From the desk of Slayer
Well, actually - I got this from Metal Sucks, but still - I have my fingers crossed that this is their real rider and that they manage to get "Hand satanizer", "50,000 live bees for Dave" and a "Whetstone for battle axes" as they've supposedly requested...
Fucked Up postcard competition winners
You might remember a few weeks ago we decided
After some careful deliberation (sleepless nights and a game of paper-rock-scissors), we whittled it down to a winner and a runner up. And the winners is...
(pausing for effect, in true awards style)
Bob Alderdice, for this amazing 5-postcard, 3 dimensional creation which blew us away, well done Bob - you truly surpassed our expectations!
Taking the runner up spot is Graham from Brighton, for the following postcard:
Well done to both, we'll be in touch to arrange your prizes - and for the rest of you? Better luck next time (though we'll still appreciate any other cool post).
The winning store was Piccadilly Records in Manchester. Fucked Up's European tour starts tomorrow.
David Comes To Life - The Postcard Competition
UK PEOPLE - FUCKED UP WANT YOUR LOVE LETTERS.
I'm sure you're all fully aware that this week sees the release of the third studio album by Fucked Up, David Comes To Life. The album is a tale of love and loss, destruction and redemption, following the story of the protagonist David and his love for Veronica. Five main characters appear in the narrative, each with their own part to play.
In keeping with the love affair of David and Veronica, Matador are running a competition in the UK to win some Fucked Up goodies*, compiled with love by the band. We are asking you to write/draw/create something inspired by love. Five different 'character' designs have been distributed across the UK's best independent record stores - 1000 of each. If you find a postcard, make your creation on the left, be it a poem, illustration, story etc (include which store you picked it up from and an email for yourself at the bottom), then post it back to Matador at the address below. The band will judge the entries and the winner will receive a signed, framed poster from the band, plus a goody bag of swag that we can steal from the band's Big Cartel. The store you found your postcard in will also receive a signed, framed David Comes To Life poster, so everyone's happy. Including me, as I love getting post. Not enough people write love letters with a pen and paper anymore, right?
Send your entries to Matador at the address below:
DAVID COMES TO LIFE
MATADOR RECORDS
17-19 ALMA ROAD
LONDON
SW18 1AA
Remember to add your email address and your chosen record store, otherwise we can't get your prizes to you.
The participating stores:
ACTION RECORDS - PRESTON
AMULET - (MAILORDER)
AVALANCHE - EDINBURGH
BANQUET - KINGSTON
BOOMKAT - (MAILORDER)
CRASH - LEEDS
DRIFT - TOTNES
HEAD - BIRMINGHAM
JUMBO - LEEDS
MONORAIL - GLASGOW
NORMAN RECORDS - (MAILORDER)
ONE UP - ABERDEEN
PICCADILLY RECORDS - MANCHESTER
RESIDENT - BRIGHTON
RISE - BRISTOL
ROUGH TRADE EAST - LONDON
ROUGH TRADE WEST - LONDON
ROUNDER - BRIGHTON
SISTER RAY - LONDON
SPILLERS - CARDIFF
Good luck!
*swag TBC, but it'll be good, trust me.
Last day to write (about love) to the FCC on behalf of KUSF
If the headline above fills you with questions, questions such as 'why would I write to the FCC?' or 'what's KUSF?' or 'isn't the Belle And Sebastian plug kind of gratuitous?', well, allow me to answer the first two.
The condensed version: KUSF is the University of San Francisco's community radio station, and has been since 1977. That means they've been around almost as long as The Fall (though I don't think they've had as much staff turnover). Last month, USF secretly sold KUSF's transmitter, abruptly took them off the air, and kicked everyone out of the station, with plans to transition the place to an Internet-only concern. Not surprisingly, KUSF's DJs and staff, almost none of whom had any notice of the sale until they were escorted from the premises, think that's a pretty fucked up thing to do, and we agree with them (as does Ty Segall).
