GoGo Penguin, the Manchester trio who inspirationally blend jazz, classical and electronic influences, return with a powerful new album, Necessary Fictions, which finds pianist, Chris Illingworth; bassist, Nick Blacka; and drummer, Jon Scott digging deep internally to reach “what we think are our integral, authentic qualities at this moment in time”. It’s a powerful driver for some of their boldest music to date, incorporating modular synths, Moog Grandmother, and electric bass into their sound more than ever before as they glide spectacularly from acoustic instrumentation into electronica with drums to the fore. Honest and powerful, Necessary Fictions is the band at their very best.

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If you could soundtrack the jangle of the sea and the jazz of the surf, The Mattson 2 would most certainly be the composers. The identical twin guitar and drums duo are truly a marvel of jazz-rock orchestration and arrangement. The duo shimmers and shakes with the soaring modern wizardry of Jared Mattson’s untamed, layered guitars and Jonathan Mattson’s tribal jazz hard-bop drumming. They channel the gorgeously hypnotic gods of surf, sun, and neon-punk- jazz of our modern universe, evoking evolved realms of experimentalism, rhythm, and story. The identical twin’s deep telepathic kinship navigates colorful forms of beautiful weirdness and exotic landscapes of layered improvisation, transcending the concept of modern musical performance. They have toured relentlessly throughout Japan, China, Brazil, Paris, Spain, Portugal, Denmark, Finland, The Netherlands, and the United States. The Mattson 2 have Bachelor’s and Masters of Fine Arts degrees in music from University of California San Diego, and University of California Irvine respectively. Mattson 2 have collaborated/shared the stage with Chaz Bundick, Toro Y Moi, Badbadnotgood, Ray Barbee, Tommy Guerrero, Cornelius, Chocolat & Akito Katayose, Silver Apples, Money Mark, Thomas Campbell, Nicole Mitchell, Mark Dresser, Farmer Dave Scher, and Tortoise members Jeff Parker, John Herndon, and John McEntire.