Album Notes

A born-and-bred Manhattanite, Kenli spent his teen years soaking up the New York music scene and was the guitarist in the first incarnation of Soul Coughing with M. Doughty.

After being involved in numerous band projects Kenli decided to do it the way he used to when he was a kid (as inspired by his biggest early influence Prince), just him and a studio. "Blue Dot" is what came out and the results are wonderful (including 4 songs that won prizes in the 2000 John Lennon Songwriting Contest).

Songs, songs, songs...

"Blue Dot" is reminiscent of the times when records were more than one song over and over again. Each track has it's own thing from the Semi-Zen romp "RElease," about waning self-consciousness, to the melody-drenched acoustic-industrial "Waste."

Kenli spent a lot of time playing solo around the country and it shows on this record. While many artists get by with only a sound, Kenli has written and recorded 10 original songs that could stand up even without the creative production on "Blue Dot."

His solo acoustic rendition of Prince's "The Beautiful Ones" shows that Kenli can just flat out sing.

"Life could be a dream/if you only could RElease."

"Blue Dot" represents one artist's view of the test that is modern life, and modern sex. As a disciple of Prince, The Police and INXS, Kenli clearly comes from of a school of the 3-minute soul song.

In a time when everybody and their brother seems to be releasing a CD, Kenli Mattus proves that, once in a while, something special can surface.