New Single Out This Month!

[Curtster]

It took me a few listens to get into this one, but I've really grown into liking it a lot. I think verses are awesome. I love all of Matt's albums but it's really exciting to hear some upbeat rock songs again. It's great that each album has a different theme and a different sound. it's interesting when some albums are a return to a previous sound as well, I thought Vancouver was in some ways a return to the sound on Avalanche and it seems like Arrows of Desire might be similar to White Light Rock & Roll Review (to my ears anyway).

 

The song seems to be getting good radio play as well. I've heard it every day this week on The Zone in Victoria while driving home from work, followed by the DJ mentioning the new album and that Matt will be at Rock the Shores this summer. One day they even played Symbolistic White Walls and Had It Coming back to back.

 

Can't wait to hear the rest of the album, hope it's a huge success for you Matt!

[Manchalivin]

The solo in Had It Coming reminds me a lot of the guitar part in the middle of Great Whales of the Sea.

[Gomo]

Gomo, have you not listened to the single?

 

Oh yes I've listened to the extended single. I remembered that they went live on Monday and got my phone and streamed them in my crappy hotel room in Raleigh, North Carolina. After the first listen I was definitely surprised, but then after a few more listens I was down with it. Feels very "Summery" but it's too bad that the album will come out in Fall. You know it's funny, even though you could argue the tone of the subject matter of these songs, we don't often get stuff this "upbeat" from Matt Good so in that sense it is rather refreshing. I know that a good bit of WLR&RR is kind of upbeat, but that is probably my least listened to Matt Good album. Not sure why, but I feel like based on the single, Arrows of Desire will get more play.

[Moonlight_Graham]

Matt, your insights into your songs are fascinating, thanks or posting. Your lyrics are more cryptic than most musicians, so myself and i'm sure other fans appreciate your explanations on the themes of your songs. I know in the past you've said you think it best not to reveal your meanings to lyrics/songs so people can maintain their own interpretations that may be important to them, but people can still keep this AND know your interpretations too. During y

when LOES was released you explained some of the themes of your songs and for me it gave me far more emotional connection to your songs, so I hope you do an interview like that again when this album is released. People always have the choice to turn off the interview if they prefer to not know what your songs/lyrics are expressing. A great aspect about art is that artists are able to express their emotions to others, and then the audience can connect with the artist and share in the same emotions (through empathy or via the audience having similar experience/emotions as the artist), so sharing the meaning of some of your more cryptic lyrics achieves this I believe.

[Outtahere]

Matt if you come here again could you tell me if the counting at the beginning of "We're Long Gone" is because some or all of the song was recorded live? I don't think it's all because you were producing so that would make it quite hard. :P

[NonPopulus]

Thanks for the information regarding the length of the songs, Matt. As my username may suggest, I'm a fan of your long sweeping multi-movement songs. I think the reason I was initially shocked by the length and style of the new pair of songs was due to the fact that I've been listening to Lights of Endangered Species and the demos that preceded it quite frequently lately. Mentally comparing Had It Coming to longer songs with no choruses was bound to create that effect. We all knew the new album wasn't going to be Lights of Endangered Species Part II, so it shouldn't have surprised me. I have the weekend off for the first time since last summer, so I took the bus downtown for no real reason and I listened to Had It Coming a few times and now that I've had time to let it sink in, I can honestly say I love the vocal delivery during the verses. It also makes sense that two high energy songs would be kept contained in a smaller time span. Thanks for giving us a glimpse into your thought process behind the single! I agree with everyone in that stated it lends a lot to a deeper emotional connection to the song.

[Computer]

5) One of the biggest hurdles over the last two records has been getting the Edge in Toronto. They used to play me quite a bit, and a lot of people listen to that station and its reach is enormous compared to other stations in the country. On the last tour I had people come up to me in that region that told me they didn’t even know I had a record out because usually they hear new music on the radio. It had a pretty big impact on things in and around that area, and it was a bummer. Were I fifteen years younger, and this was a record by a new artist, I get the sense that it might get played a lot. That’s one of the biggest problems, believe it or not, of being a long standing artist. A lot of the time the tastemakers don’t view you as current enough to bother with, no matter the music you make. Unfortunately, because of that, and that’s not to say it happens everywhere, a lot of folks aren’t exposed to it and it’s a shame.

 

To get played on the Edge now you would have to get rid of all the drums in your record completely, hire a banjo, wear a fedora and use the word "heart" and "head" in 90% of your songs.

[Outtahere]

Nice one! Thanks for the reply!

