Live at Spaceland Acoustic

Live at Spaceland Acoustic
Split image showing American musicians Matt Mahaffey on guitar, in black and white, and Seth Timbs on piano, in color.
Mahaffey (left) and Timbs (right) performing
Video by
Self
ReleasedUnreleased
RecordedApril 17, 2004
VenueSpaceland (Silver Lake)
Genres
Producers
Singles from Live at Spaceland Acoustic
  1. "I Love To Love Your Love My Love"
    Released: May 23, 2006
  2. "Back in Black"
    Released: June 13, 2008

Live at Spaceland Acoustic is an unreleased live video album by the American pop rock band Self, recorded at the American nightclub Spaceland on April 17, 2004. It features acoustic performances by Self frontman Matt Mahaffey and contributors Seth Timbs and Willy Mason. Produced by Mahaffey and Britt Daniel, the video was intended to be released as a DVD, made available for pre-order in April 2008. Its footage of the song "I Love To Love Your Love My Love" and a cover of AC/DC's "Back in Black" were published to YouTube, the latter of which gained popularity online and contributed to Mahaffey's cult following. Live at Spaceland Acoustic was ultimately shelved due to copyright issues involving "Back in Black", remaining unreleased as of 2026.

Background and performance

Seth Timbs (left) and Willy Mason (right) performed with Mahaffey.

In May 2000, Self frontman Matt Mahaffey and keyboardist Chris James moved to Los Angeles to work on their fifth studio album, Ornament & Crime (2017). The album suffered from a series of delays that lead to its shelving after the band's label DreamWorks Records was bought and dissolved by Universal Music Group. Self toured throughout Los Angeles during the production of Ornament & Crime, additionally announcing album updates and uploading B-sides to their website until April 2004. On April 7, the American nightclub Spaceland announced that Self would perform at the venue as Britt Daniel's opening act on April 17. The Los Angeles Times announced on April 8 that Spaceland had began selling tickets to the show, available on the website for Daniel's band Spoon via Ticketweb.

As a fan of Spoon, Mahaffey put together his setlist after being asked to open for him, becoming the first acoustic Self performance.: 7:20  Self was joined on stage by American singer-songwriter Willy Mason, who was concurrently touring with Daniel as another supporting act. Mahaffey performed a cover of AC/DC's song "Back in Black" using an Omnichord and drums during the show, playing both instruments simultaneously with one hand each. He applied guitar distortion to his Omnichord, and forgot some of the song's lyrics while performing it. "I Love to Love Your Love My Love" was additionally performed at the show, featuring musician Seth Timbs of Fluid Ounces on piano. Mahaffey continued to perform at Spaceland, collaborating with Jason Falkner and members of The 88 as a part of a Dukes of Stratosphear cover band on July 27. Mahaffey, Timbs and Mason all performed together again at a Brendan Benson benefit concert raising funds for Tennessee veterans and children in December 2013.

Release

In 1999, Self released a music video for the song "Trunk Fulla Amps". In response to the video's lack of MTV airtime, Mahaffey stated plans to create an enhanced CD-DVD for Gizmodgery (2000) with the music video alongside interviews and photos. In an August 2004 WMTS-FM interview, Mahaffey voiced plans to release the Spaceland performance as a DVD, stating he had "so much fun" and expressing interest in playing a short solo acoustic tour.: 7:20  The live video album was entitled Live at Spaceland Acoustic, with initial plans to release it in 2005.

Mahaffey published the show's footage of "I Love to Love Your Love My Love" to YouTube in 2006, while the DVD itself had reportedly been stuck in development hell for over a year by June. Its delay was attributed to the "Back in Black" cover, which the band could not receive permission to release. In February 2007, Spaceland launched its own record label, Spaceland Recordings. Live at Spaceland Acoustic was subsequently made available for pre-order in April 2008, though further copyright concerns led Mahaffey to publish the footage of the "Back in Black" cover to YouTube on June 13. By August of that year, the live video album had been officially shelved.

Reception

Self's "Back in Black" cover became a viral video, with Mahaffey subsequently performing it at the British Motor Corporation's showcase convention in London. The cover garnered Mahaffey a cult following online, prompting two fans to launch a website archiving his solo works. Writing for The Lonely Socialite, Jakob Dorof called Mahaffey's "Back in Black" cover "fucking killer" and praised the intricately detailed comedy of "Hellglass". Michael Eades of Yewknee held a preconceived disinterest in Self's acoustic sound before watching the video for "I Love To Love Your Love My Love", subsequently changing his mind and remarking he "could definitely get into it." Stephanie Kibbe of Some Kind of Awesome labeled the cover of "Back in Black" an "oldie but a goodie" in 2010, describing the performance as encapsulating Mahaffey's talent.

