Matthew Heller

Portland, Oregon’s Matthew Heller is here with his self-titled release. Heller’s music is aptly described as post-grunge folk.
Others have compared him to Billy Corgan and the Smashing Pumpkins. I don’t really see it but I did ask him about it in our recent interview.
Here’s my opinion.
Matthew’s music is what happens when your soul releases all of its stress in pure, face melting rock n’ roll fashion.
One minute the guitars are screaming burn it down and the next Matthew breaks into some of the most soulful piano movements I have heard in rock music in a while. Those chords are matched with equally souful vocals only a man with Matthew’s experiences could pull off.
If you remember our review of Kids from Nowhere, Matthew Heller is stylistically similar.
This album is meant to be listened to with the volume on 12. If you watch the TV series Sons of Anarchy, Heller’s music makes a great soundtrack to that storyline.

Matthew has a lot of stories to tell. Here’s an excerpt from his bio to give you some context for his songs.
“Howdy From Hades,” along with the hard rocking “Father’s Son,” alludes to my childhood. I grew up on a farm with a heroin-addicted mother who eventually succumbed to her demons…People feel like it’s a sad story, but I’m not about letting that define me. I learned how to do everything myself, and it’s informed the approach I’ve taken with these records.”
This is now on my favorite albums list and I will be watching Matthew into the future.
You can connect with him on Facebook or Twitter.
But more importantly, go download this album.

Read more at http://www.midtnmusic.com/matthew-heller-arrives-with-face-melting-rock-n-roll-with-soul/#3l2IjuOZ3j2hCZI9.99 - MTM music.com

Portland, Oregon’s Matthew Heller is here with his self-titled release. Heller’s music is aptly described as post-grunge folk.
Others have compared him to Billy Corgan and the Smashing Pumpkins. I don’t really see it but I did ask him about it in our recent interview.
Here’s my opinion.
Matthew’s music is what happens when your soul releases all of its stress in pure, face melting rock n’ roll fashion.
One minute the guitars are screaming burn it down and the next Matthew breaks into some of the most soulful piano movements I have heard in rock music in a while. Those chords are matched with equally souful vocals only a man with Matthew’s experiences could pull off.
If you remember our review of Kids from Nowhere, Matthew Heller is stylistically similar.
This album is meant to be listened to with the volume on 12. If you watch the TV series Sons of Anarchy, Heller’s music makes a great soundtrack to that storyline.

Matthew has a lot of stories to tell. Here’s an excerpt from his bio to give you some context for his songs.
“Howdy From Hades,” along with the hard rocking “Father’s Son,” alludes to my childhood. I grew up on a farm with a heroin-addicted mother who eventually succumbed to her demons…People feel like it’s a sad story, but I’m not about letting that define me. I learned how to do everything myself, and it’s informed the approach I’ve taken with these records.”
This is now on my favorite albums list and I will be watching Matthew into the future.
You can connect with him on Facebook or Twitter.
But more importantly, go download this album.

Read more at http://www.midtnmusic.com/matthew-heller-arrives-with-face-melting-rock-n-roll-with-soul/#3l2IjuOZ3j2hCZI9.99 - MTM music.com

Watch us broadcast in HD for the very first time AND agree on an album rating for the very first time as we discuss “Invitation,” the second LP from Matthew Heller.

Sounds Like:
Spaced out, punk-tastic folk rock
Folk, Americana and bluegrass influences mixed with punk and hair metal

Key Tracks:
Shake It, Another Dose, Howdy from Hades, Mercy, Drone Strike, Jaclyn of Spades, Sink or Swim, Dismay King

Best Lyrics:
"Oh girls, put them kittens down / Shake your lovemaker" — Shake It
"Sun slice sharply on a torrid sky / Single me out as I pass by / Last thing I hear before I die / Surely the sound of your lullaby" — Mercy - Last Weeks albums.com

Matthew Heller—a Portland native if ever there was one—grew up on a small farm and into a wickedly talented musician, rocking out his own unique brand of folky, grungy, downhome rock-and-roll, throwing in some notes of bluegrass and vintage punk for good measure.

