October 19, 2000

Very hard for this writer to tell what the big deal is about a “listening party.” It isn’t as though there’s any free food or drinks, and there is very little chance of Chris Lombardi busting out the karoke jams on line, so how good a party can it possibly be? Well, when you have a chance to check out tracks from Red Snapper’s latest album, ‘Our Aim Is To Satisfy...,’ we’re talking about the next best thing. Bask in the wonderment, thanks to our friends at Yahoo Broadcast and prepare to be fulfilled.

Matador (hearts) overpriced rock conventions
The music business is mean (and we mean it, man). To commemorate another invasion of NYC by the greats, near-greats and just plain zero-talents of today’s deal-hunting landscape, we are presenting an evening of live entertainment this Friday, October 20 at The Westbeth Theatre (Lower W. Side, Manhattan). Featured performers will include Bardo Pond, Pole, MC Paul Barman, Mr. Len (spinning), the NY debut of Live Human, and the U. S. debut of The Wisdom Of Harry. Early attendees will receive a special- secret- superduper- mystery- what-is-it? Item that is most assuredly, not for sale. OK, it’s a CD. A goddamn promo CD that costs us just pennies to manufacture, so we expect you to drop whatever you’re doing just on the off chance you might get to hold it for a few hours before getting drunk and ending up in some strange man’s apartment. Like a freebie CD is gonna be of much help when that happens! But seriously folks, we know there are other big name events that evening, but you’ve got to trust us when we tell you they are all guaranteed to disappoint. On the other hand, virtually every convention-related event promoted and booked by Matador over the past ten years has resulted in a life-affirming spectacle that patrons couldn’t stop talking about years to come. Do you remember the year Billy Ruane pulled the plug on Bailter Space? The night Bob Pollard refused to drink more than 3 beers on stage, thus violating his contract with the label? Or the time Liz Phair self-immolated and we had to hypnotize the entire audience into believing it didn’t happen? Do you really want to risk missing out on history in your lifetime?

Jega — Geometry is out,
and so is Dylan
The staggeringly complex & badass Geometry album is just out this week, and as performing artists are wont to do, Dylan Nathan is currently on tour in the UK as part of the Planet Mu roadshow. Said package tour will arrive in NYC on October 28th for one night at the Frying Pan (Chelsea Piers), and will also feature a performance by Planet Mu labelmate Capitol K, whose new album is also very complex and badass, in equal measures.

dälek — All over the map
With Matador’s November release of the new Techno Animal/dalek 12", “Megaton” b/w “Classical Homicide” (Single Of The Week, according to the world’s biggest Belle & Sebastian fan, Steven Wells), the 2 groups are preparing for a European tour later this month. In addition, dalek are in heavy demand...

—a remix of the new 2nd Gen single, “And/Or” by Techno Animal featuring dalek will be available on Novamute Recordings in early 2001.

—dälek and the oktopus have teamed up with Komplx of the Labteks to produce the upcoming full length from Oddateee. Production of a Labtek full length is also in the works.

—dälek, still, and the oktopus have been working as part of the William Hooker Ensemble. The ensemble also includes William Hooker, Mark Hennen, Jesse Henry, and Tor Snyder. Look for a possible full length release “Live at the Knitting Factory” recorded in August 2000 as well as upcoming performances. The William Hooker Ensemble will be performing at Princeton University on December 8th.

—dälek will be remixing “Ruin It, Ruin Them, Ruin Yrself, Then Ruin Me” from Kid 606’s recent meisterwork ‘Down With The Scene’

Lesser — Censorship sucks
Last Sunday’s (Oct. 14) Bottom Of The Hill (SF) gig featuring Oval, Kid 606 and Lesser, was cancelled when Markus Popp (Oval) objected to Lesser’s participation. It seems that Mr. Popp took exception to what he considered to be the promotion of mail-order brides, as exemplified by the sleeve art to Lesser’s ‘Welcome To The American Experience’ (Vinyl Communications). Please, somebody buy this guy a sense of humor. (I meant Markus, btw). The new Lesser album, ‘Gearhound’ is schedule for January release via Matador Europe, following a midwestern US tour alongside Kid 606, Cex and Blechtum From Blechdom.

