Words of the Knife (Mark Matos & Os Beaches)
StreetDate: 11/17/2009 (PFR004)
—— Tracklist ——
1 Hired Hand  (3:59)
2 Imaginary, Winnipeg   
3 Palavras de Faca  (3:37)
4 High Priest of the Mission   
5 The Moving  (3:23)
6 Hold on Tight   
7 Warrior & the Thief   
8 Tras-os-Montes   
9 I come Broken   
Reviews:

"A softly invigorating blend that could just help you make it through the depths and chill of winter, to remind you of the easy days at hand" — Angela Zimmerman, Crawdaddy

"High Priest of the Mission" - SF Weekly track of the day - "reminds a bit of Stephen Malkmus' solo stuff. But with the warm organ melodies and the extra handclapped beats, Matos makes this upbeat pop tune all his own." - Jennifer Maerz, SF Weekly

"...exciting collection of psych pop tunes characterized in part by leisurely melodies infused with rootsy Americana" - Musical Pairings


About "Words of the Knife"

Like the neighborhood the band calls home, Words of the Knife is a product of hybrid bloodlines. Tucson-flavored pop songs meld with the sun-baked chords and beats of 70s Tropicalia and sleepwalks through smoky rock venues - every genre that emerges here is shredded and combined. Matt Adams of Blank Tapes, percussionist Dave Mihaly (recently seen backing Jolie Holland), and Tom Heyman (Maps of Wyoming, Court and Spark) lay down a warm, lush backdrop for the vine-like guitar work of Ben Reisdorph, the Hammond B-3 and piano of Matos, and the ghostly vocal harmonies led by Kacey Johansing. Matos deals, in a voice remarkable for its lack of affect: half-sung, easy and versatile and honest, invoking Skip Spence, Jim Carroll, and Steve Malkmus, about love and leaving, loss and revolution, and drunken, broken, undying hope. A Bay Area native, he left San Francisco a decade ago to jump trains and learn life and music in the American wilderness: deep in Alaska and the Florida Keys, cold in Boston Squats, among slack-key players in Hawaii, and as an active force in the Lo-Fi scene of Tucson, where he began playing as Campo Bravo among the likes of the Golden Boots, Howe Gelb, and Andrew Jackson Jihad.

Led by Bay Area native son Mark Matos — main man behind anarcho-popslingers Campo Bravo, Os Beaches is a collective of Mission District veterans who teamed up with Tim Mooney’s Closer Recordings and producer Eric Moffat to bring you Words of the Knife. Throughout the album Tucson-flavored pop songs meld with the sun-baked chords and beats of 60’s Tropicalia, New York street poetry and California country-rock. Words of the Knife is a window into exactly what is happening in San Francisco right now — a renaissance of independent music of hybrid bloodlines.




Credits 
Credits:

Mark Matos - voice, guitar, keys
Ben Reisdorph - backup voice, guitar
Joe Lewis - backup voice, bass
Matt Adams - bass, piano
Aaron Kierbel - drums
Dave Mihaly - percussion
Tom Heyman - pedal steel
Kacey Johansing - voice

Produced by Eric Moffat and Mark Matos
All songs written by Mark Matos
Cover by Adriana Atema
Mastering for LP by George Horn
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