goodluck/badluck

from their site

“Pirate Cat Radio is a studio, performance space and community asset located at 2781 21st Street, San Francisco. We provide a 24/7 program stream accessible on on the web by individual listeners. See Listen/Live.

Pirate Cat Radio from time to time has been downloaded from the web and transmitted over the air as an extra-legal (unlicensed) service in Los Angeles, in Vancouver B.C., in Berlin, and in San Francisco using 87.9 fm and possibly other frequencies.

The Federal Communications Commission is charged with promoting “the larger and more effective use of radio in the public interest.” Pirate Cat Radio believes that the FCC has failed in that mission by not creating a practical means for local and neighborhood program services like ours to gain access to the air. We have sought licensing in the past and been ignored or turned down. The FCC appears to have no path of access to air, except for parties having millions of dollars to invest. This is wrong.

We do not try to regulate the use and re-use of our program service, and are not able to do so. Pirate Cat Radio will continue to look for ways to obtain legal broadcast authorizations for our service.”

I like pirate cat a lot.  When I first heard they were using some loophole about broadcasting during wartime as a way to transmit their radio station I was immediately intrigued.  They are located on a quiet corner in the Mission district of San Francisco and serve as both a beacon for local arts via radio and as a pretty sweet coffee shop.  It didnt take long for them to write back and show mutual interest by excepting my cds and extending an offer to come in and do a live set on air along with an interview.   If youre in San Francisco or anywhere Im sure it would be worth getting in touch with them, having a listen, or just popping by for a cup of coffee (obviously not so easy if youre not in SF).

Here’s what theyve got to say about the badmammal tapestop ep.

“Badmammal (alias of Chris Matule) is inspired by UK post-punk dance in Tapestop EP, where he pays tribute to the tunes he grew up listening to on his old cassette-playing Walkman. Fusing vintage new wave with contemporary new wave, Badmammal uplifts your dancing blues with “Down And Up”, “Another Bed I Know” and “Sidecar”. “Go On” and “Short Days” equip the EP with a softer ambient sound, reminiscent of The Cure, sans vocals.

Especially repeatable:
2. Down And Up
3. Go On

Sounds like:
The Clean Shaven Grins, Kick Evrything, Doyle & The Fourfathers, The Cure”

and you can grab the radio set plus interview here

Anthony Bourdain visits!

So the lazertits/d-structure party at Submission on friday night was a blast.  i had a lot of fun, met nice people, was with good friends, and the venue was very cool (apparently there’s a lot of all ages punk shows there, smells like beer, cans/bottles/cigarette butts, graffiti and stickers everywhere, and the soundguy’s setup was in a hollowed out van raised up in a loft situation opposite the stage)

-links-

Lazertits

D-Structure

Submission

Here’s my live set from the night, its a mix of all original tunes getting the usual remix treatment with the exception of some Vanity 6 samples at the end

Badmammal – lazertits – tittasticmix by badmammal

available on soundcloud

Back around 1999 till about 2003 I was really concerned with getting songs (dnb at the time) signed to labels.  The whole time I was also making tons of music and not releasing it.  I sent several albums to planet mu, some smaller electronic labels, and tried warp and ninja tune (weren’t accepting demos).  Now I know there are plenty of hardworking small labels out there that would be great to be signed to but with the unavailability of my favorite labels, what seemed like (and still does) the unraveling of the  “music industry”, and a fear of death before interfacing with the world led me to self release albums under the goodluck/badluck name.

As you can  imagine the results are mixed.  I get all profits, see where the sales are coming from, and get to interact directly with my fans.  That being said I dont have nearly as much exposure whether it be from lack of clout or lack of advertising money.  I wouldn’t exactly suggest the same to anyone nor would I discourage it.  Maybe it’s a question of what you want to do with your art.  Or if you even view it as such.  Music is very very important to me.  It happens to be my strength but I see it as falling under the greater field of “art” or “creativity”.  It’s pretty much a 50/50 split between its therapeutic effects on me and my desire to provide the world with something abstract to enjoy no matter how small.

So yea, 4 albums and 2 EPs in and I guess Ive never technically made any money from sales but Im proud.   It’s what I work really hard on.  Sometimes it seems like I release albums too quickly for hype to build, to reach the people, and to make it around to all the internet and college radio venues.  Before any of that happens Im planning my next move.  That you can blame on my fear of dying early.  And it it’s not like this gripping day to day fear.  It’s more like dealing with the notion of impermanence.  You can get smashed by a bus, shot, stabbed, have an aneurysm, you just never know.    Wouldn’t it suck for all that work you did to just disappear without reaching its audience? If you happen to come across this post/page/my music for the first time do have a poke around itunes and all those shops.  Ive got several releases and remixes under the badmammal alias as well as The Gimps (a ftp rock project).  Ill also be redoing the online shop soon to incorporate it into our wordpress using paypal.  This way if you’d like to purchase directly from me you can.

also look out for photo prints and t shirts.  gonna start messing about with that stuff once goodluck/badluck finds a bigger apartment.

