#Mat Muntz

[culturedarm]

Yo La Tengo ride roughshod over the waterfront boulevard of Sinatra Drive, taking their title from what3words the bassist Roberto Cassani and saxophonist Fraser A. Campbell blend chipper urbanity with a winsome pastoralism, while the vocalist Jo Lawry tumbles headlong. Mat Muntz wields the primorski meh, plus tracks by PÖ, Yaya Bey, Sherelle, and Babsy Konate.

https://culturedarm.com/tracks-of-the-week-11-02-23/

[burlveneer-music]

Mat Muntz - Phantom Islands - chamber skronk?

Bridging the worlds of contemporary composition, classic free jazz, and obscure folk traditions, Phantom Islands employs diverse sounds to construct a unified, ethereal landscape. The record is the leader debut of New York-based composer, bassist, and bagpiper Mat Muntz (of The Vex Collection), whose use of the unique Croatian bagpipe primorski meh serves as the music’s centerpiece. The instrument’s brazen timbre and alien tuning are anchored by ghostly, microtonal orchestrations for winds, guitar, and percussion, executed with sensitivity and dynamism by a skilled cast of improvisers.

 The band features up-and-coming luminaries of the East Coast scene, including Yuma Uesaka on clarinet (Marilyn Crispell, Anna Webber, Ocelot) and Xavier Del Castillo on tenor sax (Adam O’Farrill’s Stranger Days). Guitarist Alec Goldfarb, oboist Pablo O’Connell, and drummer Michael Larocca complete the sextet to create richly textured collective improvisations. The title Phantom Islands refers to nonexistent landmasses which were recorded on nautical maps for centuries, often with bizarre, “here be dragons” associations. By using this concept of “haunted geography” to channel maritime mythologies from around the world - Croatia, Bahrain, Okinawa - Muntz’s compositions render a correspondingly haunted musical vocabulary: a folk music from nowhere.            

Mat Muntz - primorski meh, bass, compositions Xavier Del Castillo - tenor saxophone Alec Goldfarb - guitar Michael Larocca - drums Pablo O'Connell - oboe Yuma Uesaka - clarinets


Art by C.M. Kösemen

[freyaviol]

Mat Muntz's new record Angels Variations is featured in Bandcamp Best Contemporary Classical July 2024. "Violist Carrie Frey and violinist Adrianne Munden-Dixon produce related drones on their string instruments, moving up and down against the pipes with thick, abrasive, sustained tones before fluttering around the core source."

[postgenremedia]

February 2023 Capsule Reviews

For February – just under the wire – we provide capsule reviews of recent works with an eye towards avant-garde expressionism. Two of the selections explore the contributions of legends of the music, while the others showcase the voices of younger practitioners of the craft. For this month, only one of these albums – Mat Muntz’s Phantom Islands (Orenda, 2023) – came out in February proper.…

[mauitime]

Astrid Kuljanic and Mat Muntz Duo Concert at Maui Coffee Attic

Astrid Kuljanic and Mat Muntz Duo Concert at Maui Coffee Attic

Check out the Astrid Kuljanic and Mat Muntz Duo Concert at Maui Coffee Attic on Friday, January 3rd. They’re a New York-based duo that are originally from Croatia and Seattle. They’ll be playing a wide variety of world music including Croatian, Balkan, Brazilian, Italian, Jewish, and more. $20. 7pm. Maui Coffee Attic, (59 Kanoa St, Wailuku); 808-250-9555; mauicoffeeattic.com

photo credit Franc…

[jessicaackerleyguitar]

Jessica Ackerley Trio - Live at Scholes Street Studio. 

Brooklyn, NY. Feb. 2017.

Jessica Ackerley - Guitar and Compositions

Mat Muntz - Bass

Nick Fraser - Drums