We’re extremely happy to announce that Earles & Jensen’s titanic contribution to the world of comedy (and Western Civilization for that matter…) “Just Farr A Laugh” is now available for pre-order! We love to reward genius here at Matador so we’re currently offering those with the daring and clarity of vision to pre-order $3 off, a free poster, and a special surprise non-sequitur gift. As some of you may know we have faced some serious legal-obstacles in producing this release. Ambulance chasing notwithstanding, this double-CD and 35 page book remains a work of genius that we’re sure you’ll enjoy.

Place your pre-order HERE

There’s another 7 clips from the same interview, courtesy of Snow Ghost Music

Well, amongst other reasons, you’ll never again have to sleep alone.  Actually, given our budgets,  it isn’t really an option.  From left to right, Adam Elliot, Beth Murphy, P.M.-to-the-stars Todd Netter, Jared Phillips.  (photo : Gabe Spierer)

(photo by Renee McMahon)

Amongst SXSW’s embarrassment of riches last week was the opportunity to see Times New Viking some 6 times in 5 days (not counting their stint backing Mike Rep at Siltbreeze’s Thursday evening bash).  However, the fine performances by our favorite Columbus trio are by no means limited to major rock biz trade fairs.

Above, Beth, Adam and Jared negotiating the friendly confines of Denton, TX’s Strawberry Fields, March 11.

Leave it to a founding member of Twisted Sister to singlehandedly kill all the momentum gained by Obama’s speech earlier today.  From the AP’s Wayne Parry.

Jay Jay French wants to rock. He also wants Barack.So the Twisted Sister guitarist has rerecorded the heavy metal band’s anthem, “I Wanna Rock,” which has become “I Want Barack.”

French, a lifelong liberal Democrat whose mother campaigned for John F. Kennedy, said Barack Obama, who is seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, has energized a new generation of voters who previously felt left out of politics.

“He has excited so many people,” said French, who founded Twisted Sister in 1973, in a telephone interview Tuesday. “He has given sincere hope to people who have been out of the arena for years.”

French plays guitar on the track, which features Paulie Z., singer for the band Z02, on vocals and lead guitar. They call the band Jay Jay French and Friends and stress this isn’t a Twisted Sister project because that band’s members are split on the presidential candidates.

The Obama camp had no immediate comment on the song.

For the first time, we’re making our annual ‘Intended Play’ label sampler available digitally. Click on the link to get a zipped file of all 12 tracks plus front and back artwork, and burn it yourself (or just listen to it digitally):

Intended Play 2008 (zip file)

Track listing:

1. Jay Reatard Always Wanting More (from 7″ #3, due out June 17 June 24)
2. Times New Viking DROP-OUT (from Rip It Off, released January 22)
3. Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks Cold Son (from Real Emotional Trash, released March 4)
4. Shearwater Leviathan, Bound (from Rook, due out June 3)
5. Cat Power Metal Heart (from Jukebox, released January 22)
6. Matmos Polychords (from Supreme Balloon, due out May 6)
7. Mission Of Burma That’s How I Escaped My Certain Fate (from Vs.: The Definitive Edition, released today, March 18)
8. Jaguar Love Bats Over The Pacific Ocean (from Take Me To The Sea, due out this summer August 19)
9. The Cave Singers Helen (from Invitation Songs, released last September)
10. Dead Meadow I’m Gone (from Old Growth, released February 5)
11. The New Pornographers All The Things That Go To Make Heaven And Earth (live) (from Live From Soho (iTunes Exclusive), released March 11)
12. Earles & Jensen Bleachy Is Back In Town, Look Out (from Just Farr A Laugh Vols. 1 & 2: The Greatest Prank Phone Calls Ever!, due out April 22 May 6)

The sharp-eyed among you will note that some of these tracks are not the ones released as promo MP3s to date.

“Bleachy’s Back In Town” (mp3) from the forthcoming 2XCD, Earles & Jensen Present ‘Just Farr A Laugh, Vol’s I & II’. To paraphrase Jim Fouratt, The Man Can’t Bust Our (Non)-Music.

Who amongst us hasn’t read the listening piles of Matador Direct’s Dave Martin (above, right) and thought, “I wish there was an Other Music party he was dj’ing?”

Well, your dreams and mine have come true. Dave will be spinning tonight from 9-10pm at Union Pool ( 484 Union Ave, Williamsburg, 11211) at an event that will also feature the dj skills of Excepter’s Dan Houghland and a live performance from El Guincho.