 

Had it Coming is definitely one of my favourites now. It's off-putting at first as we're used to more of vocal melody type of singing. But it reminds me of the demo for Shallow's Low, called Homecoming, which you put on M+ and it's a song I love, plus the parallel you've done with the Pixies song makes sense.

 

And it's passed the singing it out loud in the car test so that's always a winner :P

 

It's a shame you haven't done/been able to do another one live off the floor. WLRRR is one of my favourite record of yours along with Lights (which I know was not recorded the same way ;))

Edited June 3, 2013 by Tips

[Guest girl]

To get played on the Edge now you would have to get rid of all the drums in your record completely, hire a banjo, wear a fedora and use the word "heart" and "head" in 90% of your songs.

Are you talking about the new indie/folk rock bands that are coming out like Imagine Dragons and Mumford and Sons? Yeah, a lot of people probably flock to see their concerts. They play Matt's songs a ton of times on X92.9 radio, but I'm not sure a lot of people listen to that station because it's alternative music.

[Gomo]

New York City hasn't been able to consistently support a rock/alternate rock station that doesn't play Pink Floyd and the Beatles all day for years. 2 have died out in the past 2 years. We currently have none. I mean, this is a city with 8 million fucking people and we can't keep a good alt rock station alive. It's SAD.

Edited June 4, 2013 by Gomo

[uglyredhonda]

Things are so weird with US radio now - if I were being paid to break a new act, I think I'd have to find a new job. AAA does seem like the right match, but most AAA stations seem to be doing their own thing - there's really no consistency. Every MD is doing their own blend of new and old. (I think the only consistency between AAA stations is that they all play The Police at some point during the day.)

 

Take here in Atlanta, for example. A year ago, we had a heritage alternative station (99x) and a second AAA station, which mixed new songs with stuff going back to the 70s. They were both dismantled last fall. Clear Channel recently started up what feels like an alternative/AAA hybrid. Those three stations have/had completely different playlists, with 90s alternative seemingly being the only common element.

 

City & Colour has played several shows here in the last couple of years with good attendance, and, for the life of me, I can't figure out how anyone here has heard of him/them other than online or word of mouth. I swear I've never heard any C&C songs on the radio here.

 

Ten or fifteen years ago, all you really needed to do was get KROQ and 99x on board, and the rest of the country would follow suit. Nowadays, it feels like a lot of these "new folk" bands are finding success by somehow sneaking onto CHR. (I'm almost embarrassed by the number of alternative-ish bands that I'm hearing about for the first time when they play SNL.)

[Outtahere]

For the international boundaries I totally agree and have been saying the same thing. I'm a fan of Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds for example. They released the record here in Canada but one of the singles and its video were limited to the UK only, there was a bonus track available in Germany only, etc. Or even your song Darlin' that was only available as a bonus track in the US.

 

Record companies refused to move an inch when illegal downloading started spreading and now it's like they think iTunes solved the whole problem and they can go back to their old habits. They still don't seem to understand the way the Internet works unfortunately. Blocking acccess to music or videos even to someone who never downloads illegally is a little naïve.

[Guest Bimbly]

Huh, I haven't checked the board in a while, so it's surprising to come back to two new songs. Has it really been two years since Lights?

 

I'm not sure how Had It Coming sits with me at the moment. It's cool. Riff wise, it brings to mind Circus Clown-- the harmony, I guess. Maybe 21st Century Living structurally (sans solo). The chorus is undeniably catchy. It sounds like classic MG in many ways. I can't help but wish there was a little more, though. Maybe a bridge or outro outside of the guitar solo? Oh! My mind wants the little guitar melody from the bridge played as counterpoint to the vocal melody during the last chorus. Somehow that makes it feel more cohesive to me, an impulse that might fade as I hear it more.

Edited June 6, 2013 by Bimbly

[sparrowmint]

I hadn't really listened to the radio in a long time, but recently started listening to the AAA station in Pittsburgh when my car mp3 player broke (just haven't gotten around to replacing it). It steadily alternates between 90's rock (heavily Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Foo Fighters, etc) or the Lumineers/Mumford/Of Monsters and Men types for anything newer. No room for anything else. It makes for an odd mix. Every weekday they have a thing where people can vote for whether to keep or drop a new song that the station wants to promote, and the DJs often read the texts and tweets they get about them. Whenever a more traditional rock song is debuted, a chorus of texts/tweets will end up being read about how listeners are happy to hear a new song that doesn't have clapping in it. The overall playlist never seems to change though.