By now you may be wondering what you can do to help KUSF get back on the air and back to being the incredibly valuable community resource it's been for over three decades. Well, as the title of this post states, today is the LAST DAY that you can write to the FCC urging them to stop the sale. There are succinct directions on how exactly to do so posted HERE.
Additionally, the exiled KUSF volunteers have set up a Paypal account for people to donate toward their legal fees. Generous souls can open up their pocketbooks HERE.
Finally, if you love Twitter as much as I do, you can get breaking news by following KUSF's Twitter account, which is HERE.
Esben and the Witch - live in Brighton
Earlier this week Esben and the Witch released Violet Cries in the UK and Europe, started their UK tour and played their first home-town show in the past 9 months at the Brighton Pavilion Theatre, which was filmed by the guys over at Tactful-Cactus. As a taster of what to expect on their upcoming UK/EU/US tour dates, have a look at the live video below for 'Marching Song'. To pick up a copy of Violet Cries head to either the Matador Store or the band's Big Cartel page, for some cheaper shipping if you're outside America.
4th – Sneaky Pete’s, Edinburgh (tickets)
5th – Rescue Rooms, Nottingham (tickets)
7th – The Harley, Sheffield (tickets)
8th – Hare & Hounds, Birmingham (tickets)
9th – XOYO, London (tickets)
11th – Botanique/Rotonde, Brussels, Belgium (tickets)
12th – Paradiso, Amsterdam, Netherlands (tickets)
13th – Gebäude, Cologne, Germany (tickets)
14th – Molotow, Hamburg, Germany (tickets)
16th – Loppen, Copenhagen, Denmark (tickets)
17th – Comet, Berlin, Germany (tickets)
19th – Route Du Rock Festival, Saint Malo, France (details)
21st – Point Ephemere, Paris, France (tickets)
March
Thu, 3/3 Washington, DC Red Palace
Fri, 3/4 Brooklyn, NY The Bell House
Sat, 3/5 New York, NY Mercury Lounge
Sun, 3/6 Boston, MA Brighton Music Hall
Mon, 3/7 Philadelphia, PA Kung Fu Necktie
Tue, 3/8 Pittsburgh, OH Brillobox
Wed, 3/9 Akron, OH Musica
Thu, 3/10 Chicago, IL Empty Bottle
Fri, 3/11 Toronto, ON Wrongbar
Sat, 3/12 Denton, TX 35 Conferette
Sat, 3/19 Austin, TX Mess With Texas
Tue, 3/22 Los Angeles, CA Bootleg Theater
Wed, 3/23 San Francisco, CA Bottom of the Hill
Thu, 3/24 Portland, OR Mississippi Studios
Fri, 3/25 Seattle, WA Sunset Tavern
Sat, 3/26 Vancouver, BC The Waldorf Hotel
Sonic Youth play London NYE show
As previously reported by our buddies over at ATP you're in for a treat if you happen to be in London this new years eve as there's an amazing gig with Sonic Youth headlining a 4-band bill. Make sure to get down there early to see Factory Floor opening the party, followed by The Pop Group and the 'ATP house band' Shellac, with Mr Stuart Braithwaite spinning records between sets.Not a bad start to 2011!
Artwork Analysis Corner : Can Someone Please Help Me Out?
I consider myself a somewhat culturally aware, open-minded person. Heck, I've been to Canada a couple of times. And I don't consider myself to have a knee-jerk, negative reaction when it comes to themes of overt sexualty, demonic imagery or collaborations with Klaus Meine. All of that said, I have NO FUCKING IDEA what is going on with the record cover above.
I am not hear to disparage Ms. Pesch's impressive musical achievements (even if her website crashed my computer several times while composing this post) but I'm thoroughly baffled by this sleeve. Were the title of the album, '25 Years In Torn Clothing While Presiding Over A Mass Burial Ground", I'd have a much easier time with it. In any event, as someone in the music business who recently celebrated an important anniversary, I'm sure I speak on behalf of everyone at Matador in congratulating Doro on hitting the big 2-5.
Elvis @ 21?
