Matador Records | News April 2002

We at Matador are pleased to announce that New York City’s Interpol have joined the label. The first release will be a beautifully packaged self-titled EP at the tasty list price of $3.98, in stores June 4th. Their debut full-length will follow in late August. In addition, catch Interpol opening for Belle and Sebastian at the second NYC show, May 6 at the Hammerstein Ballroom. Interpol will also be headlining the Bowery Ballroom in New York on May 28, with American Analog Set supporting. Please visit Interpol’s website.

Jon Spencer Blues Explosion —
Improving Late Night Television and Other Mediums
The biggest news around here since the Manhattan Deli went out of business is that the Blues Explosion will be the musical guests on “Last Call With Carson Daly” on June (watch this space for the exact date). For our Canadian friends, the band will also be performing on “Open Mike with Mike Bullard” on May 14.

The band are winding up a European tour this week, and then begin their US run in Washington DC on April 24. West Coast residents have faith, the band will be heading your way later in the summer, but for now they will be laying waste to the East Coast and Midwest.

For those cable & satellite dish owning families with MTV2 or MuchMusic access, keep your eyes peeled for the insanely cool new video for “She Said” directed by Floria Sigismondi. The “She Said” video is on the Matador site now, along with a video interview with the band and an MP3 of “Do You Wanna Get It” which is one of the 4 songs that is only available on the deluxe vinyl LP version of Plastic Fang.

For those of you anxiously awaiting the results of the recent Blues Explosion swag contest, we’ll be announcing the winners on the site early next week. We got a few more entries than we expected and it’s taking a day or two to get through them.

Yo La Tengo —
Resurrecting the Egon label, Launching yolatengo.com, Surviving the Onion.
Now exclusively available from yolatengo.com, ‘The Sounds of The Sounds Of Silence’ features 78 minutes of new instrumental music by Yo La Tengo. The CD contains the entire score written and performed by the band to accompany the legendary but rarely seen undersea documentary shorts by influential French avant-garde filmmaker Jean Painleve. Yo La Tengo’s score, originally debuted on stage at the San Francisco Film Festival in April 2001 with the band providing live accompaniment to the films, echoes the film’s haunting surrealist imagery, yet the music is equally evocative on its own, from the dreamy soundscapes of “Sea Urchins” and “How Some Jellyfish Are Born” to the harsher, more dissonant moods of “Liquid Crystals” and “The Love Life Of The Octopus.” In September 2001, the group went into a Nashville studio and laid down the complete score with longtime producer Roger Moutenot. The resulting CD also features vibrant color photos from the films, along with ominious and comforting illustrations by Jim Woodring and Jad Fair.

Go and download a free MP3 of “The Love Life Of The Octopus” and to find out how to order this CD.

Bardo Pond
One of the world’s greatest live bands are especially popular with their neighbors this year. That’s because they keep going on tour. Just back from West Coast and Southwestern dates, Bardo Pond hit the road again with Fursaxa in mid June. There’s a new CDEP available from the very naggy folks at ThreeLobed and is only available by subscription. Yes, this does sound like one of those Sub Pop things, but take our word for it, ThreeLobed aren’t gonna send you a fucking Ron Sexsmith single and act like they’re doing you a favor.

Belle and Sebastian
Catch Belle and Sebastian in their US Network TV debut when they appear on “Late Night With Conan O’Brien” this Friday, April 26.

Cornelius
Forget the Oscars, the Grammies, the Emmys and the Slammies. It’s all about the SXSW video awards. Did you hear that Cornelius’ video for “Drop” received the Special Jury Award for Music Video? This is true. See why it deserves such an honor. And see not just the winning video but three others, all songs from his new album.

Cornelius is currently warming up for his US tour, planned for August. We don’t have dates yet, but don’t you worry your pretty little heads. We’re anxious to see his new live experience, too.

In the meantime, he’s touring practically every city in Japan and will head to Europe to do shows in London, Paris, and Amsterdam in early May.