[Guest Bimbly]

Ughh. I guess it had to happen eventually. The first time I have not been feeling a new MG song at all and am concerned about the new album. I fear the whole album will be very similar. The main problem: the vocal style. It's not Matthew Good. It sounds to me like he's forcing something that is not him. It reminds me of Pixies and they have some decent stuff but it's not something I want to hear from MG. I wanted some more sincere sounding, passionate, famililar MG singing of old. I was hoping for more of that after LOES lacked in that department. It sounds closest to White Light vocally, but that worked for MG somehow and was still different, this doesn't in my opinion. Also, coming after just having done a different style album makes it worse. It would be better if it came after a more familiar style album as something different.

 

The chorus isn't bad at all on Had it Coming and We're Long Gone is better I think, but it really did next to nothing for me on first couple listens and I have a hard time imagining this growing on me. Maybe I'm blowing things out of proportion based on one song essentially, but I really expect the rest to be quite similar. I will say it is nice to hear more upbeat stuff from him and the video is cool.

 

That's interesting re: the Pixies. I got into Underdogs partly as a result of my then obsession with the Pixies. I thought MGB inhabited some of the same characteristics, with a flavour of their own, of course. Part of that was Dave Genn's debt to Santiago, which could I suppose be extended to Greenwood and the like (very 90's), but it existed in Matt's songwriting as well. All that to say the Black Francis influence seems more like a nod to his own past than some out of character bid for Matt.

[OriginalSpecies]

Thanks for introducing "Home For a Rest" to me :D

[ajohnson3037]

I have to say, Matt changes with every album...Liked the extended single much better.

[Manchalivin]

Have you guys seen the video page for Had it Coming lately? The views have supposedly skyrocketed from under 10,000 views to over 200,000 in a very short time. One of the comments says American and international releases of the song became available, but I find it very surprising if it jumped that much in that short of a time span. There must be some mistake, or not?

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_S-Ajjk0PQ

[WhatamNot]

I don't know why every time there's a new album some people get dissapointed that it doesn't sound like typical matthew good. Since he went solo there has been very few similarities in sound between his albums. Every album has it's very own vibe to it. That's one of the many reasons I can listen to so much of him. Why would I want to pay more money for the same songs dressed a little differently?

 

Honestly I found these singles very refreshing almost a back to basics of sorts. Simple intruments and a catchy chorus basically the opposite of Lights of Endangered Species.

[RileyLewis]

I didn't like Had it Coming at first, it took me about 5 or 6 listens to get used to it. I quite enjoy it now, though. I REALLY enjoy We're Long Gone, however. Only 2 minutes though! It's one of those songs that you just wish there was another 2 minutes to, but realize that having it extended might ruin some of the character.

 

EDIT - You know what We're Long Gone reminds me of? Native Son from Last of the Ghetto Astronauts. I feel like the line "if the sky or the free world were to fall" should be in the first verse for some reason.

Edited June 30, 2013 by RileyLewis

[IamNick]

Have you guys seen the video page for Had it Coming lately? The views have supposedly skyrocketed from under 10,000 views to over 200,000 in a very short time. One of the comments says American and international releases of the song became available, but I find it very surprising if it jumped that much in that short of a time span. There must be some mistake, or not?

 

 

I just noticed the video has 270,000+ views now, I really hope it's because of international releases, he deserves some recognition.

[AllThatMakesUsHuman]

On 5/27/2013 at 9:05 AM, AllThatMakesUsHuman said:

On 5/26/2013 at 10:23 PM, Manchalivin said:

Ughh. I guess it had to happen eventually. The first time I have not been feeling a new MG song at all and am concerned about the new album. I fear the whole album will be very similar. The main problem: the vocal style. It's not Matthew Good. It sounds to me like he's forcing something that is not him. It reminds me of Pixies and they have some decent stuff but it's not something I want to hear from MG. I wanted some more sincere sounding, passionate, famililar MG singing of old. I was hoping for more of that after LOES lacked in that department. It sounds closest to White Light vocally, but that worked for MG somehow and was still different, this doesn't in my opinion. Also, coming after just having done a different style album makes it worse. It would be better if it came after a more familiar style album as something different.

 

The chorus isn't bad at all on Had it Coming and We're Long Gone is better I think, but it really did next to nothing for me on first couple listens and I have a hard time imagining this growing on me. Maybe I'm blowing things out of proportion based on one song essentially, but I really expect the rest to be quite similar. I will say it is nice to hear more upbeat stuff from him and the video is cool.

 

I agree with most of your post. I really hope this grows on me because quite frankly, I'm not feeling this one.

Wow it's been a while lol

[Sly Botts]

On 9/17/2020 at 1:38 AM, AllThatMakesUsHuman said:

Wow it's been a while lol

It's been one of those years lol.