In three months, MATI will return to Grand Center for a weekend of music, food and community. July 17-19 won’t just bring the humidity and heat — the festival, formerly known as Music at the Intersection, features a lineup packed with artists who call St. Louis home.
On this month’s new music roundup, Larry Morris, director of programs and partnerships for the Kranzberg Arts Foundation, joined “St. Louis on the Air” producer Miya Norfleet and host Elaine Cha to discuss the latest music from some of the musicians representing St. Louis.
Morris said there isn’t necessarily a science to selecting musicians who perform at MATI. But there is a guiding principle.
“It all ties back to the St. Louis songbook. We are very big on making sure we acknowledge our West African roots through the Caribbean, up through New Orleans, Mississippi to St. Louis,” he said. “St. Louis has had so much of a fingerprint on music in America — Miles Davis with jazz, Albert King with the blues, Chuck Berry with rock ‘n’ roll. That’s the crux of how these decisions are made around the festival.”
This month’s roundup features Afro-jazz fusion, neo-soul and future soul. AJ McQueen is one of the hip-hop performers hitting the MATI stage. His song “Love Don’t Cost a Thing” put Cha in mind of a special memory.
“I have a personal anniversary tomorrow of the first time I met my husband, and hearing some of these lyrics, especially ‘Let’s big talk for hours’… all of this came about at just the right time,” she said.
Morris said he’s excited to have Blvck Spvde in the lineup.
“Blvck Spvde is now deity level of music in St. Louis… [he has] done so much in our music scene and mentored so many of our young artists,” he said. “Just to see him still [creating music], it is amazing.”
There are also St. Louis bands returning to the stage at this year’s MATI after a period away from playing shows, including Morris’ band Illphonics.
“[Illphonics are] my brothers. We never completely disconnected. … In the last year or so, we had the conversation about, ‘What does it look like to do this?’” he said. “For about 17 years we were together all the time performing, and so there’s an excitement to get back together.”
Here is a list of our favorite new releases:
Brian Owens, Michael McDonald, Dylan McDonald and Thomas Owens – “Forever Young”
Album – “Duets With Dad”
Aida Ade, Maven Lee – “Always Be the Fool”
Album – “Silly Dreams”
AJ McQueen – “LOVE DON’T COST A THING”
Tef Poe, B-Magic, Rockwell Knuckles – “GOD4SAKEN”
Album – “Barcelona 2”
Blvck Spvde, Stefan Ringer – “YOURZZZ”
Album – “Build a Temple”
Pernikoff Brothers – “Hang On”
Enoch Raavi and the Indigenous Groove – “NDGO”
Album – “Cinemajik”
Illphonics, Lamar Harris – “Kobe”
Album – “Moonglow”
To hear the full conversation, including notes on the breadth of MATI artists’ roots and connections, listen to “St. Louis on the Air” on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or click the play button below.
Check out these new releases from St. Louis musicians on the MATI lineup
Related Event
What: MATI 2026
When: July 17-19
Where: Various locations in the Grand Center Arts District
“St. Louis on the Air” brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is produced by Miya Norfleet, Emily Woodbury, Danny Wicentowski, Elaine Cha and Alex Heuer. Layla Halilbasic is our production assistant. The audio engineer is Aaron Doerr.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.stlpr.org ’
