Attention, Phoenix: Matt and Kim will be touching down tomorrow evening for a street party between Dos Gringos and Upper Deck, hosted by Bud Light Golden Wheat and FM/103.9. The band will play with two local, as-yet-unnamed groups, and beers will be in abundance. Ditto that for opportunities to make out with total strangers or something—just be careful/judicious, please!

We’re not going to lie. We’ve never actually seen the MTVU Woodie Awards. But then again, we don’t live in a dorm, so it sort of makes sense. We do remember the channel incessantly playing My Morning Jacket and E-40 back in the day, so they’re OK by us. And it seems logical enough MTV’s college version would get its own little baby VMAs. MTV just announced the nominations, and it seems Asher Roth is finally being rewarded for recording a generic (edit: offensive) song replicating the college experience. About damn time. But more in our lane, Grizzly Bear and Animal Collective have been nominated for a Breaking Woodie and a Performing Woodie respectively. Matt & Kim are up for a Best Video Woodie. And Jay Reatard (along with the likes of Major Lazer, Janelle Monae & Tech N9ne) are up for a Left Field Woodie, which we have yet to Wikipedia but would seem the only qualification might involve being inherently bizarre and happening to make incredible music. So we’re for it. Put those four in a room and film it and we’ll watch it over whatever replaced TRL any day. Done and done. The show takes place December 4th. Hopefully Matt (or Kim) will storm the stage (naked?) and grab the mic from Wale or someone in a fit of Brooklyn pride and demand a recount for Grizzly Bear. Full nominations here. (Via: MTV)

Photography by Treeboy Pictures
Haiku by Meiyee Apple

Adorable Matt
He is a little off key
No one seems to care

It’s raining in New York. Matt and Kim could make a dead guy smile. They played Jimmy Kimmel in LA about 36 hours ago and video thereof is exactly what we need right about now. Haiku Review of their El Rey Theater show forthcoming!

The needles on our record players haven’t stopped spinning from this past weekend of vinyl indulgence — both purchased and listened to on Record Store Day this past Saturday. So, instead of keeping all the greatness that is vinyl to ourselves, we thought it might be nice to give away some free records from our friends at Green Label Sound. And while we’re at it you can have a tote bag as well. After all, the best things in life come in 7″ and 12″ packages.

One winner will be chosen at random to win a Matt and Kim “Daylight” 7″, the Cool Kids “Delivery Man” 12″, and Flosstradamus ft. Caroline Polacheck of Chairlift “Big Bills” 12″, along with a “Big Bills” tote bag. All you have to do to get your hands on these goodies, is e-mail us here with the subject “GLS Contest” and your full contact info*. The contest will run until next Friday, May 1. Here’s a chance to dust off your old record player and listen to some good tunes, and if wax isn’t your bag, you can get all the songs for free on the GLS website anyway. Good luck!

*Please provide e-mail and full mailing address. E-mail addresses not already on our mailing list will be added. Contest officially ends at 6 p.m. EST on Friday, May 1st.

If good things come in threes, we can’t wait for tomorrow, since MTV has managed to do something right two whole days in a row — yesterday it was debuting Passion Pit’s “The Reeling” and today it’s Matt and Kim’s not-safe-for-Times-Square new video for “Lessons Learned.”

At least one thing in this video is the product of CGI. We’ll let you figure it out — just make sure you watch til the end.

The line-up for San Francisco’s second annual Outside Lands Music & Arts festival has been announced. The three-day festival will take place in late August at the Golden Gate park, and headliners include Pearl Jam, Beastie Boys, M.I.A. Dave Matthews Band, and… Tom Jones. (If that’s not enough to make you want to go by itself, than we don’t know what to tell you.)

The festival runs from August 28-30, and along with it’s diverse line up, the event offers some of the best food and wine in the California region, as well as providing various eco-friendly options — like recycling and a solar powered cell phone charging station — for concert-goers.

Along with the aforementioned headliners, other acts on the roster include Modest Mouse, TV on the Radio, Mastodon, Built To Spill, Atmosphere, Deerhunter, Portugal. The Man and Matt and Kim, among a whole bunch more. Tickets for the Outside Lands Music & Arts festival go on sale this Sunday, April 19, at 10 a.m. Some of the proceeds for each ticket sold also go to a good cause, helping benefit San Francisco’s Recreation and Park Department.

