Great Music For Terrible Times : 25% Off Holiday Sale
Dear Citizens of Earth,
As we reach the end of 2018, it would not be an exaggeration to say we’re in the midst of many difficult moments in human history. The icecaps are melting. America is on the brink of a constitutional crisis. You can’t walk 15 feet in any major metropolis without breaking your neck on a discarded scooter. Your personal data (including everything we collect in this campaign) is being used for nefarious means.
All of that said, there is still beauty, mystery, and grandeur in what’s left of the fine arts. And when you’re done with the fine arts, there’s Matador's incredible array of 2018 titles from Belle and Sebastian, Body/Head, boygenius, Car Seat Headrest, Lucy Dacus, Iceage, Interpol, Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks, Liz Phair, Snail Mail, Kurt Vile and Yo La Tengo. Will these records help you sort out a world gone mad?
(moon art : James McNew)
MATADOR HOLIDAY SALE : 25% w/ code "terribletimes"
What do you do between 9 and 5?
I've had some stupid ideas for this company, sure, but don't you think this is taking it too far??
UK Auto Insurance Co. : Unfamiliar With Iggy's "Personal Life"
At least when Geico refuses to insure cavemen, no one can accuse them of hypocrisy. From Monday's Daily Mail :In the Swiftcover TV advertisements, 61-year-old Iggy prances around topless as he boasts: 'I got it Swiftcovered. I got insurance on my insurance. Do it. Get a life. Get Swiftcovered.'
But musicians who applied for cover were told their occupation made them ineligible. They are now complaining to the Advertising Standards Authority.
Tim Soong, the 30-year-old bass guitarist in Roguetune, found that 'entertainers' are excluded from cover.
Mr Soong, of Kennington, phoned the Guildford-based company, which is part of the Axa insurance group, and said: 'The customer services operator told me that they don't insure musicians.
'When I mentioned Iggy Pop, she said his case was different because he is American.
Part-time music producer Felix Wright, 36, of Maidstone, Kent, has also made a complaint after being turned down for cover on his BMW.
He said: 'When I asked what Iggy Pop did for a living if I was being rejected as a musician, they said they did not know his personal life and he was not one of their policy holders.'
The Mail's report adds that prior to Iggy's commercials, Swiftcover used "Death Wish" director Michael Winner in their advertisements, despite refusing to cover film directors.
Dude From The Non-Lansing Fix(x) Doesn't Like The Toyota Commercial, Either
Toyota's recent "Saved By Zero" spots have inspired everything from Facebook hate groups to actual killing sprees (ok, not yet, BUT JUST YOU WAIT) and is it any wonder that an individual most likely to profit from this aesthetic atrocity agrees that it sucks? From the Las Vegas Journal's Jerry Fink :
“I would prefer to have been the one singing it,” Cy Curnin says during a recent phone interview from his farm in France. You can hear the real version when the Fixx performs free concerts Friday and Saturday at Green Valley Ranch.
He’s amused at the irony of using the song to tout 0 percent car financing.
“It’s a bit cheesy,” he says. “It was about looking at your own life, not so much about amassing material things but about experiences that lend you to be blissful. It’s peeling away illusions we pick up along the way. Our identity isn’t the suit we wear or the latest gadget. Our identity is the freedom to pick and choose from all aspects of humanity and to make a stand.
“The song was written from the point of view of the release you get when you have nothing left to lose. It’s sort of a meditation. It clears your head of all fears and panics and illusions and you get back to the basics, which is a Buddhist mantra, which I practiced back then, and which I still do. The idea of the song is how great it is to get back to zero.”
The theme drives Curnin’s life.
Several years ago he moved to France with his new wife and started living off the land and off royalties.
“We are 100 percent self-sufficient,” says Curnin, a native of Wimbledon, England. “We’re getting back to the roots of it. My wife runs a guesthouse. We run all of the stuff we grow and produce through the guesthouse, feeding people. Tonight there are six people who will be eating some of our pigs.”
Nordstrom's : Totally Undaunted By The Failure Of The Mogwai Truss
Lavender Diamond's Ron Rege writes, "we knew were were going to have a song on a JC Penny commercial, but this looks like some joke on the Matablog!"
Hey, if America's department stores wanna take further tips from the nation's foremost source for music-related advertorial bulletins, we're more than up for it. In this instance, however, Nordstorm should just send the cash directly to Becky, Ron and Steve. Or at the very least, a gift certificate.
Why I Need $360,000,000,000
Charles Ray Fuller: Aspiring Hip-Hop Label Entrepreneur?
