It was 85 degrees at noon yesterday when I rolled up to Homer’s Music and Gifts on O Street in Lincoln, Nebraska. The unsuspecting clerks working were Michael and Ted.
JO’C: How long have you guys worked here?
Michael: About 6 or 7 months.
Ted: 6 years.
JO’C: Have you had breakfast/lunch yet?
Michael: Yes, we had bagels from the bagel place next store. That’s what we do every Sunday.
JO’C: You’ve got your own Sunday routine…I like that. What did you guys do last night? I’m curious what young music-loving people like yourselves do on a Saturday night in Lincoln….
Ted: Everclear watermelon.
JO’C: Wow. Really?
Michael: I watched Welcome to the Dollhouse and drank a couple of cases of beer with some friends.
JO’C: That’s a lot of beer. Ok…down to business…what’s your favorite new release?
Because of a number of unfortunate complications and a few key mess-ups during the Jay Reatard pre-order today, we will be redoing it Tomorrow, Tuesday July 15th, at 3PM EST. We’re very sorry to everyone about how frustrating this way today, and apologize for redoing it but at this point it’s the only fair way to get the records out.
The appropriate answer to the question, “have you ever seen a woman naked?” would’ve been, “yes, but let’s not talk about your mom on television.” But that’s not to say it was handled poorly.
Steak is getting more and more expensive, but Ottomanelli is having a sale on all their aged beef at the moment… and the guy gave me an additional buck off on the scales for two strips (1 1/4″ thick). I had him leave a half-inch of the fat on all the way around.
Adam scattered salt on them and seared them in a cast-iron pan directly under the broiler for about 3 minutes on one side, 1 minute the other side. He cut them into slices and drizzled on the pan fat. They were absolutely delicious – bloody, musty, redolent of grass and corn.
We drank another Arbois red (actually from the sub-appellation of Arbois-Pupillin), a rustic poulsard. It handled the steak splendidly and was not troubled by the tomato salad.
Today is the first day of my 10 date midwest run with Son Ambulance. Right now I’m sitting at The Old Mattress Factory or The Matt Bar and Grill as it says on my pint glass – eating some fish tacos and looking at 13 different large screen TVs showing baseball and golf.
This afternoon I visited Antiquarium Records. I got a used copy of Grizzly Bear’s Yellow House on CD for $4 and I spoke with Chelsea.
JO’C: Yes, I’ve heard of them somewhere. No, I’m kidding – I love their record too. To continue the Matador theme we have going here, what is your favorite Matador band of all time?
Anything else you’d like to add for the Matablog readers?
Chelsea: Keep buying records and going to record stores!
JO’C: Wise words.
I would like to note that this was a charming store with very nice people and lots of vinyl! When I told Chelsea I was on Matador and what I was there to do, she remarked that she wasn’t cool enough for Matador – that I should wait for the owner to come back because he was cooler. I just want Chelsea and everyone else to know…that they ARE cool enough for Matador. Matador loves you. And so do I.
Shearwater will play a Free In-Store on Wednesday, July 16th at 7:00 PM at Fingerprints in Long Beach, CA.
The in-store will be sandwiched between a string of dates opening for Coldplay!
Also, this is a very special day for Fingerprints because July 16th is their 16 year anniversary! Sounds like a Super Sweet 16 Birthday Bash to me! (***Shearwater is not responsible for supplying a pimped out De Lorean with a big red bow)
(Live in Prague 6/18/08 – Photo via Félix Adorno‘s Flickr page)
Tomorrow (Friday, July 11) at 11:00 AM (PST), Matmos stop by San Francisco’s KUSF for a live performance on the program “Hearts on Sleeves”. Bay Area residents can catch the program on terrestrial radio at 90.3 FM, while the rest can access a webstream online at www.kusf.org.
EDIT – Direct from Matmos:
“…We will improvise on Irwin’s show for your drive time pleasure. With Wobbly. Your car will shake. Your booty will clap. Your speakers will scratch their heads, wondering, why has no one pleasured me this way before?”
