• cover of Matthew Logan Vasquez album Frank's Full Moon Saloon
    Acoustic

    Matt Vasquez – “Salt in the Wound” on the river

    / January 14, 2025

    Happy New Year to everyone! It’s 2025. I’ll be 55 this year. This site passed its 20-year milestone in December, and although I’ll never churn out music posts the way I did in those blog-crazy 00’s, I sure do love that Ickmusic is still here, and continues to persevere through these wild times we live in. When a great artist or tune or live music moment occurs in my life, I love that I can come here and share/document the experience.

    Tonight, it’s another visit with the very talented Matthew Logan Vasquez, who captured my attention back in 2010 with his band Delta Spirit. Their standout album History from Below was released that year, and among the great tracks was “Salt in the Wound” – an introspective, philosophic, and quite poignant look at this life we live, and this beautiful earth we tread upon.

    Last year, Matt released Frank’s Full Moon Saloon, a stripped-down reimagining of many Delta Spirit tunes, including “Salt in the Wound.”

    In this video from last May (back in ol’ 24!), Matt performs the song on the banks of the Blanco River near San Marco, Texas. It’s simply Matt, his Martin guitar, and a gently rolling river. It hits just right for me, and maybe it will do the same for you.

    P.S. As some of you may know, Matthew is very close to both the boys from Deer Tick and Dawes (check out Middle Brother). Brothers Taylor and Griffin Goldsmith of Dawes both lost their homes last week to the awful fires in the Los Angeles area (they live in Altadena). Even with all they’re going through, they took time to visit Jimmy Kimmel Live last night to perform an acoustic version of “Time Spent In Los Angeles,” while raising money for Musicares. It was moving, and you can watch it here.

  • Indie,  Rock

    As All Get Out – New from MLV

    / April 10, 2023

    Ickmusic favorite Matthew Logan Vasquez (aka the front man of the great Delta Spirit) is back with another great batch of songs on his brand new album, As All Get Out (Bandcamp), released this past Friday. This is Matt’s 5th full length solo album since 2015. Pretty prolific considering there’s also been an EP and two Delta Spirit albums released in that same time frame. It must be nice to let the songs spill out of you like that. I’m still struggling with writing my first full song, and yes, I’ve read Jeff Tweedy’s ‘How To Write One Song!’

    This new album came to my attention via Matt’s Instagram, where he posted a video of himself along his his two band mates playing a great version of the album opener “Untouchable.” I was ‘reeled’ in!

    With Friday’s release, I dove in. The second song in, the lead single “Over It,” has that driving Delta Spirit / Vasquez signature beat, and has me coming back for many repeat listens. The video is fun. I’m guessing that’s Matt’s son front and center.

    And if you want an emotional, poignant ballad (see the DS tune “Vivian” too), then listen to “Recognize,” which is written from the point of view of someone just diagnosed with a memory-killing disease like Alzheimer’s. “Would it offend you if I left here tonight / while I’m still someone I recognize?” Crushingly beautiful.