In celebration of their new album, The Eternal, Sonic Youth will take over L.A.s hottest new record shop. For one day only, on June 9th, Origami Vinyl will become Sonic Youth’s House of Shifting Plates and Ridiculous Juice, as dubbed by the band itself. Origami’s wall of featured albums will display selections hand-picked by Thurston, Kim, Lee, Steve and Mark –  ranging from Okkyung Lee to John Lennon – as well as a wide range of Sonic Youth and Sonic Youth related releases. The band has also invited their friends Pocahaunted and Shiloe to play sets at the store. Deathbomb Arc, a local label in Los Angeles that has released some Thurston Moore stuff on vinyl, gave us the following very limited edition goodies to sell in-store:

Gang Wizard / Algebrassiere
split 12″
originally co-released between Deathbomb Arc & Ecstatic Peace
Test pressings packaged in exclusive handmade art by Melissa
Kinsman.
From 5:30 till 6:30 on June 9th, Melissa will be in-store to
personalize the art on these for the lucky buyers.

Thurston Moore / Men Who Can’t Love
split 12″
originally released as a part of the Thrash Sabbatical box set by
Deathbomb Arc
Overrun of this record from the box set has been hiding at DBA HQ for
some time.
Now repackaged in exclusive handmade art by Josh Taylor.

Origami has also teamed up with local artist, Seizer, to create a special limited edition silkscreen print of the art attached. The art poster will be limited to 50 copies, hand numbered and signed, available for pre-order the day of the event.

As if that weren’t enough, Two Boots Pizza will create a special “Eternal” pie that resembles the album’s artwork. Slices of this pie will be given away free during the event at Origami. Phil, owner of Two Boots and long-time friend of the band, is excited to be a part of the band’s new release.

The details of the event are:
Sonic Youth’s House of Shifting Plates and Ridiculous Juice
Tuesday, June 9th from 5.30pm – 9pm
with live performances by Pocahaunted and Shiloe
Limited edition goodies provided by Deathbomb Arc and Not Not Fun
Free “Eternal” Pizza slices provided by Two Boots
+ other SPECIAL surprises
1816 W. Sunset Blvd, Echo Park, Ca 90026
213.413.3030
www.origamiorigami.com

Today marks the official launch of Sonic Youth Week on Pitchfork and Pitchfork TV, in celebration of the release of “The Eternal” (which you can buy here).

Things actually kicked off on Friday with the One Week Only screening of Lee Ranaldo and Leah Singer’s film “Drift”. Check it out.

Here’s what’s in store for Sonic Youth Week, beginning with part one of the absolutely MINDMELTING Sonic Youth A>D>D session (Sonic Youth, in four-track cassette and VHS glory. As incredible as that sounds, it’s better.):

“Antenna”

“Sacred Trickster”

Monday June 8 – A>D>D session, part one

Tuesday June 9 – A>D>D session, part two

Wednesday June 10 – Sonic Youth: The Pitchfork Interview, Part One

Thursday June 11 – Sonic Youth: The Pitchfork Interview, Part Two

Friday June 12 – Sonic Youth curated the videos on Pitchfork TV. Some incredible selections.

(Photo Courtesy of http://imageshack.us/)

Sonic Youth will celebrate the release of their new record ‘The Eternal’ by giving a special free live performance Tuesday, June 9th at  at the Apple Store, Soho in NYC
(http://www.apple.com/retail/soho/).

Doors are at 7:30 and the performance is at 9:00. Guest passes are required to attend this event and are available for pickup at 10am Monday June 8th at the Apple Store, SoHo.  One non-transferable pass per person (with photo ID) will be granted on a first come, first served basis.  Please also bring your ID to the event along with your guest pass.

Nils informed me, several years ago, that it was incredibly easy to make homemade ricotta. I filed that information away and did nothing with it until, after a visit to Buon Italia in Chelsea Market, I ended up with a bag of Setaro lumaconi, the large snail-shell pasta that is meant to be stuffed. With ricotta.

