It’s Tuesday, January 17 which means our first two releases of the New Year are out today.
First up is Intended Play, the new ultra-budget vinyl-only sampler from Matador and True Panther. The 11-song LP is $1.98 list price – you can actually order it direct for only $1.80 by clicking on the title above. It contains new tracks from THE YOUNG, CEREMONY TANLINES, LEE RANALDO, PERFUME GENIUS and STEPHEN MALKMUS – all of the above from upcoming releases except the SM track which won’t appear elsewhere, and recent hits (some of them rare) from KURT VILE, GIRLS, FUCKED UP, ESBEN & THE WITCH and COLD CAVE.
Next is the first single in our new 2012 singles club, SINGLES GOING HOME ALONE. It’s an unexpected conjunction between STEPHEN MALKMUS & THE JICKS and the legendary LA GUNS, covering each other. Hear Malkmus jam on “Wheels Of Fire,” and Tracii Guns pull out the stops on “Gorgeous Georgie.” Sleeve art at the top of the post.
It’s not too late to sign up for the singles club, which gets you six exclusive limited-edition 7″es, one every other month this year, plus a special bonus record, an exclusive tote bag and a yearlong 10% discount on all items at the Matador Store, for only $45 including shipping within the US:
The next two confirmed singles are from Austin’s OBN III’s on March 20, and Brooklyn’s The Men on May 8, with subsequent the singles on July 10, September 11 and November 6.
To be perfectly frank, we thought about blowing off Record Store Day this year. It’s not that we don’t support record stores – far from it, it’s what 37 of 38 employees prefer – but the huge glut of supposedly limited-edition releases, the scrum to get to the counter in the morning, and then the instant reappearance of many of the records on eBay at inflated sums are all an unintended and unwelcome side-effect of the event.
That said, we couldn’t help ourselves, and neither could three of our artists, so we proudly announce the following limited-edition items. They’re all awesome, they’re all limited, and if you don’t succeed on getting your hands on them on Record Store Day, just remember that the prices on eBay will (most likely) come down over time.
SO, on Saturday, April 16, Matador will have the following RSD exclusives:
From Byrdesdale Garden City in the UK comes the compilation album DAVID’S TOWN. Featuring 11 unreleased tracks from local bands including Gacy and the Boys, Animal Man, Grain and Hateful Coil, in styles varying from DIY to post-punk to power pop, this limited edition from FU-Discs was recorded in Byrdesdale between 1976 and 1979 and not released until now. An essential document of a thriving scene.
Next comes the new 7″ single from THE NEW PORNOGRAPHERS, “Moves.” Currently moving up the radio charts, and of course featured in Tom Scharpling’s genius video for the track, it comes with the unreleased B-side “Drug Deal Of The Heart,” recorded at the sessions for the album Together. (Note: the band is playing Coachella on RSD weekend, and then will tour out of there through April and May.)
Finally we have the new 12″ from ESBEN AND THE WITCH, the great trio from Brighton, UK – many of you will have seen one of their great shows at SXSW this month. They just wrapped up their US tour and returned to their homeland. The single is the radio edit of “Chorea” and features a remix of their pounding classic “Eumenides” by Stuart Braithwaite of MOGWAI, along with an entirely unreleased 18-minute version of “Corridors” recorded for The Creators Project and only played at a special installation in London for Karl Sadler‘s Lit Forest. (Note: Esben return to the road in the UK starting this Friday.)
As usual, we will be taking down our webstore in observation of Record Store Day. Get out there, get in line, and spend some money, goddammit!!!
Before I start I should acknowledge that my photo heavy and link-tastic post is directly inspired from noted blogger Ira Kaplan.
I was originally going to write about one of my true loves: record stores. I met my wife in a record store and my life still revolves around them, but this year there was a bigger theme than records in my life.
Going places and being with the people you love.
My wife’s family is from Butler, PA and we spent two weeks there this summer doing a whole lot of nothing. It was great. We went to a Bluesox game, we went to the drive in (Photo from noted Bulter native CongoEels flickr.) We went to Moraine state park to ride bikes, swim and have a picnic. It all ruled.
Some other places I went:
Columbus, Ohio. I finally saw the Gibson Bros and it was fantastic.
The Adirondacks
I love a good wedding and this was one of the best in recent memory, must have something to do with the day. The whole weekend was all so beautiful. We went swimming in this lake.
It was cold and awesome.
Scituate, MA
I grew up nowhere near the ocean so a clambake was nothing more than an Elvis joke. In real life it is so much more
The Lost Weekend
I’d never been to Las Vegas, I’m far to scared to actually gamble (too many records I want to buy with that money.) Everything related to the weekend wasz fantastic, but I never expected to be so taken with the surroundings.
My final trip of the year is going to be the best one yet, but it is supposed to be a surprise so if you see my parents don’t tell them.
So you couldn’t make it out to Vegas, huh? Well it’ll be so much easier to lie to your friends and say you were there with when you’re rocking one of these sexy Matador at 21 shirts. American Apparel printed tees, act quick as limited stock remains!!!!
Tune in at wfmu.org or better yet, see Ted LIVE at the Metropolitan Pavilion while you scope out the wares of some of the finest record vendors in the world.
WFMU Record Fair
Metropolitan Pavilion (125 W. 18th St)
Sat, Oct 23
4:30pm
Ted Leo & The Pharmacists will also be playing a handful of dates in December including the aforementioned show with the New Pornographers in NYC.
Thu, Dec 2 – Northampton MA – Pearl St
Fri, Dec 3 – Pawtucket RI – The Met Cafe
Sat, Dec 4 – Lemoyne PA – Champion Ship Mon, Dec 6 – New York NY – Terminal 5 (with the New Pornographers)
Tue, Dec 7 – Baltimore MD – GSpot (with Heks Orkest)
Wed, Dec 8 – Richmond VA – Strange Matter (with Heks Orkest)
In this fascinating Complex article, DJs Kon and Amir list the 50 greatest samples of all time, with sound files of the originals and of their uses. Ranging from David Axelrod to the Honeydrippers, from Busta Rhymes to Public Enemy, the article feels topical now that Matador is releasing hip hop again.
Hey guys, can’t hurt to remind you again that tomorrow is INTERNATIONAL RECORD STORE DAY, and if heaps of RSD-exclusive vinyl and that fulfilling feeling of buying great music from great retailers isn’t enough to get you out of the house, here are two more events members of the Matador-family are involved with:
article via Record Collector Magazine
Damian Abraham of Fucked Up @ Sonic Boom Records
512 Bloor Street St. West Toronto, ON M5S 1Y3
416-532-0334 | info@sonicboommusic.com
Fucked Up‘s Pink Eyes will be hosting an all day event at Toronto’s Sonic Boom Records that features in-store performances from Sloan, Adam Green, Meligrove Band, Metz, Buck 65, Valery Gore and more. Damian’s also hinted at a special guest appearance for those who show up before 3PM!
When he’s not performing in Cold Cave and as Prurient, Dominick Fernow spends his time overseeing the Hospital Productions record label and shop, which primarily focuses in noise and black metal music. For Record Store Day, the store will debut 13 new cassette releases on the label. In addition, the first 100 people to visit the store are invited to come to the store to record their very own noise cassette. The recording gear will be set up and supplied by the store and you can record your own
1 minute noise tape. The store will personalize your cover for you and you will be the only person to have a copy. You get to keep your recording free of charge.
100 people. 1 minute tapes. Limited to 1.
What we mean is… we’ve got some limited edition vinyl items at many participating independent record shops for one day, and one day only — the third annual Record Store Day (henceforth, RSD ’10) this Saturday, April 17!
Ted Leo And The Pharmacists – The Oldest House b/w North Coast 7″
OLE-932 (lim. 2375)
Two brand new, never-released, rockers from TL/RX, not included on ‘The Brutalist Bricks’. Packaged in a classic dubplate style.
Fucked Up – Daytrotter 7″
OLE-931 (lim. 2000 standard edition, lim. 100/store edition)
The two songs from the ‘Couple Tracks’ comp plus a third song from the session (an equally screwed-with version of Crooked Head) – this comes in a regular sleeve PLUS 10 limited-edition sleeves each with a photo of, and named after, a different great US record store: CD Alley (Chapel Hill), Disc Exchange (Knoxville), Fingerprints (Long Beach), Generation (New York), Grimey’s (Nashville), Lunchbox (Charlotte), Speakertree (Lynchburg), Spiral Scratch (Buffalo), Waterloo (Austin), Wax Trax (Denver). Bear in mind, that each single might be found in any record store.
Pavement - Quarantine The Past: The Best Of Pavement RSD ’10 VERSION2xLP OLE-933 (lim. 2000)
An alternative version of our double-disc Pavement best-of collection, ‘Quarantine The Past’… with a completely different track listing (chosen by contest), cover art fucked with by Stephen Malkmus.
Keep in mind, all these records are available for one day only, so get in line early and pick up some other great records while you’re at it!!!
Times like this I wish I never left Philly… Kurt will be stopping by Beautiful World Syndicate this Record Store Day for a free, all ages instore at 3pm. This is gonna rule.
Check it out. Buy some records. Then check it out some more.
We here in New York City are a little tired of our west coast friends telling us about their recent streak of 80 degree days. It’s February. It’s supposed to be cold. It’s supposed to be dark. It’s supposed to be gloomy. Deal with it. So to combat the sunshine we’re sending a little bit of the East Coast over to Echo Park tomorrow night when Cold Cave takes over Origami Vinyl for a few hours before their show at The Echoplex.
The store will feature a wall of LPs curated by Cold Cave frontman Wes Eisold, some books and records from Eisold’s own Heartworm Press, a special DJ set/meet-and-greet from the band and free Colt 45.
So quit applying your sunscreen and get your February on.
Official Cold Cave Pre-Party Origami Vinyl
7pm
1816 W. Sunset Blvd.
Los Angeles
213 413 3030
And by stuff, I mean records and CDs. Not… like, kitchen utensils or the owners manual to your Le Car or your remote control.
So bring your records… or buy one and then bring it…
Next Saturday, November 14 @ 3pm
M-Theory
915 W. Washington
San Diego
619 220 0485
Press play below to watch Cold Cave‘s music video for the title-track from their debut LP ‘Love Comes Close’, premiering over at Stereogum today.
Directed by Art Boonparn
The ‘Love Comes Close’ CD/LP is available on November 3rd and is up for preorder now. Earlier today, the limited-to-100 version of Cold Cave’s ‘Death Comes Close’ 12″ sold out in minutes. The second version is now available. Head over to the Matador Store for both.
Don’t miss Cold Cave this week in New York for CMJ, in the United Kingdom and with Sonic Youth in the next few weeks.
October
Tuesday 21st – Stereogum CMJ Showcase @ Studio at Webster Hall, New York NY
Wednesday 22nd – VICE Late Night Party @ Public Assembly, Brooklyn, NY
Friday 23rd – Matador/True Panther Sounds Showcase @ Flamboyan Theater, New York NY
This special version features exclusive artwork by Fernow is hand-assembled, stamped and editioned. Limited to one-hundred (100) copies, these records will make it into select stores and we’ll have it available for purchase at the Matador Store on Tuesday October 20 at 3:00 PM EST - They’re bound to go fast so mark your calendars and set your alarms.
***
If you’re in New York City next week for the CMJ festivities, you can catch Cold Cave at the following venues:
Just got back from a trip to London and am happy to report that it is still one of the record shopping capitals of the world. I’ve had many memorable visits there before, especially to the great Beano’s in Croydon when it was still three stories of original UK ’60s and ’70s pressings at reasonable prices, and of course rummaging around in the back room of Minus Zero for folk private pressings, and a memorably expensive (but totally worth it) trawl through the boxes at Intoxica that netted me original 7″es by the Poets and the Mockingbirds as well a mint Parlophone 1st/2nd matrix original mono Rubber Soul.
But this trip was mostly about shopping for new records. I visited the (relatively) new Rough Trade East in Brick Lane, which is London’s answer to Amoeba. Totally great experience – nice people, huge selection (esp of dubstep and funky 12″es), interesting books, lots of space. I bought several singles by the great Ramadanman (thanks Dean) as well as a super-cavernous 12″ from Aardvarck (recommended by staff), and a £5.99 CD of Richard & Linda Thompson in concert in 1975 that I somehow missed when it came out last year. Also scored double vinyl of the latest Benin comp from Samy Ben Redjeb’s Analog Africa label.
The original Rough Trade shop in Talbot Road off Portobello Market is also still great, though I remain stymied by the cramped upstairs. Downstairs is a different matter though – the vinyl is extremely well chosen and guaranteed to appeal to American buyers who are used to paying through the nose on eBay for decent copies of UK original rock and folk. I decided to spend £10 on Genesis’s Selling England By The Pound, and also picked up a dead mint Scott 3 in its gorgeous laminated Philips gatefold. Unfortunately the £30 original UK (with insert!) of The Hangman’s Beautiful Daughter was not mint.
On to Stand Out / Minus Zero, which remains as mindblowing as ever. I didn’t have a chance to talk to the ever friendly Bill Forsyth, but on the Stand Out side of the shop, Bill Allerton still presides over the greatest collection of UK freakbeat and psych still being offered in a physical location. I spotted a copy of The Hush 7″ Grey on the wall, one of my longest-term wants, and correctly guessed its price as being £500. Oh well – pass. Bill immediately remarked, “I have boxes and boxes of that sort of thing under the counter.”
On for a quick visit to Intoxica, where they were playing some insanely over the top British humor record that could have been a Vivian Stanshall solo album – I wasn’t sure. Crazy Latin records I’d never seen before, plus the Turkish alternate sleeve for Led Zep II on the wall – also for £500, in VG. Pass. Didn’t go behind the counter here… the stock is incredible, but I don’t have that kind of money to spend at the moment.
Finally up to the top of Portobello Road to Honest Jon’s, the best world / dub / ethnic store on earth. The genial Alan Scholefield was behind the counter spinning unbelievable deep reggae cuts and coming out to discuss Trikont comps of Vietnamese street music (“total Bo Diddley”). We grabbed a bunch of the latest Honest Jon’s comps – including one compiling ’70s bands from Upper Volta – and I scored a Tabu Ley Rochereau record from 1969 and a clean original Fela Ikoyi Blindness Nigerian pressing for £25.
So we just got the bonus LPs in and guess what… they’re awesome!!
These ultra-limited badboys feature Yo La Tengo’s exclusive score for the film ‘Adventureland.’
So what’s that mean?
That means in addition to the ‘Popular Songs’ CD or double LP, early stream of the album, two bonus MP3s and exclusive poster you get an entire vinyl LP of never-before-released instrumental tracks by Yo La Tengo… that is, of course, if you’re a Buy Early Get Now customer.
You can sign up for Buy Early Get Now here or find your local participating retailer here.
Record Store Day came to Brooklyn and Academy Records served up the goods, as always. The little guy couldn’t go another day without the new Woods’ LP “Songs of Shame” on Woodsist. He was also cultivating his new “Crystal Stilts’ gaze.”
Back in the way-back machine when Matador had our very first office (that wasn’t my apartment) we sold direct to stores in addition to selling our own singles and LP’s ; we started selling non matador records we liked, and soon-to-be matador related records. It was a way to keep the lights on with an extremely sparse release schedule (release dates? ha!) I would try to get stores to pick up these singles or albums COD, talking to folks like Bob Schick (of the mighty Honor Role) at Plan 9, Janet from Fallout, Mark Trehus at Oarfolkjokapus, Conrad Capistran at In Your Ear, Mike Lavella at Phantom of the Attic (he mailed me Quaaludes once) and Natalie Carlson at Aarons (boy she was a pain in the ass, but later I learned she was the coolest girl I ever met).
This was how Matador Direct got started. One of the first singles we carried was the very first Chunk single, pre-Matador, right when they had to change their name to Superchunk. The band hand colored 200 of these individual sleeves, and I kept this one. Pretty sweet indeed
On March 10, Matador will be releasing the 7″ of “No Epiphany,” featuring No Age remixing the track on the B-side. It’s a rather astounding collaboration, and we recommend you buy it.
At the end of the day, Stuart said it came to this:
“once the group realised beans was in fact represented (as a mosquito at the back) they gave him the prize!”
So, without further adooo… congratulations Colocho from France. (yes, he is a true artist…only one name)
Upon hearing of his good fortune (and enduring a GITMO-esque indemnification process to prove he was indeed the creator of this original piece of art), Colocho exclaimed:
Hello,
mon véritable nom est Éric Girard , 36 ans, Colocho est mon nom d’illustrateur. Je vis et travaille à Lyon, France.
Je doit dire que la musique de Belle and Sebastian accompagne souvent mes séances de travail. C’est donc un grand honneur pour moi d’avoir été choisi par le groupe, surtout que la participation fut abondante et de qualité.
J’avoue qu’à ce jour j’ai encore beaucoup de mal à y croire, mon entourage également.
C’est surréaliste !
Mon dessin était tout en simplicité, encre, pinceau, papier… Je ne pensais vraiment pas attirer l’attention du groupe…
J’ai tout de suite eu l’envie de faire un dessin noir et blanc, mes amis et ma compagne m’ont reprochés de ne pas mettre une touche de couleur…
Cependant mon parti pris a été récompensé.
Je suis comblé… Cette nouvelle arrive au bon moment dans ma carrière, un coup de projecteur pour faire connaître mon travail.
Merci infiniment au groupe.
Merci infiniment à Matador Records.
Merci infiniment à vous.
Éric
We have consulted our French to English translator site and we are pretty sure we don’t see “remuneration” anywhere in that message.
Remember that contest we ran over the holidays? The one where you could win every 7″ in our Jay Reatard Singles Series plus an autographed copy of the Beck split? For most it was a minor waste of time- but one randomly selected person actually won this thing!
Congratulations to Matt Elliot of Newfoundland, Canada! Enjoy the records!
If you missed out getting your hands on these little 7″ beauties in their entirety, here is a rare opportunity to win all six PLUS a signed copy of the Beck’s Gamma Ray 7″ (featuring Jay on the flipside covering the aforementioned title track) via NME.
Go here to enter the draw. The competition closes on December 1st, so hurry!
To celebrate the release of The Chemistry Of Common Life, in stores this coming Tuesday, Fucked Up will be playing live for twelve hours straight at a storefront in New York City THE FOLLOWING TUESDAY.
On Tuesday, October 14, from 2PM until 2 AM, the band will be playing a twelve-hour show at the Rogan store at the corner of Bowery and Bond. Admission is free. All ages are welcome to attend, though the free alcohol will be limited to those 21 and over. Additionally, a free limited-edition 7″ of “Royal Swan” will be given away to the first batch of attendees, with a second allotment given away at a later time in the show to be announced.
Special guests will be joining the band on stage to help them through this marathon, including the Vivian Girls, John Joseph, Matt Sweeney, Chain Gang, Mobb Deep, Ryan Sawyer from Tall Firs, Jeff Jensen, David Cross, John Cale, K-Taro, Chris Doherty, E.K., DJ Chris, DJ Anarki, Michael Gira, members of the Australian Scapa Flow, Jeanne Bovet, Gods & Queens, Akon, The Edge, Ben Blackwell, Russell Simins, the Boogie, and some megastars we can’t announce yet.
Seen below is the cover to the limited-edition 7″. Good luck.
The lyrics as well as a download of an alternate version of “Royal Swan” can be found here.
So we already brought you a teaser of info about the forthcoming triple-fun-shot-fest that is SHREDYRFACE. Now here’s the full lowdown :
WEBSITE: SHREDYRFACE.COM
This will be regularly updated on the road by all bands, showing you exactly what goes on on tour. So keep heading back there for updates and exclusives.
