Jonah Matranga
The split 7-inch from Jonah Matranga and Kevin Seconds is an interesting mix of tracks. Both artists have an extensive music-making history. Matranga was part of the emocore rock group Far from ’91-’98 After, he released solo music under the name onelinedrawing until 2004 and now performs and records under his own name. Kevin Seconds founded the influential hardcore punk band 7 Seconds in 1979 and began releasing solo material in ’89. Kevin and Jonah released a split together before—last time was a 4-way split with Anton Barbeau and Kepi Ghoulie in 2002. It comes as no surprise that the two would want to release another split 7-inch together on Blacktop Records.
Jonah Matranga
The first track is quite a surprise. An electro-hip-hop track called “I’ve Always Wanted To Write A Song Commanding People To Dance!” by Matranga opens with the line, “Hey there little hipster boy, put away the flat iron and give me some joy.” The track is dominated by heavy electronic beats littered with catchy keyboard loops and Jonah’s filtered vocals singing a chorus of, “There’s a guy with a gun to your head that says you’re dead if you don’t dance.” While totally out ofcharacter for Jonah (as can be seen by track 2, a typical Matranga-style song), from this song you’d wonder if he weren’t DJ Matranga. Seemingly an indulgent and ironic song, the beats do command you to dance and with lyrics about guns, hipsters, and flat irons, there’s no reason for this song to be a “guilty” pleasure.
Track two, Matranga’s “Daylight” is a finger-picked acoustic guitar track with sweet, echoed vocals. It could be confused with a lullaby, except the chorus is strained and gives the song a sense of sorrowful urgency. A gorgeous sad song, Jonah has created the most opposite songs as possible for his half of the 7-inch. And excelled at both!
Kevin Seconds
Kevin’s two tracks are more straightforward. Folk songs through-and-through, “Grip On Yr Own” and “Life Unknown” are instant American classics. The latter of the two has hint of Irish influence as well, with similarities to Flogging Molly’s “If I Ever Leave This World Alive.” Both have great sing-along harmonies in the chorus’ and while “Grip On Yr Own” prompts a Do-See-Do and “Life Unknown” is a slower story-telling song, both seem to look at life with a big-picture perspective and obviously come from a place of wisdom and life experience, of which Seconds has plenty.
Kevin Seconds
The tracks on this 7-inch split are diverse and cover at least three genres with only four songs. While there’s little cohesion as an album, the songs on their own could make great soundtrack-songs for four distinct experiences. I recommend the album, but I would suggest sticking all the songs on separate playlists for optimal enjoyment.
