Matador Records | News January 2002

It was a busy year for us. we were releasing our fourth album "profane" and touring in the united states, canada, germany, croatia, austria, france, netherlands, belgium and the u.k. thanks for everyone supporting us in any way. you know who you are.

After europe, north america and japan the current COUCH album “profane” was just released in australia. out on comrade records.

remix business going on: BERNHARD FLEISCHMANN from vienna remixed COUCH’s “12 sind nur 4,” released on the compilation “do you think that I’ll be different when you’re through” (hausmusik.com). COUCH remixed a song by GLIDER from u.k./canada. scheduled for release on the album “sand from water” in late february. out on alice in wonder records (france) and where are my records (usa).

CALLA from new york remixed COUCH’s “alle auf pause.” scheduled for release on the “kitty-yo vs. quatermass” compilation out in february on sub rosa/quatermass. COUCH remixed CALLA’s “fear of fireflies.” scheduled for release on a calla remix album on sub rosa/quatermass.

SANKT OTTEN remixed COUCH’s “Plan.” scheduled for a release on eleganz. ATTWENGER from austria used the tracks of COUCH’s “alle auf pause” for a new version with female vocals. out on the next ATTWENGER album on trikont.

all the best from couch
for possible news you can check: http://www.couchmusik.de

Matmos
(Drew Daniel, M. C. Schmidt, Jay Lesser) says:
We just got back from a Karl Lagerfeld photo shoot in Paris. Tonight we play in Reykjavik. It’s the last show of our world tour with Bjork. We celebrated the end of Jay Lesser’s birthday hangover with a dip in a geothermal spa in the pouring rain. It was very dark as it’s winter here in Iceland, and Drew’s mother and brother were there, and the whole Bjork crew and a choir of Greenlandic girls. The tour has been full of utopian, ridiculous excursions like this one, and we don’t have space to describe them all, but we will tell you that we have had a really good time. If you saw any of the shows then you’ve seen the tip of the iceberg. In non-Matador related news, in the upcoming months we will release a CD of “Matmos Live with J. Lesser” (aka “High Live and Dirty”), and a recording by Kevin McKereghan, on our own label, Vague Terrain. Matmos will be playing a show with Terry Riley at the Wexner Center in April. M. C. Schmidt will go back to his job at the San Francisco Art Institute and Drew will write another chapter of his dissertation. Jay Lesser will ride a bicycle.

The word from Khan:
i finally made it to mexico after a crazy dj tour in italy, germany and portugal. i was in a snowstorm driving from bologna to milano which usually takes only and hour and half took us 7 and almost our lives. definitely our nerves and minds. nobody showed up at the show of course, cause the streets were all ice, but the 30 people who did show up had a blast and so did i. disco or die !!

captain comatose 2nd 12" called acapulco 2001 just came out on playhouse records and is produced by myself and good old pal dj snax from bedroom productions. check out “price gun baby,” a real life story pre sept. 11th out of nyc when life was still fun in the usa.

isolee finished a very housey remix of no comprendo’s “say goodbye” that will be released soon on playhouse together with another mix by mr. don disco “losoul.” the original “say goodbye” should be on the up coming ministry of sound compilation “elctech” out early 2002.

khan exited turkish citizenship and will soon be able to travel freely in the so called free world. it’s pretty tough being a muslim nonbeliever or just a holder of a muslim country passport these days.

fight the ignorance and not wars!

Aereogramme festive greetings, Bah Humbug.
Thanks to all the lovely americans and canadians who looked after us on our first ever trans-atlantic tour (and apologies if you haven’t been able to get rid of the smell). We only finished the second leg of the tour three days ago so it will take a while to scrub the demons off.

2001

Pete Astor, The Wisdom Of Harry
best in show 2001

drukqs - The Aphex Twin
W. Martin grocery shop
Martin Carthy
Charles Mingus
Muswell Hill
John Pilger & The New Statesman
Charles Simic
Rays Jazz Shop
The Champion, Wells St, W1
Newman Passage
Monkey Boots
My Family

Dave Martin, Matador Records
1) Unreleased records! This year I rocked a lot of records that still haven’t come out for one reason or another. Bands like: The Major Stars, Golden, and Bellini While these may not be available yet they will be at some point. And they are so good that they will end up on this list again next year.