Guided By Voices
Pollard and Co. will be making the scene with former SportsCenter anchor Craig Kilborn’s late nite program on June 17 (CBS). We tried to get them booked on Keith Olbermann’s show, but apparently it was taken off the air a long time ago and no one bothered to tell us about it (thanks). The following day, June 18, Guided By Voices will be performing at the Los Angeles branch of the sprawling Amoeba Records superstore. A similar appearance at the SST superstore was cancelled on account of my busting out of a weird 1980’s time warp. Boy were the haircuts severe in those days. Look out for an import CD5 of “Everywhere With Helicopter” and way too many live dates all throughout the summer.

Mogwai
Our good friends will be touring econo style (i.e. no private jet this time — we’re making the entire band hitchhike) hitting North (and South) America for a few shows next month. It may be a while before Mogwai are back in this part of the world, so catch ’em if you can:

14th May Sao Paulo Teatro do SESC Vila Mariana - BRAZIL
15th May Sao Paulo Teatro do SESC Vila Mariana - BRAZIL
17th May Belo Horizonte Teatro Francisco Nunes - BRAZIL
18th May Rio De Janeiro Venue TBC - BRAZIL
19th May Santiago Teatro Novedades - CHILE

21st May Brooklyn - WARSAW
22nd May Baltimore - OTTO BAR
23rd May Pittsburgh - CLUB LAGA
24th May Louisville - HEADLINERS
25th May Chicago - FIRESIDE BOWL
27th May Toronto - LEE’S PALACE
28th May Montreal - CABARET

The following disturbing news comes to us courtesy of the offices of Lost Dog Records, Glasgow, Scotland:

The first release on Scotland’s Lost Dog Recordings will be The Sick Anchors’ eponymously titled EP. It features 3 cover versions which are as unique as they are faithful of Atomic Kitten, The Fall and The Mills Brothers.

The members of The Sick Anchors are Aidan from Arab Strap, Stuart from Mogwai and Sheepy who currently whores his phenomenal ivory-tinkling skills for bands of the calibre of Arab Strap, The Delgados and Mull Historical Society amongst others. He is also a member of The Reindeer Section (then again, who isn’t?!)

This release will be available on the mediums of compact disc and strictly limited edition 7 inch baw-busting vinyl.

There are currently no plans to release the record in the states or Canada, but that doesn’t mean you won’t be able to find it if you look hard enough. Or you can order it from the label directly.

Preston School of Industry
More tour action, this time from Scott Kannberg and comrades. Following UK dates supporting Wilco, they will be coming to your town or one near it in May and June, all the while keeping a tour diary on their website. Keep your eye on the Matador website for constantly updated tour info as it rolls in. Here’s a message from far away you might be interested in:

“Tom from Trifekta Records in Melbourne here. I put out PSOI here. Thanks for mentioning their Aussie dates in your newsletter. I’m releasing ‘The Idea of Fires’ as a CD single to co-incide with the tour with b-sides ‘Walls of Grain,’ ‘Suddenly Stable’ and ’Save Our Happiness.’ It comes in a super swish digi pack too. Any chance of you please mentioning the release on your next newsletter?”

Tom, consider it done.

Aereogramme
In the midst of UK dates supporting Idlewild, Aereogramme have just finished work on a self-produced video for “Post-Tour Pre-Judgement” — due to be added to the Matador site in the next few weeks. We’re still hoping for an Aereogramme summer tour. But you know how “hope” is, we can hope ’til we’re blue in the face and that won’t get you out of the house to see Aereogramme. But we’re not above using physical force, either.

