mat martin profile picture

mat martin

About Me

bonecrusher
(see also my work with kirsty mcgee
on myspace and at www.kirstymcgee.com )
mat martin is an active and engaged freelance musician and visual artist based in manchester, working in composing for all kinds of spaces, in performing, and in mark-making. he enjoys performances around the world both as a composer and a player of fretted stringed instruments. he has become very involved with the fertile ground between music and the visual arts as a way of exploring the interfaces between the natural world and the processes involved in making work. in 2006 his piece single stone was selected for the british and international bass forum’s ‘one minute wonders’ project, and in 2007 his guitar quartet shadow musics was selected for the spnm shortlist.
mat has written music for several performers, including works for pete wareham (cairn), rhodri davies (fire dances and orrery for solo harp) and christopher cundy (totem i & prélude for bcl and percussion, ancient bone (totem ii) for solo bcl) which have been performed around the uk and in the united states. his graphic score pebble music (for any solo performer) has been performed several times throughout the uk by various performers and has cemented his interest and involvement in the improvised music scene. he is currently curating a project which will bring together over twenty interpretations of the four minute piece by improvisers based all over the world in a series of international concerts and recordings. both fire dances and pebble music were composed on commission for rhodri davies’ series of constellations concerts which have featured works from composers as diverse as michael parsons, laurence crane, katherine kontz and mieko shiomi. two of the four fire dances were premiered by davies at huddersfield university in march of 2007.
mat holds a PhD from his studies in composition with edward cowie and alexander goehr at dartington college of arts, along with a degree in music technology. his doctoral research has resulted in the development of a highly individual musical language which draws from his sketches and fieldwork in the natural sciences and his studies of visual art theory. all of his work draws in some way on an observed connection with processes in the natural world, and most of his recent work has explored the dynamic of open scoring and semi-improvised techniques as a means of making this connection. new pieces such as single stone for contrabass with optional piano accompaniment and cairn for quartet of instrument show the integration of these techniques as an important strand in the culmination of his musical interests to date.
mat has also been working as a performer and arranger with kirsty mcgee since the release of her second album in 2004, and has developed a reputation on the uk and international roots/acoustic music circuit as a sensitive and accomplished accompanist on fretted strings, enjoying excellent reviews in the specialist press. he has also been known to make appearances on stage with other friends such as karine polwart, boo hewerdine, truckstop honeymoon and chris cundy (guillemots/gannets), and has recorded sessions with others still, including an appearance on the brute chorus’ debut AA-side single ‘chateau/the cuckoo and the stolen heart’ (bumpman 45s, 2007).
the diversity of mat’s musical output is rooted strongly in the unorthodox training in both ‘high’ and popular art forms he has had over the years. he has a particular passion for american roots culture ; from old-time appalachian banjo picking to ‘beat’ type writers and musicians such as tom waits, harry partch and jack kerouac. this interest, which stems largely from his work as performer, has doubtless had a great influence on his attitude to simplicity and directness of expression in all forms of art.
‘a person with tremendous curiosity for ideas ; new forms, and new ways of threading together a series of musical ‘arguments’ and scenarios that already ‘speak’ of a mind that knows exactly what it wants to say, and how to say it’
- edward cowie
'very cool... the chet atkins of the banjo'
- neill maccoll
mat martin plays deering vega banjos and rotosound guitar strings
I edited my profile with Thomas' Myspace Editor V4.4
current profile picture by graham smith

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 22/01/2007
Band Website: www.matmartin.co.uk
Band Members: mat martin :
composer, visual artist and performer on fretted strings :
5-string banjo, guitar, tenor guitar, high-string guitar, mandolin, banjo ukulele, voice, noises
Influences: noises, nature, patterns, forms, growth, texture, animal and plant taxonomies, birdsong, humming fish, knocking walrus, singing whales...
harry partch, tom waits, george crumb, morton feldman, chris cundy, rhodri davies, plainsong, william byrd, j.s. bach, henry purcell, the notre dame school, francis poulenc, erik satie, gillian welch, mississipi john hurt, iron and wine, beck, bjork, boo hewerdine, curtis eller's american circus, georges brassens, john cage, kirsty mcgee, myshkin's ruby warblers, olivier messiaen, pete seeger, neill maccoll, radiohead, edward cowie, alexander goehr, les claypool, larry lalonde, marc ribot, david rawlings, neil hannon, seasick steve...
captain haddock, for style and vocabulary ; krazy kat, for general genius and inspired banjo playing ; hobbes (the tiger) for panache...
paul klee, cave art, kandinsky, leonardo da vinci, barnett newman, greasy pencils, textured papers, heterophonic structures, pebbles and string...

Sounds Like: something shuffling in the walls
Record Label: flatpack music

My Blog

cairn for download

hello,just posted the recordings of the final terror playing 'cairn' at the london jazz festival at the end of last year. dang proud.for free download here and on last.fm - help yourselves folks.
Posted by on Thu, 12 Feb 2009 04:39:00 GMT

kazoo wisdom

'overheard' on a forum thread, from someone called jack, this has apparently already solicited one offer of marriage. it is inspired, and, well, you would, wouldn't you...'a kazoo contains nothing but...
Posted by on Tue, 29 Jul 2008 03:15:00 GMT

jeff cloke's pebble music video (click to watch)


Posted by on Thu, 05 Apr 2007 17:33:00 GMT

welcome... pebble players are wanted

at last on the web - happy to listen, write, play, discuss... check out the couple of performances of pebble music (graphic score for any solo performer) and see if you want to join the growing list o...
Posted by on Tue, 23 Jan 2007 05:29:00 GMT