2) The Deadly Snakes I’m Not Your Soldier Anymore (In The Red) In case you haven’t heard yet I LOVE Rock Music.

3) Monsieur Jeffrey Evans Live At Shangri-La Records: I’ve Lived A Rich Life (Sympathy) Jeffrey is one of the last great American entertainers. A record like no other.

4) Reigning Sound Break Up...Break Down (Sympathy) Greg Oblivion’s new “other” band. You should expect it to be great, but beyond that it might not be what you expect.

5) Fugazi The Argument & Furniture (Dischord) They just keep getting better.

6) The Now Time Delegation Watch For Today (In The Red)

7) The Dirtbombs Ultraglide In Black & The Screws Shake Your Monkey (In The Red) At first it was all about the Dirtbombs record, but then slowly the Screws record took over. A few people moaned about the lack of original material on these records, but I say if Mick Collins is going to put out records this good I don’t care who writes the songs. You shouldn’t think of owning one without the other.

8) Stars Today (PSF) Essentially a reformed White Heaven (W/Kurihara!) the first song on this EP is one of the most confounding, head scratchingly great songs in recent memory. Where it goes and why it goes there are questions I still think about. I could use a full album any time now.

9) Come Ons Hip Check (Sympathy) Better production and better songs than their already great debut album and a supporting cast of Detroit all stars. Soon people will be pretending like they’ve been into the Come Ons since they lived in Pittsburgh.

10) The Fall Are You The Missing Winner (Cog Sinister) The last few Fall albums have all been stellar, but this one is especially unhinged.

Live Music:

Hey I may be 33 and have two kids but I can be motivated to leave the house every now and then.

1) The King Brothers @ Maxwells. Without a doubt the most insane thing I have seen in 5 or six years. I can’t stress enough how over the top they really are. Everyone should see them.

2) The Deadly Snakes @ Mowhawk Place in Buffalo NY & Some Cafe on South Street in Philly. Two sets in two weird cities to very few people, but the Deadly Snakes didn’t let me down. Lots of rock music action. I Love Rock Music.

3) The Major Stars @ Brownies. I can’t tell you how disappointed I was when I found out that the Major Stars did not live in a "Twisted Village commune," don’t take acid constantly and could carry on conversations as well as operate most modern appliances, but they were kinda great anyway.

4) Bellini & Golden @ Brownies Wait a minute! How did two of my favorite shows happen at Brownies? These bands must have been really good!

5) The Buff Medways @ Cavestomp! @ Warsaw in Greenpoint (not Williamsburg) Not that most of the “Cavestompers” would have noticed or anything but Mr. Childish’s new combo is on fire!

Ben Goldberg, Matador Records
Slayer - God Hates Us All - Their best record in years, but, a question that has sparked much office debate, can you really be in your forties and still so angry???

Explosions In The Sky - Those Who Tell The Truth Shall Die - More of your basic longform instrumental ensemble rock, but the best of them all.

Royal Tenenbaums - Sometimes hype is justified, although that usually applies better in movies than in music.

Sun City Girls - Libyan Dream - They put out eight (?) records this year of old cassette releases, and this (#5) is the best one, in terms of if you’re listening to them because you like it when they play music.

Ted Leo/Pharmacists - I never liked Chisel, but either he’s matured or I’ve lost ground.

Stars Of The Lid - Tired Sounds Of - Sleepytime music.

Pre-Sept 11th Daily Show - The best show on TV suffered a completely self-indulgent fifteen minute long sputtering crying fit from Jon Stewart (“And while I no longer see the Trade Centers outside my window, standing in their stead is the Statue of Liberty!”), and then went on to be very, very not funny. Well, not funny, until they saw that The Onion did a brilliant issue about the attacks and realized, "Hey! We can try to be like that!" However, they never reached that point. The inclusion of guests like the head of the ACLU and Frank Rich is also very not funny, and the third-rate Charley Rose interviews with them suck as well. Well, that said, Steve Carrell is still really great, like when he does the We Love Showbiz segment (“I LOVE Harry Potter! Goddammit help me, I f**king LOVE that goddamn movie!”)

