Matt Maltese is a piano-led, 21-year-old, singer-songwriter, who pens songs that are both emotionally intelligent and satirical at the same time. Having recently toured with Isaac Gracie (review), he is now releasing his debut album, Bad Contestant, through Atlantic Records. Here are our thoughts…

Matt Maltese‘s debut, Bad Contestant, is jam packed full of wisdom beyond his years but served up with equal doses of cutting humour, hilarious irony and pure over-exaggeration. This is an artist who merges, at times, understated yet sultry melodies and retro sounds with stunning lyrical craftsmanship to create his own unique style.

Album-opener, ‘Greatest Comedian’, begins with an unassuming introduction before launching into a fantastic set of back-handed compliments topped off with some intriguing instrumentation and beautiful higher-pitched vocals in the chorus; very similar to something by label-mate, Will Joseph Cook.

Title-track, ‘Bad Contestant’, has some seriously funky synth sounds and sees Maltese take on the character of an overly honest and confessional yet fruitless game show contestant.

This is very much an album where jazz and a touch of britpop meet funky, organ-led soul.

Meanwhile, ‘Nightclub Love’ is deeply satirical look at how Maltese sees the realities of clubbing and finding love there, whilst ‘Less & Less’ is an extremely saddening break-up song that is both beautiful and also attempts to put a positive spin on the situation. Of course we can’t go without mentioning the wonderful track, ‘As The a World Caves In’; a hysterical tale of the unlikely hooking up of Donald Trump and Theresa May, watching the nuclear destruction of the world as they do it; genius!

Other key tracks worth taking note of, include; ‘Sweet Sixteen’, an organ-led track taking a twisted look at a modern relationship – the sound is very much somewhere between Kaiser Chiefs and Blur, ‘Like A Fish’ which sounds like the opening to an old, 80s, British TV show and ‘Misery’ which is a dark and intense track with some reverse-sounding vocals on the chorus. In fact, the latter half of the album appears to get darker as it goes on.

The album features production and collaboration by a combination of Jonathan Rado, Hugo White (Maccabees) & Alex Burey.

This is very much an album where jazz and a touch of britpop meet funky, organ-led soul, all dressed up in a hipster outfit and sung with a deep, crisp and crooning vocal. Picture Blur, Pulp and Jamiroquai creating some sort of spliced-together lovechild that’s been brought into the modern, contemporary age and you get Matt Maltese‘s debut, Bad Contestant. A truly alluring debut that is sure to pave the way for an exciting career ahead.

Rating

‘Bad Contestant’ is out now and can be downloaded from iTunes – https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/bad-contestant/1365077870

Bad Contestant on Spotify

Greatest Comedian (Official Video)

As The World Caves In (Official Video)

We hope you’ve enjoyed our review! What do you think of this singer-songwriter’s uniquely captivating debut album? What would you rate it? Please leave your thoughts in a comment below or via our social media.

Enjoyed this? Check out some of our other reviews here:

Muzik Speaks Album Reviews

Matt – Muzik Speaks
www.facebook.com/muzikspeaks
www.twitter.com/muzik_speaks

#EventSpeaks: Isaac Gracie @ The Haunt, Brighton – 25/04/18

01/05/201830/04/2018 Matt Wright - Muzik Speaks1 Comment

Follow @muzik_speaks Tweet to @muzik_speaks

On Wednesday 25th April, Isaac Gracie arrived in Brighton to play a headline show, in support of his self-titled debut album (review here) with support from up-and-comer, Matt Maltese. It really was a fantastic show!

Matt Maltese

The singer took to the stage, dressed in a retro-looking brown suit, and performed a string of songs taken from his upcoming debut album, Bad Contestant. His songwriting is quite politically-charged and certainly has a folk/indie vibe to it. There’s an excellent power behind his vocals and a real satire to his between-song banter.

Highlight: The hilarious concept behind the final song of his set, ‘As The World Caves In’; the idea of Donald Trump and Theresa May having a final night of lovemaking as they click the red button, destroying the Earth.

Isaac Gracie

Isaac Gracie took to the stage in front of his sold-out audience, to a deafening applause, launching straight into the thought-provoking, ‘All In My Mind’. Isaac is certainly a brooding artist and for the first few songs, you could hear and feel the aching anxieties he pours into his songwriting, with little audience eye contact, show-casing his artistic vulnerability perfectly.

It wasn’t long before he warmed up to the audience, cracking some jokes during his between-song banter, making reference to ‘Terrified’, saying that maybe he is cut out for it after all. He also fed off a couple of audience members calling out, superbly; it brought the audience closer to him and let them in on his dry, almost geeky sense of humour.

