If you could soundtrack the jangle of the sea and the jazz of the surf, The Mattson 2 would most certainly be the composers. The identical twin guitar and drums duo are truly a marvel of jazz-rock orchestration and arrangement. The duo shimmers and shakes with the soaring modern wizardry of Jared Mattson’s untamed, layered guitars and Jonathan Mattson’s tribal jazz hard- bop drumming.
They channel the gorgeously hypnotic gods of surf, sun, and neon-punk-jazz of our modern universe, evoking evolved realms of experimentalism, rhythm, and story. The identical twin’s deep telepathic kinship navigates colorful forms of beautiful weirdness and exotic landscapes of layered improvisation, transcending the concept of modern musical performance. They have toured relentlessly throughout Japan, Brazil, Paris, Spain, Portugal, Denmark, Finland, The Netherlands, and the United States.
The Mattson 2’s recent output includes the celebratory, disco-splashed Toro Y Moi single Millennium which appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. The twin brothers cameoed in the joints video as grumpy orderlies in a mental ward high-jacking instruments from Chaz Bear’s bandmates. The 2’s previous release Paradise found them evoking the lush and carefree soundscapes of Japanese city pop.
Their 2018 release Vaults of Eternity: Japan is full of loving reinterpretations of songs by artists like Haruomi Hosono and Ryuichi Sakamoto, and while Paradise doesn’t indulge in sonic excess, it does capture that breezy, sun-filled vibe. It charted Billboard at #1 Contemp. Jazz, #2 Jazz, #20 Alternative and landed features in the Washington Post and Pitchfork.
Amongst collabs with Ray Barbee, Tommy Guerrero, Farmer Dave (of Kurt Vile), and Money Mark (of Beastie Boys), they released Star Stuff in 2017 with Chaz Bear (FKA Chaz Bundick, AKA Toro Y Moi) — also #1 on Billboard contemp. jazz charts — and reinterpreted Coltrane’s legendary A Love Supreme which Ashely Kahn (author of A Love Supreme: The Creation of John Coltrane’s Classic Album, 2002) says “there is a depth of sincerity and reverence in what the Mattson’s are doing that is unquestionable.”
A PureHoney Hollow Daze Concert featuring The Mattson 2 with Kairos Creature Club, Brett Staska, Rude Television, Lindsey Mills, The Dreambows. Get tickets by clicking here.
