Today we’re psyched to tell you that OLE-981 is the Matador Records & True Panther Sounds’ 2012 Intended Play Sampler hits shelves on January 14. This (insanely) budget-priced vinyl sampler showcases new tracks and now-classics from the Matador/True Panther syndicate circa 2011-2012, and much like the Cherry Red sampler from which this LP finds inspiration, is destined to rank at #1 on all music retail charts.

Oh, did we mention its costs $1.98!?!

The comp features unreleased tracks from: THE YOUNG (Austin, TX – Matador debut Spring 2012), CEREMONY (Rohnert Park, CA – Hysteria 7” coming February 2012), LEE RANALDO (from
Between the Times & The Tides, March 20), PERFUME GENIUS (sophomore album, Put Your
Back Into It, February ), STEPHEN MALKMUS & THE JICKS (unreleased track from Mirror Traffic
sessions) and True Panther bros, TANLINES.

The album also features 2011 favorites, GIRLS (from Father, Son, Holy Ghost on True Panther), KURT VILE (from So Outta Reach EP), ESBEN & THE WITCH (Hexagons EP, first time on vinyl), FUCKED UP (from the David Comes To Life companion 7″) & COLD CAVE (exclusive re-mix/remaster of the Cherish The Light Years favorite).

Revisit your favorites from 2011, and get a preview of 2012 from your friends at Matador Records and True
Panther Sounds for under two dollars!

1 THE YOUNG – Don’t Hustle For Love*
2 KURT VILE – Life’s A Beach
3 GIRLS – My Ma
4 CEREMONY – Hysteria*
5 TANLINES – TBA
6 LEE RANALDO – Off The Wall*
7 FUCKED UP – Into The Light
8 ESBEN & THE WITCH – Hexagons II
9 PERFUME GENIUS – All Waters*
10 COLD CAVE – Confetti (edit)
11 STEPHEN MALKMUS & THE JICKS – Polvo*
* unreleased

Pre-order it HERE or find it in your favorite vinyl retailer on 1/17)

Head over to Amazon MP3 to grab the following for a new low price of $6.99 from 11/21-29, as part of their Black Friday Hits promotion.

Thurston Moore  ‘Demolished Thoughts’
Kurt Vile  ‘Smoke Ring For My Halo’
Girls  ‘Father, Son, Holy Ghost’ (on True Panther)

You can also find these titles on the popular CD & vinyl formats at the Matador webstore, or your favorite local indie retailer.

On September 28, on the eve of the label’s 21st anniversary celebration in Las Vegas, the Matador at 21 box set lands in stores. The limited-edition box contains five CDs documenting the history of the label with remastered songs released from 1989 through 2010, and one CD of unreleased live recordings from the Matador 10th Anniversary concerts in New York City in 1999. These were recorded to multitrack via the Rolling Stones Mobile Truck and not mixed down until now.

As shown above, the set comes in a blue-grey foil-stamped linen-bound box. The six CDs sit in custom digipaks. An 85-page perfect-bound book documents the history of the label with essays, photos, ephemera, emails and more. In addition, the box holds 36 custom Matador poker chips in three values.

The release has been assigned the catalog number OLE-1000, which is pushing it a little bit because we’re really only up to OLE-949 (the upcoming Kurt Vile 7″) in the main sequence. A budget-priced double vinyl set reproduces the contents of Disc 5, ‘Matador Today,’ and will be available on the same day as the box. All proceeds from the set will go to benefit three charities chosen by the label owners, enumerated at the bottom of this post. The artists have graciously agreed to donate their royalties as well in order to make this all possible.*

DISC 1 – THE PRE-DAWN (1989-1992)

1. Teenage Fanclub – Everything Flows
2. H.P. Zinker – Dancing Days
3. Superchunk – Slack Motherfucker
4. Dustdevils – Throw the Bottle Full
5. Railroad Jerk – These Streets
6. Come – Fast Piss Blues
7. Bettie Serveert – Kid’s Alright
8. Chain Gang – Cut Off The Drug Czar’s Head
9. Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 – More Glee
10. Unsane – This Town
11. Circle X – Compression of the Species
12. Toiling Midgets – Mr. Foster’s Shoes
13. Bailter Space – The Today Song
14. Pavement – Perfume-V

