Matt's Writing

The last 2 months have been filled with incredible releases from the Bay Area indie music scene. The Bay Area's indie and underground scenes have historically been engines of innovation, creating new musical styles and language. What's happening on the ground today in the Bay may take months or even years to reach "mainstream." Read at the bottom for more about this. Here are my favorite recent releases: Dave Smallen - Happiness Read my review . Daveed Diggs - Small Things to a Giant . Provocative freshman album. My review is forthcoming. K.Flay - Eyes Shut . Read my post . George Watsky - Watsky & Mody . This genre-bending album featuring bluegrass meets Bay Area hip hop is perhaps Watsky’s most experimental piece to date. Have you also seen Watsky’s Robot poem ? S for Lisp ? He's also a Wikipedia power user and can rap fast . Rafael Casal releases Mean Ones on Feb. 2nd. Read my review of the music vi...

Dave Smallen's third full-length album Happiness is perhaps his best so far. There is no weak track on the album, and the songs on Happiness showcase his talent as a songwriter, composer, and also the range and power of his voice. Smallen has proven he can carry out complex and haunting compositions with tracks like Georgia, Can You Hear Me? on his freshman album with Street to Nowhere , and NYC off his sophomore album Everything Changes and Nothing Changes . But what makes his latest album remarkable is how he showcases perhaps an even greater range of emotion and thought on this album than in his prior ones. Take for example The Rain , which I think is the best track on the album. Smallen sings the first line "My dad sold his car in 1972." With song writing and fiction, having a catchy first line is the hallmark to a good song. Hearing these first seven words, the listener asks himself, "Why did his dad sell his car in 1972?" This detail is somethin...

Talented singer, songwriter, and artist Dave Smallen is working on a new album. He's currently fundraising for the project by doing custom woodcuts and art pieces. This is an opportunity not to be missed: http://www.indiegogo.com/dave-smallen-happiness

Dave Smallen, who I recently wrote about for his song NYC, and interviewed on my radio show back in March, is releasing his album Everything Changes & Nothing Changes at Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco on Friday, November 27. For tickets and info on the show, please visit http://davesmallen.com and http://www.bottomofthehill.com/

Singer/songwriter Dave Smallen recently released a great track "NYC" from his forthcoming album "Everything Changes & Nothing Changes." I had the pleasure to interview him on Fresh Air back in March, 2009 . Check out his track NYC below:

You can download my interviews on Fresh Air: The Alternative, University of Edinburgh student radio on my website http://mattswriting.com/ or on iTunes. When you search the iTunes store for DJ Matt Werner, my podcast "mattswriting" will come up. Or, by clicking this direct iTunes link , you can download my interviews and features on Talib Kweli, Saul Williams, Dahlak Brathwaite, Kid Beyond, Dave Smallen, Fr. Bruno Clifton, George Watsky, and Ise Lyfe.