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Local observations from a movie, music buff

Meet Matthew Santos
Touring with Lupe Fiasco and Kanye West, Santos stays grounded at Martyr’s May 22

By Dan Ochwat

Real quick: “Forgetting Sarah Marshall,” the new bromance, or dick flick (however you choose to classify it), really is as funny as everyone says it is.

And that’s the May movie review. I’m foregoing anymore analysis to report two excellent interviews with two excellent, soulful folk-rock singers: Matthew Santos, a local singer/songwriter who’s recently found fame by singing the hook on Lupe Fiasco’s hit song “Superstar,” and Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson, an unknown in Chicago who could earn more notoriety come July, when his debut album launches (see next page). Santos plays Martyr’s May 22, and Benjamin plays Schubas May 20.

Matthew Santos
This month, Santos, a mohawked vocal wonder, will play two shows, May 23 and 24 at the Allstate Arena, singing with Lupe Fiasco as an opening act on Kanye West’s Glow in the Dark tour, a speck on an arena-glitz-and-glamour, 50-date tour before screaming teens. Conversely, he’ll play Martyr’s on May 22, the center of attention for an intimate, folkie crowd.

Such is the life of Santos, playing music in two different worlds. Santos, a Wicker Park resident, at least one month out of every six when he’s not touring, has been signed to Lupe Fiasco’s record label. An album to come, he’s sung on both of Lupe’s genre-bending albums, and with Phil Collins and Taboo of the Black Eyed Peas. He’s received praise from Justin Timberlake and Jay-Z, and you can see him at Martyr’s.

Santos spoke over the phone from Los Angeles. His albums are available on iTunes, and he’s ramping up his MySpace page with blogs and pics from the tour (http://www.myspace.com/matthewsantos).

Q: I read that you met Lupe through a mutual friend. You sure you don’t have a sexier story than that?
A: Well, we met at a burrito house. Our story isn’t too glamorous. Really, it’s more of a coincidental matching. It fell into my lap. It came at the perfect time.

Q: Was he looking for a singer?
A: Not really. He was doing his thing, doing mix tapes and putting them on the internet, and I was working with our mutual friend, Greg Magers, who is an amazing sound engineer out of Chicago. He’s also known as G Ball. He’s both of our sound engineers. G Ball gave him my stuff, and he dug it.

Q: Are you recording the new album for his label right now?
A: We’re trying; it’s hard to record when I’m on the road. It’s in its infant stages. We’re looking to find the right producer, as far as some songs are concerned, and we’re still looking for the right environment. We have all the songs; it’s just a matter of getting them down.

Q: How did you work with him on “Superstar” and other songs; you come in with ideas on how to sing the hook, or was it all planned out beforehand?
A: He has a general idea of how he wants the melody to sound, and I basically go in and give it my flavor, improvise and try and spice it up and make it into something a little more musical.

Q: I ask because your vocals on your albums, particularly the live album, are a lot more freewheeling, jazz-like, so it’s kind of different to hear you sing a structured hook like in “Superstar.”
A: You know, I don’t consider myself to be a mainstream artist, and I never really aspire to be one, so it’s sort of a strange environment that I’m in.

Q: It is, and that’s the most intriguing thing about you. You’re really two different artists.
A: I look at it like a versatility thing, an experience and exposure thing. If I’m collaborating with Lupe and millions of people a year are hearing my music, or a day for that matter, considering it’s an international song, and people are hearing the voice and coming to my [MySpace] page, then what more can an artist ask for?

Q: Is jazz and R&B an influence? Your voice seems to have those touches, and it stretches you beyond a Jack Johnson mellow guitar dude.
A: The backbone of my music is soul and dynamics. You’re gonna find the quiet, mellow stuff, but you better believe it’s going to progress into something that’s bigger than you would imagine. It’s all about expressing your soul musically. It’s not a mind thing for me. It’s a heart thing.

