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
“Envy The Birds” out 26 Mar ’21
Spotify / Apple Music / Amazon
The 3rd and final single from my forthcoming album To The Outer World releases today… It’s a longer track (5mins, which is a lot for a guitar band), goes to some interesting places without losing the groove.
Did an interview recently with Muso Muso magazine – read it here. I don’t normally swear that much – answering questions about my music, anyway – but seeing it out there in someone else’s font, it seems a bit excessive. Didn’t register it at the time, for whatever reason – my mood was fine, pulse and brainwaves normal… maybe it just looks worse to me, I dunno. See what you think.
EDIT: Just to add, Graham Duff’s Mixtape on Slack City for 24 March played “A Friend From Far Away” – listen to the whole show here.
“A Friend From Far Away” out 26 Feb ’21
Bandcamp / Spotify / Amazon / etc
The 2nd single from my new album’s out today (LP to follow Fri 23 April). It’s available from all the usual online sources, but I’d recommend the Bandcamp version, which comes with several extra tracks – a stealth EP, even. As before, it was recorded punishingly loud at Church Road Studios with Julian Tardo – hope you enjoy.
Oh yeah, here’s another no-budget DIY video to go with it, what I done all by myself (meant to make something a bit more extravagant this time, but lockdown II squashed that idea)…
“Something That Can Help” out 29 Jan ’21
Spotify / Apple Music / Amazon
First of three singles – next one follows in about a month. This one’s my last word on a pet subject – a focused, direct guitar number (another last word, possibly). Hope you enjoy.
new single, Jan ’21
Got an album out in April, and in the run-up to release am putting out 3 singles. The first, Something That Can Help, is due Friday 29 Jan. It’s been aired on Dexter Bentley’s Hello Goodbye Show on Resonance 104.4 FM – listen here… & Radio Reverb’s Pete Jones Show – here.
There’s also a review up on Plugged in Brighton: “It’s a cliche to talk about singers who wear their hearts on their sleeves but in Matt’s case, you can add all the other major organs”.
True, that. Have an advance listen, see if you agree.
So… 2020
Well, there goes 2020: thank fuck.
I won’t labour the point – this year can only be an improvement…
Anyway, finished an album which I plan to release mid-2021 – probably my best yet – and a few other bits and pieces, so on a personal level there’s little to complain about. Also, NBTMusic Radio voted The Seizure 195 in the top 400 albums of 2020, which is gratifying. Have a listen, see what you think. Already feels like a long, long time since it came out (end of 2019, actually, so about a century in covid years)… I’m confident the new stuff’s even better, and hope to get it in front of you soon.
Nothing doing yet on the gig front, obviously – did a few streamed things on facebook & youtube in the first half of last year, which went well enough… I guess, it’s hard to tell when you’re serenading your phone… but it’s a bit too message in a bottle, too inhuman, for my taste. (And without the bit at the end of the night where you pack up and leave the venue, it’s really hard to wind down afterward – all that adrenaline and nowhere to go: you’re already home, amid the too-familiar objects. And since I don’t get drunk anymore, no way to zone out. Ah well.) Laying plans for when things start to move again, though. Meanwhile, do check out the Music Venue Trust’s Save Our Venues campaign – be good to have somewhere left to play!
To better days
x
Safehouse: G.H.I (another album!)
Those crazy Safehouse cosmonauts have done it again: a new collection of trios – including me, on three tracks – working long-distance on some free improv musical collaborations. (This is the third so far… I’m also on the previous album, D.E.F.*)
Hadn’t expected to update again so soon, with no gigs or anything like that on the horizon – of course – but hopefully this is a sign of life resuming… We’ll find out.