There’s no word on a dress code, but as always, I think you can presume that Union Pool adhere to a “no shirt, no shoes, no problem” policy.

Confession : many years ago, we tried the exact same trick at the 21 Club.  It didn’t work.

Random single #4 is actually good: Australia’s Leftovers, performing the classic “Cigarettes and Alcohol,” a track which really strips life down to the necessities. Jesper has been known to clamor for this one at Yo La Tengo shows, but I can’t remember whether they actually ever played it.

N.B. There is no picture sleeve for this extremely sought-after item.

…she’s made us feel pangs of deep sympathy for one of the nation’s least likable big box retailers.

More footage can be found at the Other Music site, including a terrific Shearwater clip that I’ve not managed to swipe properly (the cat puked all over my copy of “Embedding For Dummies”).

Day 6 at Headgear Studios in Brooklyn with Mr. John Agnello at the helm. What have we accomplished so far? All the tracking and vocals (live, mind you), some sick guitar overdubs, and a whole lot of fun-having. We’ve got a week to go including mixing.

Here’s some pics:

Mr. Agnello and Mr. Michael Brodlieb (bass)

Me and Mike Strandberg (guitar):

DRUMS!(Jon Langmead):

Supplies:

Another update coming soon.

Love,

Jennifer

Greetings to the 1% of the american entertainment industry that isn’t in Austin this week. My apologies to those of who weren’t allowed to run away and join the circus, but look at the bright side : you get to watch the college basketball conference tournament games without anyone forcing a can of Monster Khaos energy tonic down your gullet.

While some of your weary & bleary friends from America’s 2nd or 3rd Most Beloved Rock Independent Label are getting close to nap-time, I’ll quickly summarize just a few of the highlights of SXSW so far :

1) Excellent sets from Yo La Tengo, Shearwater, Times New Viking and Jay Reatard
2) a Tommy Keene sighting on 6th st. (no gigs this week, sadly)
3) the ruination of one of my most beloved black tees courtesty of lots of curry ketchup and sauerkraut (what, you thought I’d be blogging about REM?)
4) The guy who asked me if the Matablog “was gonna be all about food from now on?” (see above)
5) the following murderers’ row of killer performances : Tyvek, The Marked Men, Fucked Up, Pink Reason, Home Blitz, Trixter, The Distant Seconds.

6) Fucked Up’s Father Damien (above), doing his best to stop any possible Tabitha Soren comeback.
7) Scott Templeton making his rock journalism debut under the pseudonym, “Jim DeRogatis”.

More news to follow. I’m told Patrick’s on a panel about vinyl siding tomorrow, and we’re planning on a 4-camera shoot of the event. Matador’s first Blu-Ray disc?  Keep your fingers crossed!

To those of you in Austin who have the time/coherency to check the Matablog,

I am assuming that means you have managed to keep it together thus far, and now, I would like to invite you to loose your shit at the Times New Viking in-store at Waterloo Records!!

Saturday, March 15th at 3:00 pm!!!

In today’s Austin Chronicle, music industry vet Danny Goldberg (who once partnered with Matador at two major labels) channels The Wire’s Thomas Klebanow. Danny remarks about the music business, “We have to do more with less” — precisely the mantra of the bland, cost-cutting editor of the Baltimore Sun. To be fair to the Danster, he does go on to recommend that the industry be more open to experiment. But we’d hope that he doesn’t think laying off talented creative types and pursuing flash in the pan stories is the wave of the future. Really, this was a tone-deaf moment for the former Led Zep publicist.

(photo by Sam Comen)

AOL filmed Cat Power playing in their studios in LA on February 27, and the session is now live:

Despite the snazzy Thurston Moore design, I’ve neglected to pick up my SXSW goody bag. No offense to the organizers or their lovely sponsors, but I’ve got enough stacks of CD’s I’m never gonna listen in my house already, thanks. But enough about my weekly care packages from 304 Hudson St. (hey, JUST KIDDING), the Chicago Sun-Times’ Diablo Cody-baiting Jim DeRogatis (who kindly, though incorrectly ID’d me as the guy who signed Naked Raygun — please, some long overdue credit for Sam Berger) reveals a rather peculiar inclusion in the 2008 bag o’ swag :

The most notable thing about this year’s bag, in addition to its skimpiness, is a green plastic toy soldier of the classic “kids’ army guys” variety, except this one is holding a guitar instead of a rifle, and he’s twisty-tied to a color card that identifies him as “Sgt. Solo,” brave representative of Armed Forces Entertainment. (Why they didn’t just go with “Sgt. Rock,” I’ll never know; maybe there were copyright issues.)

