The (cough) executive branch of Matador Records and Filmworks will be attending South By Southwest in Austin this week, and while the label isn’t putting on a huge gig of our own, we fully intend to gatecrash everyone else’s (this is not, btw, an solicitation for invites to sundry booshit showcases — we already run the risk of missing bands we’re nuts about, such is the overload over 4 nights). However, two members of our glittering roster will be making offish festival appearances :
SHEARWATER – 1am Friday, March 20 18th Floor, Hilton Garden
JAGUAR LOVE – 8:45pm, Thursday, March 19, Beauty Bar (I Heart Comix)
In addition, Shearwater will be performing at Mojo Magazine’s annual BBQ (Saturday afternoon, Mean Eyed Cat) and Jaguar Love will be playing the MySpace/Blacksheep Fellowship party at the Cedar Door (201 Brazos Street) on Thursday afternoon. Neither of those shows are officially sanctioned SXSW events and as such, you’ll not need a badge or wristband to attend.
If you’re looking for more fun things to do in Austin this week, the venerable Showlist is one of the better sources for (relatively) accurate / up-to-date info regarding shows, parties, etc. that won’t require SXSW credentials (or in many cases, an admission fee).
Jaguar Love stopped by Hot Topic HQ last Fall to record this session in the corporate cafeteria and proceeded to blow the roof off the place.
Watching this performance brings me back to last August when the following secret communique arrived from Matador head honcho Chris Lombardi post HT meeting:
Our meeting was in “the chamber” there were gargoyles and flaming towers in the reception area, it was like “am I at Ozzys house?” the reception desk was an embalming table and the ceo walked out with her dog “count woofenstien” or something like that …you guys have NO idea… Where have we gone what have we become.. I’m gonna go get a tattoo or become a “cutter” now….lightly slice my limbs away.. Anyway mtg was good they upped their order from xxx to xxxx, they want any merch we have a la stickers postcards or download cards, they were wondering if the band would be available to play the managers mtg in oct and the video is gonna go in rotation at the 200 or so stores that have that capability…the record is also going into in-store play at all 700+ stores as matt said.
I told em we want hot topic to OWN this band…. Ok I’m going coffin hunting ….later. CL
Jaguar Love out on the road again this spring, below dates in support of OK/Go
March
20-San Diego @ House of Blues
21-Anaheim @ House of Blues
24-Santa Cruz @ Catalyst
25-San Francisco @ Great American Music Hall
27-Portland @ Wonder Ballroom
28-Seattle @ Chop Suey
(J, Cody and Johnny wishing a GWB a fond farewell. Sort of.)
OK, a couple of club dates in the middle of some massive festival gigs on the NiN-headlined Soundwave clusterfück. If you’re attending one of the latter, be sure to say hi…as it’s gonna be a loooong day.
Saturday, February 21 Brisbane – Soundwave, RNA Showgrounds
Sunday, February 22 Sydney, Soundwave, Eastern Creek Fairgrounds
Monday February 23 Campbelltown – City Hotel with Minus The Bear and Straylight Run
Thursday February 26 Melbourne – NEXT! with Minus The Bear and Straylight Run
Friday February 27 Melbourne – Soundwave Festival, Melbourne Park
Saturday February 28 Adelaide – Soundwave Festival, Bonython Park
Monday March 2 Perth – Soundwave Festival, Steel Blue Oval
Our spring Intended Play label download sampler was a huge hit, so we’re doing it again. Just like before, you get a track from one of each of our current and upcoming releases. Seven of the tracks have not been released on MP3 yet, and four of those are from albums that haven’t been released yet. The sampler this time is a bit more varied musically, from A.C. Newman’s jewel-like pop songscapes to the majestic neo-punk of Fucked Up to the gorgeous female vocals of Jennifer O’Connor to a track from Lou Reed’s painstaking, thoughtful, first-ever performance of his controversial classic album ‘Berlin.’ We also introduce an unreleased song from Pavement’s ‘Brighten The Corner’ sessions, due out on the deluxe edition of that album in November.
Click on the link to get a zipped file of all 13 tracks plus front and back artwork, and burn it yourself (or just listen to it digitally). And support the bands and the label… if you like the track, click on the album title link below to buy (or preorder) the album (or more individual tracks) directly from us.
1. A.C. Newman There Are Maybe Ten Or Twelve (from Get Guilty, due out January 20)
2. Belle and Sebastian The State I Am In (BBC Version) (from The BBC Sessions, due out November 18)
3. Jennifer O’Connor Here With Me (from Here With Me, released August 19)
4. Shearwater The Snow Leopard (Remastered) from Rook, released June 3)
5. Lou Reed Caroline Says, Pt. II (Live) (from Berlin: Live At St. Ann’s Warehouse, due out November 4)
6. Mogwai The Sun Smells Too Loud (from The Hawk Is Howling, released September 23)
7. Fucked Up No Epiphany (from The Chemistry Of Common Life, released October 7)
8. Jay Reatard An Ugly Death (from Matador Singles ’08, released October 7)
9. Jaguar Love Humans Evolve Into Skyscrapers (from Take Me To The Sea, released August 19)
10. Pavement Cataracts (from Brighten The Corners: Nicene Creedence Ed., due out December 9)
11. Brightblack Morning Light Oppressions Each (from Motion To Rejoin, released September 23)
12. Times New Viking Call & Respond (from the Stay Awake EP, released October 14)
13. Condo Fucks What’cha Gonna Do About It? (from Fuckbook, due out March 2009)
I saw Jaguar Love do-their-thing Saturday evening in the sweaty confines of Austin’s Emo’s Lounge, and fine though that performance was, a tip of the hat to videographer Jasten King for compiling footage from a recent L.A. show and giving the uninitiated a nice sub-5 minute crash course in this fantastic band.
HEY DUDES
Fucked Up will be playing a free party at Santos Party House in New York tonight. It is free to get in and the band goes on at 11pm. Email nikebetrue_nyc@nike.com to try and get on the guestlist!
FUCKED UP 11pm
VAMPIRE WEEKEND 10pm
ANDREW WK Says Whats Up 12am
JAY REATARD 7pm
(pic of Johnny taken from Colin Athens‘ Flickr page)
Jaguar Love continue their diligent road work on behalf of the newly released ‘Take Me To The Sea’ with the following American dates, all of ‘em co-headlining with Polysics. Additional dates, sans Polysics will be confirmed shortly.
October
21-Tempe @ The Clubhouse
22-Tucson @ Club Congress
24-Dallas @ The Prophet Bar
25-Austin @ Emo’s Lounge
26-Houston@ Meridian
28-Atlanta @ The Earl
29-Charlotte @ Tremont Music Hall
30-Washington DC @ Black Cat
31-New York @ Mercury Lounge
November
1-Danbury, CT @ Heirloom Arts Center
2-Cambridge @ Middle East (Upstairs)
4-Montreal @ Club Lambi
5-Toronto @ Horseshoe Tavern
7-London @ Call The Office
8-Detroit @ Magic Stick
9-Chicago @ Abbey Pub
13-SF @ Bottom of the Hill
14-Pomona @ Glasshouse
For those who can’t wait until next Tuesday (8/19) to soak in Jaguar Love’s debut album, “Take Me To The Sea”, well, you don’t have to – MySpace and Jaguar Love have your back, and the album is streaming now at the band’s page:
And don’t forget to check out the “Show Us Your Jaguar Love” contest while you’re there – that is, if you like words like “autographed” and “concert tickets”…Who doesn’t, those are great words!
I dunno about you, but I’m having serious nightmares looking at that flyer. Personal problems aside, Jaguar Love started their coast-to-coast tour with the Faint this week, and along with being dubbed Spin.com’s “Artist Of The Day” (tomorrow’s choice : Gaugin), “Bonetrees & A Broken Heart” from the forthcoming ‘Take Me To The Sea’ LP/CD can be heard in streaming fashion at the band’s MySpace page.
On top of all that, the band have neatly slid beyond mere social networking with the launch of their own official website.
‘Take Me To The Sea’ is currently available for preorder at the Matador Store (CD, $8, LP, $12) and early adopters are entitled to a free poster with each purchase.
This is what we like to call “an EPK” in the trade. Some folks think that stands for “electronic press kit”, but it could also mean “educational-yet-promotional-kilp”. I prefer the former.
Much as we (heart) YouTube, you can subscribe to this sort of thing via the Matacast and receive such videos in lovely iTunes/quicktime form.
July
Wednesday 30 Salt Lake City, UT In The Venue w/The Faint
August
Friday 01 Vancouver, CA Commodore Ballroom w/The Faint
Saturday 02 Richmond, VA The Old Firehouse
Sunday 03 Portland, OR Crystal Ballroom w/The Faint
Tuesday 05 Burlington, VT U of VT Davis Center Grand Ballroom w/The Faint
Wednesday 06 Pomona, CA Glass House w/Crystal Antlers
Wednesday 06 Long Beach, CA Que Sera
Wednesday 06 Long Beach, CA Que Sera w/Crystal Antlers
Thursday 07 Los Angeles, CA Henry Fonda Theatre w/The Faint
Thursday 07 Los Angeles, CA Henry Fonda Theater w/The Faint
Friday 08 Anaheim, CA Chain Reaction
Friday 08 Anaheim, CA Chain Reaction w/Crystal Antlers
Saturday 09 San Diego, CA Soma w/The Faint
Monday 11 Austin, TX La Zona Rosa
Tuesday 12 Dallas, TX Palladium Ballroom w/The Faint
Thursday 14 Atlanta, GA Variety Playhouse w/The Faint
Friday 15 Carrboro, NC Cat’s Cradle w/The Faint
Saturday 16 Washington D.C., DC 9:30 Club w/The Faint
Sunday 17 Philadelphia, PA Trocadero Theater w/The Faint
Tuesday 19 Brooklyn, NY Southpaw
Wednesday 20 Worcester, MA The Palladium Ballroom w/ The Faint
Thursday 21 Toronto, CA The Opera House w/The Faint
Friday 22 Chicago, IL Vic Theater w/The Faint
Saturday 23 Omaha, NE Sokol Auditorium w/The Faint
(above, J, Johnny, Cody, photograph by Michael Lavine)
Jaguar Love’s performance at the Capitol Hill Block Party (Seattle, WA) will be webcast on KEXP.org tomorrow at 6:30 PST (9:30 EST). If you’ve not already made plans, Jay Reatard is on the Neumos stage tonight, while the Cave Singers are playing 2nd on the Main Stage tomorrow.
“Highways Of Gold”, from the upcoming LP/CD ‘Take Me To The Sea’ (August 19). A snazzy conceptual video of the above song will be appearing in this space soon (other spaces, too)
(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…
Cody posted the following at Jaguar Love‘s MySpace page earlier today :
Wed. June 18th 2008
Jaguar Love European Tour
2:06 PM
We are just over a week into our European tour. Things are going well so far I’d say. It’s about 2 in the afternoon. We are in Koln, Germany today and the sun is burning good and hot. We all woke up a little dazed and sweaty this morning, but I have to admit its a nice change from the throes of the seemingly constant Northwest drizzle in our home of Portland. Spirits are high. Zane, J and Craig are all off to the music store to pick up some supplies, Johnny and Amy are stomping around the city somewhere, Jessie is in the shower and I’m sitting backstage at Luxor on a black leather love seat writing this. We’ve been playing a bunch of festivals so far on this trip (which I love), but last night we played our own headlining show. It felt great to be inside a club. It was in Weisbaden, Germany.Weisbaden is a pretty great city. Apparently after World War Two the US decided to stay there for a while and it kept it from getting bombed, so the city is well preserved. Like any European city there is a square with commercial shopping and the like but on the outskirts its pretty rad. Really beautiful homes and buildings. The club we played is called Schlachthof. It’s a collective run by 16 people and really amazing. After the show was pretty chill. I think some of us are still trying to shake off the jet lag blues.Give it a few more days…
Matador’s rusty brains brain trust were amongst the lucky throng observing the kick-off of Jaguar Love‘s U.S. tour in Pomona, CA this past Sunday night. We’re still trying to figure out how to repair the synapses that were snapped like twigs. The new Jaguar Love quintet are already so scary-good this early in their existence, venues oughta bar patrons from entering during the final 30 minutes of the performance. That’s the only William Castle gimmick we’ll suggest this time — no 3D lenses are necessary when this band is on stage. They’ve got dimensions to spare.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008 San Diego, CA Beauty Bar
Thursday, May 29, 2008 San Francisco, CA Popscene
Friday, May 30, 2008 Modesto, CA Fat Cat
Saturday, May 31, 2008 Eugene The Indigo District
Monday, June 02, 2008 Vancouver, BC Richards on Richards
Tuesday, June 03, 2008 Portland, OR Hawthorne Theatre
Wednesday, June 04, 2008 Seattle, WA Neumos
Saturday, June 18 2008 Coney Island, NY Siren Festival
The initial lineup for the 2008 edition of the Village Voice’s Siren Festival was announced yesterday, and we’re pleased to note headliners Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks will be joined by Times New Viking and (making their first East Coast appearance-at-an-amusement-park) Jaguar Love.
This free event takes place on Saturday, July 19. Times New Viking will be hopping on a plane after their set, as they’ll be playing on the 3rd day of the Pitchfork Festival the following afternoon. Mayor Bloomberg, consider this an advance request for a police escort to the airport.
…and the West Coast shall (heart) them. It is written! Consider it confirmed!
Sunday, May 25, 2008 Pomona, CA Glass House
Tuesday, May 27, 2008 Los Angeles, CA The Echo
Wednesday, May 28, 2008 San Diego, CA Beauty Bar
Thursday, May 29, 2008 San Francisco, CA Popscene
Friday, May 30, 2008 Modesto, CA Fat Cat
Saturday, May 31, 2008 Eugene The Indigo District
Monday, June 02, 2008 Vancouver, BC Richards on Richards
Tuesday, June 03, 2008 Portland, OR Hawthorne Theatre
Wednesday, June 04, 2008 Seattle, WA Neumos
‘Take Me To The Sea’, the debut full length CD/LP from Jaguar Love will be available in stores & digital outlets on August 19. However, we’re previewing one of our favorite tracks from the album starting today (see above). In addition a self-titled CDEP featuring “Highways Of Gold” and two additional songs (one from album, one exclusive) will be available on June 3 (more details to follow).
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):
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.
From the ashes of two of the finest Seattle, nay, American, heck bands from the-planet- ever, Matador is very pleased to confirm the signing of JAGUAR LOVE to a long-term, worldwide deal.
Consisting of Johnny Whitney (vocals, piano) and Cody Votolato (guitar, bass) — both formerly of the Blood Brothers — and our dear friend J Clark (drums, bass, keyboards, formerly the guitar wiz in the recently split Pretty Girls Make Graves), Jaguar Love bear some stylistic similarities to the trio’s old outfits but based on early live evidence, something totally new & ferocious is in the works. We’re never quite sure where the art/punk/pop divide lies in 2008, but from what we’ve seen from Jaguar Love (both on their own and supporting Queens Of The Stoneage), we’re also not sure it really matters that much, either.
The band are currently finishing their debut album at Seattle’s Two Sticks Audio with J producing and engineering. Much like everything else in life, the LP/CD’s release date is to be determined but early Summer 2008 is certainly a possibility.
Jaguar Love will touring the globe this Summer and Autumn.