Mark Eitzel
During an early 2002 respite from Matador-related activity, Mark Eitzel has a new album about to land in your lap. The first, ‘Music for Courage and Confidence’ is a collection of covers recorded in 1998. Produced by Brian Paulson (Man Sized Action, Son Volt, Superchunk) and Johan Kugelberg (Spain, Ugly Things associate editor, one-time Matador insider) and featuring such all-star players as Ethan Johns (H-Bombs, various Ryan Adams productions), Joey Waronker (Beck, that dog) and Bjorn Olsson, ’Music for Courage’ features Eitzel interpretations of songs near and dear to your heart; from Bill Withers’ “Ain’t No Sunshine,” to Culture Club’s “Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?” to Phil Ochs’ “Rehearsals for Retirement,” this range of material is bigger than the Grand Canyon. The album comes out in the U.S. on April 23 via the New West Label.

Matmos — Drew reports
“We are doing our best to stay busy in our autumn years. In fact we’re stressed out, OK? When we’re not busy preparing for our concert at the Wexner Center with Terry Riley, we’re busy programming Bjork songs for the Coachella festival, unless of course we’re busy working on our collaborative project with the Kronos Quartet, which we do when we’re not busy working on the promotion and dissemination of our brand new CD ‘Matmos Live with J Lesser’ which we’ve put out ourselves on our own vanity label Vague Terrain. You can find out how to get this record at our website. In between these bouts of being busy, we are busy plotting and planning the new Matmos album, which will be rather labour intensive and requires lots of extra technical assistance and car trips to remote desert locations. In the off hours we remain busy with impending remix action involving Matmos versus the Melvins, the Coup, Iannis Xenakis, and Tipsy. Lastly Drew keeps himself occupied with a solo project of cut up house music as The Soft Pink Truth. So we’re kind of busy you could say. Somehow we manage to hold down jobs too, of a sort.”

Mary Timony
Fresh from a sold-out show at NYC’s Joe’s Pub debuting material from ‘The Golden Dove,’ Mary will also be playing at the Khyber Pass in Philly on April 26. Watch the Matador site at the end of April for an MP3 from the album, which might or might not be the same song that so many lucky Jane subscribers will be receiving on the magazine’s next sampler in a couple weeks. Mary and her backing ensemble will take their show on the road this summer. We’ll also have a video interview for you early next week.

Mary writes:

“I will be on tour from June 6th to the end of the month in the US of A. and hope to go to Europe in September. I am going to be playing at Ladyfest DC this August, also doing live scoring for a silent movie ‘Vampyre’ by Dryer at the Coolidge in Boston in July. Brett Vapnek and I are making a video in a few weeks, probably for the song ‘Dr. Cat.’ There will be dancing in the video. here are some other shows that are just me alone on keyboard:

april 25 smith college
april 26 khyber pass, philadelphia
april 27 black swan pub, tivoli ny”

Khan —
There’s no such thing as “down time” in Khan’s world
“...just came back to NYC from a festival in Mexico City. it was my biggest visa nightmare so far. After waiting for 2 weeks in Frankfurt/Germany and going to the Mexican embassy every day to find out that it didn’t arrive I flew to NYC. Here, I recieved a phone call from the promoter of the Technogeist Festival that I have to come as the main act of the night. I went to the airport with only a fax stating I was invited and got on the plane. on my way to d.f. I thought ‘i’m flying directly into jail.’ i’ve been to jail in mexico before and was not planing on repeating that experience ever again, but I was very intrigued by the money and I just love mexico, so I arrived to be greeted by a busty sexy lady who charmed a mexican immigration officer into letting me into the country.

i pretty much went straight from the airport onto stage. strange feeling that was.....

...i’m off on our states tour with Kid Congo, playing 5 shows with Nick Cave, plus some more by ourselves in the states and canada if they let me in. I still don’t have my visa for canada. (editor’s note: dear Mountie authorities, he’s just kidding!)

Playhouse just recieved the test pressings of "Say Good Bye" remixes by Isolee and losoul. I have a copy and have to admit, they are absolutley fantastic. Isolee’s mix is a body and soul psychedelic house mix that sounds like the dj is spinning in your head. the losoul mix, "She’s Homeless", (does he mean Julee?) is very German minimal funky house. The original and lenni ship version are included on the 12".

