words/music/more words – a dish of news, July ’14
this, but on the radio
I’ve got an hour of spoken word and live music coming out on Radio Reverb, hopefully on Sun 27 July at 11pm (then repeated three times the following week). A preview of the first two and a half minutes can be heard here. That’s 97.2FM kids.*
It was a buzz to put together – kind of nerve-wracking too… if I manage to hold yr attention, unsettle you a bit: good.
Otherwise, got some gigs coming – including a London leg of Waterghosts.
UPDATE:
*& it’s now going out on Sun 24th August. Not sure what happened there, but it’s confirmed for broadcast on this date.
…& now it’s gone. Waterghosts, plus gig news
Waterghosts was a success; both on its own terms and going by audience reaction. Jamie Sturrock, awkward visionary, I salute you (many people can talk a good game about stuff like this, very few actually risk doing it).
It was exciting to read out my writing in the pulpit, and to work with so many talented musicians and performers; sitting in the engine room and feeling all that improvised sonic deviltry strafing the church was wonderful.
Now I’ve got some gigs, first one Sunday 1 June.
a few Waterghosts pics – more on my Facebook page:
Waterghosts @ Brighton Fringe, May 2014
It’s finally happening: at the Brighton Fringe in May at St Mary’s Church, and should be wonderfully mental.
Won’t say more at present – largely because I don’t know much more myself – but I’ll be performing a spoken word piece, and there’ll be music / sound, dancers, sculpture, and a certain amount of the kind of thing you see in the photo above. (That’s not me up there btw but Jamie Sturrock, whose brainchild all of this holy madness is.)
Lou Reed tribute gig, Sat 7th Dec, Kemptown
visitation of an American Poet
I’m playing at a Lou Reed tribute night in Kemptown, (At The) Coach House. It starts at 7pm, on Sat 7th Dec. Here’s the address:
22 Walpole Road
Brighton BN2
There’ll be loads of people playing songs from all across his incredible body of work. I’m doing… Actually, no. If you want to find out, you’ll have to come along. Anyway, it promises to be a fantastic celebration.
on the radio, muttering – Sunday 28 July (& Tue, Wed, Fri…)
preliminary notes
I’m on Radio Reverb this Sunday as part of an hour-long programme of spoken word and improvised music – that’s 28 July at 11pm, on 97.2FM. The programme’s repeated at the following times:
Tue 30 July 7am
Wed 31 July 11am, &
Fri 2 Aug 5am
Water Ghost whispers
the logbook…
It’s been a while, but then this time of year’s rarely very dramatic.
Lately, the focus is on improvising, found sounds and field recordings – for instance, a spoken word piece I just did with a sound artist named Jamie Sturrock.
He’d produced a very eerie soundscape called water ghosts, based on noises obtained by dangling a mic into an underground cavern in Scotland. I wrote a response after sitting in the dark with it, then recorded this with him. The results, when finished, may be released at some point – but that’s out of my hands, and part of a larger ongoing project. More news on this if/when I have it.
Anyway, it’s very exciting so far; Jamie’s website (with water ghosts toward the bottom of the page) can be found here.
Unpeeled album review + TOUR NEWS
The 13th August update of Unpeeled has very positive things to say about Glow in the Dark – “once in a blue one, you come across something of genuine interest”, for a start – and I’ve taken the liberty of quoting the entire review somewhere on here. Go to the site, though, it’s all good writing (and they clearly have excellent taste).
Tomorrow sees the first date of MINOTAUR – South Seas Live in Sheffield. Facebook pg for that specific gig here.
Wish me luck – or a gloriously messy death. x
GLOW IN THE DARK out today – reviewed by Whiteboard Project
GLOW IN THE DARK – album #2 – is now available from Bandcamp, Amazon, Spotify & the rest. My advice is get it from Bandcamp, where it comes with extras.
It’s been reviewed by Whiteboard Project, here. (Scroll down, it’s the second or third item.) It “will infuriate some and delight others […] Highly recommended”. Amen to that.
On top of this, I’m part of a brief tour from 15th – 19th August.
Brighton Souce & Ringmaster Reviews: Glow in the Dark x2
Two more reviews for Glow in the Dark, first from Stu Huggett in Brighton Source magazine:
…And second from Ringmaster Reviews, here. An ambivalent one, this – “at times not easy to get a handle on”, but “to ignore it would be a mistake”… and “a sinister caress with less than healthy intentions which leaves one rattled but needing to feel its shadows again”(!). Still, it’s in-depth, which is aces with me. And uncertainty isn’t a bad thing… I’ve evoked some colourful images in the writer’s head: my work is done.
a(nother) blast from the past: Misfit City lives again
inlay for a long-dead cassette, designed by the estimable Marko Nardini
As mentioned before, in a previous life I had a band called Empty Vessels. It started off as a duo with – hard as it seems to believe now – a heavy but mildewed drum n bass influence. What can I say… we were young, we were foolish, and guitar-based music seemed even deader than it does at present.
Anyway, it was a short-lived but intense period which we moved away from – inevitably, with hindsight – to become a very guitar-chord-based, oafish art rock trio; and even to make a tiny commercial dent. But at the time I speak of, we met a… polarized response. Some people loved us, some absolutely hated us; I just got off on the ructions, being a kid at the time. Very rarely, we’d get an insightful review from someone who might not’ve gone for the music, but appreciated what we were trying to do.
Such a review appeared on a literate and thoughtful site called Misfit City, which has been inactive for quite a while but recently started up again. Here’s the re-issued and updated article on EVs circa 2000…
It’s true what they say: be it ever so obscure, you never can escape your own past. But in this case, there’s nothing to run away from, and maybe something to be proud of. See if you agree.
Empty Vessels on Container Drivers Radio: old song, new programme
the past: cobwebs or stardust? discuss
The guys at Container Drivers Radio have another podcast up, featuring a song by my old band Empty Vessels.
- A Certain Ratio – Do The Du
- Joy Division – Warsaw
- Hawkwind – Death Trap
- Adrian Sherwood – Boogaloo
- The Lovely Eggs – Watermelons
- Monkeys In Love – I’m Alan
- Can – And More
- Sky Architects – Cave In
- Gespenst – The Bloodline
- The Fall – R.O.D.
- Althea and Donna – Uptown Top Ranking
- Power Switchblade – Keep it Light
- Jake Bugg – Taste It
- Empty Vessels – Monkey
- Stanley – Obstacles
- There Will Be Fireworks – Harmonium Song
- New Order – Vanishing Point
- X – Johnny Hit and Run Pauline
- Kingsley and Perrey – Unidentified Flying Object
- Bauhaus – Spy in the Cab
- Human Don’t be Angry – Asklippio
- Porcelain Raft – Put Me To Sleep
- Mugstar – Serra
- Ennio Morricone – L Estasi Dell Oro
- Signalsundertests – Kapelle
Thanks, as always, are in order. The song was recorded live at Rooz Studios, nr Old St in London, as part of an EP/album thing (it’s complicated). I’m told it was available in shops, back when that sort of thing mattered. Anyway, it’s a blast from the recent-ish past; my principles are unswerved, my delusions intact. If nothing else, it’s a nice fit with Hawkwind and The Fall.
BBC Introducing: South radio session Sunday 24th June (info)
Okay, the live session on BBC Introducing: South is going out this Sunday, from 7 – 9 pm. We’re playing 4 songs and doing an interview. EDIT: 1st song goes out at 7:05.
Link to their webpage here. Info:
BBC Introducing: The South, 7-9pm Sunday evenings
BBC Sussex and BBC Surrey & BBC Radio Solent
Listen in Brighton on 95.3 FM
Listen in Sussex & Surrey 104-104.8 FM
Listen in Solent & Hampshire on 96.1 FM
Listen in Dorset on 103.8 FM L
Listen on-line
Text during the show on 81333 your normal rates apply, but you must start your text with the word ‘radio’
Email unsigned@bbc.co.uk
…I can promise the unpredictable, the colourful, the atom-smashing. Give us a listen, do!
more press & BBC session news
Here’s another write-up for Hard Science from is this music? Good again: I’m a punk poet prepared to push the boat out, it sez. Damn right.
The BBC Introducing: South session takes place next Sunday, 24th June – more details as soon as I have them (probably tomorrow).
