It’s about that time, folks. Unbuckled 7, taking place this Thursday at DC9, is almost upon us, and we have an incredible bill featuring Muhsinah and Motel, two up-and-coming acts from the District who blur the lines between R&B, jazz, and hip-hop, as well as DJ v:shal kanwar, who is making waves in the city’s electronica scene.

Matt Grason, a bandleader, bassist, and composer, is the brains behind Motel, a jazz/hip-hop collective that pairs D.C.’s finest young jazz players with the rhymes of our best MCs. Motel’s recent release, Lost and Found, is a must for fans of the local music scene.

Grason studied piano as a child and was in his school band, but he found his creative outlet as a teenager when he started playing bass. His training includes formal studies at James Madison University as well as a graduate degree in jazz bass from the famed Manhattan School of Music. During his formative years, he was a fan of funk and hip-hop, but then later developed an interest in straight-ahead jazz and fusion. Grason cites many influences, including Stevie Wonder, Steely Dan, Jaco Pastorius, Return to Forever, Parliament-Funkadelic, James Brown, Miles Davis’s great quintets, and the hip-hop that came out of Brooklyn and Queens in the 1990s. All of these influences come to bear in Motel’s live performance.