Well, as far as rumours for the Lost Weekend go that might be a little far fetched, but Savage Pencil took the opportunity to imagine how Thurston Moore might enjoy the Matador birthday celebrations in Vegas a little too much later this year.
You can see the comic strip for yourself in the latest edition of The Wire magazine and you can find more of Edwin Pouncey's excellent Savage Pencil work here.
Kurt Vile on tour TOMORROW!
Photo grabbed from Charlotte Zoller's flickr photostream
Live in a fairly sizable metropolitan area, or Bloomington? If so, there's a good chance Kurt Vile will be stopping in your town in the next few weeks with Square Shells EP atop the merch tables (it's also available in stores). Have a great weekend!
Sat-Jun-05 Seattle, WA High Dive w/ The Sadies
Sun-Jun-06 Bellingham, WA Wild Buffalo w/ The Sadies
Mon-Jun-07 Portland, OR Doug Fir w/ The Sadies
Fri-Jun-11 San Francisco, CA Slims w/ Woods
Sat-Jun-12 Big Sur, CA Henry Miller Library / Woodsist Festival
Mon-Jun-14 Santa Barbara, CA Jensen’s w/ Woods
Tue-Jun-15 Los Angeles, CA Echoplex – Woodsist Festival
Fri-Jun-18 Brooklyn, NY Union Pool w/ The Mad Scene, Meg Baird
Fri-Jul-09 New York, NY Le Poisson Rouge w/ Real Estate
Sat-Jul-10 Hoboken, NJ Maxwell’s w/ Real Estate
Sun-Jul-11 Philadelphia, PA Johnny Brenda’s w/ Real Estate
Mon-Jul-12 Baltimore, MD Ottobar w/ Real Estate
Tue-Jul-13 Pittsburgh, PA Garfield Artworks w/ Real Estate
Wed-Jul-14 Cleveland, OH Beachland Tavern w/ Real Estate
Thu-Jul-15 Bloomington, IN The Bishop w/ Real Estate
Sat-Jul-17 Chicago, IL Pitchfork Music Festival
Mon-Jul-19 Detroit, MI Magic Stick w/ Real Estate
Tue-Jul-20 Toronto, ON The Great Hall w/ Real Estate
Wed-Jul-21 Ottawa, ON Babylon w/ Real Estate
Thu-Jul-22 Montreal, QC Il Motore w/ Real Estate
Fri-Jul-23 Boston, MA Harpers Ferry w/ Real Estate
Sat-Jul-24 New Haven, CT Lilly Pad w/ Real Estate
Tue-Aug-10 Charlottesville, VA Jefferson Theatre w/ Deerhunter
Fri-Aug-13 Boston, MA Royale Nightclub w/ Deerhunter
Sat-Aug14 Northampton, MA Pearl Street w/ Deerhunter
Attn : 304 Hudson Street Marketing Geniuses
Look, I know you guys are the best in the business. We're practically choking to death on gold record plaques, high chart entries and major label copy-cat campaigners trying to sweat your hottest innovations.All of that said, I am very, no check that, MEGA disappointed that we've yet to introduce a scheme for one of our elite artists (Kurt Vile? Julian Plenti? Ted Leo?) nearly as exciting as THE RICHIE KOTZEN PEACE SIGN VIP EXPERIENCE. You know that expression, "freedom's just a word for nothing left to lose?" Well, in this instance, $100.00 is just another sum that will grant you access to a Richie Kotzen soundcheck. But wait.......keep waiting.....a bit longer. OK, that's enough waiting. THERE'S MORE!
* - A meet and greet with Richie! Come meet RIchie, have your photo taken with him and get one personal item signed.
* - An autographed, limited edition RICHIE KOTZEN 2010 PEACE SIGN WORLD TOUR COMMEMORATIVE POSTER! (In addition to your personal item, RIchie will also personalize the poster for you at the meet and greet if you’d like)
* - A RICHIE KOTZEN VIP COMMEMORATIVE LAMINATE!
* A RICHIE KOTZEN 2010 PEACE SIGN WORLD TOUR T-SHIRT.