DISC TWO – THE YEARS OF MILK AND HONEY (1993-1995)

1. The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion – Afro
2. Yo La Tengo – Big Day Coming
3. Railroad Jerk – The Ballad of Railroad Jerk
4. Helium – Superball
5. Pizzicato Five – Baby Love Child
6. Liz Phair – Mesmerizing
7. Pavement – Silence Kit
8. Guided By Voices – Game Of Pricks
9. 18th Dye – Whole Wide World
10. Chavez – Peeled Out Too Late
11. Come – String
12. Moonshake – Secondhand Clothes
13. Guitar Wolf – Midnight Violence Rock’n Roll
14. San Francisco Seals – Back Again
15. Bardo Pond – Rumination

DISC 3: DAYS OF WHISKEY AND TEARS (1996-2001)

1. Boards Of Canada – Telephasic Workshop
2. Spoon – Waiting For The Kid To Come Out
3. Yo La Tengo – Autumn Sweater
4. Chavez – You Must Be Stopped
5. Silkworm – Tarnished Angel
6. The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion – Flavor Part 1 (Beck)
7. The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion – Flavor Part 2 (Mike D)
8. Pole – Fliegen
9. Cat Power – American Flag
10. Belle & Sebastian – We Rule The School
11. Mogwai – Helps Both Ways
12. Arsonists – Backdraft
13. Large Professor – ‘Bout That Time
14. Cornelius – Tone Twilight Zone
15. burger/ink – Flesh & Blood
16. Pavement – You Are A Light
17. Arab Strap – Blood
18. Matmos – L.A.S.I.K

DISC FOUR: DON’T CALL IT A COMEBACK (2002-2007)

1. Interpol – Hands Away
2. Cat Power – He War
3. Yo La Tengo – Today Is The Day
4. The New Pornographers – From Blown Speakers
5. Dizzee Rascal – Fix Up, Look Sharp
6. Dead Meadow – Good Moanin’
7. Mogwai – Kids Will Be Skeletons
8. Mission Of Burma – The Setup
9. Early Man – Death Is The Answer
10. Belle & Sebastian – Dress Up In You
11. Pretty Girls Make Graves – All Medicated Geniuses
12. Cat Power – Love & Communication
13. Shearwater - Johnny Viola
14. Brightblack Morning Light – Everybody Daylight
15. Lavender Diamond – You Broke My Heart
16. Jennifer O’Connor – Tonight We Ride
16. Earles & Jensen – Just Farr A Laugh: The Yogurt Machine
17. Stephen Malkmus – Discretion Grove

DISC FIVE: MATADOR TODAY (2008 – )

1. Fucked Up – Son The Father
2. Sonic Youth – Sacred Trickster
3. Kurt Vile – Amplifier
4. Yo La Tengo – Nothing to Hide
5. Jay Reatard – There Is No Sun
6. Times New Viking – Move To California
7. Harlem – Friendly Ghost
8. Ted Leo & The Pharmacists - Bottled In Cork
9. The New Pornographers – My Shepherd
10. Cold Cave - Youth and Lust
11. Interpol – Summer Well
12. Shearwater - Castaways
13. Esben and the Witch – Marching Song
14. Girls – Lust For Life
15. Magic Kids – Superball
16. Delorean – Stay Close
17. Cat Power – Metal Heart
18. Perfume Genius – Learning
19. Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks – Real Emotional Trash

DISC SIX: UNRELEASED LIVE RECORDINGS FROM THE 10TH ANNIVERSARY CONCERTS, NEW YORK CITY, SEPTEMBER 1999

1. Pavement – Here (Live 1999)
2. Pavement – Trigger Cut (Live 1999)
3. Pavement – The Hexx (Live 1999)
4. Pavement – She Believes (Live 1999)
5. Pavement – Unfair (Live 1999)
6. Pavement – Zurich Is Stained (Live 1999)
7. Pavement – Debris Slide (Live 1999)
8. Pavement – Spit On A Stranger (Live 1999)
9. Come – New Coats (Live 1999)
10. Bardo Pond – Walking Stick Man (Live 1999)
11. Bardo Pond – Tommy Gun Angel (Live 1999)
12. Cat Power – Good Woman (Live 1999)
13. Cat Power – Naked, If I Want To (Live 1999)
14. Cat Power – You May Know Him / Sea Of Love (Live 1999)
15. Mogwai – Ex-Cowboy (Live 1999)

* Matador and the bands’ proceeds from sales of the box set and the double vinyl will be donated to:

The Jane Addams Hull House Association, a Chicago, IL non-profit that’s been assisting the city’s neediest families (child welfare, domestic violence prevention, literacy-advocacy, etc.) since 1889.

