SOUNDTRACK: MATTIEL-NonCOMM (May 16, 2019).
I’ve been hearing a lot about Mattiel–she (they) were even supposed to open for a show I as going to (but they were replaced at some point). I thought I didn’t know their music, but when they played the last song of this set “Keep the Change” that I realized I’d heard it on WXPN quite a lot.
This is another set where the blurb is off. It mentions the song “Heck Fire” which they didn’t play and only lists four songs in the setlist when, indeed, there were five.
Mattiel‘s five-song set [gave] their audience a taste of Satis Factory, their upcoming June release. Lead singer Mattiel Brown was backed by a four-piece band that really knows how to rock.
Their set began with “Rescue You.” Brown wasted no time getting started; her energy was immediately through the roof as she commanded the crowd’s attention with soulful yelps.
I am rather puzzled by what Mattiel actually plays. They are described as garage rock and I guess that’s true. Although this song has a real honky-tonk feel, bordering on an outlaw country vibe.
The second song “Je Ne Me Connais Pas” is indeed sung in French ( I wondered why I couldn’t understand the chanted chorus. It’s primarily a sharp repeated guitar melodies. The full band kicks in during the catchy chorus.
“Food for Thought” opens with a slow bass and a lurching melody. I really started to like them by this song. Things slowed down slightly for “Millionaire” which has a grungy riff and a chanted oh oh oh
The set concluded with “Keep the Change”, the first single that Mattiel released.
It’s an obvious single–upbeat and catchy with a sweet guitar melody and a sing along chorus:
I’ve wasted all my time
Don’t pay me any mind.
I’ll bet they are fun live.
[READ: June 1, 2020] “The Passenger”
This story takes a surprising twist that turns it from one thing into something else–without ever losing the tone and ideas behind the original idea.
I was intrigued to read this opening line. I guess in 2000 it was timely, now in 2020 it seems so passe.
I have a ring in my nose and a ring in my navel, and people make assumptions about me. None of them are true. I’m not a punk or slave, a biker chick or a fashion bug.
A slave?
The narrator, Babe is 23. She drives a limo around Los Angeles. Her dispatcher is darkly humorous–possibly the only thing that can get her through the day.
She has a pickup at LAX (Ex-Lax). They are a couple named Chin. This was written before 9/11 so it’s interesting how much grief she is given at the airport even before then.
The usual routine is that I park the limo and wait at the arrivals gate, holding a piece of cardboard with a stranger;s name on it … But Meeting someone outside of baggage is an ordeal. Security is tight, and you can’t wait by the curb for more than twenty seconds before some uniform appears telling you to scram.
Well that last part hasn’t changed. But remember when you could meet people at the gate? Ah, nostalgia. But that has nothing to do with the story.
Underlying this story is her relationship with her mother. Her mother left L.A. to join a spiritual community which is in fact just a bunch of trailers in scrubby land. Their history is even more convoluted, as you can tell by this sentence:
The first time my mother tried to off herself, I was nineteen, already living on my own.
This first time, her mother swallowed a bottle of Xanax. It apparently wasn’t a real attempt. She says she knew the second time wasn’t a real attempt either because she did it fifteen minutes before Babe was supposed to come over.
She and her mother traveled from city to city. every time her mother got sick of a place, they’d move. There’s a very strange incident with them in a diner–with someone else paying for them. I assume some things happened, but I’m not certain.
Clearly Babe’s life is a mess and she is trying to get herself straightened out.
She picks up her passengers and goes to put their suitcase in the trunk. They refuse to let her, insisting on holding on their lap. Despite company policy (they don’t want passengers to get hit by loose luggage), she lets them keep it. They give her an address in Tarzana. I suppose if you know L.A. this address is significant. I do not.
They wind up stuck in traffic for a long time. There is an accident up ahead.
The Chins seem very agitated. As the traffic starts to move, they jump out of the car–are they really trying to ditch the fare? Babe will have to pay if they do.
They take their suitcase, but before they get too far, Mr Chin tosses the suitcase back into the car. What could be in it.
I won’t give anything away, but I was utterly fascinated with what happens by the end of the story. Both to Babe and with how she mentally deals with what happened.
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