Matthew Albert Costa (born June 16, 1982) is an American singer-songwriter from
Huntington Beach, California
Huntington Beach is a seaside city in Orange County in Southern California, located southeast of Downtown Los Angeles. The city is named after American businessman Henry E. Huntington. The population was 198,711 during the 2020 census, maki ...
, United States. He has 13
independent
Independent or Independents may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups
* Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s
* Independe ...
releases: 7 self-recorded EPs, 6 complete LPs, 4 of which are released via Brushfire Records. His first album in five years, ''Santa Rosa Fangs'', was released on May 18, 2018, on
Dangerbird Records
Dangerbird Records is an independent record label in Los Angeles, California. The label is home to artists from around the world and part of the burgeoning Silver Lake music scene. The label has had international success from its small roster of a ...
.
Life
Matt Costa, who is of Portuguese descent, states that his father works in the airline business. In early 2003, Matt's homemade demo reached
No Doubt
No Doubt is an American rock band from Anaheim, California, formed in 1986. For most of their career, the band has consisted of vocalist Gwen Stefani, guitarist Tom Dumont, bassist Tony Kanal, and drummer Adrian Young. Since the mid-1990s, t ...
guitarist Tom Dumont, who offered to record more demos for Costa in his home studio. Those first recordings led to two EPs (Matt Costa EP, Elasmosaurus EP) that Costa and Dumont distributed themselves. These were later combined and mixed by Phil Ek to form Costa's first full-length CD entitled '' Songs We Sing''.
Costa spent the summer of 2005 opening on Jack Johnson's summer tour. He has since toured with
Modest Mouse
Modest Mouse is an American rock band formed in 1992 in Issaquah, Washington, and currently based in Portland, Oregon. The founding members are lead singer/guitarist Isaac Brock, drummer Jeremiah Green, and bassist Eric Judy. Strongly influenc ...
Death Cab for Cutie
Death Cab for Cutie is an American rock band formed in Bellingham, Washington, in 1997. The band is currently composed of Ben Gibbard (vocals, guitar, piano), Nick Harmer (bass), Dave Depper (guitar, keyboards, backing vocals), Zac Rae (keyb ...
. Costa joined Jack Johnson for his 2006 European tour. He has also contributed to the Jack Johnson and Friends Curious George soundtrack; his track is entitled "Lullaby". This song was taken from his ''The Elasmosaurus EP.'' Costa has also toured extensively in Australia, New Zealand, Europe, Asia and South America.
The video for Costa's first single "Cold December" was released February 2, 2006. On July 31, 2007, he released a song titled "If You Took To Me" as part of the environmentally minded polar bear documentary ''
Arctic Tale
''Arctic Tale'' is a 2007 American documentary film from the National Geographic Society about the life cycle of a walrus and her calf, and a polar bear and her cubs, in a similar vein to the 2005 hit production ''March of the Penguins'', also f ...
'' and its soundtrack.
On October 7, 2007, Matt released the first single, "Mr. Pitiful," from his record '' Unfamiliar Faces.'' The song "Mr. Pitiful" was used during a scene with
Paul Rudd
Paul Stephen Rudd (born April 6, 1969) is an American actor. He studied theater at the University of Kansas and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, before making his acting debut in 1991. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in ...
in the movie '' I Love You, Man'', the redband trailer for the film ''
Youth in Revolt
''Youth in Revolt: The Journals of Nick Twisp'' is a 1993 epistolary novel by C. D. Payne. The story is told in a picaresque fashion and makes heavy use of black humor and camp. The book contains parts one through three of an eleven-part seri ...
'' starring
Michael Cera
Michael Austin Cera (; ; born June 7, 1988) is a Canadian actor and musician. He started his career as a child actor, voicing the character of Brother Bear on the children's television show ''The Berenstain Bears'' and portraying a young Chuck B ...
Apple
An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple trees are cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus '' Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, where its wild ances ...
also used an instrumental cut of this song for the worldwide iPhone 3GS ads.
On December 23, 2008, Costa married.
''Mobile Chateau'', Matt's third album, was released on September 21, 2010, via Brushfire Records. The record was recorded at Pheasant Studios in Santa Ana, California as Costa's first solo production.
In 2012, he released an EP titled ''Sacred Hills EP.''
His fourth album, which he decided to self title, was released in 2013. It contained some songs from his previously released EP such as "''Loving You"'' and "''Good Times"''.
Shortly after the release of the Self-Titled album, along came a Deluxe and commentary version of the album.
His song "Good Times" was featured at the end of an episode of the third season of HBO's '' Girls'' in 2014.
In 2015, Costa released a string of self recorded EPs. First of the storm came ''Eucalyptus EP'', with its acoustic style. Mid year brought ''Cat Mosta EP. T''he end of the year carried the EP titled ''Neon Brain EP.'' Before the year ended, he released a Christmas song titled ''Many Memories Ago''.
Costa began 2016 with another EP called ''Anchor and The Albatross'' ''EP''. Later, he released an album for a documentary titled ''Orange Sunshine''. The documentary revolved around ''The Brotherhood of Eternal Love.'' The album held a psychedelic rock style. Ending 2016, Matt released a small bunch of songs recorded live when he had gone on a trip to London.
In 2017, the single ''Where Have All my Heroes Gone'' was released.
Costa's first album in five years, ''Santa Rosa Fangs'', was released on May 18, 2018, on his new record label
Dangerbird Records
Dangerbird Records is an independent record label in Los Angeles, California. The label is home to artists from around the world and part of the burgeoning Silver Lake music scene. The label has had international success from its small roster of a ...
. Later, Matt released ''Santa Rosa Fangs (Novella Edition)'' in which he storytells the meaning behind the album and connects his real life with the fictional one he had created in the album. Two songs, ''Lovely Saturday'' and ''Evening Star'' were included in the edition.
Discography
EPs
* 2003: ''
Matt Costa EP
The ''Matt Costa EP'' is singer/songwriter Matt Costa's first EP and was released by Venerable Media. The songs "Astair" and "Shimmering Fields" were later re-released on Matt Costa's debut album ''Songs We Sing
''Songs We Sing'' is an album b ...
* 2005: '' Songs We Sing'' (independent release)
* 2006: ''Songs We Sing'' (
Brushfire
A wildfire, forest fire, bushfire, wildland fire or rural fire is an unplanned, uncontrolled and unpredictable fire in an area of combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically iden ...
* 2006: '' A Brokedown Melody Soundtrack''
* 2006: ''
Sing-A-Longs and Lullabies for the Film Curious George
''Jack Johnson and Friends: Sing-A-Longs and Lullabies for the Film Curious George'' is a soundtrack album by Jack Johnson and others for the 2006 film '' Curious George''. Along with Johnson, it includes Adam Topol, Ben Harper, G. Love, Kawik ...
'' (released by Jack Johnson)
* 2006: ''Brushfire Records Winter 2006 Music Sampler'' (with Jack Johnson, G. Love & Special Sauce, & Money Mark)
* 2007: ''Arctic Tale''
* 2012: "Vienna" plays continually on in-room cable at the Marriott Vienna in Austria
Internet Archive
The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music ...