MiniDisc Players - Kind of like an iPod but cheaper, with a longer lasting battery.

Paula Fox - Amazing author who mostly did kids books but wrote a couple of beautiful novels in the seventies that were just rereleased. Her nuanced dialogue is some of the most realistic you can find.

High School Reunion - Nobody got that fat (even after popping out babies) or lost that much hair. I thought that would mean it was disappointing, but I was kind of happy to see it. If she’s on it again, be sure to catch Meridith Leiber on The Education of Max Bickford.

Matmos/Bjork world tour media break down . . .
Some books we read while on tour:

M.C. Schmidt:
Peter MacIntyre “A World Lit Only By Fire”
Mark Twain “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court”
Scott Heim “Mysterious Skin”
T.H. White “The Once and Future King”
Iain Banks “The Business”

Drew Daniel:
Edward Said “Covering Islam”
Michael Jackson’s autobiography
Sonny Barger’s autobiography
P.T. Barnum’s autobiography
J.T. LeRoy “The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things”

Jay Lesser:
Nick Carter “A Bullet for Fidel”
Nick Carter “The Jewel of Doom”
Nick Carter “The Mind Poisoners”
Nick Carter “Run, Spy, Run”
Nick Carter “The Black Death”

Some favorite films/DVDs we watched while on tour:

The Magnificent Seven
Stairway to Stardom
the films of Jean Painleve
Shaolin Soccer
Fleetwood Mac: The Making of "Rumours"
Bodacious
Walking with Dinosaurs
Marquis
The League of Gentlemen series 1

Some of the records we enjoyed while on tour:

lots of Michael Jackson
Fleetwood Mac “Rumours”
the forthcoming DAT Politics album
Meshuggah “Destroy, Erase, Improve”
Blevin Blectum’s forthcoming “Talon Slalom” album
Adult. “Resuscitation”
Faxed Head “Chiropractic”
that Scratch Pet Land CD on Sonig
Puff Daddy that “Bad Boy for Life” song
Riow Arai “Beat Bracelet” (Soup Disk)
Tipsy “Uh Oh” (Asphodel)

Patrick Amory’s Records of the Year
1. P. G. Six “Parlor Tricks and Porch Favorites” (Perhaps Transparent LP)
2. Fugazi “The Argument” (Dischord LP)
3. Margo Guryan “25 Demos” (Franklin Castle CD)
4. Various Artists “Gay Life In Dikanka: R. Crumb’s Old-Time Favorites” (Bakhåll CD)
5. Anonymous “Inside The Shadow” (Aether Archives CD)
6. Pärson Sound (Subliminal Sound double CD)
7. Various Artists “Saturday Night Fish Fry” (Soul Jazz double CD)
8. George Szell and the Cleveland Orchestra “Live In Tokyo 1970” (Cleveland Orchestra double CD)
9. Fairport Convention “Full House” remaster with extra tracks (Island UK CD)
10. P.F. Sloan “Child Of Our Times: The Trousdale Demo Sessions 1965-1967)” (Varèse Sarabande CD)

The P.G. Six album also came out as an Amish CD. Either version is highly recommended (or both). Three of these records actually came out in 2000 but I only found them this year. One record is a reissue; seven others contain material recorded in the past but only released now. Eight of them are CDs, but this does not indicate the ratio of vinyl to CD in my listening habits.

