Our Annual Orgy of Self-Congratulation, Grandstanding & Overconsumption : Matador Artists & Staff Select Their 2017 Favorites

(noted record collector M. Shkreli walks out of Matador's 2017 "Best Of' presentation party at the Princeton Corporate Finance Club after being informed his reference acetate to the unreleased 'Hippy Porn' soundtrack has been seized by the SEC)
Around this time every year, your
For some historical perspective, here’s last year’s selections. Questions or comments about our crap taste and/or inexplicable omissions are welcome (but it's totally ok if you keep it to yourself) . And without further ado, let the coronation of Kendrick Lamar commence - GC)
Anthony Anzaldo Jr., Ceremony
Zola Jesus - Okovi

Marc Almond - Shadows And Reflections
Slowdive S/T
The Horrors - V
Arca - Arca
Drab Majesty - The Demonstration
Power Trip - Nightmare Logic
Allison Crutchfield - Tourist In This Town
Waxahatchee - Out In Storm
Algiers - The Underside Of Power
Records
Perfume Genius - No Shape
White Reaper - The World’s Best American Band

Anderson Paak - Malibu
Wolf Parade - Cry Cry Cry
King Krule - The OOZ
The Weeknd - Starboy
Thee Oh Sees - Orc
A Giant Dog - Toy
Clientele - Music For the Age of Miracles
Ryan Adams - Prisoner
Gigs
Jeffery Broussard and the Creole Cowboys at Connolly’s, New York, October 29
White Reaper at The Chance, Poughkeepsie NY, Dec 1
Anderson .Paak at Later w Jools Holland, Maidstone UK, April 11
Hamilton Leithauser at Teragram Ballroom, Los Angeles, January 17
Sweet Spirit at Resident, Los Angeles, May 18
Car Seat Headrest at Webster Hall, New York, June 2
Iggy Pop at Musicfest NW, Portland, August 26
Low Cut Connie at Georgia Theatre, Athens GA, May 4
His Clancyness at La Maroquinerie, Paris, July 5
Husky Loops at Cambridge Junction, Cambridge UK, November 9
Mike Noga at Croxton Hotel, Melbourne, March 25
Cage The Elephant at Lollapalooza, Chicago, August 3
Warpaint, Down The Rabbit Hole, Ewijk NL, June 25
Dale Watson at the Broken Spoke, Austin, Nov 25
The Damned at Warsaw, Brooklyn, May 23
Steve Gunn
LIVE
ALAN LICHT - HOUSE SHOW IN GREENPOINT BROOKLYN
JONATHAN RICHMAN - THE KITCHEN NYC
BOB DYLAN - BEACON THEATER NYC
SUN KILL MOON - SONIC CITY BELGIUM
HERON OBLIVION - GUNDLACH BUNDCHEU WINERY SONOMA, CA
SONGHOY BLUES - MAXFISH BASEMENT NYC
FUSHITSHUTSA - LOUD SET PIONEER WORKS BROOKLYN
DUNGEN - PICKATHON FEST OREGON
DOMINIQUE LAWALREE - SAN DOMINO MISSION BROOKLYN (ESP THE BEATLES SONGS AT THE END)
MYRAIM GENDRON - MRRMRR THEATER BROOKLYN

ALBUMS
NATURAL IN FORMATION SOCIETY - SIMULTONALITY
JAMES ELKINGTON - WINTERS WOMA
SLEAFORD MODS - ENGLISH TAPAS
ALDOUS HARDING - PARTY
KENDRICK LAMAR - DAMN
LES FILLES DE ILLIGHADAD - EGHASS MALAN
BARNEY WILEN ‘MOSHI’ REISSUE
FAVORITE VENUE -

TUNGENES LIGHTHOUSE - RANDABERG, NORWAY
BEST PIT STOP ON TOUR: LONE PINE KOALA SANCTUARY, BRISBANE AUSTRALIA

HELD A KOALA/SAW A WOMBAT
GREATEST QUESTION AT THE AIRPORT: EXCUSE ME, ARE YOU KEITH URBAN?
BEST HOT SPRING ON TOUR - OURENSE, SPAIN
TOP SONG LISTENED TO : ‘MAGNO DRIVE’ RHYTHM & SOUND

BEST BAGEL - ST. VIATEUR, MONTREAL
MOST INSPIRING FILM - TONY CONRAD ‘COMPLETELY IN THE PRESENT’.
RIP - FRED COLE & SUNNY MURRAY
Ryan Mahan, Algiers
Albums
Haram “When You Have Won, You Have Lost.”

