World Tour Of The Internet

Happy Friday!!!

I am proud to announce the world tour of the internet!!! :) - Playing live online getting ready to play live in the real world/



My album Ghost is back in stock again on CD, finally - you can order it here for £5, unfortunately its running low again now - I really need to sort that out. Also you can both my albums for £8 plus postage as well until the end of October.

This weekend I'm doing a streaming gig at www.cafenoodle.ning.com - would be great to see you there at 8pm UK time on Sunday - its free on UStream. It's part of my world tour of internet - I'm playing live on the web every sunday in October, some weeks I'll be doing specific albums or covers or just a normal set. Facebook event is here - world times are here.

Please tell your friends, this music only really works as a word of mouth thing(and its been amazing the way its worked so far).

Thanks again



Matt

Ghost Trak By Track Part 5 (final part)

Ghost

The last song I wrote for the album - its in a very odd time signature - the original version was even odder. I must relearn this. The guitars are tuned to drop B. The middle part is a melodica - bit Yann Tierson. The percussion and handclaps are Kev. We recorded this at my house when i couldn't travel due to my back injury. I really like the lead part on this. There is a backwards Glockenspiel on this one, we really got our money's worth with that. More faded in guitar chords at the end. The title is not about the supernatural its about the people you don't notice in society.

Ghost
Matt Stevens

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Moondial

Its a bit Nick Drake at the start, tuned down a semi-tone - the only folky thing on Ghost. Glock again on the chorus. I really like the inversions coming out of the first chorus. It all goes a bit metal at the end. Stuart Marshall plays drums - it was recorded at the same sessions at Pinna as the first Fierce And The Dead EP - busy day! I like the solo at the end. It was the last thing i recorded before my back injury got really bad.

Moondial
Matt Stevens

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Kev mastered/mixed the album next and I approved stuff via the web.

I was really conscious of using only a few different timbres so i tried to get the running order as different as possible, different key signatures and time signatures next to each other to create a feeling of variety. The running order took me ages to come up with - i used a chart with the BPM and Key Signature and put the album together like that. Nerdy but worth it!!!!

And thats how we made ghost. Done. And it only took nearly 2 years.

My Album Track By Track Part 4 a song for my wife

Glide

Glide
Matt Stevens

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This is a song I wrote for my wife, it was written around 2005-2006. Its about the way she walks. We didn't come up with the glockenspiel part until when we recorded it, the melody was on guitar on the earlier versions. The chorus part had different chords at first, I added some more inversions, as usual. There is another guitar at the end, a volume faded and looped part, for the fake string effect a bit like at the end of Chasing The Sun off Echo. I played this at our Wedding Reception when i did a little set.

8.19

8.19
Matt Stevens

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When I was a lad(too long ago) messing around in Spencer Park i got my alarm on my watch jammed at 8.19pm - it would go off at that time every day, I couldn't stop it. In Withnail and I they say even a broken clock twice a day. This song is about people getting stuck in the past. The guitar part is played with an ebow and the guitars are layered up in multiple harmonies. I must TAB this out one day. Kev the producer plays drums in the choruses, the drums at the end is my mate Stuart Marshall playing a drum loop and we cut it up.

This is my favorite song on the album, although that changes from day to day. The noise part at the end is me and Kev both attacking a Squier Jagmaster guitar - we really should have made a video of that. This song has a kind of Johnny Marr/Sigur Ros feel. Some people thought it was in an odd timing but really its the Pixies trick of not looping things in 4's. There is a dirtier version of this on Esoteric.

My Album Ghost Track By Track 3

Burnt Out Car

This is in 4/4 tuned down a semi tone to Eb - the intro is quite Pumpkins/Hendrix riff into a Sonic Youth bit in the middle. Kev is playing hand percussion on this, I think its a shaker egg. It was recorded at my house in the front room with overdubs and mixed at The Map Room, North London. The heavy bit at the start reminds me of Kind Crimson - Larks Tongues. To be honest if you took off the percussion this could have been on my first album although it was written in early 2010 lying on the floor with my messed up back. If only I'd seen an Osteopath back then :)

Burnt Out Car
Matt Stevens

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Lakeman - 4/4 a bit Depeche Mode/Pink Floyd. I really like this one - it was the first we recorded for Ghost towards the end of 2008 at Pinna Studios. The first sounds is a backwards chord on an acoustic guitar.The electro hits and bass are all off the Kaossilator and the Sleigh bells(I think) I'm playing. I remember used to play this live thru 2008/2009. The effects in the chorus were added later its a bit of distort and tremolo then we overdub a Mellodica melody. The Mellotron bits in the middle remind me of King Crimson Starless off Red(2 crimson references in a row) which was a major influence on me but I didn't realise until later, when someone said on Twitter. The Mellotron and the music box are both VST instruments. The drums are a loop of Stewart Marshall that Kev cut up. The solos on this were also created by cutting up longer takes. I'd really like to reassemble this to play it live again. Recorded in late 2008 just after we finished Echo, it took so long to make Ghost, nearly 2 years off and on in dead time at Pinna and at my house.

Lake Man
Matt Stevens

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Classic Rock Presents Prog Review

Sunday Free Noodle 33 - A Rushden Jam

Sunday Free Noodle 32 is:

Rushden Ascension - Live 2010 on UStream

This is a live jam improvised bit recorded on UStream this weekend at the Cafe Noodle live stream event- thanks to all you amazing people who donated money and all those who watched and performed - in total we raised £540 for the Multiple Sclerosis Society - thanks so much. To be honest i get a bit emotional thinking about it!!

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By the way for those who are interested this is the equipment i used at the Livestream(as requested)

Free Live Album and Post Cafe Noodle

Wow - that was an amazing weekend - we raised £515 for the Multiple Sclerosis Society and lots of amazing people played, it was brilliant - if you want to donate you still can here. I will post a full blog soon. In the meantime yesterday I promised if we did over £500 I'd post a free live album of the UStream gig I did over the weekend - the audience were all online - I'm talking to them in the chat room. You can download the album here.

Thanks so much - I was blown away by the generosity and community spirit - wow.

Speak soon

Matt