New York, NY (Top40 Charts) This Friday, Walter
Martin (lyricist, co-writer, and multi-instrumentalist of The Walkmen) will release his third solo album My Kinda
Music via Ile Flottante Music. As the second installment of his
Juvenile Series, it follows 2014's award winning and critically acclaimed album We're All Young Together. Set to a rollicking musical backdrop, My Kinda
Music tells vivid stories of music-making, family history, and self-discovery. Today, Stereogum is debuting a special preview of the full album and stated "The album is pure fun, solely because the material is so real. It's clear
Martin is doing this because he finds total enjoyment in it."
Stream My Kinda
Music here:
"I'm a music obsessed record nerd and once I had heard all the regular records I started going through the weird record bins in search of more cool stuff,"
Martin told Stereogum. "To me, this record is an attempt to make a record that someone like me would find in a weird record bin; they'd like the cover and a couple song titles, buy it, take it home, and enjoy the hell out of it. I try to fill my music with personality and to keep it as unvarnished as I am so people can relate to it and feel a real connection to it. Also I copy the Coasters a lot."
Lead single "Hey Matt" features The National's Matt Berninger who gives Walter singing lessons and the two friends discuss a recent (and real) rejection by his idol Randy Newman. The song has been featured on Pitchfork, Consequence of Sound, American Songwriter, Paste, Stereogum and NPR's All Songs Considered who called it "a wonderfully fun song" and stated "You don't need kids to enjoy this record." The second single "Trip on a Ship" debuted on Billboard and finds Walter and special guest
Laura Gibson singing to each other about the complications of an innocent crush.
My Kinda
Music features Martin's signature knockabout and quirky sound filled with delicate musical moments, but his focus is clearly on the stories. His vocals are the centerpiece of the album where he's developed a plainspoken narrative approach that mixes genuine emotion and absurd humor in an entirely natural way. In addition to Berninger and Gibson, other notable contributors include mixers Phil Ek (Fleet Foxes, Band of Horses) and Gabe Wax (War on Drugs, Beirut), both of whom put their unique stamps on the tracks they mixed.
Martin's interest in narration and the art of storytelling goes back to his childhood. "I'll never forget being a kid listening to Garrison Keillor's Lake Wobegon Days on long family car trips. I'd be lying in the nauseating back seat of our minivan transfixed by the warmth and humor of his stories. And up in the front my parents would be experiencing the exact same thing. My goal with this album is to induce that same kind of wonderful family hypnosis."
My Kinda
Music follows 2014's We're All Young Together which garnered much critical praise, produced a long-standing #1 single on
Sirius XM's family station, and included songs featured in major advertising campaigns for iPhone and Android. Additionally, We're All Young Together won a Parents' Choice Award and earned
Martin an invitation to the Sydney Opera House where he performed the album in its entirety.
"["Hey Matt"] is a wonderfully fun song...you don't need kids to enjoy this record." - NPR's All Songs Considered
"Martin's music has a knack for bustling with life, and this new material is no different, filled to the brim with contagious, upbeat energy." - Stereogum
"This album is shaping up to be a beloved children's book in album form." - Consequence of Sound
"["Hey Matt"] offers a cheery, jazz-infused vocal lesson between Berninger and Martin. The quirky tune is an easy sing-along that young musical prodigies can repeat in tune with the duo." - American Songwriter
"[Martin and Berninger's] vocals jive together in an adorable, teacher-student kind of way...a charming, quirky song-story." - Paste
"Walter
Martin sums up his creative aesthetic quite plainly on the title track of his upcoming third solo album, when he sings 'My kinda music/I didn't choose it/it chose me." - Billboard
Track List:
01) The Wishing Well
02) Trip on a Ship (feat.
Laura Gibson)
03) Hey Matt (feat. Matt Berninger)
04) Family Tree
05) Child, The Man Said
06) My Kinda Music
07) The Everglades
08) Where'd You Go Uncle Joe?
09)
Marco Polo
10) It's a
Dream (Night Version)
www.waltermartinmusic.com
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www.twitter.com/WaltRMartin