Ratka “Oculto Pelos Seres”
Slimy Member “Ugly Songs for Ugly People”
Total Leatherette “For The Climax Of The Night”
Gnod “Just Say No To The Psycho Right-Wing Capitalist Fascist Industrial Death Machine”
John Maus “Screen Memories”
Pharmakon “Contact”
Uniform “Wake in Fright”
Power Trip “Nightmare Logic”
Priests “Nothing Feels Natural”
Downtown Boys “Cost of Living”
Shows
Newaxeyes at The Crocodile, Seattle
Still House Plants at Fred Paton Daycare Centre, Glasgow
Einsturzende Neubauten at The Forum, London
Bad Breeding at Sebright Arms, London
Moor Mother/Uniform at Pioneer Works, Brooklyn
Liars/Marie Davidson/Blanck Mass at Visions Festival, London
Jeremy Corbyn
Get Out
Cosey Fanni Tutti "Art Sex Music"
Arthur Jaffa A Series of Utterly Improbable, Yet Extraordinary Renditions at the Serpentine
John Akomfrah Purple at the Barbican Curve
Imagine Moscow at the Design Museum
Bill Nace, Body/Head

Cardi B, Twitter
Andy Nelson, Ceremony
Playboi Carti - self titled

Lee Tesche, Algiers
Top 5 staff 2017, in order
1. Lombardi
2. Shira
3. Josh
4. Natalie
5. Gerard
Honorable Mention: Robby
Jean-Philippe Aline, Beggars France
ALBUMS
DAMN. - Kendrick Lamar
WHATEVER MAKES YOU HAPPY - JMSN
REAL HIGH - Nite Jewel
SATURATION II - Brockhampton
NO SHAPE - Perfume Genius
SOMETHING TO TELL YOU - Haim
COMPLETE (EP) - Inc. No World
ICEBOY - Corbin
PARADISE (EP) - Anohni

SOUL OF A WOMAN - Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings
ABOUT TIME - Sabrina Claudio
CITY OF NO REPLY - Amber Coffman
DIRTY PROJECTORS - Dirty Projectors
MENTAL ILLNESS - Aimee Mann
TUXEDO II - Tuxedo
SINGLES
May - Jordan Rakei
Love - Lana Del Rey
16 shots - Stefflon Don
Jennifer - Trinidad Cardona
Drink I’m Sippin on - Yaeji
Will He - Joji
Olha A Explosão - Mc Kevinho
Ahora Dice - Chris Jeday, J Balvin, Ozuna, Arcángel
Issues - Julia Michaels
Close but not quite - Everything Is Recorded
Videos
I Want You Back - Haim
Le Code - Myth Syzer
Internacionales - Bomba Estereo
Die 4 You - Perfume Genius
Swish Swish - Katy Perry
Territory - The blaze
MOVIES
MOONLIGHT
A VOIX HAUTE
DETROIT
LOVELESS
12 JOURS
GIGS
JMSN - Trabendo, Paris - July 3rd
KING KRULE - Casino de Paris, Paris - November 26th
SOHN - La Maroquinerie, Paris - Feb 27th
SAMPHA / SOLANGE - Lovebox Festival, London - July 14th
KADJA BONET - La Boule Noire, Paris - March 1st
NETFLIX
Patrick Amory, Matador Records

Grand River - Crescente (Spazio Disponibile)
Philip Ridley - In The Eyes of Mr Fury (Valancourt Books)
Thigh Master - B.B.C. / Park Road Clinical (12XU)
Wire - Silver/Lead (Pink Flag)
Philip Pullman - La Belle Sauvage (Knopf)
Timothé Le Boucher - Ces jours qui disparaissent (Glénat)
Mount Kimbie - Love What Survives (Warp)
Big Thief - Capacity (Saddle Creek)
Songhoy Blues - Résistance (Fat Possum)
Charlotte Gainsbourg - Deadly Valentine (Because)
Studio OST - Eventide / Ascension (Lustwerk)
Sebastian Bollet, Beggars France
JONWAYNE Rap Album Two
Vince Staples - Big Fish Theory

