January 21, 2000

Now that the Armageddon countdown is over, we can begin seriously counting the days until the release of the new YO LA TENGO double LP/single CD 'And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out'. If you're the impatient sort, check out an MP3 of "Saturday." If you're impatient and a completist-type, you can hear the non-album b-side "Danelectro 3" over at Matador Europe's site. We're not giving the house away, the full length album will cost you real money.

While we're on the subject, there MUST be a hyphen between "inside" and "out", otherwise the entire concept is ruined. Don't make us come round to your place with a hyphen.

CHAN MARSHALL will be on the cover of the Feb/March issue of Mean Magazine, out Feb 21. Which will come as thrilling news for those of us who aren't patient enough for Grand Royal to start publishing again. And don't even get us started on Popsmear. NON PHIXION's center spread in Martha Stewart Living has been cancelled until further notice.

To commemorate the release of the new KHAN compilation, 'Passport,' the hardest working man in show business (that's Khan we're talking about, not Fred Durst) will be making 2 live appearances this week. Khan Sings Live & Bedroom Productions will be at Thursday Jan. 20th, 8PM @ Thread Waxing Space (476 Broadway, 2nd Floor, NYC, NY 10013) for the opening of "The Virus has been Spread" (a video & art exhibition by Philipp Virus of DHR) this Thursday, January 20. If the Threadwaxing Space makes you sick (or you just can't make it), Khan will be doing his thing (singing, that is) at Greene Naftali Gallery (526 W 26th St., NYC, NY 10001) for the opening of "All the Best Names are Taken" a photography by Daniela Rossell. But to paraphrase our friend Springa, how many art galleries can you take? Quite a few, actually, but we're not forgetting about the pleasures of a loud evening inside. "Karakoe Remixes, Pt. 1" is a promo-only 12" of karaoke versions of material from the 'Passport' album, and features contributions from Solex, Julee Cruise, Tara DeLong and more. Beautiful people will be getting their copies free in the mail; attractive, but not quite as beautiful people can get 'em at selected shops with the purchase of 'Passport.' Either that, or try E-bay.

The last e-mail version of this update had something or other about a domestic release of a recent TWO LONE SWORDSMEN EP. No truth to that one, blame it on STRESS. Not the magazine, the condition.

Coming sooner than later. On March 21 a new 12" from Company Flow's MR. LEN, "What The Fuck." This one features the vocal stylings of Mr. Live, of Get These fame. The suspense is killing us, too.

Sue Garner & Rick Brown, formerly one half of RUN ON (now 100% of Sue Garner & Rick Brown) have a highly recomended new album on the Thrill Jockey label called 'Still.' We encourage you to check it out and not just stare at the sleeve. This isn't a library.

The following evil link comes to you courtesy of the not-nearly-so-evil Chris Lombardi.

January 7, 2000

We don't want to do anything to distract from all the pre-release hype for YO LA TENGO's upcoming LP/CD, 'And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out,' but sometimes we have no choice. Yo La Tengo, via their Egon imprint, have just released a collaboration double 7" with Other Dimensions In Music entitled "NOW 2000." This limited edition historic item (which I have not actually heard, hint hint) is currently available from Other Music and Insound. We're also selling it to our direct shops. So go ask them about it.

The limited edition 10"/CD of "Saturday" will be out in Europe very soon, and one of the non-album b-sides from this single, "Danelectro 3," will be featured in Emily Hubley's short film, 'Pigeon Within' -- showing at Sundance this year (we stopped keeping track of the dates after we told Lyle he couldn't go).

Cave-dwellers and lovers of high culture might not be aware that beatnik filmstar Will Shatner is singing in a series of TV commercials for Priceline.com that are supposedly a spoof of the VH1 'Storytellers' series. Leather-lunged Captain Kirk can be seen moaning his way through such all-time favorites as "Convoy," "Freebird," "We Gotta Get Out Of This Place" and "I Want You To Want Me," backed by an all-star band featuring MARY TIMONY and CARRIE BROWNSTEIN. To tell you the truth, Mary and Carrie didn't actually play on the songs, they're just miming. But Whitesnake did the same thing in their popular videos and you don't see anyone making fun of them. Anyhow, these mind-blowing advertisements were directed by video auteur Phil Morrison, whose credentials include numerous promotional clips for YO LA TENGO, many episodes of Comedy Central's "Upright Citizens Brigade," and a series of bizarre horse racing spots featuring Rip Torn. Is that enough name dropping for you?

