Grey Matter Newsroom 05.01.2020
By: Maceagon Voyce
Tags: My Bloody Valentine, Maps, Africa, Local H, Newsroom

The Newsroom is your lens into the inner workings of Grey Matter. Another week goes by, spring in the northern hemisphere begins to bloom, and the world continues to wonder what comes next. I may not have answers to the mysteries of post-corona society, but I do have Grey Matter updates and that’s something. News below, and as always, support one another.

Photo by Matthieu A on Unsplash

The App

We have official approval from both of the major app stores and a cursory version of the curation filters you keep hearing about! We’re going to spend the next couple weeks really shoring up the app experience so that when Grey Matter works its way to your phone, it’s ready for you. We’re so close and so excited to share what we’ve created with you.

And remember, the more testers we get on board, the more we’re able to give back to our favorite artists, promoters, labels, and venues, so be sure to sign up for the beta if you haven’t yet.

Editorial

On Monday we released episode four of our podcast Community Matters. This round was with Scott Lucas of alt rock band Local H. We chatted about the influence of a small town identity, the power of persistence, the secret to the exact ratio of toilet paper needed per neighborhood, and Local H’s new record, Lifers, which features an all-star cast, from Juliana Hatfield to John McCauley (Deer Tick) to legendary engineer, Steve Albini (Nirvana, Pixies, Joanna Newsom, Iggy Pop). It’s the band’s first LP since 2015 and it’s excellent. Check out the episode here.

On Wednesday we published another piece from our Algorhythms series, which has artists telling stories about music they discovered from humans. Our fourth post was from Maps (aka James Chapman), a Northampton, U.K. sound artist with a penchant for music that is highly emotive, melody-driven, and expansive. His 2007 debut, We Can Create, was described as a “joyous bedroom symphony” and nominated for that year’s Mercury Prize. His latest record Colours. Reflect. Time. Loss.— also his most collaborative — arrived last year via Mute. For his Algorhythm, James regaled us with his discovery of My Bloody Valentine’s seminal record, Bloodless.

And today, Max Kritzer gave us another Detour, diving into a little known record by a little known band called Africa. Their only record, Music from ‘Lil Brown,’ fashioned in part after the Band’s Music from Big Pink, is a succinct collection of originals and creative covers. “If Music from Big Pink was the sound of a blues band huddled away in a rented house in upstate New York, Music from ‘Lil Brown’ is a doo-wop group holed up in a brown garage in LA, making their take on the late ’60s sound.” Drive by and check out the view.

Get excited about…

We’re taking another week off of the podcast to really focus on our beta, but we’ll be back the following week. Lubomyr Melnyk, Andrew Fox, and Prince collaborator Pierre Lewis are on deck.

We’re also working on a more robust might be nice schedule, too, so might be nice to stay tuned.

Discovered jams

These are the top cuts our team discovered this week. Want the full collection of everything we’ve ever shared? The lifetime playlist is here.

Industry news

“For the hype around the record industry success to be meaningful for artists and music workers, rather than empty headlines, there need to be more moves towards allowing artists and music workers to have greater financial and decision-making power over the industry.” David Turner, Penny Fractions

Furloughed Musicians and A New Digital Frontier: Performing Arts in the COVID-19 Shutdown

Vanity Fair

Why the Music Business Should Be Looking Closely at Fortnite and Epic Games

Rolling Stone

Streaming Saved the Record Biz, Not Artists

Penny Fractions

Live after lockdown: venues on the idea of gigs with social distancing

NME

Coronavirus Has Left Recording Studios in Limbo

Noisey

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