Matt And Kim, the breakout dance-punk duo from New York City, have an alluring persona about them that transcends their upbeat music. Anyone who has seen them perform is aware that these two know how to have fun. From Kim Schifino's giddy looks to Matt Johnson jumping up on his keyboard bench, it’s easy to get lost in the sound and funny and forget all the disconcerting details of life outside the walls of the club. Isn't that the goal of going to see music in the first place?

It’s hard to say. But does music have to be dark and brooding to be truly artistic? Luckily, sincerity can often be conveyed through raw, undeniable, unfiltered, unadulterated bliss. The same kind of feeling Matt And Kim express on stage with their sunshine anthems.

Understanding their journey from party band to recording artists is key, considering the pair’s humble roots. They met in Brooklyn while attending Pratt, and began their musical adventures by chance. Schifino inherited an old drum set. Johnson looked at a keyboard and said, "This looks interesting, I should learn how to play it." From those humble beginnings, the duo evolved through parties and warehouses all over New York City. Their first show was in an art gallery in Queens, where they earned their moniker simply by not having a band name. Friends announced them as they were: Matt And Kim. The sincerity and the simplicity stuck.

Johnson had previously been involved in other bands, playing guitar and bass, since he was fourteen. This didn’t stop the two from having some serious stage fright at first. "We were terrified at first," Johnson recalls, "but people found it endearing." They played a show for Todd P, the infamous New York City indie rock promoter. Todd had taken up residence in a venue called Llano Estacado, a warehouse/art space with no bathrooms. This spawned a series of shows among loads of unusual, non-traditional spaces, but featuring simple ol' toe-tapping good times. The word spread and Matt And Kim quickly found their footing in larger venues. Between the encouragement of the crowds and experience from performing, it became second nature for the pair to be in front of a thousand screaming fans. Although Johnson claims he wouldn't know how to act in front of three strangers, "[I know I] can be a total idiot in front of a thousand."

After numerous early tours, Johnson thought, "How are we still traveling and we don’t have an album?" Though the two like to trek around, it was a severe roadblock in the creation of new material. "At this point in my life," said Johnson, "when I’m doing this band full time, I have the least amount of time to write songs that I’ve ever had." After a brief five-song demo, their debut full-length was cut during long days in the studio following long nights on stage. It was tough on Matt’s voice, but it succeeded in capturing the simple nature of their live show.

For the new album, Grand (One Label), the two had a different outlook. Keeping the raw atmosphere of their first record while mixing in new production values and more instrumentation was a little tricky. As Johnson put it, "We wanted to make the best recorded album we they could, [rather than] just live songs, recorded, like the first album" Accordingly, Grand is full of more—more instrumentation, more depth and more hooks.

But don’t think they’ve become too serious, as the duo continue to play a series of infamous thirty-second covers as the show starters that Matt and Kim have made infamous. The most well known would be Europe’s legendary contribution to kitsch culture, "The Final Countdown." Although some songwriters fear the perils of compromising artistic integrity with cheeky covers, Matt and Kim aren’t worried about such things. "People like hearing songs they know," says Johnson. "It’s not like I take myself that seriously, that covering a Europe song really breaks my artistic credibility that much." For Matt and Kim, it’s less about intellectualizing and more about giving people what they want: to have fun and dance.

The deeper appeal of Matt And Kim seems to be that it’s easy to identify with them as people. One of their fondest memories is seeing the West Coast for the first time, while playing a show above a hundred foot cliff, powered by generators. With the performance, the drinking, and the sun setting over the pacific as a backdrop, Matt thought, "M, this is crazy." Their life arrangements are simplistic too, including an agreement that Johnson, hes says, "takes care of the phone and takes out the trash" and Schifino handles everything else. "I don’t even have an e-mail address," admits Johnson.

Schifino didn’t say much except when directly confronted, so she was offered the incredibly telling "favorite color" question, to which she responded, "Red... or black." "It’s really both," Matt quickly retorted. "You should see her closet."

www.mattandkimmusic.com

Save This Page

Digg This!