The duo of Susanna Hoffs and Matthew Sweet may be the perfect assimilation of vocal chops and instrumental savvy, as shown on a pair of recent albums titled Under The Covers (Shout! Factory), with volume one re-examining big hits from the ’60s and volume two tackling the ’70s. The track record for Hoffs and Sweet speaks for itself. Hoffs’ band, the Bangles, was the only member of the hallowed Paisley Underground scene to sell more than a handful of records, cracking the national top-30 no fewer than eight times from 1986-89. Sweet’s breakthrough album was 1991’s Girlfriend, which paved the way for later power-pop classics like Altered Beast and 100{e5d2c082e45b5ce38ac2ea5f0bdedb3901cc97dfa4ea5e625fd79a7c2dc9f191} Fun. The pair plans to take an acoustic version of their Under The Covers act on the road in September, but in the meantime is guest editing magnetmagazine.com all this week. Read our Q&A with them.
Matthew Sweet: Green Breeze is my favorite green-tea product. This is a finely powdered organic green tea you can mix cold or hot. It’s available online, of course. I like a big frothy one with ice. They say that green tea is good for you, but I’ve seen some research that says no benefits have been proven. I guess I just like the taste, and I think it’s great regardless of any medical properties it may or may not have. Did I mention it’s organic? (That’s good, right?) Japan loves green tea. I love Japan. We attended a traditional tea ceremony in Kyoto a few years ago, and it was so cool. I’m going to add another Japanese favorite here, Shoyeido Incense, based in Kyoto, but available in the U.S. through their Colorado outlet. We have a wood-burning incense burner from them that we love. Smells like the temples of Kyoto!
