April 22, 1998

Photo by Edward Smith (courtesy of Smug Magazine)

CORNELIUS
MTV - Friday, April 24, 2 a.m.
The Cornelius "Star Fruits" video will be on MTV's Amp this Friday night at 2 a.m.... also, Russ informs me that we have loads of the Cornelius EP released on Matador Europe. "Free Fall" comes in two form: the 7" ($4 postpaid from our mailorder dept.) has two songs--"Free Fall and "Clash"--both available on Fantasma. The CDEP ($7) has four, those two plus two non-LP tracks: "Brand New Season" and "Typerite Lesson." ("Typerite" is on the Japanese release of Fantasma, though. Tres confusing!).

Also out on Matador Europe: "Solex All Licketyplit" by...yep..SOLEX. Both the CD5 ($6) and 7" ($4) have the same two tracks, the title track (from the new album, Solex vs. the Hitmeister) and and unreleased B-side, "Solex West." Solex is currently on tour; we've got some dates on the tour dates page but expect more to come. Ms. Solex will be supporting Cornershop in France and the Notwist in Germany...Solex does a cover called "Faster Solex Drill Drill Drill" for the compilation of all Wire "The Drill" covers to be released on WMO Records in May.

LIZ PHAIR has been confirmed to play dates on this summer's Lilith Fair. See the tour dates page for the confirmed ones... The new Liz LP now has a new release date for North America (dates still pending for the rest of the world): August 11...a long wait, but worth it! The album, btw, is now officially titled whitechocolatespaceegg. The first single, "Johnny Feelgood," will come out July 14.

BETTIE SERVEERT have a new ltd. edition live CD made up of Velvet Underground covers... we should have some to sell via mailorder in a week or two.

The new ARAB STRAP album, Philophobia is has heads turning. Our source at Chemikal Underground (Arab Strap's UK label) informs us that the record is #26 is the UK charts and getting massive press... not to mention stuff like this:

Daily Record, 4/20/98
BAND RAPPED FOR SLAGGING TOWN

SCOTLAND'S newest cult pop stars have been disowned by their home town after branding it rundown and boring.

Falkirk folk are also angry that Aidan Moffat and Malcolm Middleton - alias the group Arab Strap - depict them as violent alcoholics and drug addicts.

Both were born in the town, attended Falkirk High and supported the local football club.

Their lyrics portray the town as lifeless and dull and its townspeople as alcoholics and drug takers whose main pastimes are fighting and casual sex.

Their attacks on their home town have provoked outrage.

Provost Alex Fowler said, "These people are a disgrace to Falkirk and everything they say about our town is wrong."

The remarks have also sparked a backlash against their music among local youngsters.

Avril Denholm, 16, said: "Falkirk is a good place. The nightlife is good and there is no problem with drugs or fighting."

April 17, 1998

Sorry, no incriminating memos this week...still recovering from the flu, taxes, and all those ants in the kitchen... got a couple happenings this weekend for you, though.

HELIUM and SLEATER-KINNEY (S-K are on Matador Europe, but on Kill Rock Stars in the U.S.) will be featured on Anthem, a new National Public Radio (NPR) show. The show will run tomorrow (Saturday) afternoon on the stations that carry it... so if you have an NPR station in your area, you may want to check with them and see what time. MARK EITZEL has also taped a session for the show. It will air some time in May. We'll keep you posted.

BARDO POND's appearance at Terrastock this Sunday got moved (along with the rest of the festival) to another venue, Custer Arts Stages, 'cause a huge steel beam fell through the upper deck of the International Center and destroyed seat 5, row A, section 22. Sorry, that was Yankee Stadium...But the Terrastock show got moved. Radio station KFJC is doing an netcast of the events in San Francisco this weekend. Bardo Pond's set will air "live" Sunday night, starting at around 10:15 pm pacific time (1:15 am EST)....assuming the schedule runs according to plan. See KFJC for details.

MARK EITZEL will also be doing a simultaneous broadcast (on KCRW 89.9 FM in LA) and netcast Tuesday, April 21, 10:30 am pacfic time (1:30 pm EST)... and, for those of you all in LA, he's doing a free in-store at Tower Records on Sunset Blvd., Thursday, 4/23 6:30 pm, as well.

After many changes, the P5 remix album Happy End Of You is finally out. The Beck remix never arrived (sorry), but there are great reinterpretations/reinventions by the Automator, Dimitri From Paris, Oval, Sean of the High Llamas, Saint Etienne, 808 State, Daniel Miller and more.