No, it isn't. BELLE & SEBASTIAN are slogging their way through the much anticipated follow-up to 'The Boy With The Arab Strap' and whenever they are finished you will be the 4th or 5th person(s) to find about it. We'll be 3rd or 4th. Archivists, collector-types and lovers of beautiful music will have to amuse themselves with the forthcoming box set of Belle & Sebastian EP's; "Dog On Wheels," "Lazy Line Painter Jane" and "3,6,9 Seconds Of Light" collected on 3 separate 3 CD's with a specially designed wallet, hitting record shops on March 7.

Also on tap for April is the new full-length LP/CD from Jorg Burger, aka THE MODERNIST. 'Explosion,' including the previously released singles "Mrs. New Deal" and "Architainment pt. 1" will be released in North America in April. If you're thinking about purchasing the import version of this brilliant work, well, you might be sorry. Or maybe you don't know what "remorse" really means. Our version will have extra stuff, cost you less money and all profits will help the label owners maintain their lavish lifestyles. Or feed orphans, one of those things.

If you'd like to hear an MP3 of "Roc The Bukowski" from the upcoming MOUNT FLORIDA 'Storm' EP, http://www.matadoreurope.com/mp3.html is the link you're looking for.

Now might be as good a time as any to announce that we've taken the John Rocker spoken-word album off the release schedule.


Just before Christmas, Matador staff and artists with too much time on their hands were invited to share their impressions of the year/decade, either by listing their musical favorites, or their favorite events. With all the holiday hoopla going on (not to mention several of those persons disappearing), several of our colleagues were not represented. Hence, welcome to "That's More Than I Needed To Know, Pt. II"

Matt Ransford, Matador Records

This is what I'll remember from the 1990s.

10. "Foolish" by Superchunk, 1993. Break up with someone, then listen to this album.
9. "The Song of the Dodo: Island Biogeography in an Age of Extinctions" by David Quammen, 1996. Part island biogreography, part travelogue, part science history, part metaphor: this book is a brilliant study of the natural rise and fall of species and what we've been doing to disrupt it.
8. Ween at the Westbeth Theatre, NYC, summer of 1997. These guys and their band made small venue shows fun again.
7. The Simpsons, 1989-present. Does a day go by that someone doesn't quote this show?
6. "Crumb" dir. Terry Zwigoff, 1994.
5. The Detroit Red Wings, 1995-present. Though they were swept in 95 and missed the finals altogether in 96 with the most regular season wins ever, 97 and 98 were all Detroit's. 42 years is a long time to wait. Thank you Stevie Y.
4. "The History of Luminous Motion" by Scott Bradfield, 1990. This is one of those books you lend to all your friends and read what they write in the margins when you get it back. Too bad it's gone out of print.
3. The Hubble Space Telescope, 1990. What started as an engineering fiasco turned into one of the great advances in astronomy and cosmology. And the pictures...
2. "5 Degrees and Other Poems" by Nicholas Christopher, 1995. Magical-realism at its best. 5 Degrees is one of the most satisfying things I've ever read.
1. "Lone Star" dir. John Sayles, 1996. Everything about this movie is right on: the pacing, the setting, the characters, the story, the conclusions. Although it may hint at pretentiousness at times, ultimately it says this is a complicated country and we live complicated lives. What's surprising is that's a rare thing for an American movie.

Chris Scully

Top Ten 1990's

1. My son Jack is born
2. Married Heather
3. Bought Home in Connecticut
4. Rangers win Stanley Cup
5. Giants win Super Bowl
6. Saw 100th Grateful Dead Show
7. Got Online
8. Saw Gretzky play live
9. Went to Rome
10. Worked at Matador

Hosi Simon

top ten - in no particular order
gas - oktember (mille plateaux/ger)
drexciya - neptune's lair (tresor/ger)
console - f14 zero zero 12" (community/ger)
basement jaxx - rendez-vu 12" (xl/uk)
rapture - 001 12" (rapture)
lil' wayne - tha block is hot (cash money/universal)
kammerflimmer kollektief - mander (community/ger)
mobb deep - murda muzik (loud)
v/a ill-centrik funk vol 1 (file records/japan)
neurosis - times of grace (relapse)

Adam Carroll

1. Blue
2. 1969 Ford Galaxie 500 2 dr. fastback 351 CID
3. Discovering E-Bay as a new way to add to my guitar collection.
4. Discovering E-Bay as a new way to push myself further into debt and being forced into eating lots of spagetti.
5. Red Shift Ruler
6,7,8,9,10. Rinse and repeat.

