March 27, 2000

The new BELLE & SEBASTIAN album, ‘Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like A Peasant’ (OLE 429-1,2) is coming out on Matador in North America on the 6th of June. The track listing is as follows:

I Fought In A War
The Model
Beyond The Sunrise
Waiting For The Moon To Rise
Don’t Leave The Light On, Baby
The Wrong Girl
The Chalet Lines
Nice Day For A Sulk
Woman’s Realm
Family Tree
There’s Too Much Love

The band will be visiting the West Coast for the first time in early June, with additional North American dates planned for the autumn. There will be a pre-album single in June consisting of "Legal Man" backed with "Judy Is A Dick Slap" and "Winter Wooskie."

You’ve probably read elsewhere that Stuart David is no longer playing bass for Belle & Sebastian, and that’s true. No denials from us. Stuart will be concentrating on his writing, Looper and other interesting things.

The 2nd full-length from San Francisco’s LIVE HUMAN, Elefish Jellyphant has just been completed and is scheduled for Matador release this summer. Albert, Andrew and DJ Quest’s previous full-length, ‘Monostereosis,’ has just been reissued in the U.S. by Hip Hop Slam. If you’d like to read about Live Human (and you know you would), there’s a fine article about them that can be found at the San Francisco Weekly. If you’re pressed for time and feel like trusting us, here’s the scoop -- Live Human obliterate musical divisions and serve as superglue between elements of improvisational jazz, experimental hip hop, daredevil turntablism and live sampling. Their previous releases on Fat Cat and their own Cosmic label have set pretty high standards to match, but we sincerely doubt anyone will be disappointed in Elefish Jellyfant.

We have an important message from Mark O:

"hey . . .
a small hawk just landed on my window ledge. it was clutching a mouse in one of it’s claws and stayed on the ledge for about half a minute. i gave it the old thumbs-up and then it flew away."

Mark O is currently in Chile. Not sure if there is any connection.

ARSONISTS European tour update:

"I have been going wild looking for any Burger King I could find. Now that it’s The Simpson’s 10th anniversary you get a 10 figure set from the cartoon. I’ve collected 6 so far and I hope that we’re here to get the rest we dont have yet. It’s been a adventure going to Dublin and they say "we have Bark or Gomer," cause they don’t know the character’s correct name or their accent is so strong, or they try to say "Side Show Bob" sounding like "shide bow shob." But if we are back in the States and don’t get a hold of the rest of the characters, I got the team at Matador Europe on the job. The shows have been good, happy that we’ve pulled off some sold out nights. No fights, stole some records and enjoyed ourselves. Being on the road is a killer, missing family. But we’re lucky we go home for 4 days before we leave for our American dates...." DSTROY............ARSONISTS

Check the Arsonists U.S. tour dates out on the accompanying schedule. This is their first full-scale American trip and if you’ve yet to catch them onstage, you’ll look pretty foolish when everyone tells you about it the next day.

NON PHIXION’s Ill Bill was just interviewed by New York’s UPN affiliate, Ch. 9 for their evening news program. Ill Bill has an upcoming solo 12" entitled "How To Kill A Cop" which the hard-hitting journalists at Ch. 9 must’ve thought was controversial. Meanwhile, the Rudy Giuliani 12" "How To Gun Down An Unarmed Civilian" has been pulled from our release schedule.

MC PAUL BARMAN is currently making jaws drop with his Wordsound debut 12", "It’s Very Stimulating." His 2nd 12", presently untitled, will be coming on Matador this summer. Possibly featuring a guest appearance by Prince Be, but we don’t wanna get your hopes up. You can get the scoop on Paul at mcpaulbarman.com

YO LA TENGO’s U.S. tour continues this week, after the initial batch of theatre shows were played to capacity crowds and very comfy chairs. ’And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out’ has turned out to be just as big a commercial success as it was a critical fave -- the album is well on pace to be the best selling album of Yo La Tengo’s career, as well as the biggest unit shifter the Matador label has had in way too long (translation: we get to keep the company yacht for another year). A European single of "You Can Have It All" is planned to coincide with overseas dates in May; the band’s English dates will feature collaborative performances with Sonic Boom (Spacemen 3, Spectrum, E.A.R.), Neil Innes (Bonzo Dog Band, the Rutles), and Robyn Hitchcock. This past Saturday, Yo La Tengo (accompanied by Bruce Bennett) played live during WFMU’s annual fund-raiser, once again taking audience requests in exchange for big piles of cash. Songs covered included:

"Rock the Boat" (George McRae?)
"American Pie" (Don McLean)
"Baseball Altamont" (The Nightmares / Ned Hayden)
"Color Me Impressed" (Replacements)
"19th Nervous Breakdown" (Rolling Stones)
"Too Many Creeps" (Bush Tetras)
"Don’t You Want Me" (Human League)
"Watching the Dectectives" (Elvis Costello)
"Tears of a Clown" (Smokey Robinson)
"Sheena is a Punk Rocker" (Ramones)
"Ring of Fire" (Johnny Cash)
"Panic in Detroit" (David Bowie)
"Roundabout" (Yes)
"Raw Power" (Stooges)
"TV Party" (Black Flag)

We’re told that WFMU successfully raised somewhere in the region of 18 billion dollars. Or maybe that was the wfmu.org IPO. Hard to remember sometimes.

Also: Yo La Tengo will be playing an instore at Let It Be in Minneapolis on Monday, April 3rd at 6:30PM (1001 Nicollet Mall, MPLS 55403, (612) 339-7439). They’ll play a 20 minute stripped down set and possibly sign some of your belongings. They’re doing this for the kids because the 1st Ave show is 21 and over.

THE WISDOM OF HARRY are currently deep inside in Bigfoot studios with screwdrivers and cellotape fixing up tunes for their first Matador/ Faux-Lux album, The House Of Binary. There is also a new single (uni format 7" only) out on April 17th. It comprises three new tracks; "Coney Island Of Your Mind," a steaming slice of electro ’n’ roll, detailing the decent into psychosis & delusion of an ex-cabaret performer marooned in his twilight years in a dying, windswept resort (which is what his head actually feels like...), "Hal Choc," the soundtrack to the bizare murder riddle of a man dressed as a cowboy found floating in a lake in Lancashire, and "Vent Aziz," which rounds off the record and comprises a lock groove detailing a view of the world from inside the mind of a family pet.

After a successful string of German dates, SOLEX return to the UK this week for a show at London’s Union Chapel (29 March) as part of the John Peel Sessions Live series. Twitch of Mount Florida should be making an appearance at this one, which makes sense, ’cause there’s a Mount Florida remix of "Randy Costanza" available on the new Solex "Athens, OH" 12" (Matador Europe), which also features music from Pick Up remixed by Kid 606, Damien O’Neill (That Petrol Emotion) and others. You can hear an MP3 of the "Randy Costanza" remix at the Matador Europe site.

As "14 Zero Zero" hits radio stations across the U.S. (or at least the specialty shows), CONSOLE are preparing to make an appearance at this June’s Sonar Festival in Barcelona. Console are also remixing Tocotronic, the German rockers who are big pals with FUCK. Its called Tocotonic vs. Console "Freiburg" (LageD’or).

Listening favorites of the artists and the artistically minded:

Dave Martin, Matador Records

Quicksilver Messenger Service -
"Lost Gold & Silver" Dbl CD on Collector’s Choice
Ray Russell -
"Live At The ICA/Retrospective" Dbl Cd on Moikai
V/A - "Downtown Soulsville", "All Tore Up", "Teenage Shutdown Vols. 12-15"
Giant Sand - "Chore Of Enchantment" CD
The Monkeywrench - "Electric Children" on Estrus
V/A - "Cozmick Suckers Vol. Yellow" on Shitkatpult
Taj Mahal Travelers - "Live In Stockholm 1971" Dbl CD
V/A Okeh Rhythm & Blues Box Set
V/A King Records R&B Box Set

Twitch, Mount Florida

1 senor coconut - el baile aleman (east west japan)
2 kelis - caught out there (virgin)
3 various - nu yorica roots (soul jazz)
4 ac/dc - the jack (atlantic)
5 life without buildings - new town (tugboat)
6 mike ladd - 5000 miles/planet 10 (ozone music)
7 sonic youth - i love her all the time (blast first)
8 david carretta - le catalogue electronique (deejay gigolo)
9 being john malkovich
10 coronation street - still the best tv show in the world, ever

