The Mattson 2: “Black Rain”
[audio:http://alarm-magazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/02-black-rain.mp3|titles=The Mattson 2: “Black Rain”]Identical twins Jonathan (drums) and Jared (guitar/bass) Mattson comprise The Mattson 2, a California-based band that mixes surf rock bombast and jazz abstraction. It’s a pairing that makes immediate sense; both genres come from a place of freewheeling expression and laid-back grooves. It’s a sound that wouldn’t be out of place in a Quentin Tarantino movie, and the brothers’ signature Reservoir Dogs mode of dress seals the deal.
A correspondingly classic visual treatment is on display in the video for the song “Pleasure Point,” from the recently released full-length, Feeling Hands. Recorded in the brothers’ CD-filled childhood bedroom in Cardiff, CA, Jared demonstrates some impressive fretwork on a double-neck guitar/bass while Jonathan keeps pace on the drums. The track builds to a squealing crescendo with shades of post-rock — a big sound in a tiny room that creates a poetic full-circle feeling.