Os Beaches

Portuguese-American guitarist/songwriter Mark Matos and his super-collective, Os Beaches, traffic in Americalia: a mutant mix of Desert Rock, Tropicalia, California Country and San Francisco Psychedelia. MM & OB's well received 2009 debut, Words Of The Knife, drew comparisons to Beck (All Music Guide), John Steinbeck's California regionalism (Crawdaddy), and Howe Gelb (Present Magazine). Featuring contributions from members of Girls, The Blank Tapes, and Jolie Holland's band, the album inspired the LA Weekly to proclaim "Mark Matos & Os Beaches re-invent Western Exotica." In 2012 Matos was the subject of feature stories in both the SF Bay Guardian and the SF Weekly, which described Matos' performances as having "an electric unpredictability... the sense that the music could leap into something incredible at any moment, and it often does." In the same year the band headlined the Great American Music Hall, performed a rock opera with props built by Phil Lesh's prop team, and established their own Last Waltz style rock & roll roadshow/Residency, The Family Folk Explosion. MM's current digital release, Coyote & The Crosser, features Iggy & The Stooges' Steve Mackay and was named Top Ten SF Bay Area Album of 2012 by PopDose. It is Part One of Matos' sprawling Coyote-Future Mythology. www.markmatos.com Americalia