Music without genre/The Big Takeover Review

imgres, a photo by mattstevensguitar on Flickr.

Sometimes I'd love to be in a genre:

Post Rock
Prog Rock
Acoustic
Jazz
Indie Rock
Folk
Experimental

Something like that, cosy alongside other people. Unfortunately I don't fit in. Too many solos for Post Rock, not enough for Prog. Too much improvisation for Rock, not enough for Jazz. To be honest its frustrating because it makes it a bit of a hard thing to explain to people. My attitude to promotion, the Punk DIY thing goes back to US hardcore SST, Alternative Tentacles and all that.

Here is a new review of Ghost from this months The Big Takeover - which is a magazine that i used to read religiously a few years ago:
Ghost is built for adventurous listeners attuned to instrumental prog, acoustic folk, and their local post-rock scenes. The intricate and unsettled “Into the Sea,” built upon layers of guitar, sounds like London-based Stevens is channeling both Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood and Adrian Belew into an indie-pop, kaleidoscopic mash-up of the former’s “Paranoid Android” and King Crimson’s “Frame by Frame.” “Big Sky” is as dense and propulsive as “Mrs. Lazarus” by math-rockers Hum. Although sci-fi processing tricks are employed, all sounds are still rendered solely upon Stevens’ acoustic guitar. With sparkling glockenspiel, the tense and undulating “Eleven” (named for its time signature) is the first track to add additional instruments. Featuring a rhythm section, “Draw” suggests a fondness both for Robert Fripp’s atonal soundscapes and recent solo material by Television’s Tom Verlaine. (mattstevensguitar.com)


I was really pleased, I never thought my music would be in a magazine like that, amazing.

So some people still like my music. Thats the weird thing, some people love it. Which is amazing. But it makes it really hard to find where the people will be who will like what I do. To be honest I don't think its that weird, its really melodic.

Reading the new issue of Classic Rock Presents prog I'd say there were only a few bands I really feel any connection with, in terms of attitude. Its the same problem you get finding collaborators, you need people who get Husker Du and King Crimson, Bad Brains and John Barry and John Coltrane and Slayer and The Zombies.

So you're totally reliant on people who listen to what you are doing to telling their friend, word of mouth and all that. I've done adverts in various places but its really hard to reach the tiny percentage of people who will be in to what I do.

So if you like my music please tell your friends :)

Thanks loads for all your support. :)