Outside Lands Music & Arts Festival Line-up
Pearl Jam
Dave Matthews Band
Beastie Boys
Incubus
Black Eyed Peas
M.I.A
Jason Mraz
Ween
The Mars Volta
Thievery Corporation
Modest Mouse
Band of Horses
TV on the Radio
Dead Weather
Atmosphere
Tom Jones
Silversun Pickups
The National
Q-Tip
Brett Dennen
Built To Spill
Mastodon
Raphael Saadiq
Calexico
Os Mutantes
Midnite
JJ Grey & Mofro
Kinky
Deerhunter
Lila Downs
Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue
The Dodos
Bettye LaVette
Dengue Fever
Heartless Bastards
The Dirtbombs
Lenka
Akron/Family
John Vanderslice
Matt and Kim
Portugal. The Man
The Morning Benders
The Duke Spirit
Zee Avi
Blind Pilot
SambaDa
Ryan Bingham
West Indian Girl
Extra Golden

Its a bummer that Matt from Matt And Kim recently went down with back injuries forcing the duo to cancel a string of dates, including a performance at this weekend’s annual Richmond, VA Black Label extravaganza, Slaughterama. Luckily the guys at The Hood Internet had this Beasties mash-up their sleeve to help us through Matt’s recovery.

We’re not sure what we like more, The Hood’s songs or their Photoshop skills. So while you ponder that, listen to this mix of M&K’s “Good Ol’ Fashion Nightmare” with the Beastie’s “Shake Your Rump”.

The Hood Internet – Beastie Boys Vs. Matt And Kim “Good Ol’ Fashion Rump Shaker”

I made my way down to D.C. Monday night to catch this stop of the tour at the still somewhat intimate (and very packed) 9:30 Club, a place where I attended many memorable shows growing up.

Cut Copy brethren and remixer Knightlife opened and spun between sets, providing French Touch-infused electro and keeping up the night’s energetic vibe.

Matt and Kim’s set was so well-received that Matt practically tripped over himself grinning and gushing about how much he enjoyed the gig. After the exuberant set, Matt spent a few minutes up front greeting fans and friends in the audience. The show was what you’ve come to expect from Matt and Kim, only this time the DIY-centric couple hit the larger concert circuit, and oddly enough seemed all the more happy to be there. Matt and Kim always kind of seem on the verge of exploding from their own energy and excitability, and tonight that permanent caffeine buzz was even more intense. But sincerity sometimes can really appeal, and on this night it added to it.

[Matt and Kim]

Cut Copy is a fun band to see live because, especially with their as-yet-limited discography, you are familiar with most or all of the songs, and with the exception of few, each song shares a familiar sugary bounce to it. For an hour and fifteen minutes, the band ripped through selections from their two albums, with the only exception to that being the unreleased “Sands of Time” (which, if you like Cut Copy and haven’t heard yet, check it out (now!) on the band’s Myspace or on Hype Machine). Other highlights included a surging “Saturdays,” and similarly effusive bangers from their latest effort In Ghost Colours, “Hearts On Fire” and “Lights & Music” which bookended their set.

I love the song “A Dream” but it doesn’t exactly beg you to dance so I can understand why they leave it off their setlist, but I don’t see why they didn’t add time for their excellent pairing of “That Was Just A Dream” into “Zap Zap” (which you can watch here by clicking on “Zap Zap” [Incorrectly paired into the same track]).

Cut Copy setlist:
Intro
Hearts On Fire
Far Away
Visions
Nobody Lost
Autobahn Music Box
Sands of Time
Saturdays
Feel the Love
Unforgettable Season
So Haunted – Knightlife
Out There On The Ice
Right On Target
—-
Strangers In The Wind
Future
Lights And Music

It’s pretty easy to take good photos of Cut Copy, with their ceaseless pretty-boy posturing, bouncing, wide-ranging instrumentation and synaesthetic light show (though this in particular has stood out to me), and in between bouts of dancin out, Far and I snapped a ridiculous amount of photos, which has been narrowed down to the 55 or so you see below. Enjoy.

[Cut Copy]

Far’s photos:

Without implying any sort of negative connotations (in fact, meaning quite the opposite), there’s something very adolescent about Matt And Kim and their latest release, Grand. It could be the simplistic duo of keyboard and drums, or it could be the giddy enthusiastic tone heard in every syllable of Matt Johnson’s voice. It might also be the fact that every time I see drummer Kim Schifino’s face in mid song I am instantly reminded of my best friend in 2nd grade, with eyes pinched and teeth gritted trying to stifle laughter in the back of class. Regardless, Grand succeeds in assaulting the listener with nothing but a good time.