You can’t help but marvel at the passion behind Isaac’s voice and lyricism; he is someone who has clearly worked incredibly hard, crafting their songwriting and made every effort to create a collection of songs that are brilliantly diverse yet still remain true to him, as an artist. His show was impeccable! Some of the most stand-out performances included, ‘Terrified’, ‘One Night’, ‘The Death Of You & I’, ‘Running On Empty’ and ‘Last Words’.

At one point, he made reference to the last time he performed in Brighton, at this very venue, when he supported The Japanese House in February 2016 (see our review here) – it was great to see how he’s gone from being a support act, to headlining his own show in such a relatively short space of time, and much deserved too!

This is an artist who is only just scratching the surface of their career, with their honest and genre-blending music; I truly can’t wait to see what he does next.

Highlights:

Isaac’s
The fact he came straight out after his set, to meet the fans, taking time to have photos with them and sign merch – it’s fantastic when an artist gives back to their followers!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

📸 All of the photos in this post (except me with the band) are credited to Chloe CZH 📷
Go and give her a follow on Twitter and visit her website.

Setlist

All In My Mind
That Was Then
Terrified
Telescope
When You Go
Love (Ain’t Always So Good)
All The Burning Lovers
Silhouettes Of You
One Night
Darkness Of The Day
The Death Of You & I *
Running On Empty *
Reverie
Hollow Crown

Encore
Last Words

* These songs can be viewed in the YouTube playlist, below.

Finally, I want to say an absolutely HUGE thanks to Hannah Braid for setting up this review and to Isaac Gracie and Matt Maltese for putting on a fantastic show. It was also great to have the chance to meet Isaac too!

Enjoyed this? Check out some of our other live reviews here:

Muzik Speaks Live Reviews

Matt – Muzik Speaks
www.facebook.com/muzikspeaks
www.twitter.com/muzik_speaks

#Review: Isaac Gracie – Isaac Gracie (Self-Titled)

13/04/201813/04/2018 Matt Wright - Muzik Speaks1 Comment

Follow @muzik_speaks Tweet to @muzik_speaks

Isaac Gracie is an incredibly talented singer-songwriter, hailing from London. From humble beginnings, his 2016 demo, ‘Last Words’ caused a big stir online, leading to the head of Universal Music flying over from LA just to see him perform, resulting in his signing to Virgin EMI. Now, in 2018, the songsmith is releasing his debut, self-titled album. Here’s what we have to say about it…

Every so often an album comes along that is both exciting, inspirational and sonically diverse; groundbreaking even…this is definitely one of those albums! (The last album I felt like this about was Will Joseph Cook‘s Sweet Dreamer.)

Whilst growing up, Gracie’s father left the family home and since signing to Virgin EMI, his longterm relationship sadly ended, but out of the ashes of these life-influencing events came some fantastic songwriting material, resulting in this incredibly powerful debut. As such, throughout the album, there are strong themes of abandonment, guilt and heartbreak; this honest approach and willing exposure of his emotional vulnerabilities is nothing new to songwriting but the way it marries up with the instrumentation is simply marvellous.

Opening track, ‘Terrified’ (think Elbow meets Harry Styles‘ ‘Two Ghosts’) chronicles Gracie’s own fears and insecurities surrounding the hype about him, singing, “I’m terrified that maybe, I wasn’t cut out for this.” He really needn’t worry though; he certainly is cut out for this!

‘Last Words’ is a huge track for him; it’s the song that kick-started the buzz about him and whilst it’s very different from the demo, he admitted that he spent quite some time playing around with different versions before settling on the one that’s now on the record. He’s managed to strike a great balance between the original demo, maintaining some of it’s raw essence but also brought more depth to it with the addition of strings. Imagine a track by The Beatles that’s been countryfied and you get this!

The brilliant blend of highs and lows, and fusion of indie, rock, country and latin flavours has genuinely created one of the most genre-bending albums heard in a long time!

‘The Death Of You & I’ is a personal favourite – it’s got an almost latin beat behind it before it unleashes a hidden ferocity. The calm verses that erupt into the heavy, chaotic choruses make this an intense and fun song which you can’t help but want to thrash around to, wildly. There’s even an almost salsa-esque breakdown before the final chorus, making this one of the most intriguing songs I’ve heard in years.

Other stand-out tracks include; ‘Running On Empty’, which is relatively mainstream and quite indie (like something you might expect to hear from The Killers or Maccabees), ‘Telescope’ with its beautiful overlapping vocals at the end, ‘That Was Then’, which has stunning, dynamic vocals, ranging from deep to falsetto, topped off with a powerful and melodic chorus and ‘When You Go’, which is a track you would expect to hear from the likes of The Barr Brothers or Vance Joy and be accompanied by a music video shot with an old, handheld, film-reel camera; it’s strongly folk flavoured.