I found the recipe on eggs on sunday. I already had the ingredients, as you probably do: whole milk, heavy cream, coarse salt and lemon juice. You may or may not have cheesecloth – I had tons left over from my ventures into Thai food. The whole thing takes 15 minutes max, and voila, you have made cheese! I felt incredibly competent afterwards.

We stuffed the ricotta into lumaconi with chopped ham and baked it.

This recipe is from Marcella Hazan, who in turn got it from a celebrated 1970s Bologna restaurant with the unlikely name of Al Cantunzein. The classic recipe uses homemade pappardelle. I used factory-made rigatoni. It’s lovely, a perfect summer pasta, with the often elusive flavors of the bell peppers, sweet and bitter, laced through the dish.

Stir and fry two tablespoons of chopped onions in 4 tablespoons of olive oil at medium-high heat. When the onions turn a pale gold, add 4 sweet Italian pork sausage (no fennel or other spices mixed in, please), chopped into half-inch rounds. Cook for another 2 minutes, stirring, then add 1 red and 2 yellow bell peppers, seeded, peeled and chopped into 1-inch squares, and saute for another 7-8 minutes. Add sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, stir well, and then pour in one can of drained, chopped San Marzano tomatoes (no basil or other spices added), and cook at a lively simmer for 15-20 minutes or until the tomatoes float free of the oil. Combine with pasta, toss thoroughly, add 2 tablespoons of butter and 2/3 cup of grated reggiano, and toss thoroughly again. Serve immediately with plenty more reggiano to grate on top.

Easy recipe – the only pain is peeling the damn peppers! I hate that.

Wine was a lively 2007 Saint-Véran from Jean Manciat

Cat Power will be on the road this summer playing a series of outdoor venues in support of The Pretenders. With the execption of the 8/29 bill, Juliette & The Licks will open all of the shows below.  Tickets are currently on sale. First person to name the former Matador recording artist who has Juliette & The Licks in his MySpace Top 10 wins a Matador back catalog item of our choosing!

8/8, Hampton Beach, NH (Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom)
8/9, Asbury Park, NJ (Stone Pony)
8/10, New York, NY (Central Park Summerstage)
8/12, Boston, MA (Bank of America Pavillion)
8 /13, Upper Darby, PA (Tower Theatre)
8/14, Washington, DC (Warner Theatre)
8/16, Columbus, OH (LC Pavillion Outdoor)
8/18, Chicago, IL (Aragon Ballroom)
8/20, Council Bluffs, IA (Harrah’s Council Bluffs- Stir Cove)
8/22, Littleton, CO (Denver Botanic Gardens at Chatfield)
8/23, Salt Lake City, UT (Red Butte Garden Ampitheatre)
8/25, Troutdale, OR (Edgefield Ampitheatre)
8/26, Vancouver, BC (Malkin Bowl)
8/27, Redmond, WA (Marymoor Ampitheatre)
8/29, Saratoga, CA (The Mountain Winery) *
9/1, Pala, CA (Pala Casino — Starlight Theater)
9/3, Los Angeles, CA (The Greek Theatre)

(* – The Pretenders and Cat Power only)

(cassette by Dario Robleto)

We have an old saying at Matador HQ, “the only thing predictable about Yo La Tengo albums is their high level of excellence and crazy amount of musical ground covered”.  Trouble is, even if you believe we really have an old saying that unwieldly, it doesn’t really do justice in this instance. The new Yo La Tengo CD/2XLP/digital  album ‘Popular Songs” (OLE 856-1,2) could be the bravest musical statement to date in a career full of ‘em.   Recorded in Hoboken and Nashville in early 2009 with longtime associate Roger Mountenot, ‘Popular Songs’ finds the trio of Georgia Hubley, Ira Kaplan and James McNew at the height of their creative powers, fashioning an epic work that’s cooly confident as it is wildly adventurous.

Even for longtime followers of Yo La Tengo, the stylistic range encompassed on ‘Popular Songs’ is startling ; the band aren’t merely conversant with rock & pop subgenres stretching into the double digits, but their unselfconscious mastery of such is simply uncanny.  Without absolving you of the sacred responsibility of listening to this album from start to finish (with no commercial interruptions!) , we can say with full confidence there are portions of ‘Popular Songs’ where a cursory needle drop reveals a band that doesn’t sound instantly like Yo La Tengo — or at least how you recognized them prior to now.  In the words of Mike Wolf, “Yo La Tengo is not afraid. They walk confidently forward, into the unknown, hand in hand. And 12 (or 14) albums in, they may just be hitting their stride.” 