Melissa Cox

the records I love and listen to the most!

Nick Drake - Pink Moon
Verve - Storm in Heaven
Gang of Four - Entertainment
My Bloody Valentine - Loveless
De La Soul - De La Soul is Dead
David Axelrod - Anthology
Minnie Ripperton - Come into my Garden
Slint - Spiderland
Tribe Called Quest - Instinctive Travels
David Bowie - Ziggy Stardust
Fugazi - Red Medicine
Serge Gainsberg - History of the Melody

Dave Martin

1) Flesheaters "Ashes Of Time"
2) TLC "Fanmail" LaFace
3) Boredoms "Vision, Creation, Newsun" A.K.A.
4) Dynamic Truths Unreleased CDR
5) Cheater Slicks "Refried Dreams" In The Red
6) Monks "5 Upstart Americans" Omplatten
7) Dettinger "Intershop" Kompakt
8) Carnival Of Souls "O.S.T." Birdman
9) Tim Buckley "Works In Progress" Rhino Handmade
10) Khan "Blue Pool" Super 8

Lyle Hysen

The Clash - From Here to Eternity(Epic)
Dewey Redman, Elvin Jones, and Cecil Taylor - Momentum Space - (Verve)
Matt Wilson Quartet - Smile (Palmetto)
Macy Gray - On How Life Is (Epic)
Tom Waits - Mule Variations (Epitaph)
Ghenghis Blues - Kongar-ol Ondar and Paul Earthquake Pena (Tuva Much)
Shannon Wright - Flight Safety (QuarterStick)
Knoxville Girls - Knoxville Girls (In The Red)
Dump - Women In Rock (Shrimper)
Moviola - The Durable Dream (Spirit Of Orr)
Eric Dolphy - THe Illinois Concert (Blue Note)
Ibrahim Ferrer - Buena Vista Social Club Presents Ibrahim Ferrer (Nonesuch)

Nils Bernstein

1) 1942
2) 1910
3) 1984
4) 1933
5) 1906
6) 1973
7) 1901
8) 1959
9) 1968
10) Folk Implosion--One Part Lullaby

Ben Goldberg

Music: Six Organs Of Admittance - Kind of like if No Neck Blues Band was one guy who released only the good stuff and knew enough to not get naked for the album art.

Movies: My Best Fiend - Werner Herzog documentary on his relationship with Klaus Kinski. The actor calls everyone a pig, screams in the middle of the jungle at film crews when his food isn't perfect, and goes on a speaking tour where he proclaims himself Jesus. I miss Gerard around the office.

Books: Any short stories by George Saunders.

Television: Freeks and Geeks - The nerdy kids look and act like nerds. Same with the scumbags. The best scene is when a kid listens to the Rushlive album and plays along on drums. Everybody watches the idiotic "Popular" instead.

Websites: www.losers.org - Thee finest of search engines

Magazines: Speak - Featured Harold Bloom, Noam Chomsky, Gillian Wearing, and other people who likely look bad posed in bikinis. Honorable Mention: Hermenaut

Dan Cook, Lynnfield Pioneers

Here are some good records that came out this year:

Blackalicious - A2Gep -I can't sleep, the chorus for "Deception" is looped in my head is keeping me up nights.

Swollen Members - Balance - Nice wordplay and excellent fake RZA, More fake RZA please.

Loot Pack - Soundpieces The antidote - Great record, though We are the LPs, son. Does anybody have a copy of their "Psych Moves" single they can sell me?

Mobb Deep - Murda Muzik - Masters of Thug.

Dujeous? - Breathtaking ep - Catchy, smart, and yes, breathtaking. Beta Band - The Beta Band - Too much variety for their own good. I like it. Guided by Voices - Do the Collapse - Great record. It was so much fun touring with these guys.