Q: Being able to sing multiple styles, though, does add to your intrigue, because you’re living in multiple worlds.
A: It’s a big trip, and it hit me last night at the show when Jay-Z walks up to me and congratulates me for my success, and then Justin Timberlake — Justin Timberlake! — walks around the corner and approaches me and tells me that he loves my voice. All I could say is, ‘You’re Justin Timberlake and You’re Jay-Z.’ This is tripping me out, man.

Q: So one night you’re playing with Lupe and talking to Justin Timberlake, and then the next night you’re at Martyr’s with your band. Is that exciting, humbling?
A: It’s really exciting. I love the contrast. For instance, tonight I’m playing a show at The Key Club Plush Room in L.A., which is this small room that fits like a hundred people. I’ll be lucky if I sell it out, but I love doing shows like these. The intimacy is beyond the grandiosity of the arena style.

Q: Now, when you do the album on Lupe’s label, are these worlds going to collide? Are the two artists going to kind of merge?
A: (He laughs) The folkie and then the alter ego. We’ll see. There’s going to have to be some sort of compromise, but I don’t want to be too poppy. My songs are much more to me than that. I’m not trying to sell them out to try and win over the popular music crowd. They have to be honest. Whatever the compromise is, I’m not compromising the truth behind the songs. I don’t know exactly how the album is going to sound yet. There are still a lot of questions to be answered.

Q: Before Lupe, what type of shows were you playing around Chicago?
A: Yeah, I played Martyr’s a bunch, did Schubas, Abbey Pub, House of Blues a couple times. We accomplished some notoriety on our own. Then, when “Superstar” hit, it kind of blew up, found ourselves playing the Metro in front of 500 people.

Q: Did you play around the city while attending Columbia?
A: Yeah, I hosted an open mic at this coffee shop. I did Uncommon Ground, all the small acoustic venues.

I studied music composition at Columbia College. It was cool. I met everyone I needed to meet. It was a good experience. I didn’t graduate though. I dropped out. I had to drop out to afford a ticket to Alaska. I promised my best friend that we’d take a trip before we both got going on our careers. I needed to drop out to work, to afford the plane ticket and the trip. It really put things in perspective for me. We spent 12 days in the wilderness.

Q: Like an “Into the Wild” kind of thing?
A: Pretty close. We almost died a couple of times. We ran into a family of grizzlies, ran into a pack of caribou, climbed mountains. It was the most rugged and raw experience I ever had, but it was the best experience of my life.

Q: At Martyr’s, will you be playing songs off the new album?
A: Oh yeah, it will pretty much be the entire album. The band and I will be exemplifying what the album may be sounding like.

Concert Calendar
Obviously, the two gentleman I interviewed are must-sees for the month. But here are some other worthy visits, led by M83, who released one of my favorite albums of the year, an ’80s-influenced gem. He plays two shows at Empty Bottle on 5/29. On the same night, a great rock double bill is scheduled at the Double Door: French Kicks and Frightened Rabbit (a Scottish group that has also produced a favorite album of mine this year).

On 5/9, at the deafening Aragon Ballroom, the feisty “bamboo banger” M.I.A. will perform. The quiet voice and soothing sounds of El Perro Del Mar hit Schubas on 5/12. The next night, experimental kings Liars play Reggie’s Rock Club. Underrated rock band Pela plays Schubas on 5/21, and Champaign’s finest Headlights bring pop to Schubas the following night. On 5/23, Pixies-esque Blood on the Wall rock out the Empty Bottle; the same night Snowden rocks out Subterranean. Female rockers The Long Blondes are at Logan Square Auditorium on 5/24. The infectious lads of Los Campesinos! (interviewed in these pages before Lollapalooza last year) play two shows at the Empty Bottle 5/26 and 5/27.

Keep sending me your music or anything else on your mind at danochwat@hotmail.com. I’ve also joined the MySpace army, so give The Real Chicago some love at http://www.myspace.com/danochwat

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