“Periodically Double Or Triple” is the first MP3 from ‘Popular Songs’.  In the days to follow, we’ll have further announcements regarding a Buy Early Get Now campaign for the album, along with Yo La Tengo’s autumn tour plans.

The second of three bonus Sonic Youth MP3s has been posted on the Buy Early Get Now site, and it’s pretty fascinating – the 6-minute demo version of “(I Got A) Catholic Block” from 1987. Go log in and grab it.

And if you haven’t preordered for Buy Early Get Now yet, it’s still not too late – we have a few of the live LPs left. Order HERE

Starting today, iLike is streaming the full Sonic Youth album from their socially-aware web site.

Streaming of full albums might seem like so April 28, 2009 to all you loyal Buy Early Get Now-ists, but rest assured that no one streaming this album on iLike will get a Live LP as part of the promised “special experiences” for the winners of the accompanying “Trickster Challenge” quiz contest.

Oh… and while we’re talking about Buy Early Get Now, a new song has been posted to your account.  It’s a demo from 1987 called “Castle Catholic Block (Demo)”.  It pretty much rips.

With their “Young Con Anthem”, they’ve made me nostalgic for M.C. Bud Bundy.  (video link taken from Boing Boing)

The second album from Seattle’s Cave Singers is coming on August 18. It is entitled ‘Welcome Joy’ and adds a world of color and nuance to the already great songs from their 2007 debut. The trio of Peter Quirk, Derek Fudesco and Marty Lund were joined on this record by Amber Webber (Black Mountain, Lightning Dust) and Ashley Webber (Lightning Dust). They recorded the album at The Hive in Vancouver with Colin Stewart.

Our first MP3 is the gorgeous, brooding, building “Beach House”:

Beach House (192k mp3)

Look out for the Cave Singers this September and October as they’ll be touring across North America with Lightning Dust. Keep your eyes peeled for details, which will be coming soon.

Sometimes after a multi-course decadent Asian feast you want something simple. This ribeye came from Baczynski Brothers Meat Market in the East Village. Better known for their hams and sausages, they are also a full-service butcher. The first ribeye I got from there made me think I’d found an East Side competitor to Ottomanelli. This is the third and now I think that first one might have been flukily excellent. It had a perfect, Lugerish musty, nutty quality. This one was just very good, well marbled and about 2 inches thick, salted and seared to a caramelized crisp on the outside, rosy rare in the center, served with white rice and lemon and baby peas. And yes Fiona, the wine was a 2002 Givry from Choffelet-Valdenaire. Meals like this put the wine front and center, in this case deservedly so. $28, seek it out.

This came out so beautifully that we decided to share a few pictures with you. (Click on the images for full-size versions.) The record comes out on June 9, and if you act fast, you can probably still score the live bonus LP as part of Buy Early Get Now.

Cover painting by John Fahey. Clock photo by Kim Gordon. Not Cool/Cool by John Moloney. Other artwork by Clarence Major, Gene Moore and Jutta Koether. Johnny Thunders photo by Danny Fields.

These pictures unfortunately can’t capture the heavy stock cover, or the special varnishes and finishes.

In a bold marketing plan defying surprise, Stuart Murdoch has just posted a brand new song on the God Help The Girl site.  It was recorded last weekend.

It’s the b-side from the Funny Little Frog 7″ that is part of the Subscription which you can order here.

The song is called “Mary’s Market” and features a familiar friend on lead vocals.  Here’s what Stuart has to say about it:

Hi folks:

We have a new track for you. It’s called ‘Mary’s Market’, and we recorded it last weekend. It’s going to be the B-side to the ‘Funny Little Frog’ single, but we thought we’d let you hear it since the weather’s nice here, and we’re in a good mood, and it seems to match the weather!

