Above: Thor and Kim engaging in double-glock(enspiel) warfare at this year’s Primavera Festival
Having Shearwater play on this side of the Atlantic is always a good thing especially if it means the opportunity to hear more new material. Bring your own glockenspiel/double-bass/hand-made instrument.
September:
10th – Vooruit, Ghent BE
11th – End Of The Road Festival, Dorset UK
12th – Brudenell Social Club, Leeds UK (w/ Clinic)
13th – Colchester Arts Centre, Colchester UK
14th – The Luminaire, London UK
15th – Effenaar, Eindhoven NL
16th – Tivoli (De Helling), Utrecht NL
[photos of Fucked Up and Sonic Youth grabbed off Toni François' and Ryan Muir's flickr sites, respectively]
New Jersey’s freeform radio giant, WFMU, has plugged into the Primavera Sound festival in Barcelona bringing streams of sets from Matador acts Fucked Up and Sonic Youth to the airwaves in the tri-state (90.1 FM) and online at www.wfmu.org.
Along with Fucked Up and Sonic Youth, WFMU will air sets from Wooden Shjips, Crystal Stilts, Vivian Girls, Sunn o))), Dan Deacon, Deerhunter, Ariel Pink, Magik Markers,Oneida, th’ Faith Healers and others to be announced.
Tune in at around 3:00 PM EST on Saturday (5/30) to hear Fucked Up and at 9:00 PM to hear Sonic Youth. As is the case with these kinds of things, all times are subject to change so keep up with WFMU’s Twitter for updates.
If you are lucky enough to be attending Primavera as you read this, be sure to catch the following:
Fucked Up – Ray Ban-Vice Stage – Friday 29th May 00:30
Sonic Youth – Estrella Damm Stage – Saturday 30th May 01:00
Shearwater – Pitchfork Stage – Saturday 30th May 18:15
Tomorrow will see the start of this year’s Primavera Sound festival, in Barcelona Spain. Set on the sea front on the edge of Barcelona, the festival has stages curated by Pitchfork, ATP and Vice amongst others.
This year Matador has a total of 6 bands in attendance at the festival. Surely a record? If you’re attending, be sure to Sharpie these times on your hand now:
(in alphabetical order)
Dead Meadow – ATP Stage – Thursday 28th May 00:15
Fucked Up – Ray Ban-Vice Stage – Friday 29th May 00:30
Jay Reatard – Ray Ban-Vice Stage – Thursday 28th May 00:30
Shearwater – Pitchfork Stage – Saturday 30th May 18:15
Sonic Youth – Estrella Damm Stage – Saturday 30th May 01:00
Yo La Tengo – Estrella Damm Stage – Thursday 28th May 21:45
A prize will be awarded to anyone that manages to get a photo of all of the above in the same place at the same time.
Just a friendly reminder that tonight there’s a Matador double header in London. Having played the shopping mall interior at this weekend’s ATP vs The Fans, we felt the need for a more illustrious setting for Shearwater and The Cave Singers – the beautiful Union Chapel in Islington. You can see The Cave Singers from 8pm and Shearwater say grace from 9pm.
Many thanks for Fiona Diffley for photos from this weekend.
Though Shearwater are in the midst of recording the followup to 2008′s ‘Rook‘, the band are taking time from a busy international schedule to play a May 21 benefit for Austin’s Yellow Bike Project at Red 7. YBP is is a community supported ALL-VOLUNTEER 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to providing human-powered transportation for the people of Austin, running a community bike shop, and educating kids and adults. Here’s some more info courtesy a recent KLRU documentary short ;
Crazy rock fest season is most def. upon us, and us such, you can look forward to the Matablog being routinely scooped this spring and summer by concert promoters and other rockblogs announcing which of our bands are playing in a big field somewhere. Today’s joyous news has Shearwater playing the 2nd edition of the All Points West festival (Liberty State Park, NJ) on July 31, on a bill topped by the Beastie Boys, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Vampire Weekend.
Two days later, Mogwai — about to start a US tour two weeks from today in Houston — will play the Sunday, August 2 version of APW II , on a bill headlined by Coldplay, Echo & The Bunnymen and MGMT.
Finally, we’ve neglected to mention previously that Shearwater are playing Austin, TX tomorrow night (March 31) in support of Neko Case at Stubb’s.
By Jeremy P. Goldstein on Monday, March 16th, 2009
On top of all their SXSW activities, Austin’s finest sons (and daughter) Shearwater will be featured five times this week on SiriuXM Loft Sessions. These sessions can be heard on Sirius 29 and XM 50 and will air at the following times. Listen in to hear the genius. All times Eastern, by the way.
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).
Following what will surely be an incredible performance at this year’s ATP The Fans Strike Back in May, Matador’s finest Shearwater will headline London’s Union Chapel on May 12th. With support from The Cave Singers, sure to be playing new material, this will be a Matador double not to be missed.
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)
Jonathan Meiburg will play an in-store at the brand new location of Criminal Records in Atlanta this Sunday!
This will be the first in-store at the new shop and there is no Shearwater show in Atlanta, so this is your only chance to see Jonathan and hear some Shearwater songs!
Jonathan Meiburg of Shearwater
Solo Acoustic In-store
Sunday, Oct. 26th
5:00 PM
Criminal Records
1154-A Euclid Ave NE
Atlanta, GA
2008′s CMJ Music Marathon in New York City begins tomorrow (10/21), but for us, the festivities start tonight with Shearwater’s performance at Le Poisson Rouge (LPR).