(Shearwater, live in Fort Worth, TX, June 2008,photograph taken from nffcnnr‘s Flickr page)
On the heels of their wildly acclaimed ‘Rook’ LP/CD, Shearwater will be following their short jaunt with Coldplay and additional U.S. dates with a headlining tour starting in late August. They’ll be joined by Merge Recordings Artists Wye Oak.
More dates will be confirmed soon.
Wed, Aug 27 Los Angeles Echo
Thu, Aug 28 San Francisco Great American Music Hall
Sat, Aug 30 Salt Lake City Urban Lounge
Sun, Aug 31 Denver Hi Dive
Mon, Sep 1 Albuquerque Launchpad
Wed, Sep 4 Austin Mohawk
Once upon a time before Matador had all sorts of trained specialists doing every little thing, we’d team up on a variety of tasks. After a couple of years in the wilds of the record biz, we finallly broke down and hired a full-time publicity-human.
The hire in question was Spencer Gates, an old pal of ours from the 1980′s boston rock’n'roll scene wars. Though mentally manipulating Spin editors and pursuing TV bookings wasn’t previously Spencer’s forte —- we’d first encountered her via her awesome job co-hosting the Mystery Girls show on Cambridge’s WMBR many years earlier — to say she took to the gig like she’d been doing it all her life was an understatement. The insight, humor and attitude she brought to the office every day not only made her the perfect person for the job, it sometimes felt like we’d all been doing it together forever. And I mean that in a good way.
Spencer played an absolutely pivotal role in the success of Pavement, Liz Phair, JSBX,Bettie Serveert, Pizzicato Five, Guided By Voices, Railroad Jerk and many others you know and love. She was a tremendous friend to the label’s artists and it would not be an exaggeration to say there’s a period in the label’s history that might’ve turned out very differently were it not for her.
Spencer passed away on Sunday, July 6. Our thoughts are with her friends and family.
The first MP3 from Fucked Up’s The Chemistry Of Common Life (Oct 7) is this immense multi-tracked assemblage, entitled “No Epiphany.” The 7″ depicted above will come out this fall and contain two versions of the song entirely different from the album version you’re about to hear. The word “monumental” was invented for music like this. Backing vocals by Cassie Ramone, Frankie Rose and Kickball Katy.
Fucked Up are currently on tour in Europe and will be hitting many festivals. The expanded EP version of their “Year Of The Pig” single comes out on July 22.
to reiterate those European dates:
Jul 8 – Benidorm ES – Abraxas
Jul 9 – Barcelona ES – Nitsa
Jul 10 – Getaria ES – Gaztetxe
Jul 11 – Madrid ES – Sal El Sol
Jul 12 – Balado, Kinross-shire, Scotland – T In The Park
Jul 13 – Birmingham UK – Supersonic Festival
Jul 14 – London UK – Water Rats, Kings Cross
Aug 17 – Lelystad NL – Lowlands Festival, Charlie Stage
Aug 20 – Belfast IE – Limelight
Aug 21 – Dublin IE – Whelans
Aug 22 – Ghent BE – Ieper Fest
Aug 23 – Reading UK – Reading Festival
Aug 24 – Leeds UK – Leeds Festival
Aug 25 – Bradford UK – 1 in 12 Club
The AP is reporting a first class passenger on a JFK-Guyana flight was so intoxicated / pumped up with self-entitlement, he slid down the jet’s emergency chute upon landing rather than wait for all the economy passengers to disembark.
I would like to state for the record that I have never been to Guyana. Also, this item gives me a cheap excuse to include the Matablog’s 3rd ever reference to the thespian dynamo known as Powers Booth (ref. #1, #2).
This ’70s group from the African country of Benin (or in its earlier incarnation Dahomey) has been kicking my ass lately. Poly-Rythmo recorded every imaginable type of African popular music – rhumba, funk, calypso, blues, Beninois folklore – but manage to imprint their elegantly loping, loose style onto every one. They released over 50 LPs and 100 7″es, mostly on the Albarika Store label, before guitarist Papillon died in the early ’80s.
T.P. stands for “Tout Puissant,” a moniker used by other African groups such as Franco’s OK Jazz.
Thanks to Analog Africa for posting this video from a videocassette. If this piques your interest, search out the Kings Of Benin compilation on the excellent Soundway label.
There were really too many highlights to list. But I’ll try, anyway.
* – The Feelies covering “Outdoor Miner”…and absolutely slaying with material from throughout their illustrious career.
* – watching WFMU‘s Brian Turner forced to give props to American Express. File under “Things You Will Probably Never See Again”
* – Sonic Youth - turning old chestnuts “The World Looks Red” and “Making The Nature Scene” inside out. 90+ minutes of selections from across a 27 year span. If you’re one of the folks that paid scalper dough for a ticket, you actually got your money’s worth.
* – some guy wearing a Drazen Petrovic throwback. Had I worn mine, the hair-pulling would’ve been outta control.
* – fantastic blast from the past sightings : See/Hear’s Ted Gottfried, Richard Kern, Ken Katkin, acting/journalism double threat Brad Holbrook.
* – The Staten Island Ferry. Every day, it brings people to at least one location that doesn’t suck.
(OK, Brad Holbrook wasn’t there. But I was just wondering how he chose to celebrate our Nation’s birthday, and if he picked an event other than Sonic Youth and the Feelies, he’s a BAD AMERICAN)
I got a 14-cup Cuisinart for my birthday and decided to inagurate it with gazpacho. This rather angry article argues that gazpacho’s basis is an emulsion of bread and oil, the tomato being a late New World addition to the recipe. I have no problem with this but fail to see why a blender would be superior to a food processor for producing an emulsion.
In any event I crumbled up some stale bread, set it a-whirring with the chop blade, and slowly drizzled in half a cup of Carli FOP olive oil. Then added a clove of garlic, half a cucumber, two and half pounds of tomatoes, salt, and sherry vinegar. Chilled for 2 hours (not long enough) and ate it (followed by black pig pork chops baked in milk and onions).
The result strangely resembles tomato soup rather than gazpacho, as you can see from the picture below, but was quite good. I wish I’d used better tomatoes: next time I’ll get some from the farmer’s market. There’s still some in the fridge – I bet it will be even tastier today.
We drank a Jura red from Arbois with it: Jacques Puffeney’s 2005 trousseau. Delicate, almost dark-rose color, with rose petals and a crisp, dry finish, like a lighter Loire red.
(live at Johnny Brenda’s, Philadelphia, 6/17/08 – photo taken from countfeed‘s flickr stream)
If you missed Shearwater on KCMP or WNYC back in June, you can now listen to these sessions online.
Shearwater returned for a second appearance on WNYC’s Soundcheck on June 16. To listen, follow this link. The band played “Rooks” and “Leviathan, Bound” in a special stripped-down form.
On June 25 they performed live on The Current on Minnesota Public Radio in Minneapolis. Hear more live versions, as well as discussions on the history of the Falklands and the stigma against “twitchers”, here.
(Mogwai in Mexico City last month, photo taken from remusmx‘s Flickr stream)
We’re pleased to unveil the first MP3 from the upcoming Mogwai LP/CD, ‘The Hawk Is Howling’ (out September 23) – “The Sun Smells Too Loud” is a fairly substantial hint that said album is gonna be a scalp-scorcher.
As mentioned previously, the following North American dates are very much confirmed and tickets are on sale :
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
Fuck Buttons provide support on all of the above shows.
The next 100 people to pre-order my COMING SOON record HERE WITH ME (on CD or LP) will receive a signed record jacket!!
Matador has ordered 100 extra LP sleeves which I will sign with SILVER SHARPIES for extra beautiful-ness! They will be neatly trimmed to look like a record flat – suitable for framing!
Several people have expressed to me how much they love the new album cover and so I made this suggestion to Matador and they agreed. They said, “Great idea, Jennifer!” You see, this is how great music business relationships work.