Lil Keke/Tokyo Flashback tie for the top 2017 reissue for me to talk about endlessly.
Kazuki Tomokawa @ Greene Nafitali
The Good @ A Parking Lot In Buffalo NYThey got out while the getting was good:
Sandy B - Amajovi Jovi
Wire - Silver / Lead
Hand Habits - Wildly Idle (Humble Before the Void)
Art Feynman - Blast Off Through the Wicker
SZA - Ctrl
Lives Of Angels - Hole in the Sky
Nick Nicely - Sleep Safari
Moses Sumney – Aromanticism
The Square
Raw
Throne of Glass Series by Sarah J. Maas
Albums of 2017 (not necessarily released in 2017, and in no particular order)
Aldous Harding – ‘Party’ (4AD)
Black Angels – ‘Death Song’ (Partisan)
Bobbie Gentry – ‘Ode To Billie Joe’
Dusty Springfield – ‘Dusty In Memphis’
Fleetwood Mac – ‘Mirage’
Jane Weaver – ‘Modern Kosmology’ (Fire)
Joan Shelley – ‘Joan Shelley’ (No Quarter)
Michael Head & The Red Elastic Band – ‘Adios Senor Pussycat’ (Violette)
Neal Casal – ‘Anytime Tomorrow’ (Fargo)
Radiohead – ‘OKNOTOK’ (XL)
Shelleyan Orphan – ‘Helleborine’ (One Little Indian)
Slowdive – ‘Slowdive’ (Dead Oceans)
Spoon – ‘Hot Thoughts’ (Matador)
TAD – ‘8-Way Santa/God’s Balls/Salt Lick’ (Sub Pop)
This Is The Kit – ‘Moonshine Freeze’ (Rough Trade)

Ulrika Spacek – ‘Modern English Decoration’ (Tough Love)
Ultimate Painting – ‘Dusk’ (Trouble In Mind)
Various Artists – ‘Delta Swamp Rock’ (Soul Jazz)
Wolf People – ‘Fain’ (Jagjaguwar)
Gigs of 2017
Aldous Harding – Brighton One Church
Car Seat Headrest / The Lemon Twigs – Glasgow St Lukes
Charlatans – Brighton Haunt
Goat Girl – London Corsica Studios
Jesus & Mary Chain – Glasgow Barrowlands
Joan Shelley – London Lexington
Nikki Lane – London Bush Hall
Queens Of The Stone Age – London Wembley Arena
Radiohead – Manchester Old Trafford CC
Slowdive – London Garage
Starcrawler – London Sebright Arms
This Is The Kit – London Rough Trade East
Warpaint – London Roundhouse
Matthew Harmon, Beggars Group
Julie Byrne - Not Even Happiness (Ba Da Bing)

These are the 25 albums, in alphabetical order, aside from the albums that Matador released, that I listened to the most and loved the most this year:
big thief - capacity
brand new - science fiction

cigarettes after sex - cigarettes after sex
cloakroom - time well
do make say think - stubborn persistent illusions
forest swords - compassion
gun outfit - out of range
here lies man - here lies man
jane weaver - modern kosmology
jay-z - 4:44
kendrick lamar - damn
king woman - created in the image of suffering
mount kimbie - love what survives
nick hakim - green twins
on dead waves - on dead waves
sam outlaw - tenderheart
shintaro sakamoto - love if possible
six organs of admittance - burning the threshold
slowdive - slowdive
the war on drugs - a deeper understanding
the weather station - the weather station
thundercat - drunk
visible cloaks - reassemblageAnnette Lee, 4AD2017 Highlights:"JLin Black Origami
Vince Staples Big Fish Theory
Kendrick Lamar DAMN
.The Necks Unfold
Colleen A Flame My Love, a Frequency
Grayson Perry: The Most Popular Art Exhibition Ever @ Serpentine GalleryZanele Muholi: Somnyama Ngonyama @Rivington PlaceMoonligh
Dunkirk
Blade Runner 2049
The Crown
Top Of The Lake
Line Of Duty
Glow
Game Of Thrones
Catastrophe
Sun Ra Arkestra, Maâlem Houssam Guinia & Band, John Maus, Les Amazones d’Afrique @ Le Guess Who 2017 festival, Utrecht
Liars, Oh Sees @ Green Man festival, Brecon Beacons
Sudan Archives @ Barfly, London
Aldous Harding @ Omeara, London
Grayson Perry @ Palladium, London
Jarvis Cocker and Steve Mackey’s Dancefloor Meditations @ Ulster Maple Leaf Social Club, Belfast
Vinnie Martini, Matador Direct
TOP 5 BOB DYLAN MOMENTS IN THE MATADOR WAREHOUSE 2017 EDITION
"Like Dylan In The Warehouse
In 1986 Dylan made another pass at acting as if being in Sam Peckinpah's greatest film wasn't already enough this time around he was being directed by the man a few years off of Return of the Jedi and what would be considered by some as the film that did him in as he died of a stroke later the same year. Gone are the days of Bob and co. fleeing to a nearby car to evade screaming fans you may be familiar with from Don't Look Back or Eat the Document here we see Bob yucking it up with some metal head children ("Oh yeah? you like Ozzy? How about RATT?), unwillingly taking a photo with a fan who thinks he shares a similar nose line as he, willingly taking some photos with 2 female fans then says hello to an old Canadian wrestler and father of Jake "The Snake" Roberts; Grizzly Smith. All this and more can be seen in the documentary about the making of the film called GETTING TO DYLAN
1. World On A Wire (1973, Rainer Werner Fassbinder) - Museum of Modern Art - 35mm











