| Matt Marka was born
and raised in Mankato, MN, where he
formed my first band, Naked Bob, with
some friends in high school. Over
the span of seven years, Naked Bob
released three albums on Matt's P.A.W.
records and toured the Midwest. Along
the way, they transformed from an
acoustic trio to a rock band compared
to groups such as Husker Du and Jawbox.
During his Naked Bob years, Matt was
also in a punk band called Dog Day
that released one 7 inch and toured
North America during its short existence.
In 1998, just before
moving to Minneapolis, Matt Marka
released his first solo record called
How Much Has Changed, under the name
of Brittle. How Much Has Changed was
followed by two records, 1999's One
Less Ruth and 2001's Repeat Pete Repete.
During this time, Matt played a hell
of a lot solo, for a little while
with a string section, and for a time
with drummer Mike Koch. Matt has opened
local shows for Edith Frost, Grant
Hart, Tim Easton, John Darnielle of
The Mountain Goats and many more.
The new record, Good-bye
Gracious, was recorded at Trail Mix
Studios with Matt Duff engineering
and co-producing the affair. Matt
made every noise on this record except
for the drums, played by Mike Koch,
and a piano part added by my friend
Jason Swick. Good-bye Gracious deals
with falling in love while coping
with the death of his Dad and Grandfather.
The songs range from the distorted
dirge of "Skin Skeleton"
to the spare acoustic "Lately
I've Been Feeling Alone."
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