User:Symbologyst

Symbologyst’s Matt Silverstein enjoys jumping around to lots of instruments. Symbologyst’s first album “Liquid Prisms” is a fusion of Hip Hop, Soul, Jazz and Reggae. The pseudonym "Symbologyst" was taken from a rather humorous quote in the film The Boondock Saints.

Matt appeared in New York at the end of 2002 to attend the Institute of Audio Research in the West Village. His plan was to finish up a course in audio engineering and return to his hometown of Madison, Wisconsin to continue recording with longtime friend and collaborator Audible Doctor (Marc Woodford).

Post graduation, however Matt stayed in New York after being asked to intern at the legendary Kampo Studios, home to recording artists including Alicia Keys, Mary J Blige, They Might Be Giants, David Burn and Roy Heirs.

While at Kampo, Matt began playing bass and MC’ing more and more in two bands, The Grain, a Hip Hop collaboration with longtime friend Audible Doctor, and Asiko, an Afro-Beats band. Between the two bands he toured largely in the North East and played most of New York’s staple venues like Tonic, Joe’s Pub and S.O.B.’s.

Matt co-produced and engineered Asiko’s first full length album “You Strong, But You Wrong” (2007). Matt and Audible Doctor also began recording their first full length album for The Grain at the time.

With Asiko, Matt also played a series of concerts with Nigeria’s Majekfachek.

Touring and recording with Asiko gave Matt a chance to deepen his understanding of music studying with mentors like Babajagun (Baba Ola Jagun) Fela’s drummer in the later bands and Foly Kolade and the sax player John Zorn, a pillar to the Experimental and Avant Guard jazz scene and Ran Tzadik record label. All of which are incredibly influential in his work to this day.