Several times in the last year I’ve received requests from up and coming artists to post about their music. My criteria for deciding whether or not post is always: “Do I like their music?”
Today’s Two’Fer Tuesday post is about one of those artist, Joe Matzzie. Before we get to his music let’s have Joe tell you a little bit about himself.
Hi, I’m Joe Matzzie. I play guitar, write songs, and compose music. My music has appeared in movies, television, radio, web videos, theater and interactive games. I also assist other composers with orchestration, transcription & technical support.
Growing up in Pittsburgh I was exposed to a lot of acoustic music from a young age, beginning on the guitar at the age of 5 as well as viola and trumpet close after. Over the years I have played Classical guitar, Gypsy Jazz, Old Time Fiddle Music, Renaissance, Medieval, Macedonian Gypsy Folk, Traditional Celtic, Bluegrass & Hawaiian. I have played at theme parks, parades, costume balls, in concert halls to audiences of thousands, and busked in the streets of New York City, Florence, Paris, Philadelphia, Boston and Pittsburgh.
I developed my interest in the relationship between music and story while creating and arranging music for live theater in and around New York City. I served as musical director for the likes of King’s County Shakespeare Company, and The Actors Shakespeare Company. I also worked with Maurice Sendak on the national tour of the musical Really Rosie.
I especially love writing songs and am currently focusing on writing & performing new songs.
I am a graduate of the Film Scoring Department at Berklee College of Music, and also hold a degree in Classical Guitar Performance from Duquesne University.
I currently work and live in Los Angeles.
As it turns out, Joe is working on a new album, This Box Makes Noise, and has posted a lot of rough tracks that are in work for the album. Today I am featuring my two favorites from those tracks. First up is California Dreamin On Ya, which is under consideration for the first single. Let’s listen…….
California Dreamin On Ya
While California Dreamin On Ya shows a lot of promise, I think Joe is making a huge mistake if he chooses to release it as his first single. Why? Because this next song, There’ll Be Hard Times, is absolutely brilliant and must be the first single! See what you think…….
There’ll Be Hard Times – Joe Matzzie
This song has already made it to the top of my playlist and I expect it to stay there for a while. Really good stuff.
Fortunately for you, Joe has posted the two tracks above, along with others, for download on Soundcloud. Here’s the link…….grab them while you can.
https://soundcloud.com/joematzzie/sets/cd07
One more thing….Joe is using Kickstarter to fund the recording of This Box Makes Noise. A pledge of only one dollar will get you a free download of the album when it is finished. Pledges of higher amount will get you some amazing benefits including Joe doing a house concert for you. If you are interested, be sure to checkout his Kickstarter site at the link below.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/joematzzie/this-box-makes-noise