My Ears Through the Years with Matt Nida
It’s Wednesday so you know what that means! Time for more ears to talk us through their years, the songs you can never forget, the ones you wish you could, and everything in between.
This week, we’re joined by BAFTA-winning creative, producer and writer, Matt Nida! Matt is the founder of the Wild Ambitions creative studio, and has made television and radio shows, podcasts, branded content, stunts and live events for Channel 4, the BBC, Red Bull and many more, including Joe Lycett’s infamous money-shredding stunt in 2022. With so much creativity between his ears, we can’t help but wonder what music Matt’s been filling them with over the years. Let’s find out.
Q> Hi Matt! Tell us, what is your first memory of music?
Matt> This would almost certainly have been a TV theme (the first records I owned were all TV theme compilations). Blue Peter, Wacaday, Count Duckula, possibly Casualty are all strong candidates.
Q> What first music you bought yourself?
Matt> 2 Unlimited, ‘No Limit’, on a cassingle in a French supermarket on holiday. It had a France-only radio edit that I only recently found on Youtube, which to me is the ‘proper’ version.
Q> What was your first gig?
Matt> Pet Shop Boys, Wembley, 1999 - the Nightlife tour. They wore bacofoil samurai suits and blonde punk wigs. They’ve always been light years ahead.
Q> What’s the first song that comes into you head at any moment?
Matt> Bill Evans’ ‘Bill’s Hit Tune’. We wrote some lyrics to this about our dog, which I now sing almost entirely reflexively whenever he walks into the room.
Q> Your first slow dance?
Matt> Almost certainly Take That’s ‘Babe’, but this might just be the only non-Eurodance number I have clear memories of from that period.
Q> A song you felt you couldn’t escape from?
Matt> Robert Miles – ‘Children’. I remember hearing this almost omnipresently in adverts, shops, in trails for upcoming TV shows, wondering what it was - a problem that Shazam has almost completely eradicated from society.
Q> A song you grew up with?
Matt> Dave Brubeck – ‘Take Five’. The only records we had in the house were my Dad’s classical collection which was all a bit beyond me back then, but he made occasional forays into jazz and this is something he played that I’d ask for a lot.
Q> Your walk out music?
Matt> ‘Tachikawa’, the opening track from Yasuaki Shimizu’s Music For Commercials. Had I known about the album back then, I’d have played this at my wedding.
Q> Your dancefloor anthem?
Matt> Neneh Cherry - Buffalo Stance. Bomb the Bass! Rock this place!
Q> Your go-to for karaoke?
Matt> I won a karaoke competition at a pub in Sevenoaks singing ‘Tainted Love’. This was in 2001, but a win’s still a win right?
Q> Your musical guilty pleasure?
Matt> I generally say I don’t believe in guilty pleasures, but I find a lot of worldbeat music nostalgic but also ethically indefensible. So let’s go with Enigma’s Return To Innocence.
Q> A song that reminds you of friends?
Matt> Talking Heads – ‘City of Dreams’. The end credits to some very special moments with some very special friends.
Q> How has your musical taste evolved?
Matt> I managed to avoid listening to The Beatles until last year. Turns out they’re really good, hot tip there.
Q> A song you wish you wrote?
Matt> Depeche Mode – ‘Enjoy The Silence’. Imagine coming up with that riff.
Q> An unpopular musical opinion?
Matt> I’ve never been able to get onboard with The Pretenders. I think some of the songs might be quite good, but they’re all played 15-20 bpm too slow.
Q> A song you think is underrated?
Matt> ‘Drip Dry Eyes’ by Yukihiro Takahashi. A massive hit in Japan so not exactly obscure, but at some point the rest of the world will realise that it’s the best ballad of the '80s. More people should pay attention to Steve Roach too.
Q> Your desert island disc?
Matt> Brian Eno - Music For Airports. A lovely record, but also something designed to be played on a loop.
Q> A song you want played at your funeral?
Matt> ‘That’s Us / Wild Combination’ by Arthur Russell.
Q> Best sync moment?
Matt> The Miles Davis needle-drop in Lee Chang-Dong’s Burning (2018). It’s the perfect track for the scene, but an awareness that Davis improvised it to picture for another film sixty years earlier only adds to the time-collapsing eeriness of the film.
Q> Music that made an ad campaign?
Matt> 'Flat Beat’ by Mr Oizo for Levis.
Q> Best theme song
Matt> Doctor Who. The show has been recast and reinvented so many times, to the point where I think the only essential elements you need to make the show identifiable as Doctor Who are the TARDIS and the theme tune.
Q> Favourite film soundtrack or score
Matt> Ryuichi Sakamoto - Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence (also my favourite ever film).
Q> A track you’d love to sync
Matt> Mark Isham & Art Lande – ‘The Melancholy of Departure’. This precedes Isham’s career as a film composer, but it sounds like it was written for some sort of neo-noir or political thriller.