The Ali Forney Center (NYC-based provider of shelter and counseling for homeless gay, lesbian and transgender youth)

The Heart Institute at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (non-profit public hospital and a world leader in pediatric lifesaving)

Matador at 21 will be in stores on September 28. You can preorder it now from the Matador Store.

Matador at 21: The Lost Weekend takes place at the Palms Resort and Casino in Las Vegas from October 1-3, 2010. This event is sponsored by MySpace Music, Altamont and Incase.

If you haven’t heard Delorean‘s (recently BNM‘d) Subiza yet, hear it now in its full glory on HERE
Pre-order from Matador Store and get instant mp3 download HERE

Also, you can buy a crisp new Delorean T-shirt that comes with an instant mp3 download of the album.

Digital music wear? MP3-Tee? Call it what you want. We wish we  could just plug headphones into this shirt and go to the beach, but for now this is the best we can do, and frankly it seems pretty good.  Order T-shirt (w/album download) HERE

My personal Record Store Day nightmare involves sleeping thru an 8am wake up call and by the time I show up at my favorite record shop, all the cool shit is gone and all that’s left is the limited (but not limited enough) Godsmack 7″.

So with that in mind, we’re encouraging you to get plenty of sleep Friday night, especially those of you in or near Claremont, California. On Saturday —- the day before playing Coachella — Yo La Tengo will be playing Rhino Records at 3pm. The last time I visited this establishment, I found one of these, so you might wanna turn up early. Unless you’re into Godsmack, in which case I reckon you can take your time.

LOVE IS IN THE AIR

It’s snowing like crazy here in NYC but True Panther Sounds remains bundled up, huddled away and working hard. Taking a few precious moments every day to find good youtube videos, but also putting out a bunch of records. Wanted to give y’all the latest update in the True Panther Universe..

This last Tuesday, 3/23, we released two brand new records.

Hunx and His Punx‘ “Gay Singles”
We initially released a limited vinyl pressing this last year, but after blowing through them we re-pressed it on LP/CD/DA. It now has slightly different cover art, a cd that includes all the videos, better quality vinyl, and a free mp3 download with each record. PLUS it’s cheaper than before. The songs are classic glammy, and gay. They’ve gotten better with each listen. Lookout for national and international tour dates in the next few months.
Order HERE (and get a free Chiphunx CD)
U Don’t Like Rock’nRoll (mp3)

Morning Benders “Promises” 7″

This is a limited edition single from one of our favorite new bands. Their record is coming out on Rough Trade, but this first single is all ours! It’s limited and features an exclusive b-side “Oh Annie”, a more plaintive and restrained version of the band. Enjoy!
Order HERE
Promises (mp3)

We’re also putting out 3 brand new 12″/digital records on March 9th! New releases from Tanlines, Lemonade, and Janka Nabay. Each record is a totally unique incantation of the dance music spirits- Janka electrified the Bubu dance music of his native Sierra Leone, Lemonade mixed every kind of electronic music from the last 30 years in a big caribbean fruit salad, and Tanlines are making “new music” , coalesced from tropical sounds and restrained house. We’re just going to call it all “Yes Wave”.

Get all three records in a bundle for only $25 and get instant downloads of the singles and a few exclusive remixes. Order HERE

Order Tanlines- Settings HERE
“Real Life” (mp3)
Order Lemonade- Pure Moods HERE
“Lifted” (mp3)
Order Janka Nabay- Bubu King HERE
“Eh Congo” (mp3)

We’re also having a big show to celebrate the release of the 12″s. Hope to see some of you in the New York are there!

