Friday, April 17, 2009

More on the Tallest Man on Earth

Allan alerts me to the collection of great photos from Wednesday night's show at the Bowery Ballroom over at Brooklyn Vegan. The non-animal-abusing types link to a review by Backseat Sandbar that speculates on how the Tallest Man is or is not tall:
Kristian Matsson’s “Tallest Man” status must surely come from his voice because no mere human should be able to sound like this (that, and it clearly does not come from his height). ... a penetrating growl of emotion that made the audience feel that Matsson was reliving each moment and truly experiencing every word as it was spoke.
"Penetrating growl" is pretty apt, although it's a nasally growl, rather than a junkyard dog growl -- it's definitely penetrating.

An anonymous commenter at Brooklyn Vegan suggests,
That was a good show. He should ditch the amplified and go straight up acoustic, best part of the show was when his amp failed and he lowered the mic.
That I actually disagree with. Although I liked the "this is folk music, and I can play directly into a microphone" moment quite a bit, I think that some of the edge of his songs comes from having the direct mic'ing of the guitar.

I also forgot to mention that he reminds me of Anthony da Costa. He does a bit.

1 comment:

d s said...

My theory on the "tallest man" name is that -- besides, perhaps, being an ironic nod to its possessor's true physical stature -- it comes from the lyrics of the song "the gardner": "I know the runner's going to tell you/
There ain't no cowboy in my hair/
So now he's buried by the daisies/
So I could stay the tallest man in your eyes, babe." It is true that there is no cowboy in his hair, at least as far as I could see.