released July 31, 2008

OX FANZINE (GER)
"Tu nicht so, als würdest du mich kennen!" - einen passenderen Albumtitel hätten sich Matt und Davide von den MOJOMATICS nicht ausdenken können, denn wer nach den beiden ersten Platten des Duos aus Venedig dachte, er würde die minimalistisch instrumentierte Band (Gitarre, Schlagzeug, Percussion, Mundharmonika, Gesang) kennen, schaut schon beim Opener "Wait a while" verwundert aus der Wäsche: Ja, klar sind das die MOJOMATICS, aber warum klingen die jetzt so britisch und gar nicht mehr so nach Mississippi-Delta wie auf dem Debüt "A Sweet Mama Gonna Hoodoo Me" und auch nicht mehr so dylanesk wie partiell auf "Songs For Faraway Lovers"? Nun, ich würde sagen, die MOJOMATICS lassen mit jedem Album einem weiteren, in ihrem Sound schon angelegten Einfluss den Vortritt, und diesmal ist es eben das, was der Amerikaner einst als "British Invasion" wahrnahm.
Keine abrupte Wendung also, sondern nur ein Album, das im ersten Moment verwirrt und im zweiten dann schon ein guter Freund ist. Erwähnter Opener "Wait a while" ist aber nicht der einzige Hit unter den zwölf Songs, eigentlich sind sie alle solch überschwängliche, lässig shakende Gute-Laune-Tunes, die auch in ihrer Gesamtheit völlig makellos sind. Ein Album, das völlig zeitlos ist, das losgelöst von allem Trend-Crap und Hypes existiert. Bravo! (9/10, JH)
www.ox-fanzine.de/web/rev/60628/reviews.207.html

Blogcritics.com (UK, 2008)
It’s at breakneck speed that we fly through the latest album from Italian duo The Mojomatics and their latest release Don’t Pretend That You Know Me (Ghost Records, Italy 2008). It certainly isn’t quite what you normally associate with dreamy watery Venice but what you do get from these two guys is foot to floor full on fun. Definitely not music to drive your car or even row your Gondola to, this is fast – so very fast – finishing all to quickly and leaving you to feel as though you have just been hit by a musical whirlwind.The Mojomatics are in fact MojoMatt who covers vocals, guitar, and harmonica and DavMatic on drums, who formed back in 2003 going on to release an E.P. Devil Got My Woman shortly after. Since then they have steadily built a solid, hungry base of admirers as they seemingly tap into just about every conceivable musical influence to produce some really good fun albums.Don’t Pretend That You Know Me successfully carries that trend on with an album containing so much energy and enthusiasm that you really want to get out there and see them do this live. This is a real feel good party animal record or one that you could put on and play spot the musical styles to. There’s early Stones (listen to those opening chords), late Stones, bluegrass, rock, swamp blues, country, hillbilly, more rock, and even folk and it’s all played at a full on punk turn of pace. Does it work? You bet.This will cheer up even your worst Monday morning, going back to work hangover. Like a much needed shot of adrenalin, it’s all over in an, all too brief, flash with the whole album lasting just over thirty electrified minutes in a set of songs that are no doubt being thrashed out at their concerts to the delight of their fans. In fact, a total of twelve tracks are crammed into that eventful half hour, all written by the wired talent of MojoMatt himself.With hardly time to catch your breath the pair lead you through an intoxicating set that builds nicely upon their previous two albums A Sweet Mama Gonna Hoodoo Me (2004) and Songs for Faraway Lovers (2006). The effect is like being transported back to some smoky club in the sixties where the band played with full on enthusiasm and raw energy. As they have travelled around supporting the likes of The Arctic Monkeys, they have built quite a reputation. When tracks like “Miss Me When I’m Gone” kick in and Matt launches into his harmonica, straight out of, how I imagine, very early Cavern Club John Lennon or Brian Jones or Mick Jagger and you can see just why.Play this without stomping your feet or, heaven forbid, getting the urge to take to the dance floor and ruin your reputation for ever. Whilst paying homage to all the various genres listed above, there is little room for anything innovatively creative here. Instead you listen as the band deliver track after track of familiar sounding and yet totally new material. Quite how two people manage to come up with such a big ‘live’ raw sounding album is beyond me. That is what it is, rough and ready and eager to please.The album’s title actually sums up the pair – Don’t Pretend That You Know Me – well, you won’t know The Mojomatics – not until you’ve heard this. “Clean My Sins” is extraordinarily catchy and the swampy driving “Askin’ for a better circumstance” is another great bit of fun. “Hole in my Heart” could be Dave Edmunds or countless others, while “Stars Above” takes an altogether different direction this time with Dylanesque mouth organ. “Losin’ Time” is a definite time machine for us old enough to remember some of those heady days gone by. Now here we are in Venice where it is being brought back to life with some impossibly good fun, full of infectious energy and a sound that, amazingly, comes from just two guys.
To catch these live would be an experience
blogcritics.org/music-review-the-mojomatics-dont-pretend/

Blogcritics.com (UK, 2008)
Don’t Pretend That You Know Me successfully carries that trend on with an album containing so much energy and enthusiasm that you really want to get out there and see them do this live. This is a real feel good party animal record or one that you could put on and play spot the musical styles to. There’s early Stones (listen to those opening chords), late Stones, bluegrass, rock, swamp blues, country, hillbilly, more rock, and even folk and it’s all played at a full on punk turn of pace. Does it work? You bet.This will cheer up even your worst Monday morning, going back to work hangover. Like a much needed shot of adrenalin, it’s all over in an, all too brief, flash with the whole album lasting just over thirty electrified minutes in a set of songs that are no doubt being thrashed out at their concerts to the delight of their fans. In fact, a total of twelve tracks are crammed into that eventful half hour, all written by the wired talent of MojoMatt himself.With hardly time to catch your breath the pair lead you through an intoxicating set that builds nicely upon their previous two albums A Sweet Mama Gonna Hoodoo Me (2004) and Songs for Faraway Lovers (2006). The effect is like being transported back to some smoky club in the sixties where the band played with full on enthusiasm and raw energy. As they have travelled around supporting the likes of The Arctic Monkeys, they have built quite a reputation. When tracks like “Miss Me When I’m Gone” kick in and Matt launches into his harmonica, straight out of, how I imagine, very early Cavern Club John Lennon or Brian Jones or Mick Jagger and you can see just why.Play this without stomping your feet or, heaven forbid, getting the urge to take to the dance floor and ruin your reputation for ever. Whilst paying homage to all the various genres listed above, there is little room for anything innovatively creative here. Instead you listen as the band deliver track after track of familiar sounding and yet totally new material. Quite how two people manage to come up with such a big ‘live’ raw sounding album is beyond me. That is what it is, rough and ready and eager to please. The album’s title actually sums up the pair – Don’t Pretend That You Know Me – well, you won’t know The Mojomatics – not until you’ve heard this. “Clean My Sins” is extraordinarily catchy and the swampy driving “Askin’ for a better circumstance” is another great bit of fun. “Hole in my Heart” could be Dave Edmunds or countless others, while “Stars Above” takes an altogether different direction this time with Dylanesque mouth organ. “Losin’ Time” is a definite time machine for us old enough to remember some of those heady days gone by. Now here we are in Venice where it is being brought back to life with some impossibly good fun, full of infectious energy and a sound that, amazingly, comes from just two guys.(JP)
blogcritics.org/music-review-the-mojomatics-dont-pretend/

Popmatters.com (UK, 2009)
If the Flamin’ Groovies (circa ‘73) had been placed in a pressure cooker, put on simmer and reduced to a duo, Italy’s the Mojomatics could very well have been the end result. MojoMatt Bordin (vocals/guitar/harmonica) and DavMatic (drums/percussion) play melodic garage rock that’s informed, in near equal measure, by the wilder side of mid-‘60s British rhythm and blues, some stonking rockabilly and blistering proto-punk glam that never sounds derivative on their third album Don’t Pretend That You Know Me. Opening with a respectful nod, riffage-wise, to the Rolling Stones’ “Paint It Black” on the album’s single “Wait a While”, the dynamic duo (since expanded to a dynamic trio with Gabriele on bass) from Venice storm onward with a dip into the Mississippi on the superb Delta belter “Askin’ For a Better Circumstance”, pull out all the stops on the short but oh so sweet rampaging punk of “You Are Not Me (Fortunately)” before closing the album in some style with the staccato powerpop of “Winter Got No Eyes”. With 12 originals in 30 minutes—these guys don’t stop to take prisoners.
www.popmatters.com/review/70719-the-mojomatics-dont-pretend-that-you-know-me/