Also, former Matador recording artists THE UNSANE have a new album called Occupational Hazard on the Relapse label. We haven't heard it yet, but it got a very good review in Terrorizer magazine... and SPOON has a new album out on Elektra (A Series of Sneaks), and are currently on tour. Elektra has a new Spoon page on their site where you can get the details. And last, never least, major congrats to Mike Holdsworth of Matador Europe and Gina Birch on their recent wedding. (woo woo!)

April 3, 1998

Hey all, we've got a bunch of tour dates this week so I'm going to send 'em all in a separate email. THE JON SPENCER BLUES EXPLOSION has a few shows lines up. Three out of four are all ages, including a couple New York appearances with none other than Andre Williams supporting. They're also continuing work on their new album with the Automator....Our own Bassholes (rhymes with "crass rolls") are also on a couple JSBX bills, which should prime the crowds for Long Way Blues 1996-1998, due out April 7.

We're still waiting on a ton of spring and summer U.S. tour dates to be confirmed but expect SPORTSGUITAR, SOLEX, CORNELIUS, ARAB STRAP, and TOMMY KEENE dates in the near future...oh, yeah, and they're not a Matador band but they're good people...you can find dates for the upcoming Sonic Youth tour here.

Also for your calendars: Nils says that CORNELIUS (of Tokyo, Fantasma, etc.) is going to be on MTV's "Indie Outing" this upcoming Monday, April 6, at 12:30 pm est/pst.

New to the site: a couple new links for new signees ARAB STRAP. The official one is on the Chemikal Underground page... For those looking for yet another bulletin board to fill the gap of the one we removed earlier this week, here's another option.. Also, here's an unofficial Arab Strap page.

Unrelated to Matador but hopefully of interest: A friend of mine who works at a gen X lifestyle magazine that isn't Spin just faxed me the letter below. It comes on letterhead from McCann-Erikson, Coca-Cola's advertising agency, and --for those not versed in the ways of the magazine world--instructs the magazine on where Coke's ad should (not) be placed.

March 6, 1998

The purpose of this letter is to clarify the positioning clause that is included on Coca-Cola Company insertion orders (1).

The positioning clause has been revised to state, "Any Coca-Cola advertising that faces less than full editorial and/or inappropriate editorial matter will be subject to a full makegood(2)." The Coca-Cola Company requires that all insertions are placed adjacent to editorial that is consistent with each brand's marketing strategy/positioning. In general, we believe that positive and upbeat editorial provides a compatible environment in which to communicate the brand's message.

We consider the following subjects to be inappropriate and require that our ads are not placed adjacent to articles discussing the following issues:

• Hard News
• Sex related issues
• Drugs (Prescription or illegal)
• Medicine (e.g. chronic illnesses such as cancer, diabetes, AIDS, etc.)
• Health (e.g. mental or physical medical conditions)
• Negative Diet Information (e.g. bulimia, anorexia, quick weight loss, etc.)
• Food
• Political issues
• Environmental issues
• Articles containing vulgar language
• Religion

If you have a positioning question or if an ad needs to be moved due to inappropriate editorial, you must contact the AOR immediately and provide positioning options.

If an appropriate positioning option is not available, we reserve the right to omit our ad from that issue.

The Coca-Cola Company also requires a minimum of 6 pages separation between competitive advertising (any non-alcoholic beverage, including water, juice, coffee, milk). If there is more than one Coca-Cola brand running in an issue of your magazine, we require 6 pages of separation.

McCann-Erickson
Christine Maggiore
Print Media Buyer
750 Third Avenue
New York, NY 10017

(1) Insertion orders are the contracts magazines and advertisers sign when an ad is booked. These agreements vary a great deal, depending on the particular arrangement. Some are simple promises that the company will actually run a particular ad; others are more....complicated.

(2) Full makegood. Payback, freebie, do over. It means that Coke would get to run the ad again for free.

In other Coca-Cola news (not speaking for Matador, Capitol, fellow employees, etc.): in case anyone missed the "wacky" story last week about the high school senior suspended for wearing a Pepsi T-shirt to Coke day, you can find it here. Mike Cameron was given the heave ho for embarrassing the school...as if integrating Coke into class instruction, inviting Coke execs to come speak, and gathering Coke-clad students outside to spell "Coke" for the photograph---all for a lousy $500--WASN'T embarrassing!!!! (no comment on Mike's depressingly unimaginative form of rebellion)

What's more: the New York times had the AP story above on their website last week, but replaced it with this one: "Pepsi Prank To Be Wiped From Record." (in more ways than one!) The old story is gone--only links to Coke financial/investor info remain--and the whole focus of the story is that the treatment was too harsh. Nothing about how fucked up it is for schools to be pushing corporate pisswater in the first place! [gratuitous plug: for more info, contact the good people at The Center for Commercial-Free Public Education. They work with students to help get Coke, Pepsi, Nike, etc. out of school curriculums] -- CM