The blurb at the bottom of the card reads: “Plug in your weapon, turn up the power and fire away. Your limo is a Humvee and your ride is a Blackhawk. For over 50 years, America’s stars have earned their stripes by performing for our country’s greatest audience. Find out if you have what it takes to tour the world entertaining the troops with Armed Forces Entertainment.”

Yes, you read right: These are your tax dollars hard at work in a promotional effort to recruit rock bands to travel to Iraq and Afghanistan to entertain our troops. Mind you, if anyone deserves free entertainment, it’s the brave men and women making incredible sacrifices for their country overseas. But really, wouldn’t they be better served by the government spending that money on better benefits and health care, more useful gifts for a theater of war (like adequate armor on those Humvees) or, heaven knows, upping the diplomatic efforts to end these conflicts?

These are things worth mulling while visiting the group’s Web site, which features an even more bizarre piece of promotional artwork via the illustration of a doctored Sherman tank — the kind that won the “good war” of WWII — with an acoustic guitar replacing the turret and gun barrel and a swirl of paisleys beneath the treads, all under the banner “SXSW Music.”

(Curb, right, relieved that Blender has left him off the hook)

Blender’s just issued their “20 Biggest Record Company Screw-Ups of All Time” list, and while I’m grateful Matador escaped their wrath (amazingly, no mention of Johan Kugelberg’s departure or “Whitechocolatespaceegg”), I’m still not entirely satisfied with the selections on offer.

Sure, it’s hard to argue with a few of ‘em (ie. Berry Gordy selling Motown for a collection of blankets and beads, Geffen suing Neil Young for making records that stiffed) and there’s undoubtedly others that should’ve made the cut (Mike Curb dropping the Velvets, the Mothers Of Invention and Solger on the same day).  But I’m pretty sure there’s no way you can make a list of historic rock biz fuck ups without mentioning there was once a bidding war for a band called Spade Ghetto Destruction.

1) Someone named “Mitch Michaels” calls Courtney Love’s blogs “impossible to decipher”. Heck, you should see some of the Matablog entries before I get my hands on ‘em.

2) Courtney is s being roundly mocked for claiming someone bought a house in New Jersey using Kurt Cobain’s social security number. I totally believe her ; I almost bought a house next door to someone named Lee Ving 4 years ago, and there’s no way you can tell me that was the former Fear vocalist’s residence. He’s at least as dead as Kurt.

3) It’s not she’d make a stink for no reason whatsoever. Someone’s been using Falling James’ identity to buy stuff (newspapers, correcto-type) for ages and please note NO WILD PRESS CONFERENCE was called.

So lay off, already. Anyone who thinks it’s easy to blow through tens of millions of dollars probably hasn’t tried it.

Extremely simple to make and explosively delicious. This is a Su-Mei Yu recipe. The ingredients can vary. I used one cucumber, some mint leaves, a minced birdseye chile, and a minced scallion. The dressing is made of fish sauce cooked down with sea salt, white sugar and palm sugar, then mixed with lime juice. Dried shrimp are put on top, and the whole thing sits for 10 minutes before eating.

The New Pornographers recorded a live concert at the Apple Store in Soho, NYC last December – it is out on iTunes today. Click the link to order it:

Meanwhile, don’t forget that the Executive Edition box set version of ‘Challengers’ is complete and ready for downloading and burning all discs. For those who never got it, you can still order it from the Matador Store while supplies last – either as an upgrade to the regular edition if you already own it, or as a complete box set ready to download and burn.

Many friends and foes alike are popping into Austin this week and out of the shear goodness of my aching heart, I’d like to pass along the following nutritional tip :

Though you have many wonderful options for breakfast, dinner or lunch in this fantastic city, if you’re a busy person, you’ll never have time for all of them.

(above, below  : The Democrat, Green Chili Pork)

To put this as simply as possible, if you’re gonna be in Austin for 4 days, that could well mean 12 visits to Torchy’s Tacos. You might think I’m exaggerating  about this establishment’s otherwordliness, but go to Torchy’s once you arrive and then try eating elsewhere. At that point you can lecture me about overrating.

And if that means you’re standing in a long line for an excellent taco while I’m watching these guys, well, it’s a win-win for both of us.

March 12, 1983 – The Bradford Ballroom, Boston MA

from the companion DVD to Vs.

takes a second or two to load, ’cause it’s QuickTime: