The Caribbean

4/13/22

Our annual Seventh Stanine Festival is set for Sat., 6/18/22.

2/13/22

Our annual Seventh Stanine Festival is set for Sat., 6/18/22. More details to follow.

3/26/21

Matt, under his The Jarvik 6 moniker, recorded a version of Pernice Brothers’ “Amazing Glow.” Link here.

3/19/21

Our annual Seventh Stanine Festival is set for Sat., 6/19 at Rhizome. Link here.

12/9/20

We’re happy to announce that we’ve been signed to a music licensing/publishing deal with Superior Songs, the licensing/publishing arm of Superior Viaduct.

9/20/20

New show announcement: outdoors at Rhizome, Sat., 10/17/20 with Jon Camp. Afternoon show, 4:00 PM start.

2/9/20

Dates have been posted for our fourth annual Seventh Stanine Festival at Rhizome.

7/5/19

An album of remixes of our single, “Vitamin Ship,” called “Vitamin Ships: Remixes,” was released today.

10/20/18

Our new single, “The Seventeenth Century,” is out today.

10/10/18

We’re featured in today’s Washington Post.

Sat., 6/18/22: Washington, DC: Seventh Stanine Festival DC (Metrobar).

Tues., 7/26/22: Washington, DC: Rhizome

Wed., 7/27/22: Pittsburgh, PA: Acoustic Music Works (w/Jon Camp)

Thurs., 7/28/22: Columbus, OH: Dirty Dungarees (w/Jon Camp)

Sat., 7/30/22: Milwaukee, WI: Seventh Stanine Festival MKE (Cactus Club)

Sun., 7/31/22: Chicago, IL: The Hideout (w/Jon Camp, Mute Duo).

You’re forced to occupy their barren pop architecture…. You don’t understand it, but, though you might not admit it, you do hope it will understand you. Or at least not destroy you…. You feel like there’s a real live pop song in there somewhere, but it seems that most of the essential moments have been recorded over with silence or incidental noise. There’s obviously still a skeleton to hang a song on, but you start to wonder whether you’re the one who was supposed to bring it…. These songs are for real, but they’re not about disappointment, or complacency, or shame, or attention, or glee. They’re about themselves. Without ironic distance, such oblique experiments can seem exhausting. But only on the giving end: it takes a humble and prolific writer, some cunning musicians, a very patient engineer, and an overarching commitment to self-censorship to pull an album like this off.
• PITCHFORK

The Caribbean’s Discontinued Perfume is a subtle masterpiece.
• WASHINGTON POST

The brilliance of The Caribbean is subtle. It never jumps out at you, but it’s always there, hidden behind Kentoff’s off-kilter vocals. The more you pay attention (headphones help), the more you start to hear the creative production flourishes and masterful instrumentation. There’s no denying that this is progressive pop music made for the thinking fan and therefore may be difficult for the masses to grasp, but you often have to work for the good stuff.
• HARP

Let us be clear about this: Plastic Explosives is one of the finest recent records we’ve found, from any act, local or otherwise.  (It) is beautiful, plain and simple, and a treat to listen to passively. It keeps gently reminding you, though, just how subtly rich its songs are, how much it has to offer. It’s a masterpiece, tucked away in and revealing the crowded streets and quiet record stores of the District.
• DCIST

The band’s songs are weird, self-contained universes, jewel-box vignettes about artists and spies and lovers.
• WASHINGTON CITY PAPER

The Caribbean. Shadowy quintet (perhaps trio?) draped in velvet enigma. Or maybe just Steely Dan on a light-beer budget, faceless contributors scattered hither and yon, submitting stealthy sonic fragments via telephone transmissions and paper-airplane parachute drops. Descended from primo D.C. agitpop, old-school division. Certainly of the Dischord tribe (see: the flip attitude of the Make-Up or Jawbox’s raw edge).
• MAGNET

2019

Vitamin Ships: Remixes

Listen/Buy

2018

“The Seventeenth Century” b/w “The Seventeenth Century (MK Demo)” (single)

Listen/Buy

Washington City Paper Review

Listen/Buy

Moon Sickness

(Hometapes)

Listen/Buy

“Vitamin Ship” (video by Matthew Byars)
"Imitation Air” (video by Meredith Bragg)
“The Go From Tactical” (video by Georgia Perris)
“Interfaith Roommates” (video by Dave Jones)
Moon Sickness Hi-Res Promo Photo One (2013) (photo by Dakota Fine)

Everything: byarsmatt@gmail.com