Congratulations on a great year of repertory film programming and hopefully in 2018 someone steps up and screens all of BERLIN ALEXANDERPLATZ in 35mm
Andy Larsen, Matador Direct
Jlin - Black Origami (Planet Mu)
The Radiophonic Workshop - Burials In Several Earths (Room 13)
Kamaiyah - Before I Wake (self-released)
Jackie Shane - Any Other Way (Numero Group)
Patsy - LA Woman (La Vida Es Un Mus)
Colleen - A Flame My Love, A Frequency (Thrill Jockey)
Various Artists - Monika Werstatt (Monika Enterprise)
Equiknoxx - Colon Man (DDS)
Ryuchi Sakamoto - async (Milan)
Lingua Ignota - All Bitches Die (self-released)
The World - First World Record (Lumpy Records)
Esther Suarez - La Bolognesina (Little Axe)

gSp 12” (Thrilling Living)
Gas - Narkopop (Kompakt)
Niña de la Puebla - I’m Always Crying (Death Is Not The End)
Rakta - Oculto Pelos Seres EP (Iron lung)
Moritz von Oswald & Ordo Sakhna - Moritz von Oswald & Ordo Sakhna (Honest Jon’s Records)
Laura Lyons, Beggars
Sleep Drifter - King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard
Hana Mogulescu, Beggars Group
Kelela - Take Me Apart

Ariel Pink - Dedicated to Bobby Jameson
Ryan Naideau, Rough Trade

Sayonara to a gross year in our history, and peace to Robert Muller, the brave women who spoke out in 2017, Cardi B, and the clown face emoji.
Gonzalo Schiaffino, Everlasting Popstock
CHRIS ROBINSON BROTHERHOOD - Barefoot In The Head

Lucie Schmitt, Beggars France
The National – Sleep Well Beast
Brockhampton – Saturation II
Grizzly Bear – Painted Ruins
Kendrick Lamar – DAMN.
Corbin - Mourn
Julien Baker – Turn Out The Lights

Benjamin Booker - Witness
Bedouine - Bedouine
Loyle Carner – Yesterday’s Gone…
Algiers – The Underside Of Power
4 Good movies
Call Me By Your Name – Luca Guadagnino
Detroit – Kathryn Bigelow
The Nile Hilton Incident – Tarik Saleh
Dunkirk – Christopher Nolan
Best TV series
Stranger Things
The Handmaid’s Tale
10 singles that obsessed me for weeks :
Raingurl – Yaeji
Pheobe Bridgers – Smoke Signals
Curtis Harding - On And On
US Girls – Mad As Hell
Jordan Rakei – Nerve
John Maus - The Combine
King Krule – Dum Surfer
Protomartyr – A Private Understanding
Foxygen – Avalon
HAIM – Want You Back
5 best show memories
Future Islands – Columbiahalle Berlin
Chilly Gonzales – Konzerthaus Berlin
Sigur Ros – Grand Rex Paris
Julien Baker – Les Etoiles Paris
King Krule – Casino de Paris
Josh Turner, Matador Records
Songs that kept me going this year