Look at his face. This man is HIGH AS SHIT. But then again, you'd have to be (this) high to start a record label. Is there any more ambitious way to fund a label startup? Who else is dying to hear the records he intended to release?
Not since William G. McAdoo handed to Lord Cunliffe, Governor of the Bank of England, a Treasury warrant for $200,000,000, have I heard of anyone attempting to cash out this much scratch.
The Dallas Morning News lays out the mind-fucking facts:
A man has been accused of attempting to pass a $360 billion check, which he claims was given to him by his girlfriend’s mother to start a record business, Fort Worth police said.
Charles Ray Fuller, 21, of Crowley, was arrested on April 22 on an accusation of forgery, police said.
The personal check was not made out to Mr. Fuller and when the bank contacted the check owner, the woman said she did not write a check for $360 billion.
Mr. Fuller was also accused of unlawful carrying of a weapon and possession of marijuana, Lt. Henderson said. He may also face a theft charge in Crowley.
Lt. Henderson said he did not know if Mr. Fuller and his girlfriend were still together.
Vanishing NY on Starbucks' Reappearing Old Logo
Why is Starbucks bringing its vagina dentata out of hiding and into plain sight right now? Maybe they were inspired by the hilarious and brilliant film Teeth. Maybe they hope consumers are more comfortable with exhibitionism than they used to be. Maybe they're thinking sex sells.
But more likely, they're frightened and in need of protection.
Images of women exposing their genitals were used by primitive peoples to drive away evil spirits, calm rough seas, and scare away enemies with the threat of castration. In the face of a recession, Starbucks is banking on the power of the vagina dentata to work its ancient magic and keep the wolf from their door. - Jeremiah Moss, Vanishing New York
There's a Chock Full O' Nuts joke in here somewhere, but it's way too early on a Wednesday morning.
Design Your Own Love Of Diagrams Tee
Or hoodie, tank top, shorts or badge. Love Of Diagrams are currently touring the US with Enon, but if you miss the show and want to make your friends think you actually turned up (hint, hint), this might be the way to go.
Q: How Many Copies Of Wilco's 'Sky Blue Sky' Can You Fit Into A VW?
A: Depends. Do you mean the double vinyl version, the standard CD or the CD/DVD configuration?
With Wilco's decision to license new music to Volkswagen, there's been a bit of knee-jerktastic reaction on the worldwidewebby thing, and in the midst of such hysteria, Jeff Tweedy's brother-in-law Danny Miller writes, "from the outcries I’ve seen on several sites, you’d think Wilco had licensed “She’s a Jar” to sell Kraft mayonnaise, “Nothing’s Ever Gonna Stand In My Way” to hawk Viagra, or “I’m the Man Who Loves You” to promote the North American Man-Boy Love Association."
Not that there'd be anything wrong with that. Earlier in his post, Miller tackles VW's historical roots.
I was waiting to see how long it would take the increasingly hysterical fans on the Wilco site to mention Volkswagen’s checkered past. It happened on page 11 of the thread and then flared up big time. Yes, Volkswagen was a large German company that obviously had ties to the Third Reich during World War II. It’s not a history that they hide nor is it one that they stress (to do so would be marketing suicide). Of course there is no connection today between the Volkswagen Company of America (the sponsors of the current spots) and National Socialism but I’ll leave it at that—I have no interest in becoming an apologist for the past moral failings of Volkswagen or any other company. On the other hand, if I was meting out judgment, I might hurl even more at the American companies that got into bed with the Nazis in the 1930s and 40s such as the Ford Motor Company which was headed by the vile anti-Semite Henry Ford. I’d also ponder the cowardice of the Jewish movie moguls in Hollywood who were so worried about offending the lucrative German market after Hitler first took power that they would make it a point to always show Germans in a good light and to avoid making films with Jewish themes. And how about the questionable wartime activities of the Coca-Cola company as it exploited its successful German market even during the war?
Excellent points all around, sir. Everyone is entitled to make his or her own decision about which companies they support (hey, like ours!) and what is or isn't morally defensible. And while I personally have no quarrel with Wilco being paid by Volkswagen (just so long as they got paid a bundle --- helps the rest of us trying to establish market value), I would encourage everyone reading this to boycott the Ford Motor Company. True, the Henry Ford Era was a long time ago, but the company continues it's association with a contemporary figure almost as virulent --- Toby Keith.
