Matt Brennan (academic)

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Matt Brennan (born 1979) is an author, musician, and academic whose work focuses on popular music and society. He is Professor of Popular Music at the University of Glasgow. [1]

Contents

Career and publications

Brennan's research has garnered significant press coverage, particularly his work on the cost of recorded music [2] [3] and the value of the live music sector. [4] [5]

His first monograph, When Genres Collide, was named as one of music website Pitchfork's "Favourite Music Books of 2017" and earned an Honorable Mention in the Association of American Publishers’ PROSE Awards for best "Music and Performing Arts" book. [6] [7] His second monograph, Kick It: A Social History of the Drum Kit, was named as one of the 'Best Music Books of 2020' by the Financial Times. [8]

Brennan has authored, co-authored, and co-edited several books listed below:

Music

Brennan is currently a member of Glasgow based band Beautiful Cosmos [14] as well as recording and performing music under the name Citizen Bravo. [15] His first album as Citizen Bravo, [15] Build A Thing Of Beauty, was released by Chemikal Underground in 2019. [16] His sophomore album, a large scale collaborative work Return To Y'Hup: The World Of Ivor Cutler, [17] was released in 2020 and received 4-star reviews in MOJO, Uncut, and The Observer. [18] His first album with Beautiful Cosmos was released by Doughnut Music Lab on 25th January 2025. [19]

Prior to his current projects, Brennan was a founding member of the indie pop group Zoey Van Goey (2006-2012), which released two well received albums - The Cage Was Unlocked All Along [20] [21] in 2009 and Propeller Versus Wings [22] [23] in 2011 - on the Scottish record label Chemikal Underground. [24] He also performed onscreen and on the soundtrack for the film God Help The Girl, which won the World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for Best Ensemble at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival. [25] [26] [27]

Discography

as Citizen Bravo

Albums

  • Build A Thing Of Beauty (Chemikal Underground Records, 2019)
  1. "Humans Of Earth"
  2. "The Answer Is Yes"
  3. "Build A Thing Of Beauty"
  4. "Lesson Number One"
  5. "Invincible Kids On Prom Night"
  6. "Nineteenth Century"
  7. "The Mystery Of History"
  8. "I Will Love You When You're Dead
  9. "Limbs And Bones"
  10. "Stuck Inside Of Mobile Phone"
  11. "Have A Nice Time"
  • Return To Y'Hup - The World Of Ivor Cutler (Chemikal Underground Records, 2020)
  1. "Heres A Health For Simon"
  2. "Latitude And Longitude (with Phyllis King)"
  3. "Size Nine And A Half (with Emma Pollock)"
  4. "Mary's A Cow (with Malcolm Benzie)"
  5. "Instance The Yam (with Alex Kapranos)"
  6. "Pickle Your Knees (with Karine Polwart)"
  7. "Gravity Begins At Home (with Rick Redbeard)"
  8. "A Cowpuncher And A Bird (with Zoe Graham)"
  9. "Boo Boo Bird (with Heather Leigh)"
  10. "Vitamin P (with Duglas T. Stewart)"
  11. "Green Rain (with Sarah Hayes)"
  12. "A Tooth Song (with Adam Stafford)"
  13. "Si Chi (with Stuart Murdoch)"
  14. "Women Of The World (with Tracyanne Campbell)"
  15. "A Real Man (with James Yorkston)"
  16. "A Yellow Fly (with Kris Drever)"
  17. "Shoplifters (with Future Pilot AKA vs. Stranded Astronaut)"
  18. "The Path (with Stuart Braithwaite)"
  19. "Muscular Tree (with Megan Airlie & Limelight Ensemble)"
  20. "Who Tore Your Trousers James? (with Rachel Sermanni & Chris Thomson)"
  21. "I Got No Common Sense"
  22. "When I Stand On An Open Cart (with Kapil Seshasayee)"
  23. "I Believe In Bugs (with Jo Mango)"
  24. "Good Morning! How Are You? Shut Up! (with Pictish Trail)"
  25. "Out Of Decency (with Robert Wyatt)"
  26. "Beautiful Cosmos (with Anna Miles)"

with Beautiful Cosmos

Albums

  • Dance of the Atoms (Doughnut Music Lab, 2025)
  1. "Seneca Falls"
  2. "Midlife"
  3. "Dance of the Atoms"
  4. "Gustav"
  5. "Birds"
  6. "The Life Before"
  7. "Fans in the Shadows"
  8. "Gabrielle"
  9. "Pretender"
  10. "Rainy Wednesdays"
  11. "Red Flag Factory"

