MATADOR COMPILATIONS

New York Eye & Ear Control

About two years ago, Gerard made plans to release a Homestead compilation featuring all the NYC artists he liked but was too lazy to sign. Everybody he asked (with the exception of Hugo Largo) said OK. Then Gerard was fired by Homestead for not taking enough showers. Chris Lombardi, who had just started the Matador label, suggested that Gerard release the compilation with him. 18 months, $30,000.00, several trips to Off Track Betting (and several thousand phone calls from Steve Fitch) later, New York Eye and Ear Control became a real thing.

The name for this compilation was stolen from an old record featuring some jazz guys we've never heard, so shut up and leave us alone about it. The name was also inspired by the New York Eye & Ear Infirmary, a nasty building on 12th St. and 2nd Avenue where the producers of this record (and many of the artists featured on it) have suffered greatly. Tod Ashley wanted to call it Cumshots of the Stars, but he can save that for his next album.

DUSTDEVILS - "Throw The Bottle Full"
Anglo-Australian-Austrian-American melting pot of trouble, they still insist they've never heard of Michael Bolton, despite comparisons in nearly every review they receive.

TIMBER - "The Crankcase" (previously unreleased)
Collaboration between Fish & Roses/Les Batteries drummer Rick Brown and Zero Pop/Better Than Death guitarist Mark Howell. On this recording, Timber are joined bY former Let's Active bassist Faye Hunter.

FITCH - "Since I Quit My Job," "Naked Again"
Answers to the name of Steve. Mr. Fitchcraft is a former Austin resident whose many exciting tapes have won the favor of famous people like Steve Shelly and Gibson Haynes. We can't stand him, however, and we're really sorry we put him on the album.

COP SHOOT COP - "Dive" (previously unreleased)
Anti-nostalgic rock sans guitars, they've recently stopped performing live, prefering to use holograms instead. Wuss-rock guru Simon Reynolds is one of their biggest (though not one of their brightest) fans.

OWT - "Alive with Pleasure" (previously unreleased)
Wild Collaboration between percussionist David Linton and electronic harpist Zeena Parkins. If you didn't hear their 1989 Homestead album Good as Gold, Don't worry, hardly anybody else did either.

BORBETOMAGUS - "Honeymoon" (previously unreleased)
NY's alright if you like saxophones. Although many a Knitting Factory patron might disagree in the case of Borbetomagus, the sax duo of Dietrich and Sauter, accompanied by guitar pioneer Donald Miller. The only reasons they're not legends is 'cause their publicist has had the chicken pox (for the last 10 years).

CIRCLE X - "Crash (St. Sebastian of The Hood)" (previously unreleased)
Louisville, KY exiles whose early '80s releases on the Index and Celluloid labels predated the way-famous Sonic Youth/Live Skull/Hit By A Truck axis by five or ten minutes.

ROYAL TRUX - "Jet Pet" (previously unreleased)
If anybody knows where Neil or Jennifer are today, please give us a call. We gave them $2,000 to make an album and I don't think we'll ever see it again.

BIGGEST SQUARE THING - "She Shook Her Head" (previously unreleased)
Twin guitars and vocals from Sue Garner (Run On, Fish & Roses, The Shams) and Ruth Pyser (Bump). Their Buttrag Records 7" is taking up lots of room in the house of a nice Chicago man, so buy one.

RAILROAD JERK - "From the Pavement" (previously unreleased)
Rising from the ashes of the southern NJ art-metal powerhaus Heathen Rage, NYC's Railroad Jerk were recently chucked off the second leg of the ZZ Top tour when the guitarist fell down onstage and poked a big hole in the "Red Man Chewing Tobacco Concert Series" sign.

RUDOLPH GREY - "The Hall" (previously unreleased)
As founding member of the mid-70's band Red Transistor, Rudolph should be every bit the NYC legend that Alan Vega or Richard Hell are today...except his publicist had the chicken pox.

UNSANE - "Boost" (previously unreleased)
This whole band has the chicken pox, so they cannot come to our office and pick up copies of this record.

AMATEUR original motion picture soundtrack

Soundtrack to Amateur, the new film from Hal Hartley (Trust, The Unbelievable Truth ). Includes previously released songs from:

My Bloody Valentine -- "Only Shallow"
P.J. Harvey -- "Water"
Pavement -- "Here"
Liz Phair -- "Girls, Girls, Girls"
Bettie Serveert -- "Tom Boy"
The Jesus Lizard -- "Then Comes Dudley"
Aquanettas -- "Mind Full of Worry"
Red House Painters -- "Japanese to English"
Yo La Tengo -- "Shaker"

Also includes the original film score by Jeffrey Taylor and Ned Rifle.

HALF-COCKED

Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

Half-Cocked is an independent film directed by Suki Hawley, co-written by Hawley and cinematographer Michael Gallinsky. The low-budget feature tells the story of what happens when five penniless teens steal an entire van full of musical equipment and hit the road -- a sad/hilarious journey as a "band" (Truckstop) through the South. Set Louisville, Chattanooga and Nashville, the film stars members of Rodan, Crain, Ruby Falls, The Make Up and the Grifters (who manage to play themselves with complete authority), playing in and staying at the places bands really go.

NEW VERSIONS OF PREVIOUSLY RELEASED TRACKS

The Grifters - "The Want"
Freakwater - "Drunk Friend"
Freakwater (LP only) - "Crazy Man"

PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED TRACKS

??? - "Snoopy"
Truckstop - "No Space"
Salmon Skin - excerpt
Retsin - excerpt
Boondoggle - "Invertabrate"
Truckstop - "All-Nighter"
Dungbeetle - "The Man Went Out"
Truckstop - "Truckstop Theme"

PREVIOUSLY RELEASED TRACKS

Unwound - "Dragnalus"
Slant 6 - "Time Expired"
Rodan - "Tron"
Sleepyhead - "CB"
Ruby Falls - "Dusty"
Versus - "b-9"
Polvo - "Can I Ride"
Big Heifer - "Flowers In Our Hair"
Crain - "Hey Cops"
Helium - "Magic Box"
Smog (LP only) - "37 Push-ups"
Two $ Guitar (LP only) - "Star 60"
Kicking Giant (LP only) - "Satellite"

Teenbeat 50

This here exquisite Teenbeat compilation features all those bands we learned to love so much. 26 tracks or so with Velocity Girl, Eggs, Unrest, Bastro, Coral, Courtney Love, Butch Willis, Autoclave, Johnny Cohen, Vomit Launch, Eggs, Wall Drug and others.