Lyle Hysen, Matador Records
Top records in the order in which they appear on the floor:

Gillian Welch - Time (The Revelator) - (Acony Records)
Jason Moran - Black Star (Blue Note)
Fugazi -The Argument (Dischord)
Who Live at Leeds (the 5th version/ purchase is always the best!)
David S. Ware Quartet - Corridors & Parallels (Aum Fidelity)
Eri Yamamoto Trio - Up and Coming (Jane Street Records)
The Come Ons - Hip Check (Sympathy)
Spoon - Girls Can Tell (Merge)
Buffy The Musical-Buffy The Vampire Slayer (Aimster)
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists - The Tyranny of Distance (Lookout)

Jay Miller, Matador Records
Ten Things

1. Crimethinc: Days of War, Nights of Love
2. System Of A Down “Toxicity”
3. Alkaline Trio “From Here Till Infirmary”
4. Dashboard Confessional “The Places You Have Come To Fear The Most”
5. Rancid “Rancid”
6. Owls “Owls”
7. Aereogramme “A Story In White”
8. The Hives “Veni Vidi Vicious”
9. Monty Love “20 Songs of Love”
10. Hey Mercedes “Every Night Fireworks”

Chris Frankenburg, Matador Records
Favourites
----------
1. The Avalanches - Since I Left You (like a party in a box!)
2. Encre - Encre (crunchy, subtle and french)
3. Matmos - A Chance to Cut is a Chance to Cure (somehow avoided the looming bubble of pretension and followed the path of quirk instead)
4. DJ Food & DK - Now Listen/Solid Steel (bad-ass mix CD)
5. Manitoba - Start Breaking My Heart (clunky and clumbsy in just the right way) also ran: Complete Death of Cool comp., State of the Union comp., Herbert, Plaid, Bjork, Zero 7...

Most Overrated
--------------
1. The Strokes (wow, they have nice record collections.. what else? Ouch, I feel the flames already...)
2. The Gorillaz (Dan, what were you thinking?)
3. anything “two-step” (please...)

Other Schtuff
-------------
1. The (former) B train over the bridge to Brooklyn. The Q is alright, but it’s just not the same, I say.
2. That awkward stage between x-boy/girl-friends and lifelong friends. Geez, I sound like a camp counselor!

Todd Netter, Matador Records
Top 5 + 1 Live Performances of 2001:

5. Halloween Show at Tonic - Included Calla, The Boggs, On! Air! Library!: Calla (who I had never seen before) rocked and had the costumes to back it up (full latino gangsta’ gear, oh’dalay homey). Jason from The Boggs broke a string but I’m telling you no one noticed (and that’s a compliment). I liked the addition of the banjo player too. As for On! Air! Library! this NYC trio gets better at performing every time you see them. Dark but beautiful.

4. Valentines Day @ Bowery Ballroom - GUIDED BY VOICES: Maybe I’m just in the holiday spirit. So they’re last couple of albums haven’t really lived up to the legacy, Bob Pollard still controls the stage with his mic swinging and leg kicking. I’m telling you Valentines Day without a date isn’t so bad if you down a couple of beers and belt out a few pop choruses with GBV.

3. Bowery Ballroom - The White Stripes: This was the first time I’d seen them live. LOUD. I enjoyed Meg White’s uneasiness on stage, staring at the ceiling and gazing out into the crowd but not looking at anyone. Jack sure is a busy man during performances: singing, playing guitar and electric organ (keyboard). Great Dolly Parton cover.

2. Irving Plaza - Billy Bragg: Technically not this year but what’s an extra 2 or 3 months among friends. It was just before the ’00 election and Mr. Bragg was preaching to the choir. In between his political tyraids and stories of his youth (he’s not that old) he managed to play some great songs (even Milkman of Human Kindness and A New England). The one flaw is after all that activism I still didn’t vote.

1. Bowery Ballroom - Arab Strap: This isn’t meant as any disrespect to any of the other great Matador artists. Just this show was special. Even though Aidan wouldn’t quit bitching about how his equipment wasn’t working correctly they had a sound I’d never heard. The music and vocals were intense, melancholy and utterly enjoyable. And they even got around to my two favorites off the new album (Red Thread), Scenery (#3) and Turbulence (#10). Go Glasgow Go!