* - A copy of Richie’s new CD PEACE SIGN
Hot stuff, eh? Keep in mind, while Kotzen's handlers have some mild disclaimers in place, there's no mention, for instance, of the legendary axeman placing any restrictions on what sort of personalization you'd like on your poster or signed item. So presumably, "C.C. Deville sucks, with love, RItchie" is still within bounds.
Thor To Governator : Brother, Can You Spare A Fighter Jet?
(from 1976, Thor on "The Merv Griffin Show". Taken from the unreleased DVD box set, "Thor : The Proto-Piazza")
Who amongst us hasn't sat awake at night fantasizing about various rock icons reaching out to state Governors for assistance? For instance, Larry Lifeless would like Deval Patrick to tear up some parking tickets. Bobby Steele having a word with David Paterson about widening lanes on the NY State highways (admittedly, I might be mixing this up with a "Seinfeld" episode). Sometimes, however, reality is far more amazing than anything we might come up with while high, as the following item from that treasure trove of insane press releases, Blabbermouth.net, illustrates.
Jon Mikl Thor has sought help from his old friend and fellow bodybuilder, California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Jon has asked Arnold to see if it was possible to board a military plane bound for Germany at the Beale Air Force Base in Northern California, 45 miles from Sacramento, to attempt to perform a concert at the Keep It True festival in Lauda-Königshofen, Germany on April 23.
Jon has helped Arnold before by performing with his band THOR at the Beale Air Force Base to entertain the military.
"The volcanic ash from the Icelandic eruption has stopped all travel from North America to Europe for commercial airlines," Thor explained.
"I don't always ask Arnold for help but this is a special request. If Arnold ever needed my help, I would be there in an instant."
There are interesting parallels in both Jon and Arnold's life. Both Jon Mikl Thor and Arnold Schwarzenegger won the Mr. Universe championship in their careers. Both have also had successful movie careers. Jon is planning on running for office in Washington state and Arnold already is a governor of California.
Oh, The Places You'll Go: A Day In The Life Of A Non-SXSWer
You know, not everyone in the music industry descends upon Austin for the SXSW Music Conference. Somebody's got to hold the fort down. After all, these records ain't gonna sell themselves. This is my minute-by-minute account of March 18, 2010.
9:30 am: I'm here 30 minutes early because I had to be up and at the DMV by 8 am. Wondering who in Austin is still up drinking from last night. Office is eerily quiet.
10:30 am: Still the only one here... I think.
11:18 am: Chase a dog around the office in an attempt to remove a mail order package from his mouth. Sorry J. Roger from Phoenix... let me know if your corners are bent.
11:43 am: IMing with my cousin about who it would be creepier to get hit on by (if we were girls): The Fonz or Alex P. Keaton.
12:12 pm: Make a list of fake band names. Entries include: The Shittybutts, Sweet Love, Mike Watt's Sweaty Socks, The Super Falcons, The Burnin' Blazin' Mississippi Madmen (feat. Dennis DeYoung), Tugboat Crash, Doucheslayer, Cocks-A-Fire, Wicked Neptune.
12:32 pm: Get a call from Kris Chen who is either drunk or psyched. Or both.
12:35 pm: Mentally count all the people I know who are at SXSW.
12:42 pm: Get a phone call from mom to tell me that Red River is "off the fuckin' hook."
12:45-1:40 pm: Stared at a paperclip.
1:45 pm: Ride the elevator a couple of times.
2:00 pm: Download a program that makes my digital photos look like Polaroids. Psyched.
2:03 pm: Realize that 99% of the fun of Polaroids is waiting for the pictures to develop. Bummed.
2:12 pm: Debate telling coworkers about my plans to time-travel.
2:45 pm: Watch #2 seed Villanova squeak out an embarrassing overtime win over #15 seed Robert Morris. Almost call the university to demand a refund of my tuition.
2:50pm: Sit in Patrick's chair. Try to sign a bunch of cover bands. No one buys it.