GLOW IN THE DARK album: first press coverage/BBC gig
Here’s a nice write-up for the upcoming album at indiebandsblog.com …
And here’s one at withguitars.com
Appreciated, as ever. Live, the gigs are gradually pencilling in, circling like corner-of-the eye spectres… Also, just been offered a BBC radio session, so more news on that soon.
28 May: HARD SCIENCE released today
My latest single – taken from upcoming album Glow in the Dark – is now available. It can be found on Bandcamp – plus Amazon, Spotify, iTunes etc (frankly the Bandcamp version’s better, because it comes with extras).*
It’s been trickling out through various cracks in the internet already, which makes a nonsense of an “official release date”… Unless you’re Metallica, or someone equally lawyered-up… But anyway, here it is. It’s officially official.
EDIT: another review just in from Access All Areas Music
*Well, it was better – till I deleted it just now (June 2021). The B-side can now be found on the album – as can the track itself.
God Is In The TV reviews Hard Science, 10th May
Good ink…
Here’s a review of forthcoming single Hard Science on God Is In The TV’s site.
It’s a good one: “If these two avant-pop tracks are anything to go by then the album should be, at the least, intriguing.”
Read the article, listen to the tracks when they’re released at the end of this very month, and see if you agree. (In fact, Hard Science can be heard on the Bandcamp player at the top of this page. If you like, you can watch the video, too.)
Hard Science vid out now
praise Jeezuz
The video to my next single, Hard Science (released on Light Crude 28 May) can be viewed above. It was a lot of fun, albeit very fragmented, to make – not the least difficult was finding a vicar’s collar that fit comfortably and didn’t slip out to the side like a broken bone. Anyway, now I know how those evangelicals feel: drunk and throbbing with THE POWER OF THE LORD.
FUTURES & PASTS
old news and new news…
New: looks like I’ve finally got a band together, at least the strong framework of one. All we lack – perhaps – is a keyboard or synth (or even laptop) player. It’s sounding great so far… Exciting stuff.
Also, been getting some more airplay on Brighton’s Burst Radio – check em out.
Old: my former band Empty Vessels now has a Youtube channel here. There’s live footage in 3 parts, and also loads of free audio on Bandcamp. While I don’t want to make the mistake of raking around in the past too much, it captures the chaos and focused energy of those days – just as well I’ve got a new band, really.
[sic] Magazine reviews This Mucky Age
A positive write-up for This Mucky Age from individualist journo Indie Dad. It’s on the [sic] Magazine site here.
(Seem to recall he quite liked Episodes when it was first released in 2008, too – did I mention it’s just been re-issued by any chance…?)
A review’s always appreciated – even more when it’s favourable. So far, I’ve been very lucky.
EPISODES re-issue: Mon 20th Feb
2008 debut EP re-released
Episodes is on sale again from tomorrow, via Bandcamp and – shortly afterwards – iTunes, Amazon & all that bunch.
Not only does it include Kafka Song and the hidden spoken-word track from the original CD, but also 3 extra tunes (one of them exclusive to Bandcamp). It’s been unavailable for a long time due to problems with the original distributors which I won’t go into here – suffice to say a repeat appearance is long overdue. Check it out.
This Mucky Age reviewed
This Mucky Age gets an interesting write-up from Peter Kemp’s music blog here:
http://peterkempsrecordreviews.blogspot.com/2012/02/matt-finucane-this-mucky-age.html
It’s pretty shrewd; but then it’s a great review so I would say that, wouldn’t I? (He’s bang-on about the imaginary scenario of Degenerate Son, which seems to have puzzled some people.)
Anyway, check out Peter’s blog – I’m in very good company.
Nightshift reviews Hands Up
Oxford music magazine Nightshift has a review of Hands Up in its December 2011 issue: link to pdf here.
It’s filed under “demos”, but you can’t have everything: in a previous life, I grew up in Oxford and played in various crap 80s-charity-shop-leather-jacket-schoolboy-weirdo bands, so this is quite gratifying. Nice write-up, too. Ah, those dear dead days – I couldn’t carry on like that anymore, it’d kill me… and I’ve got an album to finish. Happy Xmas!