This feeling of adolescence isn’t helped (or hurt for that matter) by the story of the album’s origins, recorded in Matt’s parents’ house in Vermont, in his childhood room. What better way to tap into exuberance and joy than to record in your childhood room? The result, again, is an album full of smiles and jumping. The jumping comes on tracks like the instrumental, “Cinders”, on “Don’t Slow Down” and “I Wanna”. The smiling comes in the form of “Spare Change”, a track that’s percussion consists of what sounds like about ten people clapping and about four Matt’s singing at once.

There are only moments when the joy of the album takes a few beats to pause, like on “Lessons Learned” where Matt sings, “Thinking about tomorrow won’t change how I feel today” amidst a flurry of metaphoric phrases like “Two steps to the finish line/Three steps till I finish mine”… or something like that. It’s a bit hard to nail down the lyrics definitively on that one. Other moments of pause for introspection come during the ballad “Turn This Boat Around” and personal favorite “I’ll Take Us Home” in which Matt’s voice hits its emotive best.

It’s hard to pick the best tracks on an album that has a steady high of enjoyment, but one obvious track would be the single “Daylight”. It’s a melodic anthem full of thumping percussion and memorable lines like “In the daylight anything feels like home.” Another memorable track would be “Good Ol’ Fashion Nightmare” if only for its almost classical sound, thanks in large part to the violin setting that I’m sure Matt’s keyboard is on. It almost sounds like a Cure song during its chorus. The track also proves what I find to be the main point on the album: no matter what your views on the talent of the band or the technical prowess on display, amidst the events of the week following your listen, if you’re not humming one track from Grand, you’re inevitably humming another.

Fader Label

Last week Matt And Kim celebrated the release of their sophomore LP (and Fader Label debut) Grand with their hometown of Brooklyn. As if the venerable duo needed another reason to make their fans happy, they brought Spank Rock, Ninja Sonik and the Rude Mechanical Orchestra to the celebration before turning the camera back on the crowd, assuring them that they were as important to the party as anyone.

The anticipation in the room was palpable as each artist took the stage. Nothing against any of the opening acts, but everyone was there for one reason. Not even the spectacle of a Spank Rock and Ninja Sonik duet or a full squatter-punk orchestra could compare to the party that Matt And Kim brought to their hometown fans. To quote a friend of mine, it’s impossible to be critical of a band that brings this much joy to their fans. And while there are so many instances we remember — crowd riders (both good and bad), the balloons and confetti showering down from the ceiling, their first ever live performance of “Daylight”, the impromptu dace party that broke out at the end — all we can remember is the graciousness with what Matt And Kim delivered their set and the permanent grins that was brandished on their faces.

[Ninja Sonik]

[Ninja Sonik & Spank Rock]

[Rude Mechanical Orchestra]

[Spank Rock]

[Matt And Kim by Rebecca Winters]

[by Rebecca Winters]

[by Rebecca Winters]

[by Rebecca Winters]

[by Rebecca Winters]

[by Rebecca Winters]

[by Rebecca Winters]

[by Rebecca Winters]

Last night we made our way over to the Music Hall of Willamsburg to celebrate the release of Matt And Kim’s newest LP Grand. And while we can’t say enough about the duo’s performance and the joy and excitement they brought to their hometown fans (seriously, are there any nicer people in this industry?), we will leave that for a forthcoming photo post. In the meantime, we’d like to give you this video footage — sneakily shot from our flip video camera — of their first ever live performance of the song “Daylight”. Originally released as a single on Green Label Sound, the performance of “Daylight” (which is also on the LP) marked the celebratory portion of the night as balloons and confetti rained down from the ceiling.

Matt And Kim – “Daylight” Live From The Grand Record Release Show, First Ever Performance

Matt And Kim are two of the nicest people you could ever meet, and in one week, their second full-length — and first on FADER Label — will drop. Now, thanks to yours truly, not only do you have the chance to get a copy of Grand on vinyl mailed directly to you before the street date, the copy we’re holding for one lucky winner is personally signed by the dynamic duo.

Set to be released next Tuesday, January 20, all you have to do to enter to win a personalized signed copy of Grand is e-mail us here with the subject line of “Matt And Kim contest” along with your contact info* and you will be entered to win. The contest runs until Friday, January 16, with the record being mailed out that evening. Good luck!

*Contest will officially end at 6pm EST on Friday, January 16th. E-mail addresses not already on our mailing list will be added.