Helpful Advice From Ben Goldberg:
Here’s how not to approach the press department asking for a promotional copy. This has been edited for brevity and to protect the guilty:

>>>
I’d still like to get a copy of YO LA TANGO’s last record so I can get familiar with them. I talk to a lot of people in this industry and get asked who I think is "hot" all the time. From what I’ve heard so far...I think I might become a fan of these guys...though, I must say...I AM NOT a fan of the band’s name.
<<<

I responded:

I’m sorry to say we have limited promo quantities and are currently only sending out CDs to support their upcoming tour. However, I will definitely keep you in mind for their future releases and anything else it seems like you may like...

To which this person wrote:

>>>
Hmmmmmm... that’s really too bad. For them. If you uh... manage to dig one up anytime soon... let me know... I wouldn’t be inclined to write about them without hearing that last record. I think you know what I mean.

Later.
<<<

Crazy stuff, eh? Well, Ben is to be applauded (standing, even) for defusing this tense situation with diplomacy. But if Rex Reed really wants a Yo La Tengo album, I say we send him one before he gets caught stealing it.

Mogwai — New recordings,
lots of travel, new stuff in 2001
If you run into someone who looks a little like Stuart Braithwaite in or around NYC this week, there is no need to call the police. Unless he was running after you with a tire iron. Mogwai are in & out of town, toiling furiously over the long-awaited follow-up to 1999’s ‘Come On Die Young.’ Recorded once again with the assistance of good friend Dave Friddman, we are expecting something substantially different from the last Mogwai album. For one thing, they’ll probably call it something else and manage to come up with a new sleeve. Beyond that, you’re just gonna have to wait.

The magic of Television.
Not the band, the idiot box. And they don’t call it an idiot box because it looks like Richard Lloyd. Teevee addicts can catch the strains of Live Human’s “Elephant’s Bliss” and Cat Power’s “Salty Dog” on an upcoming episode of the Fox program “Freaky Links.” I’ve not seen it myself, swearing off all television until “Shasta McNasty” comes back on the air.

Also, the music of Couch was recently selected to serve as the instrumental backing for an advertisement touting the virtues of the Fleet Banking empire. Seeing as these financial wizards already affixed their name to the replacement for the venerable Boston Garden, we are hoping that this Couch deal is the first step in eventually selling the naming writes to Matador’s New York offices. It might be a bit of a tongue teaser for Shelby to have to say “Matador Records at The Fleet Towers” every time the phone rings, but we could really use the money. If the other tenants have a problem with it, screw ’em, that’s why we’re on the top floor.

Pizzicato Five — ‘Only in theatres’
P5’s classic "Twiggy Twiggy" can be heard during the new ‘Charlie’s Angels’ motion picture. We asked Lyle if there wasn’t any way we could get some P5 songs in the Charlie’s Angels TV show too, but he just stomped out of the room looking angry. OK, so we’re not up on popular culture, at least none of us wasted our creative genius as a script doctors for some cheesy “event” movie when I could’ve been making a new Chavez album. Which reminds me, congratulations to Clay Tarver on his excellent work on the, uh, Charlie’s Angels movie. Hey, here’s a good one for you! The voice of “Charlie” on the TV was none other than John Forsythe, the guy who played the part of Blake Carrington on “Dynasty.” The voice of KITT, the talking car on “Knight Rider,” was supplied by... oh fuck. What’s his name, that old guy who was always so crabby on “St. Elsewhere.” Hopefully, dropping tidbits like these at parties will help make you a more popular person.

The Pulitzer Prize Vs. Putz Of The Century.
The best way of dealing with hate speech is not necessarily to stifle it, but sometimes to expose it’s practitioners for the numbskulls they truly are. And sometimes, little comment is necessary. The following appeared in a recent issue of Elemental Magazine. Perhaps you, or someone you know, would enjoy corresponding with the author and/our his publishers after reading the following essay.

ELEMENTAL MAGAZINE
"underground culture" issue 22
"WILL YOU STAND UP FOR HIP-HOP
OR BEND OVER?"
by jamarhl crawford

recently, there has been an increased advancement of homosexual ideals contrasting the family values rhetoric pushed by the moral majority establishment. in a short time, society shifted from no gay representation to oversaturation and inundation. blame it on that damn ellen, one of the more recent blonde-haired blue-eyed white girls to come cause confusion.

the gay movement has been thrust into the forefront and even frequently compared to the black power movement and the civil/equal rights struggle. homosexual people have equeated themselves to black people in this country and seek to establish their status as a separate group. judging from the legislation being pushed for affirmative action, adoption, marriage, HMO sex change coverage, they seem to have the financial and grassroots support to pull it off. ultimately, the enviable term "minority" would be even-handedly applied to encompass black, latino, asian, indian and gay. isn’t america great?

the trickle down theory dictates that eventually the duplication and assimilation that comes with homosexual integration into the mainstream would trickle down to permeate all aspects of society, and it has. we see it in TV and film, where he flamboyant or funny "gay" character is prevalent or when comedians & actors don drag for a cheap laugh, a cheap thrill and a cheap price. even for our youth, cartoonish lavender & green dinosaurs skip gleefully in homoerotic psychedelic fantasias with pink teletubbies sporting full triangular symbology. in music, we can’t help but notice sisqo the flaming dragon, platinum blonde in shiny sequenced outfits, breathe fire while declaring his faux machismo with a hard, sexy and tough DMX like twan and blain in a men on hip-hop skit. hated it.

"wait a minute! they crossed the line now! you mean to tell me DMX is doing songs with sisqo!?! until recently, hip-hop had been safe, at least from all outward displays of frilliness. although there has been speculation as to the inclinations of LL, Dre, Meth & Red, DMX, Puffy & Mase, Latifah, Lyte, Queen Pen, Deadly Venoms, Brat, Q-Tip, Wyclef and countless others i’m sure, no one has "come out" so to speak. hip-hop seems to bite the government rap "don’t ask, don’t tell" although intelligent people know that homosexuality is behind the scenes in every genre of the entertainment industry. right now lesbian imagery is chic for all the videos and the powers that be are well aware of the trends -- they should be, they set them and pass them to the entertainment industry who then pass them on to us.

homosexuality has been a part of their power structure as far back as it goes and today is no different. caesar could’ve been a label owner, king james a distributor, shakespeare a magazine editor and caligula could’ve been uncle luke and invented true bootie music with hip-hop flesh fests resembling roman orgies. hip-hop fashion is fixated ona homosexual dominated industry where Versace symobolizes the epitome of jigginess. in places like atlanta and NY i have seen gays in all the hip-hop gear, baggy FUBU jeans, Timberland boots, complete with frost bit limp wrists. i assume every extreme present in out culture is present in theirs. sellouts, militants, gangstas, etc. enter homo thugs and homo homeboys.

i overstand that every special interest group is clamoring to get a piece of hip-hop pie (now that it’s popular) but can we draw a line somewhere in hip-hop or is it just comap come along now? the floodgates of racial integration in hip-hop have already been opened, but are we ready for the closet doors to fling open like "see me, love me"? can hip-hop handle a sexual revolution, especially a homosexual one? while surfing the net i came across Rainbo Flava, a gay hip-hop crew out of san fran who include white and black gays and lesbians. with aliases like Superdyke 2000 and allegiances to crews like the deep dickollective i think we are in for some shit, no pun intended.

somehow i don’t think MC RuPaul would go over too big and i think the leap from backpackers to fudgepackers might be extreme. gay hip hop sounds as crazy as gay reggae... it ain’t happening. thankfully, hip-hop shares much in common with reggae and the urban environments of jamaica and america have bred Rudeboys and Homeboys who are very protective of their manhood. the boom bap aint’ too far from the boom bye bye and for that reason i believe that hip-hop and reggae will be the toughest battlegrounds from homosexual integrationists.

October 5, 2000

Matador Salutes CMJ The Only Way We Know How: By Charging You Money To Stand In A Crowded Room
The following artists will be playing Matador’s CMJ-related event (we refuse to call it a “showcase” on the grounds that showcases suck. All of them.)

MC Paul Barman
Live Human
The Wisdom Of Harry (U.S. debut)
Pole
Bardo Pond

This massive event will take place Friday evening, October 20th at the Westbeth Theatre on the beautiful lower west side of Manhattan. The between-performance DJ chores will be handled by Mr. Len. All of those in paying attendence will receive a commemorative gift (which may or may not be a ticket stub, depending on our production schedule).

You might recall that several years ago, we celebrated a CMJ-related event by handing out a 7" single box set of unreleased tracks by the evening’s performers, under the catchy title “The Robert Haber Memorial Box Set.” Well, as it turned out, Mr. Haber, the esteemed publisher of CMJ, was not actually deceased. He wasn’t even sick. Imagine our embarrassment. Anyhow, we’d like to apologize to Mr. Haber, his friends and family, and anyone who might’ve been misled by our error. We couldn’t afford a fact-checker back then, but hey, neither can most of the magazines that write about our bands.

Pole live action in the U.S. of fucking A
10.12 LA - El Ray
10.14 SF - CCAC - California College of Arts and Crafts
10.20 NYC - Westbeth Theatre
w/ The Wisdom Of Harry, Live Human, MC Paul Barman, Bardo Pond
10.21 Montreal - Excentris

We would’ve told you sooner, but we need to prove we could keep a secret.

Lesser Live Event — You don’t say?
rednecks indiepunks whiteboys and assholes beware!
TIGERBOMB presents
"bringin’ you the PhatPPC3.6.2 in the 00!!"
featuring:

oval
kid606
lesser
with special guests t.b.c.

sunday october 15th at 7Hz in san francisco
$10

“Mention that youve taken abuse from any of the above artists at the door and get in free!” (There was no definition of “abuse” on the bulk mailing I got, so maybe you can just file this one next to “zero-tolerance policy.” Just pay the $10. - GC)

Sad Rocket Live Event-ish
Andrew Pekler, aka Sad Rockets, will be spinning live at Tonic (107 Norfolk, NYC) on Friday, October 6, 9PM. Free to all 21 and over. With special guests Comae performing a live set and resident DJs Mike Wolf and Timeblind.

Nightmares On Wax — Kicking it around
Hey hey hey, N.O.W. are the latest addition to the excellent DJ Kicks series on Studio K7; The album is out now and features rare stuff from N.O.W., A Tribe Called Quest, Kenny Dope, DJ Premier and others.

To add to the list of things that
members of Come are doing:
Thalia Zedek will perform a set at Threadwaxing Space on Tuesday Oct. 3rd. Accompanying her on viola/violin will be David Michael Curry of the Willard Grant Conspiracy. Both Thalia and Chris Brokaw recently performed with David’s Empty House Cooperative at the Middle East. Chris played guitar and Thalia played flute. Arrive early (8:00) for the T.W’ing space, as the various performers (readings, spoken words, music etc.) will be doing short sets at unconfirmed times. Expect to hear her excellent version of Leonard Cohen’s “Dance Me to the End of Love.” Thalia is also (tbc) on a bill with Evan Dando on October 18th at the Brattle Theatre in Harvard Sq., Cambridge, MA. Look in the tour dates update for more TZ and CB-related shows. Meanwhile we wait patiently for the live return of Come....

Solex — Archived, for your pleasure
If you somehow missed the recent Solex Peel session, there’s no need to hang yourself (unless, of course, there’s something else bothering you). The entire performance can be heard, for the next few weeks at least, at the BBC website

News flash —
Person who isn’t on Matador appears on record
Deanna Varagona, who many people know as “that girl who plays horns in Lambchop,” has a new record called ‘Tangled Messages’ on the Star Star Stereo label out of Millwaukee Wisconson. The sharp eyed people out there may have noticed Deanna’s contribution (along w/other Lambchopers) to Yo La Tengo’s cover of the Bonzo Dog Band’s “Ready-Mades” on the You Can Have It All 7"/CD5 (OLE-439). And although she no longer works for them we loved her in the role of Chicago area Sales Represenative for DNA. The record also features contributions from many people from bands that people have heard of.