3:01pm: Check the Bro'd Trip twitter account to see if Adam is going on without me.
3:05: Decide to take my own Bro'd Trip... to the deli.
3:25-3:55 pm: I think I just took a nap.
4:05 pm: Think about taking up cigarettes again.
4:06 pm: Think about taking up grass again.
5:00 pm: Look up Facebook profiles of girls who dumped me in high school.
5:10 pm: Look up Facebook profiles of kids I beat up in high school.
5:30 pm: Use a Google application to determine the distance of my nightly jogging route. Feel great that it's 1.2 miles. Immediately feel awful that I felt great over 1.2 miles.
6:15 pm: Count the emails I've received today: 16. New all-time low.
6:25 pm: Laugh out loud at email #17 from one of our SXSWers that simply reads "Fuck you."
6:29 pm: One minute to go.
Rage of the mastering engineers
The pent-up frustration of mastering and recording engineers who have had to deal with members of an ignorant public for years has finally found in an outlet in a series of viral YouTube videos featuring computer animated characters speaking in computer-generated English accents.
The videos are brilliant, and point to the REAL revolution in the music industry over the past two decades, which is the proliferation of affordable (if often crappy) home-recording solutions. Someone needs to tell all those newspaper reporters that ProTools and GarageBand have had at least as much effect on the industry as P2P and torrents. It's hard to believe now, but in 1980 it cost a lot of money even to cut a 2-song hardcore single. Analog recording is slow, expensive and requires a ton of skill. Actually, the same goes for decent digital recording, but it's a hell of a lot cheaper and faster than it used to be. There are now approximately 200 times as many releases coming out annually as there were in 1980, and that doesn't even account for the huge quantity of music that doesn't see a commercial release and just lives on MySpace pages, YouTube videos and CDRs.
The above video would be enlightening and hilarious all on its own, but there are tons more. The videos have apparently struck a chord: "OMFG classic? bigtime relate to this!" and "BAHAHAAAAA. ? I am approached by so many douche-bags like that guy all the time. Stupid FruityLooping, clip-activating, preset-selecting chumps!!!"
Enjoy:
Jon. Wow. I have to say you really made those beats bang. Bro. Bro. Get me?
Cold Cave 'Death Comes Close' 12", ultra-limited edition details AND CMJ appearances
In addition to the previously announced and already-limited one-time pressing of Cold Cave's new 12" entitled 'Death Comes Close', in collaboration with Dominick Fernow of Cold Cave/Hospital Productions, Matador is set to release a different extra-limited edition of the 12"
This special version features exclusive artwork by Fernow is hand-assembled, stamped and editioned. Limited to one-hundred (100) copies, these records will make it into select stores and we'll have it available for purchase at the Matador Store on Tuesday October 20 at 3:00 PM EST - They're bound to go fast so mark your calendars and set your alarms.
***
If you're in New York City next week for the CMJ festivities, you can catch Cold Cave at the following venues:
- Tuesday, October 20 -- Stereogum CMJ Opening Night Live '09 (RSVP)
- Wednesday, October 21 -- VICE Late Night (RSVP)
- Thursday, October 25 -- Matador / True Panther Night (RSVP)
Keralan chicken stew
This is a hearty, homey chicken stew. Like many Keralan dishes, it uses spices like black peppercorns, cloves and nutmeg and thus feels strangely Western... because we imported those spices from Kerala, from the sixteenth century onward. The main non-Western ingredient is coconut milk - I used canned, because I wasn't up to hammering open the 16-20 dessicated supermarket coconuts it would have taken to yield that much milk. Doesn't it look delicious? But that isn't actually it - all the pictures of the stew turned out murky, so I put in the Keralan okra salad that I served with it - the creaminess there comes from yogurt.
I really enjoyed this dish - another winner from Madhur Jaffrey's sadly out of print A Taste Of India. But it didn't come close to her recipe for lamb in pickling spices, which I made the following day. It turned out much better than it did last year - I'm much more comfortable with the whole process of cooking Indian than I was then.
