2025
The Institute: Part II
Just back from Wales, working on new songs with Gethin Pearson at the Institute of Sonic Architecture… Nice to get back to some unfinished business (still got some electro tunes I wrote there a couple of years ago on the shelf, waiting for a home).
It’s been a hell of a year, some real highs and correspondingly deep, crevasse-like lows – some of it I can’t even talk about yet, for Reasons. But it was good to write again – in fact I think it’s the best stuff I’ve done in ages; time will tell… (But I won’t. For the time being.)
x
Analogue Trash: new record label, new album…
“We’re very excited to be working with Brighton’s Matt Finucane on the release of his next album. Fans of post-punk, grunge, and art rock will want to keep an eye out for this one, and we’ll have single and album news for you very soon. Welcome aboard, Matt!” – link here
Just signed with Analogue Trash – very exciting news that I had to sit on for quite a while. Got an album already recorded with a provisional release date in Spring 2026, and I look forward to a fruitful collaboration with a really cool label.
More news as & when – should be some singles first, which I’ll holler about in due course.
Life’s good x
gig pixxx & rumblings
Daltons, 29 July ’25 by LBPhoto
So the Daltons gig with Cephos Powders & Patients was fucking great. The next one’s Thur 28 August at The Prince Albert with Scare Taxi & Nancy Cancer (playing possibly their final gig, for a while anyway) – link here.
After that, the next confirmed date’s 26 Nov, but there might be some more inbetween if the dark lord wills it.
See you around x
stirrings (gig 25 June)
Been a while… Hard to believe we haven’t gigged since late November. Anyway, got a gig on Wed 25 June at the Prince Albert with Massive Luxury Overdose and Morwell – fascinating artists, the lot of them. If you’re allergic to Facebook (and who could blame you), here’s a ticket link.
Got a couple more lined up after that – info to follow – and just signed off on an album, hopefully for release on Eyeless Records in Autumn. Things are moving again, or perhaps it’s just Spring… x
Fresh On The Net: reprise (Eclectic Mix #3)
Those fine folk at Fresh On The Net have released a third Eclectic Mix playlist – which features a track from the new EP, among other cool stuff. Check it out…
God, this year’s been great x
back in the studio / interview
20 Dec ’24
Back at Third Circle Recordings the last couple of days for another – and final – blast of noise and energy… Project complete. There may or may not be two releases coming off the back of this next year, I couldn’t possibly comment (largely because I don’t know for sure yet).
There’s an interview I did to support the recent EP with The Harvest Network, here – like all of them at the moment, it features truths, half-truths and myths, and also that photo by Charlotte Horton of me onstage with blood running down my face (and yes, once again for those who asked: it was real). I like that photo.
Happy Xmas and all that shit x
The Eclectic Mix…
In good company: the EP’s featured on Will Farr’s new website, along with a ton of great music and artists. As part of the Fresh On The Net Eclectic Picks team, Will’s deal is ”passion and wild enthusiasm for highlighting the quality of music that would be missed if we were to rely on an algorithm alone. His focus is on linking the audience to the artists who bring him so much joy with their music”… we need more like him! Anyway, there’s enough on there to keep an alternative music fan immersed for days, if not weeks – check it out.
Metal Express! Guest DJ slot, Fri 6 Dec
Got a guest DJ slot on Metal Express Radio – info here.
And here’s a link to the page you see above…
I’m not sharing a playlist – you’ll have to tune in (they’ll be playing some tracks from my new EP afterwards, too). Hope you enjoy x
2 interviews, Nov ’24
I’ve got a feeling this photo might follow me around…
Two interviews to promote the new EP:
1) Moshville Times – ”get out of music and become a sex worker. There’s more dignity in it, and certainly more money”
2) Click Roll Boom – ”in the bad old days I used to get wasted. Now I just let the energy take me”
Also some radio stuff forthcoming, including a guest DJ set for Metal Express – which could be interesting as I’m not a metalhead; more news on that as and when. I’ve started practising radical honesty in interviews (and life), so a lot of this stuff… while it may be humorous… isn’t a joke – see if you can tell x
EDIT: Now there’s a third… Ringmaster Reviews – ”I’ve tried lots of avenues. Sleep deprivation, automatic writing, improvising, not improvising, being calm, being angry, taking stuff out, adding it in…”
Fresh On The Net, 22 Oct ’24
Fresh On The Net’s Eclectic Picks, Batch 545 (22 Oct)
EP track Dark Hills got picked by Fresh On The Net as part of their Eclectic strand, curated this week by Dirty Freud:
”Our playlists are orientated to the alternative music fan. Lyrics are not essential, abstract ideas are embraced and the fusing of different genres is encouraged. If you used to write band names on your pencil case at school, you’ll probably like the Eclectic Picks.”
Listen to the full playlist here. I’m in great company, and it feels good to feature on this illustrious blog (it’s damn near an institution) at last. The EP, of course, is available here forever and ever.
EP launch gig: verdict
That was wonderful: people came, people enjoyed. Performance felt great. I’m half deaf now and on a massive adrenaline comedown, but it was inexpressibly worth it.
Thanks Eyeless Records for arranging the night and taking a chance on me – check out my EP here if you haven’t already.