So Ill be performing at the Lazertits and D-Structure event here in San Francisco at “Submission” (2183 Mission St, San Francisco, CA).  There’s gonna be lazers, booze, live music, and fun people.

“A Murder of Lilies” and “Lurv” will be performing after.

Tittastic

August 27 at 9:00pm

@ Submission

and of course forget to check out the reason behind this event… LAZERTITS!

So far things have gone quite well with the Blu Mar Ten Natural History remix series.   The Seba and Bop remixes made the Juno August recommendations for drum and bass  and the badmammal remix made the Juno august recommendations for Rock/Indie.  The review is below

“The first part of this remix project sees Bop, Seba, and Badmammal each transforming Blu Mar Ten tracks into a new and altered state. Washing, rippling rhythms with hints of jungle textures creep into Seba’s fantastic re-work of “Overwhelm”, before being carried away on a tide of sound. Bop strips it back with his usual stark, Slavic style in “Believe Me”, with howling Siberian winds prevailing in the atmospheric intro. Finishing up with “Above Words”, it’s all about the pristine, lacquered beats and gentle easing rhythms of Badmammal’s sombre yet incredibly evocative interpretation. Punctuated by warm harp flourishes, plucking strings and glistening xylophone-like effects, the textured layers are beautifully evocative and bring the EP to a melancholic but intensely satisfying close.”

look out for the next part of the series. sounding very nice

stray remix

kastle remix

klute remix

Above Words (Badmammal remix) by Blu Mar Ten

Part 1 of the Natural History Remixes is out now on vinyl and mp3 in all good stores.

This release features remixes from Seba, Bop & Badmammal.

Vinyl is extremely limited and usually sells out in the first week, so if you want a copy grab it quick.

The tracklist for part 1 is:

Overwhelm (Seba remix) - Vinyl & digital

Believe Me (Bop remix) - Vinyl & digital

Above Words (Badmammal remix) - digital only

Buy it on vinyl in all good stores including:

Redeye

Juno

Chemical

Breakbeat Science (US)

Buy mp3s in all good stores including:

iTunes

Digital Tunes

Drum & Bass Arena

Juno

Beatport

Trackitdown

OVERWHELM (SEBA REMIX) - Vinyl & digital

BELIEVE ME (BOP REMIX) - Vinyl & digital

ABOVE WORDS (BADMAMMAL REMIX) - Digital only

Info on Part 2 of the Natural History Remixes, (featuring reworkings from Klute, Stray & Kastle), will be coming soon.

Here’s another remix ive had the pleasure doing from a great band out of new york called Murder Mystery.  There was a choice between two tunes to remix and I had to go with the female vocal one (things like orbital and stereolab immediately entered my mind).  Turned out to be some sort of 90s pop rock dance freestyle electronic type stuff.  Anyway, it was fun as always.  Grab the tune, its free.   Check out the band, they’re cool.

murder mystery – I Am (badmammal remix)

Quick recap if you havent been following..
im releasing a new badmammal EP called “tapestop” , its an homage of sorts to my favorite english guitar/synth bands (post punk/rock, dance, whatever). it will be available in mp3 format from itunes, amazon, cdbaby and the usual avenues of digital distribution as well as in limited (15 copies) cd format with handmade collaged packaging.

here are the cd cases

“bo jackson was here” $?

“Cigar Twins” $?

“Columbia Harmony” $?

“Deion Schefter” $?

“Emmanuel is Insecure” $?

(more…)

If you haven’t already read about the upcoming badmammal ep “tapestop” then Ill give a quick explanation.  Aside from being available in digital format it will be available in limited quantity cd format (10-15) with handmade collage packaging.  the first five cd purchase will include a version of “tapestop” on cassette tape.

So, the other day I went out and purchased some fun tapes to record on and began the recording process.

while all that stuff is going on ive been working on assembling the cd packaging and doing some collage work.

here are two almost finished cds

more news and pics as they come

-chris

just gotta write one more tune and get artwork together. hopefully i can have this ep ready for purchase this summer. Im thinking Ill hand make the cd’s this time around (like the Community Music Center EP.. which there are 7 left BTW!) and sell the rest digitally.

tracklist so far (not in order)

1.  short days

2.  sidecar

3. another bed, i know

4. down and up

thanks for all the support

more info soonish

-chris