I will be hosting a musical in geneva this fall and will move to washington d.c. in november. I need some go-go action.”

Cat Power — Chan graces us with a word or 2
“hello there,
i met a lady named Ther yesterday,
she was a bartender in a seafod resturant
called Hall’s in Pensacola, Florida.
She was wearing a silver broche pendant,
that of a flower, it had some glitter attatched to it.

met a man named matt ward recently, in san fran,
leading to Tallahasse, he probably is, despite the
leading well known greats to all of us,
he probably is, the best thing going.
he goes under his musicianship name : M.Ward
and he can play and
he can sing like a great big heart

i’m going on and on, let’s see.............
paris france may 3
spanish tour, I think starting may 9 ??
i want quite desperately for M.Ward to accompany me.
then there’s a swiss show june 28
then there’s an atlanta georgia on july 3
but before all of that i’m heading back to the
west to finish the rest
of U R FREE,
cat powder’s new rekkerd
going to joshua tree.

hope yall are swell
love is in the air
not only cuz i’ts spring

we must not let bombs burst into air.”

Lesser — J always hands these things in on time.
Hey there. Not sure who got the news, but I ended up taking Jamie Lidell’s spot on the whole of the Kid606 / Gold Chains Tour. Things went pretty well, I should think, tho I surprised a lot of folks by being on that tour; my addition was not well documented.

Is anyone else drawn in by the magical appeal of the iPod? I rarely listen to music, and never ‘on the go,’ yet... The force is so strong... An MP3 player that can hold my address book and I can have it engraved with my own personal message? Getting weak.... Must ... Hide ... Credit card. (Management note: If anyone from Apple is reading this and is considering send J some free stuff, well, just wait a darned second. Don’t forget your loyal friends at Matador who are such intense Mac loyalists that forced our bookkeeper to go work for MarthaStewart.com rather than let him keep a windows machine on premises.)

After careful consideration, Mr. Cosloy has decided to give Lesser another go here at Matador Europe. (Mangement note: this is pending feedback from our focus group) I am hoping to get this thing outta me by summerand the plan is for it to be... Uh... Slightly more listenable than GEARHOUND... Yes, I know what you are thinking... Sellout... Well I can’t defend myself, other than to say that I am a straight mercenary getting my hustle on, scrub.

Label Co-President Apologizes,
“Hopes We Can All Move On”
Matador co-president Gerard Cosloy has issued a profuse apology to the city and residents of Columbus, OH, for his inappropriate remarks in a recent news update. Furthermore, any remarks attributed to Mr. Cosloy by a Columbus Post-Dispatch journalist recently were either fabricated or taken out of context. At no time did Mr. Cosloy refer to Columbus as “a dump,” the city’s music scene as “medieval” or its women as “ferociously ugly.” Matador Records has consulted its attorneys and we are prepared to let this one slide... just as soon as we stop getting angry e-mail from some nut in Columbus.

Hey! They’ve got the internet in Columbus!

Label Employees and their self-serving lists:

Todd Netter, Matador Records
Well I’ve been both pleased and disappointed with music (which is to broadly categorize several areas/events/experiences, etc.) since the last update.

Under the pleased category:
1. I have to start with GBV resigning with Matador. Just think, now I get a free ticket to shows and an advance copy of the new cd (which I got to admit has some real gems: #5 Cheyenne, #7 Back to the Lake, #11 Pretty Bombs, #12 Eureka Signs). And best of all now I can use the line “I work for Matador, what fucking label do you work for.”

2. I finally saw the Liars. When they first hit the stage and I saw the lead singer I thought this guy could be the cover boy for VICE magazine. I feel like he has to somehow be related to Karen from the Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs. After I heard them, I found out that this band had a sound that was as cool as their look. The screaming vocals added with some serious bass lines made for a great live performance. These guys play hard and their sound is driving and raw.

