Ruination (an update)
coming soon?
A long-overdue update on what’s going on with the new album:
As previously mentioned, I was due to release in April with Analogue Trash. Sadly, they’ve wound up the label side of their operation, so that’s no longer happening. What is happening… hopefully… is that I’m working again with Eyeless Records to put it out in (at time of writing) June-July. There’s not much more to report, as life’s chaotic at present, with lots of stuff up in the air – I’m very aware I’m not the only one that can say that, and my problems are small, but it’s hard to know what else to share right now. Anyway, I’m going to carry on regardless. More news as and when.
x
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
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
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 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
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
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
one life to live…
So it’s been a while, and so what – we’re all busy. Anyway, not been idle: recorded 12 new songs at Third Circle, did some gigs… it’s a good life.
The guy who runs the studio worked with Steve Albini for a couple of years and has a similar live energy ethos – very happy with the results. Hope to have something for you soon x
Safe House 7
played so obnoxious on this. It felt great
Safe House Brighton returns with a seventh LP of improvised music – I’m on three tracks, 7), 8) & 16), playing treated recordings, rockist guitar (listen above) & ambient doom riffs, respectively. Full LP here.
I’ve been on several of these now, a project that began in the solitary madness of lockdown and was too powerful to die. This will probably be my last go-round – but I haven’t decided yet.
Here’s the blurb:
A system of 18 trios were created, whereby no one player could play with the same person more than once. Cards with the 18 players names on were shuffled and depending on the order they were drawn, each player was given a number. These 18 musicians sent in a recording of themselves playing, between 4 and 6 minutes long. This solo performance/recording was sent to the player “below” them to play along with. This recorded duet was then sent to the player “below” them to play along with.
Players were invited to record whatever they wanted, whilst listening to and accompanying the track “above”.
The final trio of each unique group is what you are listening to here!
Previous LPs:
Digest, discuss, disgust
xx
nice & friendly: a festival
We’re on at 6pm on Saturday 17th, between Maz Clarke + Sister Wendy and Blue Spectre (doors at 2:45, curfew 11pm). We’re in the Brunswick’s classy upstairs room on the bigger stage for a change – although I like the cellar bar scum dungeon too. Some ticketing info:
Full access weekend ticket: £15 (online) £16 (OTD)
Full access Saturday ticket: £12 (online) 13 (OTD)
Friday Night only: £6 (online) £7 (OTD)
Saturday upstairs only: £8 (online) £9 (OTD)
Saturday downstairs only: £6 (online) £7 (OTD)
…All correct at time of writing – as is the line-up. Thanks to Come On Rock Music for a titan organisational effort: will be a blast x
bleeding for my art – which I hope not to do all over that nice, classy stage
no sleep till…
Peer Hat – w/ Good Boy Nikko & Kodak Kid
Pipeline – w/ Nil By Habit & The Wondering Weskits
Paradiddles – w/ Jenny Hallam & Sam Cooper
Yuck Club – w/ Astoria, Pest, The Mooches & Elliot Cook
…Someone call an ambulance. Actually, no – that’s not a rigorous schedule at all, not really. It is pretty cool, though. Nice to get out of town; nice to get back to town. Nice to play anywhere. Nice to be alive!
Graham Duff’s Mixtape & random pixxx
My new track Eerie World got a play on Graham Duff’s Mixtape (Totally Radio) for 13 April – listen to the programme here – good company I’m in.
And here, just because, are some recent live pix – they have that blurry nightmare feel I so enjoy:
Can’t Cheat Karma! Washing Up Time! (2 new releases)
I’ve got 2 new pieces of music on 2 different releases:
There’s Can’t Cheat Karma’s benefit album for Brighton Unemployed Centre Families Project:
“BUCFP provides practical support, education, advice and much more to the unemployed and those in poor living conditions, benefit claimants, the unwaged, pensioners, families and those on low incomes.
Download it, tell all yr friends, send us money. All profits go to BUCFP.”
&
Washing Up Time, released by Spirit of Gravity:
– The first features shitloads of punk & punk-adjacent bands like Austerity, Idle Bones, Ferox Fucking Ferox, Mules & others, plus a new track of mine.
– The second’s a compilation from Brighton’s foremost experimental electronic collective (SoG, celebrating 21 years of promoting gigs). There’s 36 tracks of foaming noise terror, including an instrumental from me, all based around a recording of Nil By Nose washing up.
I urge you to check them out on the links above, buy them & play them obsessively – both are out now.
EDIT: just heard my track from Washing Up got played on Lost Property‘s Totally Radio show, The Damping Wells – listen here…
new Safehouse album: MNO (plus gig pix)
Another improv album from Safehouse Brighton – I’m on tracks 1, 17 & 19. This is the fifth in a series of remote collaborations started over lockdown (am on every one except the first), so I’ll skip the blurb; enough to say it’s a big listen and a deep dive into freeform sound adventure. It’s also possibly the lightest, most accessible volume so far; who knows what’ll happen when we reach the end of the alphabet…
That’s one extreme, so here’s the reverse – from the Rossi Bar gig in November showing the other end of what I do:
1) MF – 2) La Pequena Em – 3) Austerity – 4) Austerity/Gulls (photos by Jimmy Guest)
It’s been a blast, somewhat against expectation given how bleak things looked in January – hope to do a lot more next year, and that everyone’s 2022 is utterly fucking fab.
x
compilation album feature, plus GIGS
My track Envy The Birds (LP version) appears on this compilation from Aldora Britain Records, ‘King For A Day’.
In their own words of blurb, “AB Records is an e-zine and record label that promotes the music and work of authentic independent or underground artists from all around the world”, and – unlike some in this line – refreshingly legit and non-scammy… A shame that’s the exception rather than the norm… Anyway, there’s 25 tracks (mine’s 11th), including psych, fuzz, folk & coldwave; mine brings the art rock progressiveness, it says here.
It’s a song I’m proud of, and happy it’s getting a bit more exposure; incidentally, the slimmed-down radio edit just got a share on Point of View Promotions‘ Soundcloud, if you’d like to hear it with no second verse.
Gigs? Gigs:
(Looks a bit like I own shares in the Rossi Bar – sadly I don’t, it’s just the odd way these things work out sometimes.)
live at last: 22 Sept, Brighton
So I finally got the go-ahead for another gig in this our post-visitation yr 2021: I’m promoting this one, so you know it’ll be pharmaceutical quality.
After such a long lay-off it feels like a big deal, although the thing itself’s fairly low-key… Well I say that, but it features the immensely talented and fascinating Oli Spleen (with friends, in Gaslight Illuminati guise) & unique polymathic genius R Dyer.
Come see.
new album: ‘To The Outer World’ released 23 Apr ’21
Bandcamp / Spotify / Amazon / Apple Music
It’s here… New album comes out today – a full-length studio recording with the band and various guest musicians, and some of my best songs yet: hope you enjoy (you can stream it on any of the links above). xx