So, don’t miss your chance to own a piece of JO’C/Matador history.
(editor’s note : Jaguar Love are in the midst of the debut European tour at the moment, and while they’ll be stateside later this month —- they’re playing the Siren Fest on July 19 and then embarking on a full US tour with The Faint — the band are graciously keeping us abreast during their current jaunt. Here’s the latest dispatch from guitarist Cody Votolato.)
In Graz, Austria right now. Its hot as hell but that’s not a complaint. I’ve never been here before though the town seems pretty great. Haven’t gotten a chance to venture out much, but we are going to this vegetarian joint near the club called Mangold for dinner in a bit. We just spent two days in Prague, which was really great as well. Zane, J and I stomped all over the city and back a few times it felt like. Prague is most definitely a tourist trap, but it almost doesn’t seem to matter because the city is so powerful. It’s kind of great being in a place with so many people from all over the world around you. I suppose you gotta be in the right mood to deal with it. I was.It was also the Euro finals and people were gathered in the center to watch the game. Crazed. Germany vs. Spain. It seemed that the people Prague had Spains back for the most part. I was expecting the town to blow up when Spain won, but it turned into a ghost town pretty quickly. Short-lived excitement. Sunday night blues. We tried to get into something, but nothing was going on at all. The train stopped running at midnight so we hopped in a cab ride back to the bus and found Jessie and Craig hanging in the dark. We lost bus power, but we had a good time shooting the shit until we fell off to slumber one by one. Woke up in the heat of the bus in the morning. We all pounced on a Laundromat near the club. Pretty much all In dire straits. The show ended up being really fun in Prague. A lot of great people came out to the show and it made for a good night. Even saw our good friend Aaron unexpectedly. I gotta split now to go and eat. Talk soon…
The fourth single in Matador’s series of limited-editions by Jay Reatard is a split 7″ with Atlanta’s Deerhunter. The A-side is Jay covering Deerhunter’s “Flourescent Grey,” and the B-side is Deerhunter covering Jay’s “Oh, It’s Such A Shame.”
The cover photo, taken by our own The Judge at May’s All Tomorrow’s Parties in Camber Sands, can be seen above.
OLE-819 will be in stores on July 22.
Our webstore preorder time and date will be: BASTILLE DAY — Monday, July 14 at 3:00 PM EDT.
Remember, if you miss the preorder, check your local stores. You can also buy the single digitally (MP3 or FLAC) from the webstore. And all six 7″es will be compiled on an LP/CD to be released this fall.
Here is the summary of the singles so far:
#1, See/Saw / Screaming Hand — April 8
#2, Painted Shut / An Ugly Death — May 20
#3, Always Wanting More / You Mean Nothing To Me — June 24
#4, Flourescent Grey (Jay Reatard) / Oh, It’s Such A Shame (Deerhunter) — July 22
July-August tour dates:
Sun 7/13 – Baltimore MD – Sonar
Mon 7/14 – Philadelphia PA – Johnny Brenda’s
Tue 7/15 – Brooklyn nY – Prospect Park (w/ Spoon)
Thu 7/17 – Providence RI – Lupo’s (w/ Spoon)
Sat 7/19 – Chicago IL – Pitchfork Late Night Show (w/ King Khan and the Shrines, Cheap Time)
Sat 7/19 – Chicago IL – Pitchfork Festival
Mon 7/21 – Minneapolis MN – Triple Rock
Tue 7/22 – Fargo ND – The Aquarium
Fri 7/25 – Seattle WA – Capitol Hill Block Party
Sat 7/26 – Vancouver BC – Commodore Ballroom
Tue 7/29 – San Francisco CA – The Independent
Wed 7/30 – Los Angeles CA – Echo
Thu 7/31 – San Diego CA – Casbah
Fri 8/1 – Mesa AZ – Hollywood Alley
Sun 8/3 – Austin TX – Red 7(w/ Cheap Time)
Mon 8/4 – Dallas TX – Club Dada
