Warm, jazzy, surfy, and essential San Diego music: all elements that describe the Mattson 2. On this sold-out Sunday night at the Casbah, the duo honored their hometown with a ripping set through past, present, and future songs.
Opening this fine night of music was another musical pair of a very different sound. Emulating traditional folk in the English and Spanish languages, Mapache huddled around their microphones like backpackers around a campfire. Their harmonies were healing and refreshing to hear. I would have loved to have seen them in a different environment, where their sounds could interact with the natural world.
The Mattson 2 (“the 2” being that the duo are twin brothers) found themselves in their hometown (Encinitas, specifically) for the California-exclusive tour to an enthusiastic mix of family, friends, and fans. The rare mix only served to give the duo more fuel to deliver a set of tracks featuring searing guitar and drum solos. Taking the show to even further heights of greatness, the wizards of Stranger Liquids used vintage projectors and oils to project psychedelic visions.
“What’s up you jazzy cats and kittens?” guitarist Jared Mattson announced to the audience as they gave way into their glorious, career-spanning two hour set. After warming up the crowd with “Star Stuff,” the title track off of the collaborative album of the same title with Toro y Moi, they jumped into “Pleasure Point,” easily one of their best songs. “Pleasure Point” elicits the same kind of stoke that you’d feel if you were on a road trip through Santa Cruz (the location of the point) in the to surf the beautiful breaks along the Californian coast.
As the time passed, it seemed the Mattson 2 showed no signs of slowing down and beamed with energy across their faces. It truly felt like a hometown show, and they gave everything they had on stage. In fact, throughout the set, the band stopped to converse with the audience like joking with an old friend. With the good vibes flowing so freely, it was easy to understand why the Mattson 2 forgot to exit for their first encore. Luckily, they returned for two more encores, and the duo ended on “Spacemen 2,” a gorgeous ballad which felt like a befitting ode to some of the wonderful moments that happened on this memorable Sunday night.