That’s it for the update for now. Hope you enjoy the records. We have some great stuff on the burners for the new year, full-lengths from Glasser and Magic Kids. Releases from Teengirl Fantasy, The Bitters, and Real Estate. Stoked!!

Don’t forget now, hear? Spiral Stairs live instore TONIGHT at Sonic Boom Ballard. Dig.

Because just when we thought you couldn’t go and get any better, you go ahead and do something totally awesome like making this killer Yo La Tengo window display to celebrate today’s release of “Popular Songs.”

So if you find yourself in Bloomington, Indiana and you happen to pass by Landlocked Music be sure to stop in and tell them that we love them… very, very much.

Catalog number OLE-896 is Times New Viking MOVE TO CALIFORNIA 7″, slated to come out on September 8. The four song 7″ contains two tracks from the upcoming BORN AGAIN REVISITED LP, those being “Move To California” and “City On Drugs,” plus two songs from the coveted STAY AWAKE REVISITED cassette, namely “Pentagram” and “Teen Spirit In Hell.”

Preorder the new album, in stores September 22, and get this 7″, plus a copy of last year’s STAY AWAKE 7″, and a free poster, all for only $13 – while supplies last.

Download the MP3 of “Move To California” here, and enjoy your weekend:

Move To California (192k mp3)

Oh, and fuck your blog.

This coming Tuesday, the limited-edition double vinyl gatefold 10″ EP from Cat Power hits the stores. Entitled Dark End Of The Street, it includes six bewitching cover songs from the Jukebox sessions and not included on that album. This would make a wonderful Christmas or Hannukah present for someone who likes gatefold covers, or cover songs, and it’s available for preorder now.

We have a lot of other deluxe packages from this year appropriate for stocking-stuffers or under-the-tree action. The deluxe 44-song, 48-page book, die-cut slipcase edition of Pavement’s Brighten The Corners, for example (and if you preorder now, you can still – just – get the ultra-limited live vinyl bonus LP, exclusive to this release). Two weeks ago we released Belle and Sebastian’s justly acclaimed BBC Sessions, with essential radio performances from their early 1996-2001 period. The deluxe version of the CD comes with a second disc containing a complete concert in Belfast from December 2001. The set includes covers of I’m Waiting For The Man, The Boys Are Back In Town and Here Comes The Sun. This is strictly limited and once it goes, it’s gone.

There’s also the deluxe version of the Mogwai’s latest, The Hawk Is Howling, which comes with a bonus DVD containing two videos for “Batcat” (including one nightmarish one directed by Dominic Hailstone of Chris Cunningham / Aphex Twin video fame), and a short documentary about the band by Vincent Moon.

And of course, last March, we released to-die-for versions of the three original Mission Of Burma albums on Ace of Hearts. We’ve banged on enough about the real all-analog mastering from the original tapes, the precious live footage from the late ’70s and early ’80s, the gatefold sleeves on the vinyl, and the books with interviews and photos and more. We’re prouder of these packages than any other reissue we’ve ever done. All three are available for a very short time longer in a vinyl bundle deal for 50 bucks.

There are also a few deluxe copies of Cat Power’s Jukebox left with the gatefold foil digipak and second CD. Then there’s just about every vinyl release from this year, nearly all printed at Stoughton and pressed on RTI HQ180 vinyl. Single LPs here and double LPs here.

And of course, there are also Matador T-shirts, record bags, and slipmats… not to mention bundle deals.

The Matador Store.

photo of Chan Marshall by Stefano Giovanini

Toyota’s recent “Saved By Zero” spots have inspired everything from Facebook hate groups to actual killing sprees (ok, not yet, BUT JUST YOU WAIT) and is it any wonder that an individual most likely to profit from this aesthetic atrocity agrees that it sucks? From the Las Vegas Journal’s Jerry Fink :

“I would prefer to have been the one singing it,” Cy Curnin says during a recent phone interview from his farm in France. You can hear the real version when the Fixx performs free concerts Friday and Saturday at Green Valley Ranch.

He’s amused at the irony of using the song to tout 0 percent car financing.