+1. Planet Rose 12/13/01 - Miwa Okumura: A late addition but very deserving. I heard Sir Mix-a-lot crying from Seattle. I think we all recognize that one is not Knighted without merit. And Sir Mix-a-lot earned it with his masterpiece “Baby’s Got Back.” Miwa’s solo was a classic performance by, from what I could tell, was a well seasoned karoke veteran. I too like big butts and I guess I cannot lie.

Matt Ransford, Matador Records
Things that became favorites in 2001:

The Langley Schools Music Project -
Innocence and Despair, 2001
Fugazi - Argument, 2001
Emergency & I - The Dismemberment Plan, 1999
Streethawk: A Seduction - Destroyer, 2001
Girls Can Tell - Spoon, 2001
Live 1975-85 - Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, 1986
Hammers and Anvils - Graeme Downes, 2001
Beatallica
(+ the Superchunk live show contines to be a perennial favorite)

Together - dir. Lukas Moodysson, 2000
Amelie - dir. Jean-Pierre Jeunet, 2001
Nashville - dir. Robert Altman, 1975
The Prisoner - str. Patrick McGoohan, 1967

The Crying of Lot 49 - Thomas Pynchon, 1966
Practical Guide to Gardening in Canada -
ed. Brickell & Cole, 2001
Americans We - Eugene Richards, 1994
Uberorgan (at MassMOCA) - Tim Hawkinson, 2001
Oyvind Fahlstrom 1928-1976

Che Ryback, Matador Records
here is my 2 ¢ents....... In no order other than random.

Tony Hawk 3 for playstation 2
Pabst Blue Ribbon
($3.50 for a sixer of tall boys on 9th and D)
P.G Six “Parlor tricks and porch favorites”
Deadly Snakes “I’m not you’re soldier anymore”
The Fall “The unutterable”
Spoon “Girls Can Tell”
Slayer “God Hates Us All”
The Spicy Rizzacks
Chan Marshall aka Cat Power at the Bowery Ballroom
Neu! reissues
Me on page 19 of the Glasgow evening times
winning the hockey league finals (not bad for a bunch of drunks against “real” people)
women.... you know who you are
Montreal
people I know
work

Shelby Campbell, Matador Records
Due to recent events and the current emotional climate of the country, I feel I should delve a bit deeper and provide a top ten that really means something to me (really):

10 Cats

9 the new Volkswagon Eurovan
8 Ft Lauderdale, FL
7 Steele Pulse
6 Philip K Dick
5 DVDs
4.5 Interns
4 Homer J.
3 The La’s
2 Truman Capote
1 Dogs

Donovan Finn, Matador Records
Best records I listened to a lot this year:
Spoon “Girls Can Tell”
Shins “Oh, Inverted World”
The New Year “Newness Ends”
Superchunk “Here’s To Shutting Up”
Old 97’s “Satellite Rides”
Jay Farrar “Sebastpool”
Kill Creek “Colors of Home”
Otaku “Bitwise Operators”
... And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead -advance CD-
Pinehurst Kids “Bleed It Dry”

Best Book:
Motherless Broolkyn by Jonathan Lethem

Best Movie:
Ghost World

Best Concert:
Superchunk/Aereogramme/Rilo Kiley at Bowery Ballroom, Thanksgiving wknd.

Best TV show:
6 Feet Under

Best office moment:
Sitting across from Matt for the last 6 months. Too many good stories to mention.

Favorite new slang:
“minger”

Realization of the year:
Scots have the best slang in the world. See above.
See also: Pish, poxy, etc.
See also also: Spending too much time with Mogwai, Aereogramme, DJ
Twitch and the rest of the Matador Scotland posse.

