All Over Albany

Interesting in 2008: Matthew Loiacono

One of the best things about working on AOA this past year is that we've had the chance to meet a lot of interesting people. We'll be highlighting a handful of them between now and the start of 2009.

You hear that? It's probably Matthew Loiacono's mandolin.

Matthew released his album Kentucky this year with a mystery: why the title "Kentucky?" The answer: it was named after the brand name of his mandolin. But there was a little more to it:

While naming the album "Kentucky" after the brand name of my mandolin might seem a little trite, it's not just a tribute to an instrument that was played on the album, it is the instrument that provided EVERY sound (save for the handclaps and vocals) on the album. Yes, everything -- any "distorted" sounds were the mandolin through an overdriven guitar pedal, any bass sounds were the mandolin through a Super Octave pedal, any "drum" or "percussion" type sounds were performed by scraping, banging or tapping on the mandolin pickup, looped through a Boomerang pedal.

Very cool -- even more so because the album is great. (You can download a live version of it from Matthew's site until New Year's Day.)

Matthew wasn't finished after Kentucky, though. His Collar City Records label released a "bundle" of good albums this year. He played a bunch of shows around town (and popped up at a few others). And he composed a tribute to Buffy.

What's up for 2009? We heard from Matthew this week that he's working on a bunch of stuff for next year: "a few minor releases planned for the first quarter of the year, some shows and maybe a little even touring in the second quarter of the year, and then something major will be released in the last quarter of 2009."

We'll be listening.

photo: Bryan Thomas