Find below, your guide to the official and unofficial CMJ Marathon showcases featuring a trio of Matador acts: Shearwater, Jay Reatard and Mission of Burma.
With quite the live-act triumvirate and manning of the 1′s and 2′s by Billy Hayes and Times New Viking at the Beggars/Matador After Party, this’ll be a week to remember.
Cover art features a detail of Hardriim, from City Of Salt, by Kahn + Selesnick
On October 14 Shearwater will be releasing The Snow Leopard. This digital EP draws its title track from June’s critically lauded Rook, and adds many of the non-album B-sides and giveaway tracks, plus several striking recordings from radio sessions over the past few months. All fully and beautifully remastered. As with Rook, the cover art derives from the work of the artists Kahn + Selesnick. The complete track listing can be found underneath the tour dates, below. Special pricing and preorder deal will be available shortly from the Matador Store.
For those of you who haven’t yet discovered Rook, download a 192k MP3 of the song “The Snow Leopard” here:
The Snow Leopard (192k MP3) Now get the REMASTERED version of the song from the new EP:
Mon, Oct 13 Chicago IL – Lakeshore Theater – with Hospital Ships
Tue, Oct 14 Cleveland OH – Beachland Tavern – with Hospital Ships
Wed, Oct 15 Washington DC – Kennedy Ctr — Millennium Stage, 7 PM 6 PM SET TIME, FREE
Fri, Oct 17 Annandale NY – Bard College
Sun, Oct 19 Boston MA – Cafe 939 at Berklee – with Hospital Ships
Mon, Oct 20 New York NY – Le Poisson Rouge – with Hospital Ships
Fri, Oct 24 Asheville NC – Grey Eagle (stripped-down set)
Sat, Oct 25 Durham NC – Duke Coffee House (stripped-down set) Sun, Oct 26 Atlanta GA – Drunken Unicorn (stripped-down set) CANCELED BUT STAY TUNED FOR POSSIBLE REPLACEMENT
Fri, Nov 7 Brussels BE – Botanique
Sat, Nov 8 Antwerp BE De Nachten
Sun, Nov 9 Utrecht NL – Tivoli
Mon, Nov 10 Rouen FR – Club 106 – with Silver Mt. Zion
Tue, Nov 11 Paris FR – Le Bataclan with Silver Mt. Zion
Wed, Nov 12 Feyzin FR – L’Epicerie Moderne
Thu, Nov 13 St-Gallen CH – Palace
Fri, Nov 14 Lausanne CH – Le Romandie
Sun, Nov 16 Schorndorf DE – Manufaktur
Mon, Nov 17 Berlin DE – Postbahnhof with Okkervil River
Tue, Nov 18 Dresden DE – Beatpol
Wed, Nov 19 Hamburg DE – Nachtasyl
Thu, Nov 20 Ghent BE – Vooruit
Fri, Nov 21 The Hague NL – Crossing Borders Festival
Sat, Nov 22 London UK – St. Giles in the Fields Church
Sun, Nov 23 Coventry UK – Taylor John’s House
Mon, Nov 24 Brighton UK – Komedia
OLE-850 Shearwater The Snow Leopard digital EP
(available from all digital stores October 14):
1. The Snow Leopard (album version)
2. So Bad (iTunes bonus track)
3. North Col (vinyl and iTunes bonus track)
4. Henry Lee (live from KUT)
5. Rooks (live from Radio K)
6. I Was A Cloud (live from Radio K)
7. South Col / The Snow Leopard (live from Florence Gould Hall, NYC)
Track 2, “So Bad,” is a Baby Dee cover. Track 4, “Henry Lee,” is an American traditional song recorded by Nick Cave and Peggy Seeger among others.
(photo above of the Rough Trade East performance where they played Rook from start to finish and I nearly cried like a baby several times)
Having spent 48 hours in the company of the wonderful Shearwater I have learned the following:
1) They are an incredibly nice group of individuals,
2) Jonathan possesses a voice that defies human ability and laws of nature,
3) Tissues are absolutely necessary as losing one’s dignity at a show tends to undermine you in front of friends, esteemed colleagues and complete strangers.
Photos below of the Bush Hall show where the band (and audience) finished up proceedings around the grand piano for a stunning unplugged version of ‘Rook’ swansong The Hunter’s Star:
All photos taken by me. Big thanks to “The Power of Monk” at The Local and Phil Adams at Rough Trade East.
Shearwater return in November for an extensive European tour. Bring a hanky.
November:
7th – Botanique, Brussels (B)
8th – De Nachten, Antwerpen (B)
9th – Tivoli, Utrecht (NL) – w/ Destroyer
10th – Club 106, Paris (F) – w/ Silver Mt Zion
11th – Le Bataclan, Paris (F) – w/ Silver Mt Zion
12th – L’Epicerie Moderne, Feyzin (F)
13th – Palace, St-Gallen (CH)
14th – Le Romandie, Lausanne (CH)
16th – Manufaktur, Schorndorf (D)
17th – Postbahnhof, Berlin (D) – w/ Okkervil River
18th – Beatpol, Dresden (D)
19th – Nachtasyl, Hamburg (D)
20th – Voorhuit, Ghent (B)
21th – Crossing Border, Den Haag (NL)
22th – St Giles in the Fields Church, London (UK)
23rd – Taylor John’s House, Coventry (UK)
24th – Komedia, Brighton (UK)
