LATE NIGHT VIDEO JUKEBOX…

A train of thought/random assortment of videos I’ve been watching tonight:

SNOWDAZE…

NYC is all shut up to incoming traffic, so we’re spending a couple of extra days chillin’ at mom’s in Providence.  Most exciting thing we did was go to the mall and see Tron at a REAL Imax 3D Theater (not one of the cheap NYC imitations).  I had read mostly complaints, either thin plot, or they changed it too much or the soundtrack wasn’t good enough, but I think that’s all garbage.  I was THOROUGHLY entertained, it was like being a little kid again.  I think they nailed the aesthetics, and it was nice to see Jeff Bridges in his The Dude/Phil Jackson character again.  And the soundtrack was incredible too, not sure if people were expecting a rave, but they really nailed that Tangerine Dream feel that they were going for.  I really got that little kid feeling watching it… Well worth the money, glad I got to see it in the theater, wish the 3D had been as good as Avatar (where you really felt like you were gonna fall over the cliffs), but still… 4 stars.

Oh yeah, 2nd most exciting thing is I got some new boots.  What you think?

THANKS TO ALL…

Just wanted to put a big thanks out there again to any and all who listened to, purchased, blogged about (like THIS) or otherwise enjoyed my Xmas single, “O Holy Night.”  It was a lot of fun to do and it’s been nice seeing that there is still a lot of left over good feeling for me out there even though I’ve been out of the spotlight getting my music together. 

Hope that everybody had a great holiday weekend.  I’m in Providence still and it’s snowing like crazy here, but we’re inside and it’s warm and well provisioned and we’re gonna watch a movie with mom… Probably won’t be much going on here for the next few days so hope that everybody has a great new year!

Thanks again,

MATTIE

“ILLUSION”=BEST OF… ME=ARMY OF LOVERS???

“Illusion of Love” (the track I did with my good friend Uffie) is in this blog Pop Candy’s top 40 of the year, at number 26.  The writer says:

26. UFFIE FT. MATTIE SAFER / “ILLUSION OF LOVE” - Yes, “ADD SUV” was on my guilty pleasures list, and for all practical purposes “Illusion of Love” probably belongs there too.  It’s a ridiculous, trite song punctuated by Uffie’s pre-Ke$ha, oddly manipulated half-rap.  I love it though.  Absolutely love it.  What makes it for me, I think, are the verses relayed by Mattie Safer.  It’s the syntax.  The way he delivers it transforms it into some sort of late 80’s gay club anthem, a throwback to Army of Lovers spun over a musical loop that builds and gyrates.

I didn’t know what Army of Lovers was so I had to look it up.  Wow.  I understand what the writer is getting at, but it seems like quite a stretch…  But maybe you see it??

Any which way I will take it as a compliment… After all, music is in the ear of the listener.  I’m glad I could bring “the vibe.”

BIRTHDAY PHOTOS…

After a lot of posts related to the making and release of ‘O Holy Night’ (which is of course, still available in the STORE , here is something a bit more personal…

Some of y’all may know it was my birthday about a week or so ago.  We had a really nice day in and around New York City.  As always, Vivian took photos. 

Outside the Guggenheim.  Photo by Vivian Corado.

Me and Picasso.  Photo by Vivian Corado.

We started off our day at the Guggenheim, seeing the Chaos and Classicism exhibit.  It was really wonderful.  The exhibit is up until sometime in early January, I suggest you make your way there if you can.  Best thing in the exhibit were the drawings by Otto Dix, which look like this:

“Skingraft” by Otto Dix (1924).

After the museum we crossed the street to look at the reservoir.  Along the way, lining the west side of the street there was some mysterious deposits of snow.  Mind you it hadn’t snowed AT ALL yet this winter… Any ideas?  I threw snowballs at the wall to celebrate and then we did some shutterbuggin’ in front of the reservoir:

Mystery Snow.  Photo by Vivian Corado.

Reservoir.  Photo by Vivian Corado.

Poser.  Photo by Vivian Corado.