Thanks everyone who showed up, also Patients & R Dyer for great sets. I can’t believe how well it went.
Onward x
EP reviews…
Some kind words coming in about the new EP from:
Ringmaster Reviews ”in every aspect the Bang Bang Exorcism EP is his finest moment yet, a collection of tracks that middle fingers expectations and barracks predictability”…
GBHBL ”the innate ability of each track to ease you in, take hold, and grip tighter as things play out, is impressive”…
The Viking in the Wilderness ”should suit those who enjoy garage rock explored with a more contemporary sound and expression, especially if they also enjoy a little bit of post-punk”…
And of course the Devolution write-up already mentioned – more to follow, hopefully.
Do you agree? Listen and find out.
EP released: ‘Bang Bang Exorcism’ out 27 Sept on Eyeless Records
Bandcamp / Spotify / Amazon / Apple Music
Bang bang – it’s here:
Eyeless Records releases my EP today. This is what they say…
Matt Finucane’s music throbs with intensity and purpose. Arcs of feed back angular guitar lines and a thick reverberated tone make for a moorish and delectable sound. Barney Guys propulsive rhythms keep the musics forward momentum recalling Steve Shelley (Sonic Youth) at his most elastic. This 6 track album is positively fizzing and popping with energy and style. Step inside! In Matt’s words:
“Bang Bang Exorcism is a loud, raw emotional catharsis captured in Portslade, of all places.
Themes of isolation, mental disturbance and the ghosts and shadows of the past vented in neogoth psychodrama, big feedback and weirdness: it’s absolutely unholy, and a true exorcism on record.”
It’s a download & limited run cassette in sexy brick red. Enjoy x
EP out on pre-order now…
the format of the future, available to pre-order here
The lovely people of Eyeless Records are releasing my 6-track EP on Fri 27 Sept as a download & limited run cassette, as I might’ve mentioned before and surely will again: it’s quite exciting. The record itself is, I hope, also exciting…
”Matt Finucane’s music throbs with intensity and purpose. Arcs of feed back angular guitar lines and a thick reverberated tone make for a moorish and delectable sound. Barney Guys propulsive rhythms keep the musics forward momentum recalling Steve Shelley (Sonic Youth) at his most elastic. This 6 track album is positively fizzing and popping with energy and style”. There you have it.
If you want to grab it before the release date, be my guest xx
fire one: EP review in Devolution Magazine
have mercy on your eyesight: read it here
First review. Devolution Magazine covers the forthcoming EP in pretty glowing terms – it’s interesting and amusing how the alt-rock/metal press either really dig me or hate my guts, real old school music biz melodrama. Thankfully this is the more positive end of the scale, and soon you’ll be able to judge for yourself (Fri 27 Sept)…
Once again, there’s a track from it already out: here’s a Spotify, here’s a Soundcloud.
More to come!
Released today: Run With the Freaks
26 July ’24: Run With The Freaks is released by Eyeless Records on all streaming platforms. The EP it’s taken from will follow in late September… Enjoy x
July ’24: single & mini tour
single released Fri 26 July
Those lovely people at Eyeless Records are putting out my next release, an EP that’s due September 27th. As a taster – prologue, preface, precum, whatever you want to call it – there’s a single taken from it on July 26th… And a 3-night mini tour, thanks to Southern GMV Touring Collective. Dates are:
Fri 12 July – Nu Soul Studios (Brighton) 8pm, £6 – w/ Mad Simple & Sugar Bang!
Sat 13 July – Railway Inn (Winchester) 7:30pm, £12/10 – w/ Mad Simple & Sugar Bang!
Sun 14 July – The Anvil (Bournemouth) 7pm, £8 – w/ Mad Simple & Sugar Bang!
Be good to get out there again and lose myself/find myself in a noisy room.
Anyone who wants to witness this is very welcome x
EP out on Eyeless Records, Sept ’24
Very happy to tell you I’ve got a 6-track EP coming out on Fri 27 Sept, on Eyeless Records. It’ll be on all the usual digital platforms, but also a limited-edition cassette release – a preview track (single, even…) will be out before then, maybe quite soon. Much more on this to follow… x
Splitting the Atom, 4 Feb ’24
Behold – Splitting the Atom at the Green Door Store:
A video by Agata Urbaniak, and some photos…
…And some more from Chris Hibberd:
(Yes, it was a good one)
enter the spook haus: (psychic) adventures in electro
Ceredigion, October ’23
Exciting developments: been working on new, electronics-based tracks with producer Gethin Pearson (Bloc Party/The Enemy/Tankus The Henge/Charli XCX, among many others) at the Institute of Sonic Architecture in Wales, with a co-writing assist from Paul Hopton. It went beautifully well, and I aim to share the results quite soon…
Meantime, got a couple more gigs in a few days:
Thur 19 Oct at The Prince Albert w/ The Last Vinci, Nil By Habit & Ahsoka
Sun 22 Oct at The Brunswick (Cellar Bar) w/ Grunt Work, Be Kind Cadaver & Fae As Folk
more faces, Aug-Sept ’23
angst, neck chains & pulsing veins… a drummer, 2 stages, a narcissist in the toilet:
photos by Leroy Brown, Rob Trendy, Chris Hibberd &c
