Meet Nctrnm
Nctrnm is the pseudonym of Matthew McGilvery. An electronica producer-artist and digital artist from the Inland Empire region of Southern California, initiated in 2017.
I had no understanding of branding, music marketing, or strategy to think of when I decided to release my debut album on Free Music Archive. The community I was able to cultivate from that initial release and the lessons I learned on creative ways of offering value made the decision worth it, to say the least. - Nctrnm
I was invited by Cheyenne Hohman, formerly of WFMU, to the Free Music Archive in 2016 when I was developing my craft while trialing a few different names.
EQUINOX - Released 2018
I began my instrumental electronic audiovisual project: Nctrnm in June 2017 starting with a series of experimental electronic singles and EPs, and an eventual debut electronica album titled EQUINOX in October 2018 and SOLSTICE in November 2018, all of which were mainly promoted on Free Music Archive.
Because of the housing and security I was experiencing at the time, I didn't have a lot of money to promote my records. So once again, I came to Free Music Archive for an affordable way to reach an audience that would be receptive to what I had to offer, much like my first album and its related projects. - Nctrnm
MOSAIC - Released 2019
Through periods of homelessness in 2018 and 2019, I released EPs: MOSAIC and INTAKE as well as a second album; TRACES in August 2019 on NctrnmFM. I followed up this album with an EP titled MISSION released November 2019, named after the street the shelter I lived in at the time was on. - Nctrnm
CADENA - Released 2020
Throughout the 2020, Nctrnm released a trilogy of EPs: CADENA, ONYX, and ORBIT, to acclaim from what was now across platform audience both in the Creative Commons space, Free Music Archive and in the proprietary space on digital streaming platforms and direct to fan sites like Bandcamp.
By this time every week it seemed I was being featured in YouTube videos, YouTube shorts, social media videos, just all kinds of different creative uses that I wouldn't have thought would be applicable to my music. - Nctrnm
As a commemoration to my grandmother Wilma, and as a thank you and meditation to the audience I had been able to curate on the Free Music Archive, I released my third album NOVA in February 2021.
NOVA - Released 2021
When my grandmother passed away in late 2020, I wanted to find a way to pay tribute to her with part of what she loved most about me, my music. As a way of coping with her declining health at the time, I leaned into a fresh sense of heightened emotional sensitivity and crafted an album of nine intimate yet otherworldly tracks.
The tracks: Like, Past and Christen really highlights the different sonic palettes that grief-induced nostalgia inspired me during the record's production. This album was able to included in content that reached over a million people through the copyleft licensing structures of the Creative Commons.
For 2022 and 2023, I plan to release more individual songs, and plan to make these available on the Free Music Archive. It's the daily new connections and the support that I've received from my community on Free Music Archive that makes it all the more worth it to come back.
Nctrnm