much free time I seem to have now, I haven’t really taken a good look back yet.  I’m taking this morning to do so.

I spent a bit of time traveling over the holidays, which afforded me the opportunity to listen back to the whole thing in one sitting:  Not recommended.  It was never a goal to craft a single work of art, or any sort of integrated series, and no dumb luck lent itself to creating such a thing.  It’s a somewhat disjointed and overlong listen (for more reasons than the 3:10:17 run time).

I do have some favorites scattered throughout the 52, many of which were never the favorites of listeners.  In fact, the ones that seem to entertain people the most were some of the ones I found easiest to write, the ones most fully in my comfort zone.  On the other hand, I’m aware that I might be fond of certain tracks because of the surprises and challenges they held for me personally.  It’s a subjective art form, and I’m often more interested in the moments I surprise myself than those that show evidence of (the, probably, more important) practiced craft.

Craft, though, was the name of the game.  I set out to improve what I do, and to find what I was really looking to write.  For the 4-and-a-half years preceding the Song Cycle, I was writing in a relatively restrictive format for a very specific band with few opportunities to write outside the box.  I was rarely pushing myself to work beyond the parameters set for me or the deadlines laid out for me.  I felt stagnant, uninteresting and lost.  Last January, I started out in hopes of changing some of that.

If anything, I have more qualms with my work than when I started - more details to nitpick, more habits that I want to kick.  While I feel there was a steady and definite improvement in the work throughout the year, I still gag at a few terrible, misguided efforts in November and December.

I do not, however, feel lost any longer, or stagnant.  And I don’t think I put as much stock in feeling “uninteresting.”  In pushing myself when no one else was, I rediscovered the basic fun and challenge in writing, and the joy in self-improvement.  I’m less concerned in what others will think when I’m writing, and more focused on the task at hand.  I have a few tricks to get myself around blocks and some rules to honestly judge my work.  I feel excited to write, eager to take on new projects.  I feel like I could do a whole new Song Cycle for 2011.

And I thought about that.  But I think it would just be more exercise, more practice.  I’m excited, instead, for the new projects I’m readying for 2011.  I appreciate those of you who’ve been following along, and I hope you’ll continue to check out this space in the future.  Cheers.