*It makes sense (read the blurb on Bandcamp)…
a brief update, Nov 20
Washed up? Nooo…
…This must be the longest I’ve left it between posts (for obvious reasons). Anyway, not been entirely idle: spent the first half of this year recording a new album, have just finished a second round of long-distance improv recordings with Safe House, and am most active these days on Instagram – the thinking narcissist’s platform of choice for seeking validation. Check it out here:
https://www.instagram.com/matt.x.finucane/
& the story so far (some of it, anyway), here: https://linktr.ee/MattFinucane
Hope to have more definite news soon-ish; the ongoing gig drought (and threat to UK music venues) is a worry, but you could help by checking out the Music Venue Trust’s Save Our Venues campaign. Please do – and till next time, stay safe.
Safehouse: the album (free improv lockdown explorations)
A surprise lockdown bonus, courtesy Safehouse… I’m on 3 tracks (10, 12 & 13 – guitar, synth and effects, respectively), but I’d recommend the full immersion. Here’s the blurb:
A system of 23 trios were created, whereby no one player could play with the same person more than once. Cards with the 23 players names on were shuffled and depending on the order they were drawn, each player was given a number. These 23 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!
(Full list of personnel on Bandcamp… Thanks to Iain Paxon for dreaming it up/organising.)
This was lots of fun to be involved with – which, at the moment, is the most important thing: something worthwhile to focus on, and some form of connection, however remote. And it sounds marvellous, possibly.
#SaveOurVenues livestream, Sun 3 May!!!
The Music Venue Trust needs YOU – to help #SaveOurVenues.
“We need Artists, Music Fans & Local Communities to act together to prevent their local music venues from permanently closing.
Visit saveourvenues.co.uk to get involved.”
no venues = no new music
#saveourvenues
As part of the #saveourvenues campaign, I’m doing a streamed gig on Facebook to raise funds for The Brunswick – a venue I’ve spent a lot of time in over the last several years, both onstage and audience.
It’s Sunday 3 May, 7pm UK time – on my Facebook page or the venue’s: here.
(Donations can be sent direct to The Brunswick here.)
It’s all quite last-minute, but then the situation’s urgent… and dire… for smaller venues in lockdown: I’m hoping we can all help each other out. Keep music (a)live!
Quarantune / new release / socially distant
Dexter Bentley’s Hello GoodBye Show on Resonance FM played a new song of mine, Caught Making Signals, as part of QUARANTUNE on Sat 4 April: “Enjoy the first flowers of lockdown in the form of new music written in response to the current pandemic”. Strictly speaking, my contribution was written and recorded before all this blew up, but it seems to fit regardless. See what you think – links above.
Am going to release a free album of the recording session that track was taken from: the band, live in the studio, one very hectic night… Date to follow!
Still haven’t done any live streaming on facebook or wherever yet, but mean to get my shit together soon – even if the idea of it feels a bit like making a model ocean liner out of toothpicks in a hermit’s cell. Again, date/s to follow (maybe).
gig cancellations (March onwards)
All gigs cancelled for the forseeable, unfortunately – but I hope to reschedule, once the Covid crisis is under some semblance of control.
I’ll very likely do something on Facebook live or Youtube quite soon, as much to ward off going stir crazy as anything… Keep an eye out, will update on here as & when.
Take care and thanks for listening – be well
x
Feb gig & a new song on the radio
in the studio, Jan ’20
noises (Church Road Studio)
burnt orange (Church Road Studio)
lights! (Audiobeach Studio)
…more on these developments soon
Resonance FM live session + gig, Sat 16 Nov
The band’s doing a live session in London this Saturday: Dexter Bentley’s HelloGoodbye Show, Resonance 104.4 FM – that’s from noon on 16 Nov. I’ve wanted to play on Resonance for ages, so this is something of a thrill (there might be an interview too).