Excellent points all around, sir. Everyone is entitled to make his or her own decision about which companies they support (hey, like ours!) and what is or isn't morally defensible. And while I personally have no quarrel with Wilco being paid by Volkswagen (just so long as they got paid a bundle --- helps the rest of us trying to establish market value), I would encourage everyone reading this to boycott the Ford Motor Company. True, the Henry Ford Era was a long time ago, but the company continues it's association with a contemporary figure almost as virulent --- Toby Keith.
Kicked In The Head : Doc Martens' Cavalcade Of Dead Rockers
I have but two thoughts regarding Doc Martens' ill-advised new campaign (link swiped from Boing Boing) ;
1) Who'd have thought the executors of the GG Allin estate would exercise such restraint?
2) At least DM didn't select Shannon Hoon.
To Quote Rainier Luftwaffe Wolfcastle....
...you can't sell out when you never stood for anything in the first place. From the New York Times' Robert Levine, April 2, '07.
Fans of Fall Out Boy who downloaded “Thnks Fr Th Mmrs,” the rock band’s new video last weekend most likely enjoyed the spectacle of chimpanzees playing filmmakers and mocking the members of the band. But they may have noticed something else: Tag All Nighter, a deodorant body spray aimed at young men, is featured prominently in the video.
Procter & Gamble, which owns Tag, made a deal with the band’s label, Island Records, to make the video available for free downloading from the band’s Web site before it could be seen anywhere else.
Since CD sales are declining but the cost of making a video is not, many musicians have made product placement deals for videos in the last few years. In this deal, Tag essentially underwrote the cost of those downloads for a limited time and put a message to that effect on the band’s Web site. Tag also promoted the band in advertising and helped offset the cost of making the video.
Fall Out Boy was comfortable with Tag because the brand’s ads have a “sarcastic spin,” said Pete Wentz, the band’s bassist and lyricist. “Given how the industry is right now, you have to come up with new kinds of partnerships, and when you’re able to offset the cost of the video, that’s cool. Hiring chimps is not cheap.”
Cat Power at the Brits
This was the scene on Wednesday night at the glittering Brit Awards, the UK's equivalent of the Grammys. Cat Power was given the accolade of being nominated as Best International Female and both Chan Marshall and co-emperor of Matador Records Chris Lombardi are seen taking it all in. Held at Earls Court (surely the worlds biggest hanger?) home to the Ideal Home Show and various superstar triumphs and disasters over the years, thousands of media industry types and even more pop loving civilians witnessed a roll call of the great and the good (it says here). OK it wasn't the "carnival of mayhem" Russell Brand promised us and we all secretly wished for but there was enough going on to keep us amused and appalled all night. Compere Mr Brand's opening salvo at David Cameron raised him a notch or two to my mind and although he managed the usual percentage of own goal jokes ("Queens vagina" anyone ? I mean anyone?) he carried off the night with ease.Unfortunately Cat Power didn't walk away with the award she so justly deserved but since when has true and authentic quality, style and genuine talent won out against production teams, song doctors and corporate back scratching at such events. (OK a couple of times). But we weren't the only ones that wuz robbed Justin Timberlake over Bob Dylan, don't get me started.
Rumours of strange fluctuations in the telephone voting I am sure are just that. Of course Orson deserved that award - fair and square. And to my mind their acceptance speech was one of the low highlights of the evening that makes the Brits such a memorable entertainment in the pop firmament.
The Arctic Monkeys didn't accept their awards in person but their filmed acceptance speeches first dressed as characters from the Wizard of Oz (great cowardly lion by the way) and then as the Village People really did show their humorous side.
I also learnt that British people LOVE Take That. I mean everybody or at least 99% of them and the other 1% are probably in comas. They have obviously transcended every hurdle to become the sort of icon that is unimpeachable (at least until the next tabloid revelation - build em up and shoot them down).
And we finished up with only one staff member missing in action the next day.
If The Ponys Radio Budget Gets Zero'd, Let's Buy More Banners
Gerard vs Bear is reporting that the FCC is "proposing! SHIIIT" to help get radio broadcasters off the payola
hook.
While details of the Enforcement Bureau's proposal were sketchy, sources said that radio station groups would be required to set aside a certain amount of airtime for music produced independently. The radio groups also would agree to a code of conduct and an education program, the sources said. As part of the deal, the radio broadcasters would not admit to any wrongdoing.
Education? Codes of conduct? No more trips to see Nickelback live at Squaw Valley? Exoneration at a high cost for the Hinder-hugging-set. And all Pete Doherty had to do was write a hot single.
Full details, and some banner ads targeting you if you happen to be a member of the Academy, at HollywoodReporter.com.
