Meet the Boys Behind the Coolest Party in NYC This Weekend
Coming off a successful weekend in Mexico City where they merged music, design and art, the boys behind Matte Projects are getting ready to do it all over again for their BLACK NYC event tomorrow in Brooklyn. The creative agency will curate an immersive experience for those who've secured a ticket-bringing together artists like Bart Hess and Paolo Montiel with DJs Max Cooper, Tale of Us, Tommy Genesis inside the Grand Prospect Hall. Below, we get down to the heart of the BLACK experience from it's creators, and what's next for Matte Projects.
Harper's BAZAAR: How did you guys meet?
Brett Kincaid: I was interning for a guy who was building a music space in the basement of what used to be CBGBs. I met Max through a guy he went to college with who grew up across the street and best friends with my cousin. He knew that Max was into music and had a music blog, and I was interested in and working in music and events and ended up introducing us.
Max Pollack: I had always done concerts in college and had a music blog. The first thing Brett and I did together was a one-off rather shitty hip hop show in Lower East Side with the group that did that song 'Airplanes in the Night Sky' [the original, not B.o.B]. The opening band was this band Timeflies, who ended up getting huge. Then, because I had been booking bands in college I got hit up by this agent to do a Kitsune party. I couldn't do it by myself so I asked Brett if he wanted to do it with me. We did that party, the owner of Kitsune came to the event, the party was popping. And then they asked us if we wanted to look after all their concerts in the US. That's what really got us started.
BK: The Kitsune thing was really the birth of everything because it was a ticketed concert and it was a creative service-we had a brand we put it together for. We also made our first film that night. We made a recap where we interviewed the artists.
HB: What inspired you guys to create Matte Projects?
MP: It came pretty naturally. Basically, we realized that surviving in the music industry is hard and we had interest in working with brands in fashion and music and doing production work and that this would be a really good way of balancing the inconsistency of the concerts. We had created this video for Kitsune, as well as a few others for other brands like Stoli and Perrier.
We didn't want to become traditional concert promoters, promoting 5 shows a week. We wanted to somehow merge music and brands and do a variety of creative work.
BK: The reality is that it became apparent that in order to survive on being a promoter you'd ultimately have to turn it into a commoditized thing and do things that you didn't want to do. We realized that doing concerts was more of a reflection on us as individuals, it still is. It became obvious that it was going to be us doing bands that didn't make sense. The content side of things was and still is really exciting.
HB: What are some of your favorite projects you've worked on?
BK: I still think, without sounding cheesy, my favorite thing is working on MATTE. MATTE is like our biggest client. I think part of the reason why the agency is alluring is that it's so diversified. I love the Solid & Striped work that we did, but I also loved going to Brazil for a month over the last year and a half and shooting bands all over the country. There's no difference in how much I enjoy that and shooting for high fashion in New York or Paris.
One week you can be in Brazil shooting bands at other people's music festivals, or shooting feature documentaries for huge artists and then next doing fashion campaigns for incredible brands. The international work that we do -over the last three years we've shot Asia, Africa, Caribbean, South America, all over Europe. It's incredible.
MP: MECA (festival in Brazil) was a really great project. The Bad Boy documentary, all of the concerts.
HB: You started Full Moon Festival, why did you also decide to create Black? In what ways are they similar/different?
MP: We launched BLACK because we had Full Moon - it was very summery, happy, a little bit pop-y. Our MATTE brand and what we're personally drawn to is a little bit darker and edgy and New York. And we wanted to create another property that represented that side of the brand. So, it originally started as just a cool concert with a dark aesthetic and dark sound and then it kind of evolved into really trying to still keep that aesthetic and that sound, but bring in art and visual art and create some kind of more of an immersive experience that unto itself felt different to anything else and felt like a more pushing the boundaries way of experiencing music and art through a party experience and through being in a heightened state and having fun and dancing.
There's nothing in common - aside from our obsessive attention to their brands - they're literally opposites. BLACK is the winter to Full Moon's summer.
HB: How do you select the artists involved in the Black events?
MP: When we're booking BLACK we define a sound. There needs to be a certain edgy darkness to it. It's evolved - last year it was very electro dark, with Gesaffelstein and Virgil Abloh. This year there are multiple layers to it.
BLACK is ultimately interpretable and can go in different directions. We look for artists that are a little dark, a little edgy but it's also a mix of what their brand and aesthetic is. This year we have an artist like Tale Of Us, which is techno with a visual component as they're really interested in art. We also have Trim and Tommy Genesis which is a little more UK grime and hip hop. We look for artists that ultimately create an interesting and diverse line up, while still kind of fitting in terms of edge and aesthetic and darkness.
BK: I think the artists are becoming more and more relevant to our audience.
MP: The curation has gotten stronger and more succinct and evolved. It's become more refined, more thoughtful and interesting and diverse.
HB: You recently staged a weekend in Mexico City, why did you pick MXC? Do you have plans to continue to bring this project to different countries?
BK: Because I love Mexico; Black Mexico City was really exciting in every sense of the word.
MP: Mexico City is an upcoming spot, it's really interesting it has a great art scene and a great music scene and we've spent a decent amount of time there. It's a little bit unexpected but also really easy to get to. I think it gave some people a reason to go to a city they haven't been before, and explore while also having an amazing centerpiece to that experience.
BK: It would have been easy to do it in any other major city that everyone expects us to go to - LA, London, Paris. It was unexpected. People wouldn't go to Paris for a concert but Mexico City is off-track enough that it creates a catalyst for them to go.
We went, we met the right people. There is a darkness, or mysterious element to it - the way that Mexico City was portrayed in movies when we were kids, they way that I used to hear about it when I was a kid is that there was always a darkness to it. Like NY in the late 70s or 80s. It's perceived as a dangerous place, when in reality is an elegant, cosmopolitan, super diverse city that is beautiful.
MP: In terms of doing concerts in other cities, 100%. The idea for BLACK is to go all across the world and create these experiences every year.
HB: How do you describe the people that attend Black events?
BK: Good taste
HB: What is your dream lineup for Black if you could have any artist and any musician?
MP: I don't think there's a dream artist. I think it's more about a collective spirit and line up and how it all works together. It's a specific brand for each year or city. It will continuously evolve as the concept evolves.
BK: BLACK in Sao Paulo would be a different taste to BLACK in Tokyo or New York. If you looked at the line ups over the last few years, you'd almost think they're not from the same event.
HB: Dream location for your next Black event?
MP: Pyramids of Giza. Some deep dungeon in Tokyo, airplane hangar.
BK: I really want to do Sao Paulo, or I think some sort of ancient, enormous estate or castle in Italy would be dope.
HB: What are you listening to right now?
MP: I listen to Drake in the gym.. I've been listening to a lot of ABRA, Sampha, Childish Gambino. Joy Division, Galcher Lustwerk. I'm also getting back into my old playlists. There's this band We Are Trees that I used to love in senior year of college. It's really wet eyed, emotional, by myself kind of music, but happy wet eyes.
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