MATT NATHANSON: EMERGING ARTIST, ESSENTIAL DOWNLOAD.

Posted by JOpinionated on August 4, 2006 in iTunes, Music | 0 comments

Let’s pretend for a moment that I had clout. Not fame or prestige, but just the right amount of influence and a few thousand blog subscribers (as opposed to the four I have now). Let’s also imagine that I had connections, in either the media or the music industry.

I would love to be Zach Braff for one afternoon in a recording studio, compiling a soundtrack for one of my movies that consists primarily of music by my friends who happen to be very talented but lesser known artists. Or director Paul Thomas Anderson, who opted to use his friend Aimee Mann’s songs as a beautiful accompaniment to the narrative throughout his entire movie (Magnolia).

If I had an ounce of the power like those in the industry above, I would totally promote the hell out of my extremely creative and talented friend Matt Nathanson, who has been writing and performing music for 15 years. He writes all of his songs, has a huge fan base (eighteen thousand MySpace friends to date!), is disgustingly charismatic, and has remained true to who he is and those around him every step of the way. It is both outrageous and frustrating that he has not achieved the kind of artistic success that other creatively inferior male pop artists are currently wallowing in and cluttering our airwaves with.

Go to his website and read his hilarious journal or visit his MySpace page. You must see him live to truly appreciate the personality and the man behind the music (for a taste of what I’m talking about, pick up his latest live album, At the Point, in stores, on iTunes and Amazon). He is not your prototypical rock star; he doesn’t drink or smoke. His only vices are a potty mouth and dirty mind, which you’d think would influence his music. On the contrary, his songs comprise some of the most beautiful, intelligent, and surprisingly sweet lyrics you’ll hear, especially among his contemporaries in the oversaturated male singer-songwriter market.

Matt just finished a summer tour opening for Pink, has opened for both Tori Amos and Shawn Colvin, and is about to tour with Toad the Wet Sprocket. He will also be playing Austin City Limits next month, and his new CD should be dropping next year. I was fortunate enough to listen to a few raw tracks recorded at the studio with his full band recently, and there are at least two hit singles on this new album. Trust me when I tell you that the songs “Come on Get Higher” and “Car Crash” are catchy as hell, and the two that you should download first on iTunes when they debut in 2007.

You might have heard his remake of the James’ song “Laid” on the radio, from the American Wedding soundtrack, and some of his other songs on Dawson’s Creek, Road Rules and Smallville.

If you’re not familiar with him now, you will be. Give him a try, and keep your ears open for his name, his music and his face, on stages, in stores and in the media soon and for a very long time to come. I look forward to the day when he crosses into that next level of recognition and critical acclaim, and I have a strong feeling that the wait won’t be long. 

I’ve known Matt for fifteen years now, and I realize that my heaps of praise for him may be misconstrued as pure drivel from a totally biased perspective. But if you had a very good friend under the same circumstances (exceedingly talented with an enormous fan base, yet unsigned and ready for fame), you too would pimp his or her music to every single person you know, at the top of your lungs and on every rooftop from coast to coast.