BLACKT-SHIRT NEWS & BLOG

Happy Bike To Work Day, everyone! In lieu of this happy and healthy day, I’m posting a shirt I’ve designed called Cat. 6 Racing. For those unfamiliar with the term ‘Category 6,’ it’s an unofficial term reserved for speed-hungry commuters blazing their way to work everyday.

I can’t say I’ve experienced it much over here in Oakland, but I have been put to the test a few times on Market Street in SF. The design itself is a nod to one of my most favorite logos, the Eveready Batteries “NIne Lives” logo.

You can buy this shirt at Kindred Market. Whatever speed you choose today, ride safely!

Two new stickers for two of the best restaurants in Milwaukee. I’m not just saying that because they pay me to draw. This is LEGIT food, folks.

You can find these at Honeypie in Bay View, and Comet Cafe on Milwaukee’s East Side. DOLCE!

The Submarines are vicious, like a large striped cat. Here’s a shirt I just designed for them, inspired by their song Tigers, (on Love Notes/Letter Bombs). Get it wherever the Subs get on stage (for now).

And listen to this:

The Subs at Slim’s, April 2011.

Based on Josh Ritter’s song, Another New World. Available on tour with Josh.

Another New World by Josh Ritter

The leading light of the age all wondered amongst
themselves what I would do next
After all that I’d found in my travels around
the world was there anything else left?
“Gentlemen”, I said, “I’ve studied the maps”
“And if what I’m thinking is right”
“There’s another new world at the top of the world”
“For whoever can break through the ice”

I looked round the room in that way I once had
and I saw that they wanted belief
So I said “All I’ve got are my guts and my God”
then I paused,”and the Annabelle Lee”
Oh the Annabelle Lee, I saw their eyes shine
the most beautiful ship in the sea
My Nina, My Pinta, My Santa Maria
My beautiful Annabelle Lee

That spring we set sail as the crows waved from shore
and on board the crew waved their hats
But I never had family just the Annabelle Lee
so I didn’t have cause to look back
I just set the course north and I studied the charts
and toward dark I drifted toward sleep
and I dreamed of the fine deep harbor I’d find
past the ice for my Annabelle Lee

After that it got colder the world got quiet
it was never quite day or quite night
And the sea turned the color of sky turned the color
of sea turned the color of ice
‘Til at last all around us was fastness
one vast glassy desert of arsenic white
And the waves that once lifted us
sifted instead into drifts against Annabelle’s sides

The crew gathered closer at first for the comfort
but each morning would bring a new set
of the tracks in the snow leading over the edge
of the world ’til I was the only one left
After that it gets cloudy but it feels like I lay there
for days maybe for months
But Annabelle held me the two of us happy
just to think back on all we had done

We talked of the other worlds we’d discover
as she gave up her body to me
And as I chopped up her mainsail for timber
I told her of all that we still had to see
As the frost turned her moorings to nine-tail
and the wind lashed her sides in the cold
I burned her to keep me alive every night
in the lover’s embrace of her hold

I won’t call it rescue what brought me here back to
the old world to drink and decline
And to pretend that the search for another new world
was well-worth the burning of mine
But sometimes at night in my dreams comes the singing
of some known tropical bird
And I smile in my sleep thinking Annabelle Lee
has finally made it to another new world

I couldn’t feel more privileged to be working with Josh Ritter on his debut novel, Bright’s Passage. (Random House) He’s a truly gifted story-teller in his songwriting, so his public will surely be steeped in anticipation for what he comes up with when given the playground a full novel provides.

Josh will be playing a couple of shows, solo acoustic, reading from the book, and discussing it at SXSW. Austin friends, get into that. Details and short synopsis here.

The book even has its own Twitter feed here, posting random excerpts.

Stay tuned for more visual goodies based on the book.

This is quite the overdue post for quite an exceptional band. As stated in the past, any chance to work with fellow Bay Area artists is always a great experience. You get to know them, hang out, and have meetings with beers under the sun.

The creative brief for The Definite Articles’ King Merriweather was like no other I’ve encountered: a story including multiple love triangles and scandal in the distant future, on a planet nearly covered in water. You know, that old chestnut.

With a few too many coffees in me and too much to say about this incredible band, I’ll let the Bay Bridged take over, as they’ve just posted the latest Backseat Beat episode featuring The Definite Articles. Full article + additional video here.

Thank you to Gabriell Rickard for the lovely merch photos. Check out her flickr set of the band’s album release shows. Really amazing stuff. And one last shout out to Shawn Alpay, who has deservedly scored a spot playing cello for Matt Pond PA on their upcoming tour. Rock that, buddy.

The opportunity to work with someone who lives within a 5-mile radius of you is rare as a freelancer. It gives you the chance to get to know someone and collaborate in a way emailing and conference calls could never achieve. So when someone talented drops you a line and you can easily meet them for an omelet and chili fries, you jump in.

Lia is a bright, creative, individual in both musical and visual terms, and her involvement to hand-print merch and write out all the lyrics has really given the final pieces a personal feel.

Package photos by Sarah Jurado, Liner Notes by Lia, Environmentally sound packaging and printing by Stumptown Printers
Available at Bandcamp!

I’m very, very thankful for everyone I’ve worked with over this past year, and the friends made along the way. Eyes ahead for a brand new year of making art and takin’ names. xo, Matt.

This is a poster currently in print for Matt Nathanson’s upcoming solo acoustic show here in SF. There is an extra special surprise with this print: glow-in-the-dark ink. Oooh, ahhh. Stay tuned.

<– pick up one of these screen printed tickets at the show too

Head over to Josh’s online store for some merch that was previously only available at live shows. Tees, hoodies, songbooks, and totes. Totes! Dig in HERE.