LOGO:
INFO:
Times New Viking, No Age and Los Campesinos! travel across the UK in a big old bus, singing show tunes and making noise. Often individually, occasionally together. We’re pretty sure a bit of Kumbaya will be going down.
DATES :
October
14 Brighton, England – Komedia
15 Liverpool, England – Academy 2
16 Leeds, England – Irish Centre
17 Dublin, Ireland – Whelans
18 Glasgow, Scotland – School of Arts
19 London, England – Pure Groove (in-store) (3 p.m.)
19 London, England – Beyond Retro (in-store) (5 p.m.)
19 London, England – Rough Trade East (in-store) (7 p.m.)
20 London, England – Electric Ballroom
21 Bristol, England – Fleece
7″ ACTION :
The three bands have got their collective heads together for a limited edition tour 7″ that will be available from the Coalition group of indie stores in the UK.
Tracklisting :
01 Los Campesinos!: “Death to Los Campesinos! (Napoleon III Remix)”
02 No Age: “Revolving Credit for Kitty”
03 Times New Viking: “Anything Could Happen” (The Clean cover)
INSTORE(S) :
As well as all this, there’s gonna be some super hot instore action where you can get up close and personal with each band. Maybe you’ll even get sweated on by Beth?
So this is where it gets a little confusing. You’ll already get TNV up at the Leeds Crash store, but as well as that, all three bands will play a store of their choice around London on October 19th. They’ll hit Pure Groove at 3 p.m., Beyond Retro at 5 p.m., and Rough Trade East at 7 p.m., but its currently a big secret as to who plays where. So why not go to all?
ONE LAST THING :
Seattle artist Carlos Ruiz has designed a t-shirt and a limited edition silkscreened poster for the Shred Yr Face tour, both of which will be available at the shows and at Coalition stores. So get down there early and bag your own piece of history.
Pre-order is going to go like it did for single #5- On Tuesday, at 3pm EST we will reveal a unique email address on preorder.matadorrecords.com. The email address will be different than last time around.
Please send an email to the revealed address with “Jay Reatard” as the subject line. Those that email us in time to get a record will get a confirmation email within the hour. After receiving a confirmation email, you will see a buy-link appear on the store page when logged into your Matador Store account. Make sure to send an email from your Matador Store registered email address. To be clear, sending an emailDOES NOTensure that you’ll get a copy. If you have yet to sign up for a Matador Store account please do so here.
If you happen to miss out on getting one of these singles. Don’t despair! All of the 7″s are collected on the upcoming Matador Singles ’08 CD/LP now available for PRE-ORDER. The LP comes on 180g vinyl and comes with an mp3 coupon. Plus pre-order and get $1 off of the standard price for the CD/LP and a free poster.
Please send an email to the revealed address with “Jay Reatard” as the subject line. Those that email us in time to get a record will see a buy-link appear in the store when they log into their account within the hour. Make sure to send an email from your Matador Store registered email address. To be clear, sending an emailDOES NOTensure that you’ll get a copy. If you have yet to sign up for a Matador Store account please do so here.
We have even fewer copies of this 7″ than we had of the last one so we’re taking these extra steps to ensure that everyone gets a fair shake at getting a copy. That means less server lock-up, no waiting in the checkout line, and (hopefully) less confusion in general. Good luck!
That’s right… three different sleeves, featuring pics of Jay, Stephen and Billy. (Sorry, we cannot accommodate requests for a specific sleeve, and webstore preorders will be limited to one per customer.) Tracks are “Trapped Here” on the A-side, and “Hiding Hole” and “Dead On Arrival” on the B-side.
Release date is August 19.
We’ll be announcing preorder information shortly and yes, we have a plan in place to deal with the problems we had on #4.
The Times New Viking Music Festival Weekend Express made a brief stop by our offices on Friday to drop off some new tunes and create some artwork on Patrick’s floor. Both of these bits of news (and the video below) should excite you (or at least ignite another limited edish 7″ thread on the BB).
