Music For Small Audiences Matthew Belleghem

I played a really fun house party gig in the inner west last night, sharing the controls with two very good friends. We’ve played a lot of gigs together over the years, from sharing residencies here in Melbourne nearly twenty years ago through to countless club gigs, parties and get-togethers in all sorts of interesting places with many lovely people over the years in between. A good gig remains equal parts energising and cathartic.
It’s amazing to reflect on just how quickly twenty years can go by – and who we have each become in the process. Somewhere along the way we’ve each turned into actual adults. Hard to say where or when it happened, even with the benefit of hindsight. Thankfully, we have stayed connected to each other, and I’d like to think we’ve stayed true to ourselves.
While we’re each indubitably twenty years older than we were twenty years ago, and we’ve each added a few wrinkles and grey hairs since those heady nights of the noughties, nights like last night really reinforce the power and importance of enduring good friendships. It’s also a friendly reminder of just how timeless shared musical bonds can be. While it’s true that many of the ‘old school classics’ we played last night were our up front and fresh new catches twenty years ago, it also goes to show that a good tune is a good tune is a good tune. As the old John Digweed saying goes, the only thing that matters is what comes out of the speakers.
This is episode 118 of MFSA. There is some sensational music contained within, including a couple of bits of wax that I had been checking the post for regularly prior to their arrival. Enjoy.

I celebrated a milestone recently. To mark the occasion, we spent a few days in sunny Brisbane. While it wasn’t a long trip, it was a relaxing trip, and an inspiring one, too.
In such a context it is hard not to reflect with some depth on one’s mortality and one’s time and place in the world. Thankfully, the trip involved plenty of walking, plenty of time in nature, plenty of time in the ocean, and plenty of time doing not-very-much. Good for the soul, I suspect.
This is episode 117 of Music For Small Audiences. Recorded live the weekend before the trip, it’s a laid back look at some of the more reflective music in my collection, including a few modern takes on some classics, and a few groovy tunes that have been stuck in my head for weeks. It builds from a gentle start, and is exactly the sort of set I’d play for a lazy late-afternoon-into-early-evening subtropical sunset poolside get together. Enjoy.
 

Sometimes it’s important to play to your strengths. Sometimes it’s important to work on your weaknesses. For some reason the former always sounds much more appealing than the latter.
After a nearly ten year break, I have returned to study. I am hoping some of the topics covered will be within my existing areas of knowledge. At the same time, I both look forward to and fear the parts that are at the moment completely foreign to me. Time will tell I suppose.
This is the 116th installment of Music For Small Audiences. At just under four hours, it was recorded live on March 2024. As befits my current headspace, it contains within at least one unveiled reference to the connection between effort and reward. As always, perspective is everything. I hope you enjoy.

Never trust a thought that occurs indoors, the saying goes.
We are into the final third of summer here in Australia, and at the risk of tempting the sun gods, I daresay the weather has started to stabilise – as far as Melbourne weather ever does, anyways. The combination of pleasant weather and still-long-enough evenings makes for plenty of time to be outdoors and introspective, while the ever-shortening days also serve as a reminder that soon enough we’ll be back to heaters and scarves.
Some quality tunes in this one. I hope you enjoy.

As the year comes to a close, it seems natural to reflect on the year that has passed, and where it has taken us. Are we where we intended to be? Where we wanted to be? Or are we somewhere else, somewhere better defined as the logical destination given the decisions we made over the course of the year?
So I suppose too that it’s natural to cast a critical eye to the year ahead. What needs to change – and what needs to continue – if we are to hit closer to the mark of optimistic intent, come twelve months from now? As always, the answer (for me at least) lies in balancing the needs and wants of those two eternally uneasy acquaintances – my present and future self.
In line with the spirit of reflection and relaxation that is generally intended to accompany one’s summer holiday, this is an extended, exploratory mix. In its latter half it has a number of modern takes on some timeless clubland classics that I hope spark some positive nostalgic memories for you as they do for me. Enjoy, and here’s to our 2024.

I have recently returned from a few weeks in Canada. The trip included a weekend with some very good friends, during which I was lucky enough to be given the opportunity to play an extended set on what is probably my favourite pair of speakers in the world.
Set up well in a great sounding loft conversion in Toronto’s inner west, it was a chance to reconnect, recharge, and recycle the same stories that seem to get funnier each time they are told.
This is the live recording of the set that I played on that Friday night a few weeks ago. It includes a few of the vinyl records I took as gifts, a record I was given in return, a few classics both original and reworked, and a lot of the music that kept me company on the 32,000km round trip.
As always, good friends with good records makes for a good weekend indeed.