The picture to go with the track features the stylish Scottish BBC newsreader, Mary Marquis. When I was writing the song, I wrote the lines

You showed me yesterday’s dress
The one you nicked from Mary’s Market

And it kind of sounded like Mary Marquis, so she gets to go on the cover! It kind of amuses me to think of the girl in the song nicking a frock from Mary Marquis, as it would probably be a frock worth nicking! (As you can see from the picture)

Download it here:  Mary’s Market (MP3)

To embed on your blog/myspace, copy this code:

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Stuart’s full explanation, song credits and lyrics are on the GodHelpTheGirl.com site.

(photograph by Shawn Brackbill) 

We tend to start new signings entries to the Matablog with lines like “Matador Records is pleased to announce….”, but could we possibly be more redundant?  Of COURSE we’re pleased to announce blah fucking blah, are we gonna say  ”Matador Records reluctantly admits….”  or “we’re obliged to tell you…”?  

So with that in mind, we’re REALLY pleased to announce — perhaps more than ever before in label history — an addition to the label roster we currently consider to be one of the more important figures in American music circa 2009.  Philadelphia guitarist/vocalist Kurt Vile first came to our attention (and possibly yours as well) with the release of the 2008 CD ‘Constant Hitmaker’ on the Gulcher imprint  ( a label whose paw prints extend to dusty genius recordings by the Gizmos and MX80-Sound and contemporary stuff from Home Blitz and Magik Markers).  What the homemade ‘Hitmaker’ (recently reissued on vinyl by Woodsist) lacked in fidelity it more than made for in scope —– to dub the album “psych pop” barely scratches the surface of  a work that’s as impossibly catchy as it is wildly experimental. 

Subsequent exposure to Kurt’s live shows in a variety of settings, both on his own and with crack ensemble The Violators, made it abundantly clear that we’d either have to sign this guy or find someone else who sounded exactly like him.  Since the latter task proved impossible, here we are.  Having signed a worldwide, multi-album pact with Matador, Kurt Vile’s first full-length for the label, ‘Childish Prodigy’ will be released on LP/CD and digital formats in Autumn 2009.  Watch this space for more  news & music to follow.

[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

A : NOBODY COULD AFFORD LIGHTBULBS! The Duane/Delaney/Ibold/Reid Dustdevils, if not the band’s classic lineup,  certainly the only one with a clip (or two) on the YouTube.

Another recipe from Madhur Jaffrey’s An Invitation To Indian Cooking, and a daunting one with a huge list of ingredients. However, it’s really no more complicated than making a chicken dish and one of her stepped-up rice dishes. It’s incredibly delicious, on the sweeter, more aromatic Mughal/northern/Afghani/Persian tip.

The chicken is marinated for at least two hours in a mixture of about 10 spices blended with onions, garlic, ginger and yogurt. Oh, and fried onions. They are extremely important in this dish. For some time now, I’ve noticed that Jaffrey and her main competition, Julie Sahni, estimate different lengths of time for “brown-frying” onions (something you frequently need to do in Northern Indian cuisine). Jaffrey tends to think you need 10 minutes; Sahni thinks 35. Sahni is correct. You get your ghee very hot, then add the sliced onions, and then stir, constantly for the next half-hour plus. You cannot allow them to stick or burn. Sahni describes several “states” the onions pass through during this time. It’s fascinating from a molecular point of view, and you will need something to occupy your brain. First they sizzle, then they eject their water, then get shrink rapidly, and finally, at the very end, they brown.

Having squeezed them dry, decant two-thirds of the browned onions into the marinade. The other third goes on paper towels. You reserve the onion-flavored oil.

Now the rice. The recipe specifies “long grain,” but having been burned once by a rice recipe in this book, I knew that it probably required basmati. The basmati needs to be washed and soaked as usual, and then cooked for only 5 minutes so that it is not cooked through.

Once the marinated chicken comes out of the fridge, you boil the mixture, simmer for 15 minutes, remove the chicken pieces, and reduce the marinade to paste. Chicken goes into the pot (I used a heavy enamel Le Creuset) with the reduced marinade on top, and the parboiled rice on top of that. You decorate the rice with stripes of saffron that has been soaking in warm milk for an hour, producing lovely orangey-red striations. On top of this, you pour the reserved onion oil, and the whole spices that flavored that oil – bay leaves and black cardamom. This is covered and baked for an hour at 300 degrees.