Track listing

All tracks are written by Matt Mahaffey, except where noted.

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Stewardess" 3:47
2."Microchip Girl" 3:29
3."Brooklyn" 4:20
4."Paint by Numbers" 2:50
5."Coming Over" 3:22
6."I Love To Love Your Love My Love"
3:38
7."Back in Black"
2:46
Bonus footage
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
8."The Making of "Hellglass""
3:45
9."Trunk Fulla Amps" (Music video)
  • Mahaffey
  • Mahaffey
  • Rawlings
  • Burrus
  • James
3:04
10."Clap Hands" (TV performance)
2:47

Personnel

Credits adapted from available footage.

References

  1. ↑ Harkey, Scott (September 11, 2000). "Self / Interviews". Silent Uproar. Retrieved December 24, 2024.
  2. ↑ Besecker, Gabe (December 11, 2023). "sElf-Indulgent: A Retrospective on the Band That Started Matt Mahaffey's Career". Woof Magazine. Archived from the original on December 26, 2024. Retrieved January 7, 2025.
  3. ↑ Eades, Michael (August 20, 2003). "Self plays LA, Self plays LA". Silent Uproar. Retrieved January 5, 2026.
  4. ↑ Eades, Michael (April 7, 2004). "Self plays live and acoustic". Silent Uproar. Retrieved January 5, 2026.
  5. ↑ S. Blume, Karla (April 8, 2004). "TRAVEL & EXPERIENCES - POP". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved November 7, 2026.
  6. ↑ "Spoon Gigs". Spoon. April 6, 2004. Archived from the original on April 16, 2004. Retrieved November 6, 2026.
  7. 1 2 Cross, Steve (August 15, 2004). Matt Mahaffey Interview on WMTS (YouTube video). WMTS-FM. Retrieved May 20, 2026.
  8. ↑ Rand, Pac (April 10, 2004). "MUSIC - Britt Daniel - April 17, 2004". Upcoming (Archive). Retrieved November 7, 2026.
  9. ↑ Mason, Willy (April 10, 2004). "Shows [it was a little tan, wirebound notebook, with lots of drawings and addresses.]". Willy Mason. Archived from the original on April 10, 2004. Retrieved November 6, 2026.
  10. 1 2 Kimpel, Dan (April 9, 2009). "Matt Mahaffey: Song of the Chameleon". Broadcast Music, Inc. Retrieved June 2, 2026.
  11. 1 2 Roberts, Brian (June 14, 2008). "Matt Mahaffey Playing With HimSelf". Doc Pop. Archived from the original on December 7, 2023. Retrieved January 6, 2026.
  12. 1 2 Kibbe, Stephanie (April 26, 2010). "[Watch] Matt Mahaffey/sElf - "Back In Black (AC/DC Cover)"". Some Kind of Awesome. Retrieved March 25, 2026.
  13. 1 2 Eades, Michael (June 6, 2006). "Self continues to tease with new release". Silent Uproar. Retrieved June 2, 2026.
  14. 1 2 Live at Spaceland Acoustic (Media notes). Self.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  15. ↑ Relph, John. "The Dukes of Silverlake: "Your Gold Dress"". ChalkHills. Retrieved November 9, 2026.
  16. ↑ "Watch Brendan Benson & Friends / Wednesday, December 18 / Ryman Auditorium, Nashville". David Lynch Foundation. October 9, 2008. Archived from the original on October 16, 2013. Retrieved November 10, 2026.
  17. ↑ "Self - Discography". Spongebath Records. Archived from the original on May 28, 2000. Retrieved August 18, 2026.
  18. ↑ Duritz, Darius (March 10, 2000). "The PiG Interview with Matt Mahaffey". PiG Publications. Archived from the original on April 22, 2001. Retrieved January 6, 2025.
  19. ↑ A.S. (2005). "Matt Mahaffey - Biography". MComet. Archived from the original on November 21, 2014. Retrieved January 7, 2025.
  20. 1 2 Eades, Michael (June 5, 2006). "I Love To Love Your Love My Love". Yewknee. Retrieved November 7, 2026.
  21. ↑ "Club NME LA home launches record label". NME. February 23, 2007. Retrieved November 5, 2026.
  22. 1 2 Dorof, Jakob (August 3, 2008). "An Open Letter to Self". The Lonely Socialite. Archived from the original on August 20, 2008. Retrieved November 8, 2026.
  23. 1 2 Britt, Bruce (March 1, 2011). "Matt Mahaffey, Now in Nashville and Ready to Play". Broadcast Music, Inc. Retrieved June 2, 2026.