One thing I've noticed in Indian food, and especially Keralan dishes is that you often start by cooking something with a main ingredient, setting aside that first part, and then re-adding a different version of the main ingredient again at the end. In the okra recipe, you fry the okra in seasoned oil, remove it with a slotted spoon (reserving the oil), and mix it with yogurt that has ground black mustard seeds in it. Then you take the reserved oil and fry whole black mustard seeds in it (with asafetida and dried red chilis) and add this to the yogurt-okra mixture. The black mustard returns, in a different form, with the okra-infused oil, at the end of the preparation.
Similarly, in the chicken stew, after preparing a soffrito of onions and whole spices, you essentially braise the chicken pieces in thin coconut milk and add lime juice. Then, in part two, you make a second soffrito of shallots in coconut oil, add curry leaves, and then thick coconut milk - which joins the thin coconut milk in the main stew for a second simmering.
I don't know why cookbooks don't tell you the reasons why you do things. You usually pick up on this stuff after preparing a number of dishes a number of times. This particular theme - adding a variant of an ingredient toward the end of a dish, in a different form - seems to me quite common in Indian cuisine.
A Fucked Up Halloween
Fucked Up dropped by Matador UK today, to catch up on some paperwork.
We also managed to get some new press shots done, exclusively for the Matablog.
"THE BEATING HEART OF THE UNDERGROUND."
Fucked Up's Halloween weekender continues tonight and the UK tour kicks off next week :
07 Nov : 93 Feet East, London
08 Nov : Freebutt, Brighton
09 Nov : Barfly, Birmingham
10 Nov : The Zodiac, Oxford
11 Nov : Cavern, Exeter
12 Nov : Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff
13 Nov : Sugarmill, Stoke
14 Nov : Bodega, Nottingham
15 Nov : Kasbah, Coventry
16 Nov : King Tuts, Glasgow
17 Nov : Corporation, Sheffield
18 Nov : Cockpit, Leeds
19 Nov : Roadhouse, Manchester
20 Nov : The GYC, Guildford
Super Shred Sunday Details
As you can see, Times New Viking have been having the time of their lives on the current Drowned in Sound endorsed Shred Yr Face tour with the lovely No Age and Los Campesinos! kids.
There's still a fair few dates to go (see below) but if you happen to be London bound this weekend, be sure to get yourselves down to the Super Shred Sunday instore frenzy. Details had been kept secret until now, but i'm pleased to announce which band will be playing which store at what time and how you get in and what it's all about etc etc:
3pm - Puregroove - No Age
5pm - Beyond Retro, East End - Times New Viking
7pm - Rough Trade East - Los Campesinos!
As with all things in life, there's a catch - to get into the instores, you'll need to obtain yourself a wristband.
There's just 300 wristbands for the Super Shred Sunday instores. The first 100 wristbands will be available direct from Pure Groove Records when you pre order the exclusive Shredyrface 7" (featuring all three bands), these wristbands will get you free entry into all 3 shows on the Sunday. For wristbands call Pure Groove on UK number 0207 778 9278 or visit www.puregroove.co.uk.
The remaining 200 wristbands will be available via Rough Trade East when you preorder the exclusive Shredyrface 7" and will gain you free entry to the Beyond Retro and RT East instores.
For wristbands call Rough Trade East on 0207-392 7788 or visit www.roughtrade.com.
Remaining Shredyrface dates:
17 Oct Whelan's, Dublin
18 Oct School Of Arts (14+), Glasgow
20 Oct Electric Ballroom (14+), London
21 Oct Fleece, Bristol (18+)
22 Oct Academy 3, Manchester (14+)
Q : What Do Peter Saville, Malcom Garrett, Mark Ohe and The Design Team Behind The Frantix' "My Dad's A Fucking Alcoholic" 7" Have In Common?
A : Aside from being creative geniuses? They've all been unfairly ignored by whoever compiled this list.
Great Moments In Outdoor Marketing
I kinda like Geraldo Rivera's scolding tone --- he's clearly above stunts and wasting the public's time.