3. I have become addicted to playing the White Stripes “Stripe Out.” This is their indie rock version (I think they made it before V2) of a childhood favorite Arkanoid (the game where you try to bounce the ball off geometric shapes). I can’t get that far though (maybe the 3rd level, I’m not sure how many levels they have).

Under the disappointed category:
1. Hearing that Other Music - Boston closed down. Having lived in Boston I realize that city needs as many cool things as possible, so it sucks when Harvard Sq. loses something worthwhile. Why couldn’t it have been Urban Outfitters, Abercrombie & Fitch, for god sakes that Curious George store. Plus I had a friend who worked there. Good luck OM staff, especially with your landlord.

2. The Clinic show at the Bowery Ballroom. It was pretty boring. I know that performances don’t always have to be exciting to be good but this was just so plain. I don’t mind what I’ve heard on the albums, just live it was a little blah. The Rapture just got my blood moving and my feet stomping, so when Clinic came on I was a little deflated. And oh yeah the surgical scrubs, come on!

3. The Osbornes. I mean prior to this show I already thought MTV was the worse thing to happen to my generation, but come this show is just plain wrong. I was wondering how long it would be before celebrities were going to get jealous of all the attention regular folks were getting through shows like the Real World, Survivor, etc. I guess I know the answer, not very long. I saw the episode where Ozzy and offspring were complaining that the neighbors were being too loud. Ozzy Osbourne (formerly of Black Sabbath) complaining that someone else is too loud? That would be like if Mogwai went to a BLUR concert and left halfway complaining that "those Blur guys are just too intense." The Osbornes suck!

Miwa Okumura
-Mops Psychedelic Sounds In Japan Victor Entertainment Japan
*the others are not worth mentioning mostly for your benefit.

J Lesser
Roy Smeck - Plays Hawaiian Guitar
Donna Summer - To All Methods Which Calculate Power
"Banjo" Ikey Robinson - (1929-1937)
Nebulous Rex - Episode 1 (http://www.compound-eye.org/rex/html/home.htm)
Twigy - The Legendary Mr. Clifton
Blind Blake - Ragtime Guitar’s Foremost Fingerpicker

Patrick Amory’s Listening Pile
Fairport Convention — Heyday (Island Remasters CD, with essential extra tracks)
Papete — Berimbau E Percussão (Discos Marcus Pereira LP)
Bach — Piano Cto. No. 2: Glenn Gould/Leonard Bernstein/Columbia SO (Columbia LP)
Schubert — Quintet in C: Heifetz/Piatigorsky/Primrose and guests (RCA LP)
Kenny Dorham — ’Round About Midnight At The Cafe Bohemia Vol. 2
(Blue Note Japan LP)
AC/DC — Live From The Atlantic Studios (Atlantic LP)
Charles Mingus — Pithecanthropus Erectus (Atlantic reissue LP)
Dvorak — Violin Cto.: David Oistrakh/Kyrill Kondrashin/Moscow SO
(Melodiya/Eurodisc Israel LP)

Gerard Cosloy, Matador Records
consonant — s/t (Fenway)
Wire — Read & Burn (Pink Flag)
Yo La Tengo — The Sounds Of The Sounds Of Silence (Egon)
Califone — Deceleration One (Perishable)
Various — Crooked O.ST. (Wordsound)
Herrmann & Kleine — Our Noise (Morr Music)
Elvis Costello — When I Was I Cruel (Island)
Marumari — The Remixes (Car Park)

Dave Martin, Matador Records
Listen up!
1) Modey Lemon - S/T You could say this came out of nowhere, but most of you should have seen this band’s 7" on my list for a good while last year. The full length not only lives up, but maybe even betters the 7". A wonderfull mix of rock action, the occasional metal move and general mayhem and confusion. Better than I could have ever hoped for.

2) The Major Stars - Distant Effects & Live. They toured w/one of the worst bands of all time, Acid Mother’s Temple, and blew them away night after night. The Knitting factory show was totally savage! The new record is the same CDR that I had on my top ten and year end list last year. It is now about to come out for real, for real though. Don’t miss the bus cause this one is a keeper.