Attn New Media Types: Blog Action For Cheap
Just as soon as all you Zune marketing department, indie publicist and new media types wasted all that intern bandwidth researching bloggers mailing addresses and adding them to your PR machine, a company has come along and applied what radio folks have known for a long time...it's soooooo much easier to just buy the airtime. For a mere $250 (sometimes more or less based upon your desired blog's Technorati ranking) you can "buy" a review on an mp3 blog via ReviewMe.com. At first, we thought this would be the land of crazyawesomemp3review.blogspot.com, but there are some participating blogs that we can't quite get our heads around why they've stooped. Hey, we all gotta put bread on the table, but is whoring out 200 words in your center column really the way to go?
It's Official : Kurt Cobain Bigger Than Snoopy
From Billboard.com :
Elvis Presley has ceded his crown to Nirvana lead singer Kurt Cobain (above, middle) on Forbes.com's list as the top-earning dead celebrity. The list, published yesterday (Oct. 24), said Cobain earned $50 million between October 2005 and October 2006. Presley wound up in the No. 2 slot with $42 million, down from last year's $45 million.Forbes.com bases its dollar amounts on licensing deals for using the deceased celebrities' work or image in advertising or elsewhere. This was Cobain's first time on the list in its six years of publication. Presley has ruled the roost since its inception, said Forbes.com staff writer Lacey Rose.
Cobain's coup was thanks to his widow, actress and singer Courtney Love, who sold a 25% stake in the Nirvana's song catalog to New York music publishing company PrimeWave.
Ranked after Presley is "Peanuts" cartoon strip creator Charles Schulz at $35 million. Rounding out the top five were the Beatles' John Lennon at $24 million and groundbreaking physicist Albert Einstein at $20 million, whose estate profited from such licensing deals as the popular "Baby Einstein" educational videos.
No disrespect to the 1921 winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics, but if Tupac's estate isn't beating Einstein, someone is screwing up royally.
Good News For The Garden State...
...the old "Kiss Me Where It Smells" joke is bound for a re-write. From Kiss Online :
Gene Simmons will make 12 public appearances to promote the new KISS Fragrance line. Paul Stanley will use a day off from his LIVE TO WIN Tour, to make an appearance for the Fragrance on Nov. 4th. Complete details for the events are listed below.
PHILADELPHIA Thursday, October 12, 2006 BOSCOV'S Oxford Valley Mall, 2300 East Lincoln Highway, Langhorne, Pa. 5PM - 8PM Gene
RALEIGH Friday, October 13, 2006 BELK Southpoint Mall, 6910 Fayetteville Rd., Durham, NC 4PM - 7PM Gene
MYRTLE BEACH Saturday, October 14, 2006 BELK Coastal Grand Mall, 1400 Coastal Brand Circle, Myrtle Beach, SC 1PM - 4PM Gene
FAYETTEVILLE Monday, October 16, 2006 FT. BRAGG Fort Bragg North Post PX, 103-0137 2nd & Butner, Ft Bragg, NC 3PM - 5PM Gene
ORLANDO Wednesday, October 18, 2006 VIRGIN Virgin Records, 1494 Buena Vista Dr. Lake Buena Vista, Fl. 5PM - 8PM Gene
ATLANTA Thursday, October 19, 2006 BELK Mall of Georgia, 3333 Buford Drive, Buford, Ga. 4PM - 7PM Gene
JACKSONVILLE Friday, October 20, 2006 BELK Regency Square Mall, 9501 Arlingtlon Expwy, Jacksonville, Fl 4PM - 7PM Gene
BIRMINGHAM Saturday, October 21, 2006 PARISIAN Riverchase Galleria, 2100 Riverchase Galleria, Birmingham, Al. 2PM -5PM Gene
JACKSON Sunday, October 22, 2006 BELK Northpark Mall, 1200 East Country Line Road, Ridgeland, Ms. 1PM - 4PM Gene
RIVERSIDE Wednesday, October 25, 2006 GOTTSCHALK'S Riverside Plaza, 3635 Riverside Plaza, Riverside, Ca. 4PM - 7PM Gene
FRESNO Thursday, October 26, 2006 GOTTSCHALK'S Fashion Fair Mall, 755 Shaw Road, Fresno, Ca. 4PM - 7PM Gene
LAS VEGAS Saturday, October 28, 2006 DILLARD'S Fashion Show Mall, 3200 Las Vegas Blvd. South, Las Vegas, Nv. 1PM - 3PM Gene
ROCHESTER HILLS Saturday, November 04, 2006 PARISIAN Rochester Hills Mall, 400 North Adams Rd., Rochester Hills, Mi 3PM -6PM Paul