May 16, 2023

The Mattson 2: Vaults Of Eternity: Japan

The Mattson 2: Vaults Of Eternity: Japan

Chaz Bundick Meets The Mattson 2's Star Stuff was my first exposure to both Chaz Bundick and The Mattson 2 and I think it's gotta be their best work. That album would make for a good post, actually, if we weren't just coming off the heels of the legendary Spotlight On Three Weeks Something I Forgot What It Was Called Event. I guess this is sort of a double-recommendation now. Let's talk about those titular Vaults Of Eternity.

Vaults Of Eternity: Japan (joining Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez as the first and last installments in their respective prospective album series) is a weird one. If that sentence is confusing you, you're ready for this journey. This release is only available on YouTube (and in my Google Drive HMU for the link), probably because it consists nearly entirely of covers of Japanese pop standards... although the two original compositions here did crop up again on last year's Bohsheekwo. Which you can stream. Being a Mattson 2 fan ain't simple. Between YouTube-only albums buried in the far recesses of their website, separate streaming profiles obscuring each new collaborative project, stealth drops with zero promotion (I only found out Bohsheekwo existed a few months ago because I got deep into the new releases tab on Spotify in the bathtub), and albums sequestered away on untranslated Japanese websites linking to region-blocked Apple Music pages (see Chocolat and Akito Meets The Mattson 2), the deeper you dig, the more there is to find with these guys.

Vaults Of Eternity: Japan echos The Mattson 2 catalog's hidden-gem quality over the course of its wild tracklist. Despite the heavy lifting required to find some of this stuff, the duo's buttery sound is always accessible and makes for a damn good time. Thanks for reading.