3) Overhang Party - Everything! I just get more and more obsessed with these guys. Super emotional pysch jams. They have a couple tracks on the Tokyo Flashback comps (Vols 2 & 3) and some records that they put out themselves on Pataphysique, including a fantastic double CD &7" pack and I also have a handfull of live CDR’s that I can’t stop rocking.

4) The Mops - m Psychedelic Sounds In Japan & The Spiders - Let’s Go Spiders! comp on Big Beat. I’m trying to decide which one of them does a better cover of The Animals Inside Looking Out.

5) Rocket From The Tombs - The Day The Earth Met The... Except for the odd, coulda been a contender vibe to the liner notes this is as great as you could hope for. Even more essential than that Peter Laughner comp from years ago or disc five of the Pere Ubu box. Even if you are a super obsessive, tape trading geek this has some stuff that you don’t have.

6) Brother JT - Maybe We Should Take Some More & Spirituals - A slightly more mellow and slightly more weird outing from JT and then another ROCK record for the Drag City empire. He makes it all seem easy. I still think he is one of the ALL TIME GREATS.

7) Don Howland - The Land Behind The Mountains - According to liner notes I helped ruin his budding music carreer. Thankfully I didn’t succeed. I’ve also heard rumors about the Bassholes being active again.

8) Damon & Naomi W/ Kurihara - Song To The Siren: Live in San Sebastian - Really nice live record that will come with a DVD that features some really spotty camera work by yours truly.

9) Dead Meadow - Both LPs. You wouldn’t know it from listening to them but these heavy rock jams are made by some young kids from D.C. Full on!

10) King Brothers 6x3 New Japanese mini album (This is coming out in the us w/6 more songs as 12x3). While no record could really match their live show this has the King Brothers "stretching out" a bit.

Ben Goldberg, Matador Records
1) Desperate Characters by Paula Fox - Small time, it concerns a woman’s cat bite. Big time, it’s about shifting relationships between married people and about the new school values that were permeating the country at the time it was written (1970). I have an irrational dislike of poetry, but her writing is genius prose. It’s like Don DeLillo without the intentionally arcane crap element.

2) Galloping Coroners - Dancing In The Sun - I have yet to hear rock music from Budapest that isn’t incredible. Okay, I’ve only heard Galloping Coroners and Kampec Dolores, but it’s a small country. This is on Neurot Recordings, which is known for its metalness, and this might arguably be called something like metal, but it’s full of folk melodies and chanting. And it’s a really, really long record.

3) Clinic at Bowery Ballroom - I’ve been going to a series of disappointing live shows lately by lauded bands who were supposed to blow me away, so I was all ready to hate Clinic. Alas, alack, they were incredible, with tight rhythm, fast presentation, and a 45 minute show that felt perfectly short. And You Will Know Them Because They Deserve The Hype They’re Getting.

4) 1 Mile North - Glass Wars - Rhythm-less instrumentals of a relaxed and intricate nature. They’re a two-member band, with variety too, but always chose an ambient-inspired route. It’s like the result of test subjects who grew up listening only to Roy Montgomery records.

5) Donnie Darko - I had no idea what this movie was about before seeing it, and to fully enjoy it, it’s best not to. Not perfect - some intricacies of the plot are confused and don’t quite explain themselves well - but the fact that this came out through a Hollywood company is pretty astounding. Tears For Fears never sounded so good.

Mark Ohe, Matador Records

ten songs:
good on ya baby (x)
rock’n’roll toilet (the soft boys)
sleepy silver door (dead meadow)
drifting downstreams (dead meadow)
dusty nothing (dead meadow)
the white worm (dead meadow)
mighty fine jam (endless boogie)
polly on the shore (robyn hitchcock)
i often dream of trains (robyn hitchcock)
white line (neil young & crazy horse)