After people watching for a while we were making our way back to the subway to head home and make dinner, but we decided to stop and pop our head into a church… There was a youth choir rehearsing and it was peaceful and beautiful (even the guys in the choir were singin’ in that castrati range) so we just relaxed and listened for a while.  Unfortunately I didn’t have the wherewithal to take decent audio, but here’s a picture of the choir rehearsing…

Choir.  Photo by Vivian Corado.

After we made a nice dinner and finished watching Scarface we headed back into the city to go see D.L. Hughely at Caroline’s.  We took the subway there and on the way we snapped a couple funny ones with Bobby Deniro:

Death Eyes.  Photo by Vivian Corado.

More Bobby.  Photo by Vivian Corado.

Neither of us were necessarily the biggest D.L. fans but we had been to Caroline’s a few months before to see Paul Mooney and it was so much fun that I wanted to go back for my birthday.  Mr. Hughely was actually hilarious… His timing, his voices, his topics… We also saw a really good comedian by the name of Steve Wilson who was opening the show.  Here’s a video of him (not from my birthday though):

After the show it was super late and we had to walk through Times Square to get to the train station.  It had started raining and the lights looked really great reflecting on the wet pavement so Viv snapped a few more shots, which you can see below.  All in all, a great birthday!

Bart-face in Times Square.  Photo by Vivian Corado.

Stylin’.  Photo by Vivian Corado.

Times Square.  Photo by Vivian Corado.

American Carriage.  Photo by Vivian Corado.

‘O HOLY NIGHT’ VIDEO/CHECK OUT THE NEW MEDIA SECTION!

To help enhance the holiday feeling around here, my new friend Leo Herrera has been so kind as to make a little video accompaniment for my recording of ‘O Holy Night’ (both the main and traditional versions).  Soon to be a guaranteed Youtube smash, you can see them here first!

Mattie Safer - ‘O Holy Night’ (Main Version)

Mattie Safer - ‘O Holy Night’ (Traditional Version)

I’ve put these and other videos, plus some embeddable streaming audio players (by popular demand) up in the brand new media section of the site.You can get there directly by going to mattiesafer.com/media or by clicking the button labeled “MEDIA!!!” over to the right.

Enjoy!

‘O HOLY NIGHT’ ON MARK RONSON’S “AUTHENTIC SH-T” LAST NIGHT

Here is a link to the show for anyone that is curious.  It is the very last song they played on the show…

http://www.eastvillageradio.com/shows/nowplaying.aspx?contentid=1224&showid=77550

Big thanks to Mark and Jemz for having me on the show last night!

THE STARS ARE BRIGHTLY SHINING…

Hi Friends,

So like I said a little over 2 weeks ago, I got it into my head to record a Christmas song, through either divine inspiration, a super brilliant suggestion from my fiancée or some other unknown force. One way or another, inspiration led to perspiration and now, as we speak I am sitting a coffee shop waiting for the final mastering to be done.

First a big thank you to everyone else who helped make this possible: my incredible production partner in crime Dances With White Girls, my engineer Hanif “B’leve” Brown and the wonderful folks at Sound Clash Recordings, the inimitable Alan Schwartz for his incredible guitar work and finally the spice of life himself, Jonathan Kreinik who mixed and mastered this puppy.

It’s been an incredibly fun time making it, getting to work again with most of the same folks I worked with making the album that is soon to come. The song by the way is not an original, rather an interpretation of a classic, O Holy Night. I hope my version does it justice, or at least moves you in some way…

I’m happy to announce that I will be debuting the track tonight (Friday December 10th) on Mark Ronson’s “Authentic Shit” radio show on East Village Radio (eastvillageradio.com) sometime between 8 and 10 PM. I’m fairly certain that you can stream the show whenever you want so I will post the link up here tomorrow. And then the track will be available for sale here shortly thereafter…

I’m not exactly sure what I am walking into on this show (I hear Simon LeBon and Nick Rhodes will be there) but I do know that I am excited to finally be putting some new music out there. It’s been a long year and a half in and around the studio and the rehearsal space working on music and it’s nice to see something come out even if it is “just” a Xmas song. More original music will follow soon in very short order, I promise. This ain’t what it all sounds like but it is a *little* taste of what I’ve been up to, a weird little slab of future gospel. This is just the beginning, hope you enjoy….

Don’t forget to tune in, and let me know what you think!!