Matt & Kim-Now

After a few weeks in which I added a Master's to my "title," right after the BigLexiconMagic, I'm back to this beaut and will be churning out daily jamandahalfs for the near future. Do come again.  

In some ways, Matt & Kim have been trying to recreate "Daylight" (their debut single) for years now because in some ways, "Daylight" is the perfect Matt & Kim song. Even if they never again catch lightning in a bottle, they still are making some pretty dope music and on their recent release Lightning they are once again filling their unique groove. When you listen to the Brooklyn duo, you know exactly what you're going to get. For many of the mundane chores of life: long bus rides, walking to work in the rain, filling out endless job applications, the upbeat stylings of the two provide the perfect soundtrack. "Now" has, after years of being occupied largely by Southern crunk and Dutch house, taken the throne of my official pump-up jam and is a raucous reaffirmation of right now making the best out of a life that sometimes tries to get you down.


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Matt & Kim-Good For Great

I remember feeling Matt and Kim's unbridled joy at doing what they love when I saw them play live for the first time, headlining Kohoutek 2009 (the annual music festival thrown by my alma mater's next door neighbor college). Other than their song "Daylight," which was making its way around CMC laptops, I knew almost nothing of the two before the show. After an energetic 50 minute set, which saw them run through their entire catalog with a short little "Final Countdown" cover and a crowd-surfing Kim mixed in, the crowd still hadn't gotten enough. They wanted more of the feel-good music which had been making its way out of Kim's drum set and Matt's keyboard/synth. Didn't work. It wasn't because the duo didn't want to keep going. It was, and I remember laughing so hard when Matt told the crowd, that they didn't have anymore music to play!

With the release of their new album, Sidewalks, Matt & Kim ensure that they'll keep the good vibes going for a little longer. The ten-track album feels like a natural progression to Grand. Their joy-of-life style still shines, but this time with a little added musical omph. The two have almost adopted a little hip-hop flavor to their style, and your favorite rapper's favorite rapper would probably love flowing on some of their beats. A standout track is this jamandahalf, "Good For Great." This has become the soundtrack to my 15 minute walk to the school I'm teaching English at, and always manages to make the increasingly cold mornings feel a little better. This song is all about living to the fullest, not being afraid to get a little roughed up, but more importantly, not being afraid to live.

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 Matt & Kim-Good For Great (Jamandahalf.com) by jamand1/2

Matt & Kim-Cameras

I'm still packing for my orientation in Caceres, Spain tomorrow. Don't have time for a full post right now, but still want to give you guys something. This is the first "jamito-y-medio," Spanish for "little jamandahalf." This deserves to be up here like all other jamandahalfs, but time is tying my hands.

Matt & Kim are one of my musical guilty pleasures. I love music with a message, music with a story, music with some serious meaning; but, I also love music that's fun and makes people happy. Matt and Kim do just that. I've seen the unbelievably peppy duo play twice-once in Pitzer's annual musical festival, Kohoutek, the other at Coachella, playing in front of an audience at least a fifty times as large as the one they had on Pitzer's lawn. Both times they two were energetic with no end, and put on an incredible live show.

"Cameras," the first single off of the duo's follow-up to debut Grand, continues the good times, but with a little more musical sophistication, with perhaps an extra layer of sonical fun. The two have progressed slightly past the simple keyboard and drums of the first album, but not too much, and promise to bring more music that I'm kinda embarrassed to like, but not really. Hope you enjoy.

Matt & Kim-Cameras (http://jamandahalf.com) by jamsfordays