Good morning world,

It’s been a while to say the least… So life progress report- I’m just coming into the final month of my MSc in Quaternary Science at Royal Holloway, which means I’m meant to be hard at it with my dissertation, essentially the biggest piece of work undertaken in my life, to date. Naturally, I’m filling this period with anything but work, meaning the musician in me is thriving and more keen than ever to pick up the guitar. 

Life is a funny old bean and has proven so these last few months, which can only be described as ‘out of the blue’. Love, loss and life have all been of poignance; a mixture of events that you can’t help but mull over in one of those “am I doing life right?" moments. 

Anywho here are the fruits of all this codswallop:

 

Memento Mori

Overgrown, gagged, bound and sold for gold, two by two towing our brothers downstream to the mold. My mother said, we’d best do what we’ve been told, god knows I love her like marling and others, but I don’t know. Life but a moment powered by the sun, live for the living repose is to come. By the barrow-load, dreams discarded ‘cos they’re old, prudence has met his match and he’s worth his weight in gold. So ride your tune, step up and own the room. Eyes for another, surprisingly good at seeing you through. Life but a moment powered by the sun, live for the living repose is to come. Summer 2013



Memento Mori

The Happy Emperor

The second album by BarrelHaus. 

Marc Challans: vocals, guitars, bass, drums, percussion, recording, mixing & mastering.

Ian Mitchell: vocals, guitars & bass.

Tracks 1,3,5,7 & 9 by Marc Challans.
Tracks 2, 4, 6 & 8 by Ian Mitchell.

Special thanks to Grace & Alice.

All Aboard

Debut track from the Mercury Prize-nominated Sam Lee's second album The Fade In Time, released March 2015. 

Winner of the Songlines Europe Award 2016, The Fade in Time is very much a 21st century album. Impassioned and hugely ambitious in scope, it is a major statement from an artist and group who extend the borders of traditional English/Scottish/European music beyond national boundaries to encompass Bollywood beats, Polynesian textures and contemporary classical music.

The Fade in Time

Buy on Bandcamp

Blackbird

FAT WHITE FAMILY - WHITEST BOY ON THE BEACH

Storm the Palace are a London and Edinburgh based 5-piece who play cinematic, baroque and folk-inflected pop. In March 2016, Storm the Palace will embark on their first tour of the United States, playing a handful of dates in Northern California and the Pacific Northwest.

* March 9, 2016 @ Hotel Utah, San Francisco, CA with Virgin of the Birds and Anju's Pale Blue Eyes
* March 10, 2016 @ The Wandering Goat, Eugene, OR with Virgin of the Birds and Dalembert
* March 11, 2016 @ The Starday Tavern, Portland, OR with Virgin of the Birds and S.S. Curmudgeon
* March 12, 2016 @ Conor Byrne, Seattle, WA with Virgin of the Birds and the Foghorns

To celebrate the tour, Storm the Palace are releasing a new digital single, "La Lido / Cadillacs and Carousels" that captures the band's developing chamber pop sound. Their debut EP In Ruins came out in May 2015, receiving a flurry of blog coverage and radio play from the UK to New Zealand. They were featured on Tom Robinson’s BBC 6Music Introducing Playlist and Radio Scotland’s Vic Galloway described their sound as “magnificent” and their song writing as “epic”.

Praise for ‘In Ruins’:

"Magnificent"
Vic Galloway (BBC Scotland)

"This is parlour music, albeit with a radicalised subtext. It conjures up a pleasing image of the group members - two women and three men - politely asking permission before reaping destruction on various symbols of oppression." Whisperin and Hollerin 

"Artfully mixing elements of folk tradition to create a heartfelt style of pop." 
The Oxford Student

Storm the Palace - La Lido

Waro Swaro

THE FIRST BOMB DROPPED IN BERLIN DURING WORLD WAR TWO, KILLED THE ONLY ELEPHANT IN BERLIN ZOO. 
from the album "IN THE BEST CASE SCENARIO WE'D DIE AT THE SAME TIME"

The First Bomb Dropped In Berlin During World War Two, Killed The Only Elephant In Berlin Zoo

No pain, no gain
Plain white protein
Supplement your diet with a daily regime
Bulk shake
Heart break
A million pills
Healthy living made me ill
I can’t catch my breath
I exercised myself to death

Too much, too young
No moderation
Never read the labels, never take caution
Take the pharmaceuticals, build the body beautiful
Dumbbell
Drug hell
Dying in a stairwell
Tight chest 
Bed rest
Six months left
I exercised myself to death

And I ain’t workin’ out on muscle farm no more
I ain’t workin’ out on muscle farm no more
I ain’t gonna train
I was forced to refrain by the physical pain
The mass that I gained
Laid down, bed bound, fused to the sheets
It’s a sticky end for the fitness freak
Laid down, bed bound, fused to the sheets
It’s a sticky end

No pain, no gain
Slipped disk
Back strain
Pink thighs rubbing on the red raw raised veins
Pump iron
Kink spine
Suffer on your own time
Leakage
Seepage
Genital shrinkage
I can’t catch my breath 
I exercised myself to death
I can’t catch my breath
I exercised myself to death

And I ain’t workin’ out on muscle farm no more
I ain’t gonna work on muscle farm no more
I ain’t gonna train
I was forced to refrain by the physical pain wracking my frame
Laid down, bed bound, fused to the sheets
It’s a sticky end for the fitness freak
Laid down, bed bound, fused to the sheets
It’s a sticky end.

I Exercised Myself To Death!

MATT STOCKL - I Exercised Myself to Death!

Through a Telescope

Taken from the new Walken400 album Kindness, Jazz and a Bit of Tidying Up

https://snippetcuts.bandcamp.com/album/kindness-jazz-and-a-bit-of-tidying-up

Written, recorded and produced by Johnno Casson.

Money

Contact mattstockl@hotmail.co.uk

Daft songs. Grubby recordings.
 
“Incredibly elegant and creatively insightful lyrics…delivers something standout amongst the thousands of other acoustic guitar singer songwriters.” Linda Serck, BBC Introducing
 
“Smart, engaging songwriting.”  - Lach's Songwriter's Cellar
 
“Matt Stockl's Charm is his delectable way with words, demonstrating on first encounter his musical out-pouring. It was clear to me that his creativity towards writing flowed naturally, giving us an array of poetical, hypnotising, witty and thought provoking lyrics. His words sustained a lingering resonance through his projection of song...from the word go I was pulled into the sea of words Matt provided...”   - Miff Morris, New Hellfire Club Glasgow
 
“Matt Stockl continues to charm his audiences with soulful and somewhat strange musical outpourings”  - thisisfeast.co.uk
 
“Poetic, throwaway vocals.”  Jack Hepplewhite, Mr. Blind Pig Promotions
 
“I have been told that it is quite rude to compare singers to other singers.  And to be honest, if it wasn't rude to do so, I'm not sure I would anyway.  Because I couldn't.  His dulcet tones, off-beat tunes and poetic lyrics have intoxicated me.” Music blog, ‘Life of Lu’

MATT STOCKL - I Exercised Myself to Death!

matt-stockl