Later that same day in the same city, we’re gigging on a great line-up… Here’s the info:
Sad House Daddy presents another lively Saturday night of exhilarating live music at Biddle Bros in east London. Free entry and featuring…
8:30pm THE GREAT MALARKEY (Acoustic)
Influenced by the likes of Tom Waits, Pixies, The Pogues, Beirut, Nick Cave, Fanfare Ciocărlia, Manu Chao, The Dead Brothers and Toots & The Maytals (the latter of whom they supported with only their third gig), The Great Malarkey are a riotous mix of musical styles delivered in a “multicultural train of fast beats and trembling slams of punk-folk spirit.” Earlier this year the song ‘Gimme Sugar’ from their second album “Doghouse” was chosen by Tom Robinson as BBC Radio 6 Music Recommend’s track of the week, getting played by daytime DJs Lauren Laverne, Steve Lamacq and Mary Anne Hobbs. The band play a special acoustic set tonight, featuring Alex ‘Ware-Woolf’ Gillings on vocals and guitar, Hugh Jones on vocals and guitar and Joni Belaruski on drums and vocals.
“A wild, multi-gendered gang of rebels brimming with deviant energy and fun… An absolute must see live experience” – Tom Robinson, BBC Radio 6 Music
https://www.thegreatmalarkey.com/
9:20pm LEISURE TANK
Leisure Tank are a new female led power duo arrived from Berlin playing raw, minimalistic rock with unpredictable song structures and heavy, danceable grooves. Originally, K.C. (Katalin Czenker) is from Ossak, a tiny East German farm town that was home before the wall came down. Her songs echo that tough landscape, while her gutsy voice and electric guitar can be compared to PJ Harvey or Anna Calvi. She is backed by Budi on drums who plays huge complex rhythms on a gorgeous old Ludwig kit. The duo, in other guises, performed over seven hundred shows in punk squats and alternative acoustic clubs across Europe for a decade, saving their newer harder sound for the tougher British bar and festival crowds. They have just released their latest single ‘Moema’ and are soon to release their just-completed album.
“Gripping indie rock at it’s best” – Tom Robinson
http://www.leisuretank.com/
https://leisuretank.bandcamp.com/
10:10pm MATT FINUCANE
Brighton based singer/songwriter Matt Finucane’s music takes influence from art rock, krautrock and electronic noise and mashes them up into something intense and energetic. His songs have drawn comparisons to Lou Reed, Jeff Buckley, Nick Cave and David Bowie and for several years he has been DIY-releasing albums at a steady rate, getting airplay on BBC Introducing: South (including a live session with an early version of the band), Kerrang Radio and The Séance, among others. He has just released his third album “Vanishing Island” and has a new EP titled “The Seizure” out in November. Live, Matt is accompanied by Stephen Parker on bass and Barney Guy on drums.
“He should be heard by many many people” – Louder Than War Magazine
“A delight. Always great to hear an artist doing things their way” – R*E*P*E*A*T
https://mattfinucane.net/
11:00pm VANITYACT
VanityAct have always been a product of a variety of burgeoning London music scenes. The band started in 2015 in a bedroom in Hackney, with the main goal of being equal parts jazz, soul and punk, and went on to scavenge inspiration from the rich and diverse music of East London’s local bars and pubs. Originally flying under the moniker of Bubblegum, the band decided to start recording an album before playing any shows. This led to the release of their full-length LP, “Life in Colour”, which laid the groundwork for their full-bodied, orchestrated sound, rich with gospel choirs and raw brass ad libs. This sonic idiom was fully realised on their 2018 releases, ‘Original Sin’ and ‘Sunset (in the Key of E)’. During that year they also started their own regular music night in collaboration with Deviant & Dandy Brewery, entitled “The VanityAct Jamboree”, where they invite their favourite London bands to play laid back sets. The band are Henry Louis Ogilvie Dabrowski on vocals and guitar, Gabi Demera on bass and vocals, Alex Montgomerie-Corcoran on guitar, Jamie Burnett on drums and Helen Walpole on synth and vocals.
https://vanityactforthepeople.bandcamp.com/
https://soundcloud.com/vanityactforthepeople
https://www.instagram.com/vanityactforthepeople/
https://twitter.com/vanityactband
