Matt & Kim

Matt & Kim’s 2009 album, Grand, was named for Williamsburg’s Grand Street, a rapidly evolving thoroughfare that the duo also called home at the time. The face of the once-funky neighborhood continued changing between Grand and 2010’s Sidewalks—just like the face of Matt & Kim. Sidewalks retains its predecessors’ sense of fizzy fun, despite ditching Grand’s major strides in songcraft for sleek production, an ocean of new synthesizer sounds, and subtler percussion elements. Of course, Matt & Kim’s over-reliance on sing-along “yeahs” and big moments of fist-pumping (like the climax of Sidewalks single “Cameras”) have always translated best in a live setting.

Updated 03/02/2011