“It’s a bit cheesy,” he says. “It was about looking at your own life, not so much about amassing material things but about experiences that lend you to be blissful. It’s peeling away illusions we pick up along the way. Our identity isn’t the suit we wear or the latest gadget. Our identity is the freedom to pick and choose from all aspects of humanity and to make a stand.

“The song was written from the point of view of the release you get when you have nothing left to lose. It’s sort of a meditation. It clears your head of all fears and panics and illusions and you get back to the basics, which is a Buddhist mantra, which I practiced back then, and which I still do. The idea of the song is how great it is to get back to zero.”

The theme drives Curnin’s life.

Several years ago he moved to France with his new wife and started living off the land and off royalties.

“We are 100 percent self-sufficient,” says Curnin, a native of Wimbledon, England. “We’re getting back to the roots of it. My wife runs a guesthouse. We run all of the stuff we grow and produce through the guesthouse, feeding people. Tonight there are six people who will be eating some of our pigs.”

Click above and find out exactly why Damian has the best tits to ever go in a magazine. It had me convinced anyway.

Want to dress like your favourite Canadian FRONTman? Follow this link here for cool threads, the likes of which will undoubtedly lead to you hanging out with Charlotte from The Subways in a field in Berkshire, a lifetime ambition I’ve yet to fulfill until now.

A few weeks ago I was killing time between flights at big box-y retailer who shall remain nameless, and though I’d originally ventured inside to purchase a car charger for my phone, I ended up dropping $16.98 on the new Judas Priest double CD ‘Nostradamus’. The cover sticker claimed there was a coupon good for a free general admission ticket to see Priest, Dio-fronting-Sabbath, Motorhead and Testament, and I figured even if the concept album was just as rotten as I suspected, this was still a good deal.

WRONG WRONG WRONG.  As it turned out, Mr.-Has-No-Loyalty-To-Indie-Retail got karmic payback up the rear when he failed to read the fine print — “WHILE SUPPLIES LAST”, etc.     No free Priest ticket.  One $16.98 pair of ugly coasters.  Let this be a lesson to you all — if you’re gonna buy terrible records, the least you can do is buy them from a record store and not some fucking refrigerator warehouse.

With that intense experience behind me, I was pleased to read the following interview with Judas Priest’s Rob Halford, as conducted by the LA Weekly’s Skylaire Alfvegren.

L.A. WEEKLY:Rob, how are you?
ROB HALFORD:I’m fine. Did you survive the earthquake?

I was in Northern California at a UFO convention.
Oh, for the band?

No, not the band.
The things in the sky?

The things in the sky.
Well, I’ve got some stories to tell you. I’ve had one or two encounters in England, not close encounters, but things that have totally freaked me out. It absolutely fascinates me. I think maybe just because it’s an artistic thing. People that are in tune with their emotions and creativity, I think that a lot of us are prone to that almost sixth-sense phenomenon. Having said that, people from all walks of life see those things in the sky, you know. But I think it’s something very bizarre and it’s been with humanity forever.

Ezekiel’s Wheel, Zoroaster, heck, Muhammad, the Dogon tribe … I’m curious. Do you feel certain camaraderie with Nostradamus because he was basically exiled, somewhat like heavy metal, and ultimately triumphed when he gained the patronage of Catherine de Medici and wrote the quatrains?
Yeah! Thank you for picking up on that! You’re one of the few journalists that has. But that was one of the appealing parts of the man’s character. You know, in metal, we talk about rejection, and running up against people that attack us. That’s exactly what that guy went through. He was looked upon as a bit of a freak, and he had this gift, this uncanny ability to have these visions and prophecies, and he was looked upon as being someone — at least by the Catholic Church — dabbling in the black arts.

I definitely see a parallel between your music and the man’s life.
Oh, but it was a terrible time to live, the 16th century, to a certain extent. There were still remnants of the Inquisition going on, which was hideous. He dealt with all that, and we thought, man, this guy led a bit of a metal life with some of those emotional elements, but he stood up for himself and he was triumphant in the end, and that’s just a great story.

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

With a flair for the aribtrary not seen since Ronald Thomas Clonte’s ‘Rock, Rot And Rule’ hit the bookstores, Paste‘s attempts to rank the nation’s top 17 record shoppes is bound to generate some cheap traffic to this blog and at least a half dozen comments between now and 5pm.