Matthew-Heller-&-The-Clever-Invitation
“Invitation” by Matthew Heller & The Clever

Not merely a jack-of-all-trades, Heller is a true rock ‘n’ roll virtuoso—a singer/songwriter, a guitarist, a pianist, and a wildly energetic performance artist. I’ve yet to have the privilege of attending a live show, but word around the Pick is it’s well worth the outing. In the spirit of classic rock, Heller’s songs feel like they’re written for a live audience—they call for interaction—and this mostly-solo artist is anything but reserved. His live performances are said to be lively and boisterous—“the epitome of rock ‘n’ roll,” as one friend described it—pounding a heavy pulse with deep, emotionally-charged resonance.
The first time I listened to Heller’s second solo album, the recently released, 12-track “Invitation,” I fell into a habit nearly all music fanatics are prone to. I quickly began relating this track or that to a song I’d heard before, or the style of a well-loved artist.

The first track, “Father’s Son,” make me think of the Smashing Pumpkins—from the chilling tambour of Heller’s vocals and the fierce clashing of guitars to the imagery evoked by his lyrics, I found the association inescapable. You can imagine how gratifying if felt reading Rob Cullivan’s review in The Portland Tribune, in which he describes Heller as “a snarling, “Stick-it-to-the-Man” folk-blues-buzz-rocker who, despite all his rage, is still just slightly less angry than [Smashing Pumpkins frontman] Billy Corgan.”



It was when the chorus surged, “A thousand trains/ Run through these veins/ Silence machine,/ Come take me home,” the words sung with such and intensely tortured passion, when at first I heard “a thousand chains,” that I felt inclined to answer, “Despite all my rage I am still just a rat in a cage,/ Then someone will say what is lost can never be saved,” until Heller’s lofty lyrics drove the message home: “Hot air balloon gonna take me up/ Over this city full of my bad luck,/ Up and over the mountains grand,/ Gonna drop me off in the promised land.”

“Father’s Son” is sure to strike a familiar chord for fans of this East-Coast-seasoned rock band, which speaks to Heller’s broad base of appeal. The song opens declaring, “Well I come from Oregon,/ born out of the mouth of a gun,” but by the final verse, when Heller’s belting, “We all got beds to make,/ We all got loves that were a waste,/ Don’t get mad and don’t get crazed,/ I’ll be here for your hand to take,” any air of provincialism languishes amidst a fervent call for solidarity.

Invitation has a downhome, gritty feel, like soil beneath your fingernails or sand between your toes.It’s a common strategy, I think, to make these sorts of associations—to cultivate a sense of familiarity and comfort as the listener prepares to open up to the new sound, sink into the songs and absorb the artist’s intent. Listening to music is an intimate experience—it’s only natural to seek a sense of kinship with the creator. Thankfully, in the case of Invitation, Matthew Heller makes himself and his music strikingly easy to know.
To call this album “accessible,” while accurate, seems a bit of an understatement. Most of us have seen that label slapped on just about everything produced post-Wagner, and it’s come to refer more to music that’s familiar, literal, or obvious—standards that downplay the integrity of Heller’s heartfelt melodies and shoe-stomping rhythms. Instead I might invoke the “manifest”—distinct, unambiguous, unpretentious, and large as life. It has a downhome, gritty feel, like soil beneath your fingernails or sand between your toes.

Matthew-Heller-&-The-Clever
Matthew Heller & The Clever

Invitation spans and straddles a variety of genres—folk, blues, grunge, and punk seem to be the popular descriptors—but I have a difficult time pinning any label on the album as a whole. Even single tracks traverse clashing styles before concluding, and the end product really is something unique. For me, it comes across as some beautiful bastard lovechild between the Smashing Pumpkins, The White Stripes, The Black Keys, Fleetwood Mac, and Rage Against the Machine, with touches of local friends Jesse Meade and Patrimony, but it really is something you ought to experience for yourself, to hear how it transcends all comparison.

Consider this album an “Invitation” to sample something new—a variety platter of soulful sounds—but also an invitation to listen—really listen—to the earnestly composed creative work of a fellow human being, and hear him out. It’s an invitation to connect. To accommodate Heller’s wonderfully diverse audience, Invitation is available for purchase in digital, compact disc, cassette, and vinyl formats. You can also preview the entire album at http://matthewheller.bandcamp.com/ - http://pdxpick.com/author/aylarogers