- Turnstile - Real Thing
- King Krule - Dum Surfer
- No Warning - In The City
- Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - A Woman In Love (It’s Not Me)
- Skatt Brothers - Walk The Night
- Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - Rebels
- Queens of The Stone Age - Un-reborn Again
- John Cale - Andalucía
- Car Seat Headrest - Beach Life-in-Death
- Kendrick Lamar - Element
- Carpenters - A Song For You
- Captain Beefheart - Observatory Crest
- Ariel Pink - The Iceman
- Yo La Tengo - Green Arrow
- Don Henley - Boys of Summer
- Beach Boys - Long Promised Road
- Grouper - Headache
- Bruce Hornsby & The Range - The Way It Is
- Brand New - In The Water
- Squirrel Nut Zippers - Prince Nez
- Big Country - In A Big Country
- Chalk Circle - April Fools
- Pinegrove - Angelina
Books that kept me going this year
- Dylan Thomas - Selected Poems 1934 - 1952
- E.E Cummings - Selected Poems 1923 - 1958
- Upton Sinclair - The Jungle
- A.J Ayer - Language, Truth & Logic
- Samuel Beckett - Complete Short Prose 1929 - 1989
- Samuel Beckett - Stories and Texts for Nothing
- Samuel Beckett - Selected Poems in English & French
- John Steinbeck - The Grapes of Wrath
- Fyodor Dostoyevsky - The Double|
- Michel Foucault - Madness and Civilization: A History of Insanity in the Age of Reason
- Noam Chomsky - Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media
- Jeff Chang - Can't Stop Won't Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation
- Saul Bellow - Herzog
Mike Zimmerman, Beggars

Sneaks - It's a Myth
Omni - Multi-task
Gold Dime - Nerves
Delicate Steve - This Is Steve
Weed - Born Wrong Love
B Boys – Dada
Perfume Genius - No Shape
Mount Eerie - A Crow Looked At Me
Metz - Strange Peace
Sun Kil Moon - Common As Light and Love Are Red Valleys of Blood
Pissed Jeans - Why Love Now
Heatmap – Pulses EP
Marbled Eye – EP II
Palm – Shadow Expert
Gerard Cosloy, Matador Records
Weather Weapon - Weather Weapon II (bandcamp)

ISS - Endless Pussyfooting (Erste Theke Tontraeger)
Michael Beach - Gravity / Repulsion (Spectacular Commodity)
Mdou Moctar - Sousoume Tamachek (Sahel Sounds)
Mordecai - Abstract Recipe (Richie)
Contributors - s/t (Monofonus Press)
Heavy Metal - LP 2 - Smash Criticism Smash Optimism Smash Arachnophobia (Static Age)
Heavy Metal - LP 3 - The Nietzschean Supermen Of Dustbin Rock (Harbinger Sound)
David Nance - Negative Boogie (Ba Da Bing)
Headroom - Head In The Clouds (Trouble In Mind)
Fully Glazed - 'OD Catastrophe' (The Loki Label)
Institute - Subordination (Sacred Bones)
Protomartyr - Relatives In Descent (Domino)
Sleaford Mods - English Tapas (Rough Trade)
Endless Boogie - Vibe Killer (No Quarter)
US Weekly - s/t (Night Moves)
Various- Tokyo Flashback (Black Editions)
Spectre Folk - Vol. 4 (Vampire Blues)
Impalers - Cellar Dweller (540)

Golden Pelicans - Disciples Of Blood (Goner)
Obnox - Murder Radio (ever/never)
Mazoma - Heavy Death Head (Feeding Tube)

Shit and Shine - Some People Really Know How To Live (Editions Mego)
The Weather Station - s/t (Paradise Of Bachelors)
Ted Leo - The Hanged Man (TL/RX)
Haram - When You Have Won, You Have Lost (La Vida Es Un Mus Discos)
Snakehole - s/t (Wharf Cat)

David Keenan - This Is Memorial Device : An Hallucinated Oral History of the Post-Punk Music Scene in Airdrie, Coatbridge and Environs 1978–1986 (Faber & Faber)
live :
Sir Richard Bishop, Tom Carter, Robert Millis, Jad Fair, Hotel Vegas, May
Peter Bröntzmann/Heather Leigh, Issue Project Room, June
Joe McPhee, Tashi Dorji, M. Geddas Gengras, Alphaville, June
Tyvek, Rays, 1-2-3-4-Go, February
Life Stinks, The World, The Nightlight, February
Wire, Baby's Alright, September

Les Filles de Illighadad , Cafe Oto, April
Consumer Electronics, Barracuda, March
Power Trip, Mohawk, March
David Nance, Beerland, October
Feedtime, Hi-Tone, September