Touring is glamorous stuff.  JPG forwarded by Miwa, Enon stationary culled from Thor Harris’ Bargain Bazaar.

The third 7″ in Jay Reatard’s Matador singles series, “Always Wanting More b/w You Mean Nothing To Me”, is up for pre-order RIGHT NOW. Because of the extremely limited quantity of this record we will only honor one copy per customer.

The sleeve design, by Lindsay Shutt, comes in a clear plastic sleeve with Dangerhouse-style paper half-insert; the disc is clear one-sided vinyl with both tracks on the a-side and a silkscreen design printed directly onto the b-side. In short, ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE. Note, because printing a record without a center label often results in an enlarged center hole, you’ll have to carefully center the record on the spindle before playing. We’re also including a FREE MP3 download of each song with purchase (a download coupon is enclosed with each record)

ORDER HERE

(Back Cover)

Matador and What’s Your Rupture? are pleased to announce a joint release: the Year Of The Pig EP from Toronto’s Fucked Up.

Out worldwide on July 22, the EP is an expanded version of the 12″ single released by WYR? in mid-2007 (and by Vice in the UK in early 2008). In addition to the original 18-minute title track and the flipside, “The Black Hats,” there are three edits of the title track and three unreleased tracks. Each edit and each unreleased track will be featured on one of three 7″ singles, each with a different sleeve, to be released in the US, the UK, and Japan respectively.

“Year Of The Pig” is the second in a series of songs based on the Chinese zodiac. It is about the plight of sex workers in Canada. The initial release, and a companion concert, generated $4,000 for a prostitution rights charity in Toronto. Read more about the issues, and the notorious Robert Pickton case, at this blog post by the band. Featuring keyboards, an ethereal female guest vocal and multiple, interlocking musical sections, it is Fucked Up’s most ambitious work to date.

Here is a 256K MP3 of the US edit:

“Year Of The Pig (US 7″ edit)” (256K MP3)

Track listings:

12″: Year Of The Pig / The Black Hats
7″ (US): Year Of The Pig (US Edit) / Mustaa Lunta (new track)
7″ (UK): Year Of The Pig (US Edit) / Anorak City (new track — Another Sunny Day cover)
7″ (Japan): Year Of The Pig (Japanese Edit) / For My Friends (new track)
CDEP: All of the above

Fucked Up will be playing three shows in Calgary later this month, and will tour Europe throughout July and August.

Looking For Gold blog

The scary thing is, we were already working on a game based on the Beggars licensing department trying to place music in “Guitar Hero” and “Rock Band 2″. It’s not gonna be very much fun to play, but we can promise the realism will compare favorably to the title above.

Late to posting this: a couple of months ago I became intrigued by John Thorne’s writing on poached chicken, in his first book, Simple Cooking. He modifies a recipe by Barbara Tropp, where you submerse an entire chicken in boiling water, cover it, turn off the heat, wait for two hours and then eat. Thorne uses a Reynolds oven-proof bag (first time I’d come across this item, but it was available at my local supermarket), and increases the cooking time to three hours. You rub the chicken with olive oil and herbs, put it in the bag, and then suck all the air out of the bag, or at least as much as possible. I’m not a huge fan of sucking on a bag containing a raw chicken, but it is an absolute must since the chicken will not submerge otherwise.

Do not attempt this recipe if you like attractive food. The chicken will emerge pallid and sweaty, though “meltingly tender” and, as Thorne puts it, “full of its own flavor.”

As mentioned last week, there’s a new studio LP/CD from Mogwai coming on September 23, 2008, and it’s called ‘The Hawk Is Howling’. As per the kindly gatherers at Mogwai’s UK label, Wall Of Sound, here’s a confirmed tracklisting :

1 I’m Jim Morrison, I’m dead
2 Batcat
3 Danphe and The Brain
4 Local Authority
5 The Sun Smells Too Loud
6 Kings Meadow
7 I Love you, I’m Going To Blow Up Your School
8 Scotland’s Shame
9 Thank You Space Expert
10 The Precipice

The cover art (above) is unchanged from last week. More details and maybe, just maybe, a judicious leak of one MP3, are to follow.

Hello Everyone!

I fully expected to do another one of these record store visits sooner, but long drives chasing the Jamie Lidell tour bus kept us from record store adventure #2 until yesterday in the lovely city of Philadelphia.  

We decided on A.K.A. Music after having it recommended to us on various occasions.  Max was working the counter and he gave us some very useful information.

JO’C: How long have you been working here?

Max: Almost 2 years.

JO’C: What’s your favorite new release?

Max: Well, it’s not “new”, but I like the Rayne reissue.

JO’C: (Confused look)

Max: They were a late 70′s garage band.

JO’C: Cool. Where do you like to listen to music?

Max: At home.

JO’C: And what is your preferred format?

Max: Vinyl.

JO’C: Finally, where’s your favorite place to eat in Philly?

Max: Good question. John’s Roast Pork on Delaware Avenue. They have great pork sandwiches and great cheesesteaks too.

JO’C: Thanks Max!

I would also like to note that A.K.A. has a really great bargain bin used cd selection. I got a bunch of greatest hits discs for 2.99 – New Order, Kinks Kronicles, and some weird Prince Greatest Hits I hadn’t seen before. Also a Massive Attack soundtrack and a disc by the Departure Lounge that I didn’t have. I would have spent many hours combing through it if we’d had more time.

PS. I’ll do a blog sometime soon about the actual shows we’ve been playing!

Hear Mission Of Burma play songs they haven’t played since reuniting, as they perform ‘Signals, Calls & Marches’ and ‘Vs.’ all the way through on the Definitive Editions Tour.

If you haven’t figured out how great these reissues are yet, read some reviews. Or better yet, listen to another remastered song, in 256K MP3 or high-quality WAV (your browser probably won’t play the WAV file, so right click / control click to download it to your hard drive — the sound quality is markedly superior to any MP3):

“This Is Not A Photograph” (256K MP3)
“This Is Not A Photograph” (WAV)

From ‘Signals, Calls & Marches: The Definitive Edition’: buy on CD+DVD, dbl LP+DVD, MP3 album or FLAC album.

Note to blogs: if you’re gonna link to the files, please include the buy link. Thanks.

(Cody and Johnny, pic taken from Jason Escapist‘s Flickr page)

In addition to upcoming European dates and a NYC debut at the Siren Fest, Jaguar Love will be touring North America this summer supporting The Faint. More dates will be confirmed soon.

Jul 29 2008 - Ogden Theatre, Denver CO
July 30 2008 – In The Venue, Salt Lake City, UT
Aug 1 2008 – The Commodore, Vancouver BC
Aug 2 2008 – Crystal Ballroom, Portland OR
Aug 7 2008 – Henry Fonda Theatre, Los Angeles, CA
Aug 9 2008 – Soma, San Diego, CA
Aug 11 2008 – La Zona Rosa, Austin TX
Aug 12 2008 – The Palladium, Dallas TX
Aug 14 2008 – Variety Playhouse, Atlanta GA
Aug 15 2008 – Cats Cradle, Carrboro, NC
Aug 16 2008 – 930 Club, Washington DC
Aug 17 2008 – Trocodero, Philadelphia PA
Aug 20 2008 – Palladium, Worcester, MA
Aug 21 2008 – Opera House, Toronto, Ontario
Aug 22 2008 – Vic Theatre, Chicago IL
Aug 23 2008 – Sokol Auditorium, Omaha, NE

Jaguar Love – “Bats Over The Pacific Ocean” (mp3)

From the Wall Street Journal‘s Ethan Smith :

Veteran rockers AC/DC are set to become the next major band to sell a new album only through Wal-Mart Stores Inc., according to people familiar with the matter, a move that highlights the growing music-industry clout of Wal-Mart.

The AC/DC deal, however, comes at a time when the retail giant — the largest seller of compact discs in the nation — is signaling it may rock the music world by stocking fewer CDs. Such a move is part of a trend that would further accelerate the already steep decline of CD sales as consumers make the transition to digital music.

Aside from the chilling effect this is likely to have on what’s left of music retail, we’re particularly enraged that AC/DC have effectively stolen our thunder. Matador’s mooted deluxe reissue of The Bunnybrains’ ‘Easter’ LP was meant to be a Wal-Mart exclusive as well. Now, we’ll just have to see if Hudson’s will stock it.

Just a friendly reminder that Shearwater will be playing a Free In-store at Waterloo Records this Wednesday, June 11th at 5:00PM!

As if you need more incentive to go, there will be Free Shiner Bock (Beer) and Rook will be on sale for $10.99 (CD) !!!

Wednesday, June 11th
5:00 pm
Waterloo Records
600 A. North Lamar

I spent the day record-shopping in Williamsburg (Abbey Lincoln ‘Straight Ahead’ original LP, Cheap Time S/T LP, Nigeria Rock Special dbl LP, Nyurmännen ‘Vem är pavul?’ LP) in 96-degree humidity, and came home exhausted and hot. I wanted something refreshing and summery, and I’d been thinking of making avgolemono soup.

I combined elements of this recipe with this one. The first recipe suggests that Carolina rice will cook in 8-10 minutes in boiling stock, which is clearly wrong. The second one’s 20 minutes is closer to the mark. It’s probably more authentic to use orzo, anyway. But Carolina rice is what I had.

For stock I defrosted two cups of goose stock from the Provençal daube I made a month or two back. The daube keeps on giving… it has now contributed two meals plus macaronade, and now this. And I still have two calves’ bones and extra pork rind in my freezer.

Avgolemono is extremely simple to make. You whisk 4 egg yolks with 1/8 cup lemon juice while the stock is boiling. Cook 3 tablespoons of rice in 2 cups of chicken or goose stock, about 20 minutes. When the rice is tender, carefully whisk half the stock into the egg-lemon mixture, about a cup at a time – you don’t want to scramble the eggs. Then whisk that back into the remaining stock and rice, and stir constantly over very low heat until thickened. Add salt and pepper to taste, and garnish with lemon slices. This serves 1-2; double for 4 as an appetizer or a bit less as a main course.

The soup was very good, one of the most successful things I’ve made all year. This always happens when you don’t have company. It was unctuous and rich (probably from the stock), but refreshing and lemony at the same time. I served it with a Greek salad of lettuce, vidalia onion and lemon juice that my friend George taught me when we were growing up. I think he put flat-leaf parsley in as well. I only had basil so I used that.

Since 9000 is going to ask, I drank East India Solera from the ubiquitous Lustau with the meal. I’m now having the same company’s dry oloroso, having consumed most of the bottle last night.

I’ve been listening to more and more world music recently, especially ethnic and folk recordings issued on 78 in the pre-LP period (that goes as late as 1970 in places like South Africa). One genre I’ve discovered that floors me is son huasteco, the country music of the northeastern Mexican state of Huasteca. I have one astonishing 78 of it, plus the track that introduced me to it, from the superb Excavated Shellac. It’s usually played by a trio composed of the violin, the jarana huasteca (a small 8-stringed guitar), and a quinta huapanguera (a full-sized 5-string guitar). The gentle, high-pitched singing frequently ventures into falsetto and reminds me of Bob Wills.

The video above shows the modern trio huasteco Los Camperos de Valles, captured by the Smithsonian in 2005. The fiddle playing and singing are exhilarating – the sympathy between the musicians, the combination of relaxation with virtuosity. The Smithsonian says: “The melancholy themes often contrast with and yet somehow complement the playful melodies. ‘El gusto’ (The Pleasure) is about lost love and typifies how imagery of rural life is often used to portray this pain and longing in son huasteco.”

This is another recipe from Ruth Rogers’s River Cafe Pastas book. It’s simple: you remove the seeds and juice from cherry tomatoes, then mash them into a sauce composed of one part traditional balsamic vinegar and two parts wine vinegar, with salt and pepper – it marinates for at least an hour. Cook the spaghetti, drain it, return it to the pasta pot, and add the tomato-vinegar mix and fresh basil and stir over high heat for a minute or so.

It was as yummy as it looks, though somewhat sweet. This might be a function of these particular tomatoes. It could also be my balsamic. Next time I’ll increase the proportion of wine vinegar (which I prefer to balsamic anyway).

Reunited, and it feels so good :

Everyone at Victory is ecstatic about the forthcoming album from Hawthorne Heights. It is by far their best material to date. When Victory and Hawthorne started our relationship in 2003 it was always about beating the odds. Our country has just seen and experienced historic change with the Democratic nomination of Barack Obama. Everything happens for a reason and there is tremendous positivity in the air.

We have lived in a reality of petty disputes, unresolved misunderstandings, unhealthy friction and negative sensationalism for too long. Forgiveness and the ability to reunite are powerful gifts. They create a spirit. Couple that spirit with great music and you have something that is extraordinary and transcendental. You cannot change the past but you can affect the future. There is a bigger lesson and story here than just releasing a new album. Victory, and I know Hawthorne Heights, are thankful to be a part of that.

Pt. II
Pt. I

BATCAT EP (front sleeve, above) :

Matador will be releasing a new Mogwai EP on September 9 (12″ vinyl and download), with UK/EU release coming a day earlier via Wall Of Sound and PIAS Recordings respectively. The selections will include :

1 – Batcat
2 – Stupid Prick Gets Chased By The Police And Loses His Slut Girlfriend
3 – Devil Rides

“Batcat” is featured on the forthcoming new album, ‘The Hawk Is Howling’ (LP/CD), front cover shown above) which is due out on September 23. “Devil Rides” features vocals by Roky Erickson. “Batcat” and “Stupid Prick….” were both recorded by Andy Miller at Chem 19 and mixed by Gareth Jones at Castle Of Doom. Devil Rides was recorded by Tony Doogan at Castle of Doom with Roky’s vocal recorded at Wire Recording by Stuart Sullivan and mixed by Gareth Jones at Castle Of Doom.

The following US dates are now confirmed (and probably going on sale pretty soon). Fuck Buttons support on all shows

September 2008

3-Portland, OR @ Music Fest NW (Mogwai headlining ; also appearing Del The Funkee Homosapien, Steel Pole Bathtub, Polvo, Jaguar Love and many more)
4-Seattle, WA @ Showbox SoDo
5-Victoria, BC @ Element
6-Vancouver, BC @ Commodore Ballroom
8-San Francisco, CA @ The Grand Ballroom
9-Los Angeles, CA @ Wiltern Theatre
10-Tucson, AZ @ The Rialto
12-Austin, TX @ Stubb’s
13-Dallas, TX @ Granada Theater
15-Atlanta, GA @ Variety Playhouse
16-Richmond, VA @ The National
17-Washington DC @ 9:30 Club
18-New York, NY @ Terminal 5
19-Philadelphia, PA @ Starlight Ballroom
21-Monticello, NY @ ATP Festival
22-Boston, MA @ Wilbur Theatre
23-Montreal, QC @ Metropolis
24-Toronto, ON @ Kool Haus
25-Pontiac, MI @ The Crofoot
26-Chicago, IL @ Congress Theater
27-Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue

Hi Matablog Readers!

I started a tour today supporting Jamie Lidell and I’m in Chicago at the Abbey Pub awaiting soundcheck. Because I enjoyed participating in Record Store Day so much earlier this year, I’ve decided to visit local record stores in some of the cities we are playing and find out the answers to some important questions. This is my way of continuing to celebrate all the awesome record stores throughout the country. 

Today, we went to Reckless Records in Wicker Park and talked with Dan.

JO’C: How long have you worked at Reckless?

Dan: About 4 years.

JO’C: What did you have for lunch?

Dan: A chicken flatbread sandwich from 7-11.

JO’C: Do you have favorite restaurant in the area?

Dan: I’m not really a foodie, but I like this Middle Eastern place down the street called Sultan’s Market.

JO’C: Do you have a favorite record of all-time and if so, what is it?

Dan: Hmmmm……

JO’C: Am I putting you on the spot? We can come back to this one.

Dan: Ok, let’s come back to it.

JO’C: What record are you guys selling a lot of this week?

Dan: The new Portishead.

JO’C: Any thoughts on your fave record yet?

Dan: I’ll say Daydream Nation, but if you ask me tomorrow, it might be something else.

JO’C: Fair enough. Anything you’d like to add, that you’d like the Matablog readers to know?

Dan: I don’t think so.

JO’C: Ok. Thanks for talking to me. I think those are all the hard-hitting questions I have.

Ok! Tomorrow is Toronto and if we have time….we’ll be hitting up a store there too.

JO’C, record-store-reporter, signing off.

xox

(Janet and Mike patiently listen to Bob Nastanovich tell them about the time he met Dudley Doright and Gordon Lightfoot at the Canadian border. Picture swiped from Stephen Malkmus.com)

In addition to headlining Coney Island’s Siren Festival on July 19, Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks will be making the following north of the border appearances :

July 16-Toronto @ Phoenix Concert Theatre
July 17-Montreal @ LaTulipe

Let’s just say the modest Soundscan totals for Earles & Jensen’s ‘Just Farr A Laugh’ have everyone in the office a little on edge.  Really, it’s not as bad as it looks. Nothing a couple of pizzas from the bosses can’t fix. 

Mission Of Burma (shown above, performing ‘The Obliterati”s “Donna Sumeria” at last weekend’s Primavera Sound in Barcelona) are touring Europe as of this writing, and Roger Miller’s been chronicling the band’s adventures over at Burma’s MySpace page. My personal favorite passage would be Roger’s critique of Devo’s Primvera set :

I soldiered on until midnight (6 AM Boston time with 3 hours of sleep in a day and a half: the Jaegermeister helped alot) to catch DEVO.  Finally, actual ideas executed well!  What a joy!  After a few of their famed videos, they launched into 3 synth-tracks from “New Traditionalists.”  While this is not my fave LP of theirs by any means, it was totally charming.  It seemed like they were gonna play the entire album, so i thought about leaving – I mean, who in their right mind would want to hear a band play an entire album?  

(Jonathan and Thor, live at SXSW last March. Photo taken from Chromewaves’ Flickr page)

Popmatters called Shearwater’s ‘Rook’, “among the most achingly beautiful things ever recorded”.  Chromewaves called the album, “unequivocally epic and grand.”  We’ll call it OUT TODAY, RIGHT NOW FRIEND, RIGHT NOW, and with this historic day in mind, here’s an MP3 of one of the LP/CD’s standout selections, “Leviathan, Bound”.

(one of the nicer posters we’ve seent this year. And just by writing that, we’re bound to be emailed about a half dozen others)

tu 06-03-08 belg brussels ab
we 06-04-08 germ koln lmh
th 06-05-08 germ berlin postbahnhof
fr 06-06-08 germ hamburg laeiszhalle
su 06-08-08 uk london hammersmith odeon
mo 06-09-08 uk bristol colston
tu 06-10-08 uk birmingham academy
we 06-11-08 uk manchester academy
tu 07-01-08 italy ferrara piazza castello
we 07-02-08 italy milan  villa arconati
th 07-03-08 france lyon Les Nuits de Fourvières  festival
fr 07-04-08 france belfort eurockeennes
su 07-06-08 denmark roskilde roskilde  festival
mo 07-07-08 sweden malmo debaser/folkets park
tu 07-08-08 norway oslo rockefeller
we 07-09-08 sweden stockholm berns
fr 07-11-08 ireland  oxegen festival

If for some reason you’re still undecided about making the plunge for our preferred album-of-the-year candidate, ‘Rook’ (LP/CD out tomorrow), be advise the entire record is streaming this week via Shearwater’s MySpace profile.

Support for the 6/20 show in Austin comes from the otherworldly Los Llamarada