When it comes out, you decorate with garnishes: the remainder of the fried onions, hard-boiled egg slices, golden raisins (sultanas) that have been fried in oil, and blanched slivered almonds. It is divine.

I accompanied this dish with masoor dal prepared to the recipe I used for moong dal. I don’t know much about dals, but moong is yellow and masoor is orange-red, and my masoor had more flavor. It might be because the pulses were fresher.

In addition, I prepared an aloo chat from Julie Sahni’s Classic Indian Cooking. Sahni is nice to have as a counterpart to Jaffrey, and not just because she admits how long it takes to brown-fry onions. She is altogether more sober, if more boring, and gives more reasons why you should do the things you do. Some of her recipes are just not that exciting compared to Jaffrey’s, but this is still an essential reference work.

Aloo chat is potato salad – this one uses fresh mint. I was able to grab some from the garden as a final garnish to supplement the thick bunch I bought at the supermarket. My main interest in making this dish was because it uses BLACK SALT. I bought some a year ago, and have been looking for a way to use it. Be warned: it is extremely sulfurous! I didn’t read the package thoroughly and was amazed when I broke it open. I didn’t quite add the full half-teaspoonful. Fortunately, when combined with the other spices in the dish (roasted cumin seeds, chili pepper, black pepper, salt, mint, lemon juice, not to mention cucumber) and after marinating in the fridge, the sulfurousness had diminished to a slight, unidentifiable tang that definitely adds to the dish. This compares well to the aloo chat at my local taxicab favorite Curry & Curry, if not quite scaling the heights of the one at Lahore Deli near the old office in SoHo.

Finally, I whipped up a yogurt with peas as a cooling refreshment to all the spiciness. Not that this lacks spice – it’s an adaptation of yogurt with spinach from the Jaffrey book. The key is good yogurt. The presence of Arabic, Greek or Turkish on the label, or the words “home style” or “from the home country” is a good start. This one was Turkish. You mix in roasted ground cumin seeds, cayenne and black pepper, and then about a half-cup of cooked green peas per 8 oz of yogurt. The sourness of the yogurt is offset nicely by the sweetness of the peas.

I also served Jaffrey’s excellent tomato chutney.

We thought we’d run out of Sonic Youth bonus LPs for our Buy Early Get Now campaign, but we discovered we had 200 extra! ACT NOW to make sure you get this fantastic live LP of their July 4, 2008 concert at Battery Park in New York.

At Buy Early Get Now, you get:

- the limited live LP
- instant stream of the new album, The Eternal
- your choice of double LP or CD of The Eternal
- exclusive limited-edition poster
- early access to tickets (East Coast already announced, but the West Coast exclusive presale is still coming up)
- exclusive bonus MP3s – one is already available, the next one comes out on Tuesday, and we can now announce that a third will be available after release

Go to the Matador Store to place your preorder and get your instant code to log in at Buy Early Get Now and pick up your extras. Album, bonus LP and poster will be mailed to you to arrive on or before release date, June 9.

(If we have run out of bonus LPs by the time you place your order, you will not be charged.)

Now that’s what I call a beach party…

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.

There have been reports of a dramatic interpretation of Michael Moynahin and Dirk Soderlind’s “Lords Of Chaos” hitting the big screen someday, and perhaps adding a mainstream movie star to the mix will help with the financing.  You’ve thrilled to Shane West as Darby Crash, tried to get your head around Elijah Wood as Iggy, perhaps you’re even psyched to see Jamie Foxx as Frank Sinatra.  But unless you’ve been reading Metal Underground.com (or whoever they’ve been reading), you probably didn’t know that “Twilight”’s Jackson Rathbone has been tapped to play the part of Varg Vikernes (above). 

Much as I respect the opinion of those who made this casting decision, I feel compelled to protest.  Who exactly does Kenneth Branagh have to fuck to get a look in?