with Zoey Van Goey

Singles & EPs

Albums

  1. "The Best Treasure Stays Buried"
  2. "We Don't Have That Kind Of Bread"
  3. "Sweethearts In Disguise"
  4. "We All Hid In Basements"
  5. "Two White Ghosts"
  6. "Foxtrot Vandals"
  7. "My Persecution Complex"
  8. "Nae Wonder"
  9. "Cotton Covering"
  10. "City Is Exploding"
  1. "Mountain On Fire"
  2. "The Cake And Eating It"
  3. "Sackville Sun"
  4. "My Aviator"
  5. "Escape Maps"
  6. "You Told The Drunks I Knew Karate"
  7. "Little Islands"
  8. "Extremities"
  9. "Robot Tyrannosaur"
  10. "Another Day Another Disaster"
  11. "Where It Lands"

Contributions

Other recordings

References

  1. ↑ "Dr Matt Brennan". www.gla.ac.uk. Retrieved 27 August 2017.
  2. ↑ "BBC Radio 3 - Music Matters, Music without compromise, Why CDs may be more eco-friendly than streaming". BBC. Retrieved 7 July 2019.
  3. ↑ Blistein, Jon (23 May 2019). "Is Streaming Music Dangerous to the Environment? One Researcher Is Sounding the Alarm". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 7 July 2019.
  4. ↑ "How big is live music really?". BBC News. 10 March 2017. Retrieved 29 August 2017.
  5. ↑ Willson, Flora (7 March 2017). "When did you last hear live music? Stand up and be counted". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 August 2017.
  6. ↑ "Pitchfork's 16 Favorite Music Books of 2017 | Pitchfork". pitchfork.com. Retrieved 24 November 2017.
  7. ↑ "2018 Award Winners - PROSE Awards". PROSE Awards. Retrieved 9 February 2018.
  8. ↑ Hunter-Tilney, Ludovic (21 November 2020). "Best books of 2020: Pop music". Financial Times. Retrieved 31 December 2021.
  9. ↑ Kick It: A Social History of the Drum Kit. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. 11 February 2020. ISBN   978-0-19-068387-0.
  10. ↑ "The History of Live Music in Britain, Volume II, 1968-1984: From Hyde Park to the Hacienda, 1st Edition (Hardback) - Routledge". Routledge.com. Retrieved 7 July 2019.
  11. ↑ "When Genres Collide: Down Beat, Rolling Stone, and the Struggle between Jazz and Rock". Bloomsbury Publishing. Retrieved 29 August 2017.
  12. ↑ "The Routledge Research Companion to Popular Music Education". Routledge Publishing. Retrieved 29 August 2017.
  13. ↑ "The History of Live Music in Britain, Volume 1: 1950-1967, From Dance Hall to the 100 Club". Routledge Publishing. Retrieved 29 August 2017.
  14. ↑ https://beautifulcosmos.bandcamp.com/album/dance-of-the-atoms
  15. 1 2 "HOME". www.citizenbravo.com.
  16. ↑ "Citizen Bravo – Build A Thing Of Beauty" . Retrieved 21 March 2019.
  17. ↑ "Chemikal Underground Records - Shop - Citizen Bravo // Ivor Cutler". shop.chemikal.co.uk.
  18. ↑ Spencer, Neil (18 January 2020). "Citizen Bravo, Raymond MacDonald and Friends: Return to Y'Hup: The World of Ivor Cutler review – charming tribute to a national treasure". The Observer. ISSN   0029-7712 . Retrieved 18 February 2020.
  19. ↑ https://doughnutmusiclab.org/shop/
  20. ↑ "Zoey Van Goey - The Cage Was Unlocked All Along". The List. 29 October 2009. Retrieved 16 October 2017.
  21. ↑ "Zoey Van Goey - The Cage Was Unlocked All Along | The Skinny" . Retrieved 27 August 2017.
  22. ↑ "Zoey Van Goey | Album Discography | AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved 27 August 2017.
  23. ↑ "Zoey Van Goey – Propeller Versus Wings | The Skinny" . Retrieved 16 October 2017.
  24. ↑ "Sunny side on the top - Zoey Van Goey interview". www.scotsman.com. Retrieved 7 September 2017.
  25. ↑ "God Help The Girl Original Motion Picture Soundtrack album credits". All Music. Retrieved 29 August 2017.
  26. ↑ Dunn, Jamie (4 August 2014). "Stuart Murdoch on God Help the Girl". The Skinny. Retrieved 29 August 2017.
  27. ↑ Smith, Nigel (25 January 2014). "'Whiplash' Owns the 2014 Sundance Film Festival Awards Netting Two Top Prizes". Indiewire. Retrieved 29 August 2017.
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