Pete Astor, The Wisdom Of Harry

Monolake - Interstate
Lambchop - Nixon
Various - Deutsher Funk Vol.2
Various - Round One To Five
Eels - Daisies Of The Galaxy
Charles Simic - Hotel Insomnia

M.P. Lancaster, Mount Florida

Groundhogs - the best of
Phillip Glass - Powaqqatsi
Genesis - Nursery Cryme
Ralph Vaughan Williams - Sinfonia Antartica
Rhythm & Sound w/ Tikiman - Showcase
Frank Zappa - The Grand Wazoo
Grateful Dead - Monks in space
Pink Floyd - Live in Holland 1969
Senor Coconut - El Baile Aleman
The Warlocks - Live 1965
Fripp & Eno - Evening Star

Gerard Cosloy, Matador Records

Last Days Of May - Radiant Black Mind (Squealer)
Giant Sand - Chore of Enchantment (Thrill Jockey)
Meshuggah - Contradictions, Collapse & None (Nuclear Blast)
The Who - BBC Sessions (MCA)
Yossarian - Spiders Web (Satellite)
Anti-Pop Consortium - Tragic Epilogue (75 Ark)

March 27, 2000

Cat Power - downloadable, starting tomorrow.

"Paths Of Victory" from the new CAT POWER LP/CD, ’The Covers Record,’ will be available as a free MP3 download, starting tomorrow, March 7. We read a very compelling letter from an intelligent young person who urged us to a) give away more free music, b) revamp the web site and c) pass along a personal message to Sid Fernandez. We are doing the best we can with "a", averaging almost one new MP3 every week (giving or take, uh, a few weeks). "B", is an ongoing project that will come to a skidding halt as soon as we can agree on which shade of fuscia we like best. As far as "c" is concerned, we’re very sorry, but we can’t help you out.

There’s a one-off Cat Power show in London on March 14 (Drill Hall), followed by North American dates that you’ll probably want to attend.

BLUES EXPLOSION, Extended and Revised.

Our friends at Mute U.K. have just reissued Extra Width as a double CD that includes Orange, the Australian Mo’ Width album, plus enhanced CD/video stuff. There’s also a double LP/CD reissue of Experimental Remixes including new mixes from John Oswald, Beck, Prince Paul and others. And if that weren’t enough to drain your bank account, there’s a 12" of Acme material remixed by Techno Animal. All of the above (’cept for the Techno Animal mixes) should be hard to find in North America ’cause Matador are still selling these things (i.e. don’t even think about pissing us off), but if you’re that bothered about it, you could always just move to Europe. Nudity on daytime television. Progressive attitudes towards human/vegetable relations... you might want to consider it!

Mary Timony : bringing the hi-fi to the Hi-Fi.

If you’re in the Boston area on March 18, you can catch MARY TIMONY playing music from the amazing new Mountains LP/CD at Hi Fi Records in Jamaica Plain. The performance starts at 4pm, but if you want to show up early and spend money, they’re not gonna throw you out.

The Wisdom Of Harry - first domestic release scheduled. On the heels of countless singles, EP’s, compilation tracks and last autumn’s Stars of Super 8 collection, THE WISDOM OF HARRY will be making their North American debut on April 4 with a Matador 7" entitled "Coney Island Of Your Mind." This single has nothing to do with the Cyclone, Von LMO, Nathan’s or the Tim Roth film "Little Odessa", but all of the above are recommended as well. Not by The Wisdom Of Harry, but we can’t be expected to clear everything with them, can we? And on that subject...

The Tops of ’99, As Picked by Tardy Artists.

When you’re a one-man band/iconoclastic genius, you can hand in your picks of the year whenever you fucking want. Same goes for Keigo and Pete, anytime that’s convenient, guys.

Pete Astor, The Wisdom Of Harry

B. Fleishman - Pop Loops For Breakfast
Mos Def - Black On Both Sides
To Rococco Rot - The Amateur View
Smog - Knock Knock
East River Pipe - The Gasoline Age

Cornelius

Life Sentence - "Punks For Profit"
Temper Temper
Dymaxion
Nightmares On Wax
Mouse On Mars
Rufus Wainwright
Scritti Politti
DJ Murrel - Girl Hand Disc Jockey
Flaming Lips
Robyn Hitchcock - "Don’t talk to me about Gene Hackman"