James McNew, Yo La Tengo
favorite reruns 2001:
SCTV
Simpsons
King Of The Hill
Freaks and Geeks
Buffy The Vampire Slayer
the Russell Simins episode of Molto Mario

Aesop Rock, Labor Days
Refrigerator, Comedy Minus One
Fridge, Happiness
v/a, Studio One Soul
Buffy The Vampire Slayer
Aphex Twin, Drukqs
Pootie Tang
v/a, Trojan Soulful Reggae 3cd
Arsonists, Date of Birth
12"s on Orthlorng Musork
Todd Barry, Medium Energy
Spoon, “Everything Hits At Once”
Sun Ra, Nuclear War & Night of The Purple Moon reissues
Kevin Spacey, "Mind Games"
v/a, Slurped vols. 1&2
v/a, The Funky 16 Corners
Jackie Mittoo, The Keyboard King at Studio One

Christy Simpson, Matador Records
top 10 of 2001 (no order, of course)

1. Beethoven’s Hair by Russell Martin
2. Gillian Welch “Time:The Revelator”
3. Spoon “Girls Can Tell”
4. Thalia Zedek “Been Here and Gone”
5. Yeah Yeah Yeah’s s/t
6. French Kicks “Young Lawyer”
7. No Seats on the Party Car by Zack Lipez/Nick Zinner
8. V/A -This Is Next Year (A Brooklyn-Based Compilation)
9. Candy Darlings “Darling Drinks Because You Cry”
10. Tight Bros From Way Back When “Lend You A Hand”

Jesper Eklow, Matador Records
Best of thu year 2001, as I remember it january 3 2002, sure I gotta be missing tons of stuff:

words and letters:
christopher hitchens - unacknowledged legislation plus recent ‘nation’ columns
ginger geezer - the life of vivian stanshall by lucian randall, chris welch

ears:
lobby loyde - plays with george guitar cd (vicious sloth reissue)
d4 - 6twenty cd (flying nun)
othar turner, jessie mae hemphill, jsbx live brooklyn, nov 2001

vision:
sorry, but I can’t recall a single good movie from 2001, but, hey, I got to see Champagne Charlie (um, the British 40’s film) and The Mystery of the Leaping Fish finally - and yeah, dtv!!!! - only had it for a day, but seems awesome so far, 2xlarry sanders per night, premiership games, alan partridge! monty python dvd box, wish i owned one!!

Andrew Pekler, Sad Rockets
Fennesz - Endless Summer (Mego)
Safety Scissors - Parts Water (Plug Research)
Jan Jelinek - Loop Finding Jazz Records (Scape)
Smith & Hack - Tribute (Hardwax)
Matmos - A Chance To Cut... (Matador)
Girls On Top - I Wanna Dance With Numbers/ Being Scrubbed 7"
Rhythm & Sound - Jah Rule (Rhythm & Sound) 10"
Faruk Green - A Certain Mr. Green
Defcon 5 feat. Blue - Goodbye (Moving In) 7"
Theo Parrish - Segments From the Fifth Wheel (Moods & Grooves)

Aereogramme
Albums of the year:
Lift to experience - The texas jerusalem crossroads / slayer - god hates us all / will haven - Carpe diem / otis redding - best of / fugazi - the argument / stars of the lid - (new album)

Books of the year:
“dirt” - Mötley crüe biography / Steppenwolf - Hermen Hess (hey! i just found out about it o.k.?) / “The heart is deceitful above all things” - j.t. leroy

Film of the year:
Audition - I’m not even going to attempt to spell the director’s name.

Webshite of the year - buddyhead.com

Gerard Cosloy, Matador Records
Fugazi - The Argument (Dischord)
M. Ward - End Of Amnesia (Future Farmer)
Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
Joe Morris - Singularity (Aum Fidelity)
Timeblind - Rugged Redemption (Orthlong Musork)
Califone - Roomsound (Perishable)
Destroyer - Streethawk, A Seduction (Misra)
Sparklehorse - It’s A Wonderful Life (Capitol)
Fennesz - Endless Summer (Mego)
Lali Puna - Scary World Theory (Morr Music)
Jackie-O Motherfucker - Liberation (Roadcone)
Sensational - Get On My Page (Ipecac)
Marumari - Supermogadon (Carpark)
PG Six - Parlor Tricks & Porch Favorites (Amish)
“Curb Your Enthusiasm” (HBO)
Cex - Oops, I Did It Again (Tigerbeat 6)
The New Year - Newness Ends (Touch & Go)
Kathy McGinty - s/t (Hamburger)
Jim O’Rourke - Insignificance (Drag City)