Don't Forget about Matt Durfee, Matt Durfee

i sincerely hope that matt durfee as a distinct musical entity is not entirely gone. his recent collaboration with a long time friend Mike Poulopoulos in the country-blues duo "Palatypus" has been keeping him very busy between recording EPs and playing a plethora of shows in New York and the surrounding provinces.

but for those of us who have been following the Durf-star around for months/years Palatypus is a bit of a trade-off. There's something about watching Matt Durfee alone with his guitar...maybe its his long skinny fingers dancing on his guitar doing things that normal fingers don't do, or it could the charming rural Schoarie county twang of his voice that he doesn't try to hide, or it could be the way he bobs his head, or maybe it's just the man-crush i have on him, and i know i'm not the only one.

he won much aclaim in the capital region before forming Palatypus, including Metroland's "Best Singer/Songerwriter 2006", which we used to start a fire one night when the b3nson crew went out to Indian Ledge southwest of Albany, the name of which they took for their music collective which includes Matt Durfee, Palatypus, Turtle Writing and Alta Mira.

"It's a Good Life" is a song that always makes me feel good. It's not gushing with optimism, in fact it's not even really that optimistic at all, but when he say's it a good life, you know that he's right.

last month he played a rare solo set somewhere in Troy for something, i missed it and am very dissapointed in myself for that. i will not miss the next one, which hopefully there is at somepoint. for now, Palatypus will suffice. don't get my wrong though, I'm as big a Palatypus fan as the next guy. they're much easier to catch around town, they play all over all the time and are definitely worth a trip to see.

but...

dear matt durfee,
please don't forget about matt durfee. "It's a good life" has a very special place in my heart, and the Gypsy Song makes me smile a smile that smiles for nothing else.

http://www.myspace.com/mattdurfee

http://www.myspace.com/palatypus

http://www.indianledgerecords.com

mp3: It's a Good Life

mp3: Etched in Red

(the mp3's will not be uploaded until later tonight or tomorrow for all of you up-to-the-minute Bensonites, you can no longer download them from his myspace so I have to track them down, but I will find them, for now go the ol' myspace-a-roo)

"Awesome Band" (from MySpace.com, 4 April 2007)

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Desperately Obvious at the Capital District Federation of Ideas

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April 2nd was another wonderful night to be a local hipster; my confidence in the people of the Albany area to be creative and entertaining has been gaining strength all throughout 2007 so far and Monday was another testament to that. The Capital District Federation of Ideas (CDFI) hosted their first ever full blown show at Point 5, their house/gallery at 383.5 Madison Ave. This included Sgt Dunbar, Desperately Obvious (as far as I believe, mostly local) and Dust From 1000 Years, on day 4 of their 16 day tour out of Bloomington, Indiana.

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Desperately Obvious kicked off the show and continued to impress me song after song as the small space began to fill up and heat up with students, graduates, bosses and random passers-by. I was finding some very good influences in their tunes, starting with vocalist/guitarist Richard Nolan's wailing voice's similarity to that of Willy Mason. Add the rest of the band: a stripped down drum kit played with brushes, a very pretty bass, slide guitar and keys and you end up with an alt-emo-country pop-bluegrass band entering your head. If you're as big an Okkervil River fan as me then these guys are right up your alley, and their cover of "Westfall" was true enough to the original to see the bands respect for their influences, but also creative enough to be what is somewhat rare, a good cover song, and well adapted to their lack of a mandolin player.

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CDs were swapped and I ended up with a copy of their press kit, the album art of which was done in my favorite meidum: pen on lined paper, along with Dust From 1000 Years full length called "Buzzard" (check out next Wednesdays post) also done in one of my favorite mediums: crayon on construction paper. I enjoy when bands post their lyrics, and when I read along with the songs on their impressivly available myspace, www.myspace.com/awesomeband where their lyrics are posted,I really began to appreciate the lyricism that's there when you can get past the excellent instrumentation and composition.

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The disc starts with "New Flower", a very humbly poetic love song to a flower that evokes deep and honest longing. Then slows right down into "Cheatin' Heart", a mellow sort of Pink Floyd-ish bob your head bluesy kind of song, leaning towards more of a dramatic, fictional lyrical subject... at least I hope he didn't dump a mans body in a river. (these are the two mp3s i will post, so i suppose i should have described some of the other songs, but...tan tan tan).

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You can see them in Utica, at the Resonance Center with Sgt Dunbar and Fig Mints (of your Imagination) on April 28th at 8pm.

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They have at least one album out on Make Your Fate Records (comprised of them and the Mathmaticians), possibly two at this point. You can buy it from the MYF website (synonomous with the Desperately Obvious site) or probably just by sending them a message on myspace. For their presumably newer radio/press kit, you'll probably have to just go out and see them, which is a pretty good deal if you ask me.

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mp3: A New Flower

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mp3: Cheatin' Heart

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Desperately Obvious

www.myspace.com/awesomeband

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Pink font, stars, smiley faces, cleavage:

www.myspace.com/desperatelyobvious

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Make Your Fate Records/Desperately Obvious

www.desperatelyobvious.net

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Capital District Federation of Ideas:

www.federationofideas.org

Oddy Gato - Goldslinger (the mix tape)

Oddy Gato spits in the classic genre's of tragedy and comedy and he does them both very well. The 14 track Gold Digger mixtape runs only 24 minutes long but its brevity plays in its favor by keeping the listener paying attention to what Oddy is going to say next.

Although it is not the most technically impressive CD of all time (its only a mixtape after all) some of the beats are real cool and its the honest expression and outlandish lyricism really make this album. Its definetly worth getting your hands on if you get a chance to see Oddy and its only 3$.

For your aural pleasure I have two tracks the reprsent Oddy's Tragic and Comic sides.

mp3:Little Carlos
mp3:Great Grammas House

Scientific Maps - Get off the Moon

The Scientific Maps took their time putting their record out, It was purportedly recorded over a two year period in guitarist/singer Aaron Smith(also of Evolution Revolution)'s basement. I have only been aware of the band for maybe a couple months after a chance encounter while playing music on the streets of Albany but apparently they've been around for at least long enough to win the Metroland's best Pop Band in 2006.
The scientifc maps have a modern pop sensibility a kin to some of the bands affiliated with the Elephant 6 Collective like Apple's in Stereo or Of Montreal and the CD is sprinkled with screaming, wierd synth and theremin. With lyrics ranging from semi autobiographical (Halloween 1985) to silly (the Octopus is going home) this cd is an impressive display of the band's depth with a good number of songs that I've never seen them play live.

The Cd will soon be available here. I think. At least it says so.

In the mean time you can check out these sick mp3s.

mp3: Headstone Amplifier
mp3: The Octopus is going home