Gracie has been quoted as saying that he set out to create the best record of all time and whilst there are bound to be people who have differing opinions, he certainly has created a masterpiece! The brilliant blend of highs and lows, and fusion of indie, rock, country and latin flavours has genuinely created one of the most genre-bending albums heard in a long time…yet somehow it still works as a comprehensive body of work that is uniquely identifiable as him. This is an album I am certain will make a big impact this year and will definitely carve out an exciting future for his music career. Utter brilliance!

Rating

‘Isaac Gracie’ is out now and can be downloaded from iTunes – https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/isaac-gracie/1345686455

Isaac Gracie on Spotify

Terrified (Official Video)

Silhouettes Of You (Official Video)

Last Words (Official Video)

We hope you’ve enjoyed our review! What do you think of Isaac Gracie’s self-titled debut album? Are you as much of a huge fan as us? What would you rate it? Please leave your thoughts in a comment or chat to us about it via our socials.

Enjoyed this? Check out some of our other reviews here:

Muzik Speaks Album Reviews

Matt – Muzik Speaks
www.facebook.com/muzikspeaks
www.twitter.com/muzik_speaks

#EventSpeaks: The Japanese House @ The Haunt, Brighton – 27/02/16

28/02/201607/03/2018 Matt Wright - Muzik Speaks5 Comments

Like our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/muzikspeaks)

Last night (Saturday 27th February 2016) I was given the great opportunity to see The Japanese House perform at The Haunt in Brighton, and they (well, she really) was incredible! The supports were Kamran Khan (from the band Fake Laugh) and Isaac Gracie.

Fake Laugh (Kamran Khan performing solo)

Usually performing as a band, Kamran Khan (singer and guitarist of Fake Laugh) took to the stage to play a decent solo set. The guy has nice vocals and showed off a decent range to his voice. He stated how there are usually more of them and that their set is usually “more rockin'” – presumably supporting The Japanese House, they were asked to strip it back?! It was a great way to start the evening.

Highlight: The performances of ‘Kinda Girl’ and recent single, ‘Mind Tricks’.

Isaac Gracie

Next to take to the stage was Isaac Gracie, a melancholic singer-songwriter from Ealing with the whole American hipster thing going on.

This guy captivated me instantly with his beautifully haunting yet powerful voice, which he seems to use gracefully and effortlessly! I was left in awe at how he utilises his vocal range and is able to tell stories of woe, through his music. I came away wanting to hear more and would love to hear an album from this guy – however, I am left disappointed to find that only one recording is available online; I guess I will have to wait patiently for the album to surface.

Highlight: The beautiful vocal melodies he weaves throughout his musical stories in each and every song.

The Japanese House

Lastly, was The Japanese House, who made a full-on entrance with the epic sounds, created by the synths and drums before Amber entered the stage to big applause.

Despite her growing success, Amber appears to remain a humble and modest, if somewhat shy, person with her rather endearingly meek speaking voice and small stature. However, the same can’t be said for her singing; she applies power and conviction when it comes to her music and makes sure she puts across her music with the utmost integrity. She isn’t without her quirks though; she plays a right-handed guitar, left-handed! That’s talent!

The rather melancholic nature of her songs has clearly captivated a wide audience; the room was filled with young, teen hipsters, festival-goers and even a few older music-lovers; it’s amazing to see how her music clearly resonates with so many people. She joked about playing, “Another sad one for you, but then there will be a more happy one,” or words to that effect.

Amber Bain has deliberately remained rather elusive about who is behind The Japanese House, in order not to detract from the art and her androgynous vocals make the sound an interesting one.

I thoroughly enjoyed this performance and remained transfixed throughout. Although her stage presence may not be your typically over-energetic, must-entertain-the-audience style, she still had me entertained and I recommend anyone to try and see The Japanese House live; people of all ages will love her sound, no matter what genres you’re into; she’s got something to offer everyone.

Highlights:

The use of synth and sounds to enhance the music and maintain the magic of the studio versions.
The strobe lights during the breakdowns of ‘Pools To Bathe In’.
Harmonies on Amber’s vocals throughout and the use of synths to sample her vocals.
The fact Amber is able to layer and loop her guitar parts, usinga whole magnitude of pedals.
Amber playing a right-handed guitar, left-handed.

The Japanese House – Cool Blue (Live)

The Japanese House – Leon (Live)

Setlist

Clean
Pools To Bathe In
Teeth
Letter By The Water
Sugar Pill
Cool Blue
Still
Sister
Leon (New Song)

Lastly, I want to say a massive thanks to The Japanese House and their management for putting me on the guest-list, so I could come and do this review!

Matt – Muzik Speaks
www.facebook.com/muzikspeaks
www.twitter.com/muzik_speaks

Tag: isaac gracie