• Amoeba Records, Los Angeles, CA
• Criminal Records, Atlanta, GA
• Other Music, New York City
• Cat Head Delta Blues & Folk Art, Clarksdale, MS
• Waterloo Records, Austin, TX
• Aquarius Records, San Francisco, CA
• Dusty Groove America, Chicago, IL
• Ernest Tubb Record Shop, Nashville, TN
• Shangri-La Records, Memphis, TN
• Music Millennium, Portland, OR
• Ear X-Tacy, Louisville, KY
• Louisiana Music Factory, New Orleans, LA
• Newbury Comics, Boston, MA
• Grimey’s New + Pre-Loved Music, Nashville, TN
• Turntable Lab, New York City
• The Electric Fetus, Minneapolis, MN
• Jerry’s Records, Pittsburgh, PA

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but I am personally saddened that my own favorite neighborhood dealer-of-things-at-high-volume failed to make the cut.   But enough about Empire Records, End Of An Ear oughta be pissed off, too.

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)

The second 7″ in Jay Reatard’s singles series for Matador Records & Filmworks, “Painted Shut” b/w “An Ugly Death” will be available for pre-order at 3PM Eastern Time. As with the last record, quantities are extremely limited so we can only honor one copy per order.

This record features features artwork by Mike Sniper.

Order HERE

Record stores are what Matador has always been about, and there are still 2400 of them across the US. Today is Record Store Day, and hundreds of stores, big and small, are celebrating with discounts, freebies, limited-edition specials, and live performances, DJ gigs and counter-manning stints by bands and artists.

As I’ve argued in another post on this blog, a lot of us buy records because we love records, not just music. And we love the experience of spending money and accumulating stuff. Screw all this “community of the store” shit — my idea of a good time is being down on my knees, covered in dust, and going through box after box of LPs that nobody has looked at (or re-priced in years). It’s all still out there, and you can have that experience too. Get off your ass and do it!

Why is Starbucks bringing its vagina dentata out of hiding and into plain sight right now? Maybe they were inspired by the hilarious and brilliant film Teeth. Maybe they hope consumers are more comfortable with exhibitionism than they used to be. Maybe they’re thinking sex sells.

But more likely, they’re frightened and in need of protection.

Images of women exposing their genitals were used by primitive peoples to drive away evil spirits, calm rough seas, and scare away enemies with the threat of castration. In the face of a recession, Starbucks is banking on the power of the vagina dentata to work its ancient magic and keep the wolf from their door. – Jeremiah Moss, Vanishing New York

There’s a Chock Full O’ Nuts joke in here somewhere, but it’s way too early on a Wednesday morning.

We’re very happy to announce the newest incarnation of the Matador Store is now up and running. We embed ourselves even more comfortably in the digital age by offering digital (MP3 and FLAC) downloads in addition to a nicer, easier to navigate look and loads of other geeked-out features.

* Mp3s (256k) and FLAC (lossless) files. Can we say that they’re encoded at a higher bit rate than iTunes? Because they are.
*Sample files of everything in our digital catalog
*Digital files are fully integrated with Songbird and will put the downloads you’ve purchased directly into your Songbird “Purchased Playlist” as well as allow you to easily browse and listen to sample files.
* A download helper for both MAC and PC to improve the experience of downloading singles and albums

Please note that this is a soft launch of the digital store and we’ll have a more comprehensive version of the digital catalog (along with a mess of draped up and dripped out features) next Wednesday.

The first 7″ in Jay Reatard’s singles series for Matador, “See Saw” b/w “Screaming Hand”, goes up for pre-order TODAY at 3pm Eastern Time. Because of the extremely limited quantity of this record we will only honor one copy per customer so plans to stockpile these and send your kids to college isn’t going to work this time around. Also, once they’re gone, they’re gone so don’t dilly-dally!!

ORDER HERE

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.

The above advertisement, currently appearing on Technorati, links to a Toyota website.  I realize ’80′s nostalgia is pretty infectious, but I never imagined an ad agency would seek to reference the PMRC in the year 2008.

Then again, if there’s an audience for a Mentors tribute band these days, perhaps Toyota are savvier than I thought.