Dave Martin reports:
“Out now on Mille Plateaux is Bit Sand Riders a Pluramon remix album. Mogwai remixes ‘Hintergrund’ and Matmos also fuck w/‘Hintergrund’ adding banjo, toy piano and a bunch of other crap. The record also features such names as: High Llamas, Lee Ranaldo, SND, Merzbow, FX Randomiz, Sensorama, Hecker, Atom and Pluramon them/himself. It isn’t as good as the ‘regular’ Pluramon records, but it is listenable all the same.”

“Also, Pluramon are playing at the Knitting Factory this Tuesday, October 3 w/Kid 606 and Datatchi and they are playing an instore at Other Music on Monday night. They will have a drummer, but it will not be Jaki Liebezeit.”

P5 — They are smoking (but you shouldn’t be?)
Starting 9/28 Pizzicato Five’s “Concerto” will be heard in thetruth.com television commercial, “The Beach,” presumably better than the film of the same, but possibly not as good as the book that Donovan claimed was so good. The ad will be showing across the United States, denoucing the evils of nicotine.

Observational/tastes from staff & artistic types:

Helen Rush (Matador Records)
Listening:
Groundhogs - "Split" (Liberty)
Double Leopards - "The Axe Helve"
(Heavy Conversation) (vinyl only)
Hall Of Fame "S/T" (Siltbreeze)
The Incredible String band -
"The Chelsea Sessions 1967" (Pigs Whisker Music)
Art Ensemble of Chicago -
"Les Stances a Sophie" (Universal Sound)
Burkhard Stangl/Christof Kurzmann - "schnee" (erstwhile)

Live:
PG six live at Tonic (NYC) -- Pat Gublar performing solo.
Dean Roberts (w/ Alan Licht, Matt Valentine & Tim Barnes) live at Tonic (NYC)

Film:
My Best Fiend dir. Werner Herzog

Books:
Well most Philip K. Dick, I haven’t been able to kick the habit for a few years now. My favorite pulp/sci fi author I guess.

MC Paul Barman
Rap-related rhymes that rhyme with "Hey you":
debut (EP, "It’s Very Stimulating")
Jeru (The Damager)
Stay True (Ghostface song, Supreme Clientele)
K.U. (Khaos Unique, Del’s hype man)

Jesper Eklow, Matador Records
Sad Rockets - Transition
I really hope people have enough of the olde attention span to get to the end of the rainbow and pick up the goddam pot of gold that is track 12. "Half-Tone Freeze" and track 13. "Twenty-Seven".

Robin Williamson - Mirrorman’s Sequences DBL CD
Being an ex-member of Incredible String Band used to be a crime, here’s one case where history actually changed reality or the other way around. Lot’s of people try it these days, not too many (as in zero) succeed.

Crushed Butler - Uncrushed 10"
Still a hit, I guess people raving over the lame stylings of JPT Scare Band haven’t heard this or ’Split’, Morgen, ’Ballpower’, ’Rock’n’Roll Outlaw’, Troyka - the list is endless, as good boogie should be.

Spoon - Love Ways CD EP
The long-awaited return of the band with the weirdest label-ambivalence history I can think of. Awesome stuff, but what’s up with the reverb/echo/room feel on EVERYTHING?

Piero Camporesi - The Fear of Hell and all the others too for that matter (Land of Hunger, Juice of Life, Bread of Dreams, Incorruptible Flesh etc etc) - just as minblowing/ spellbinding/ petrifying the second time around, best writer around since Calvino fell off the chair, and Camporesi isn’t even writing fiction!

Church of Naradhama - Ken Brenninger - the man, his music, the voicemail message... they sound like the stuff between songs on ’Space Ritual’, strange and out of touch. perfect.

FUCK YOU: Eminem, Calexico. Same type of pathetic hack job, but at least one is a lot richer than the other (a lot younger too).

Dick Cheney —
Beats he hopes to be pumping in Air Force 2 (someday)

M.O.T.O. - "I’m On Top Of The World On Top Of The World"
GG Allin & The Murder Junkies - "Legalize Murder"
N2Deep - "Back To The Hotel"
Terre Thaemlitz - "Selling"
Saccharine Trust - "We Don’t Need Freedom"
The Feederz - Teachers In Space (album)
Robbie Williams - Sing When You’re Winning (album)
Stone Temple Pilots - 4 (album)
Zagar & Evans - "Aftermath"