Matador Records | News November 2002

Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks - new album in March
OK. Now we're getting dizzy. March '03 will mark the release of the 2nd album from former Pavement visionary Stephen Malkmus. This time around, the contributions of Joanna Bolme (bass) and John Moen (drums) are formally noted in a hey-check-it-out way, in that this is not being touted by us as a "solo" album because it isn't. SM & Jicks are very much a band and we don't mean in "band" in the way Rudy Sarzo got the Whitesnake job because he looked ok getting his hair blown around in a video. If you've seen the Jicks over the past 2 years you already know what we're talking about. If not, the forthcoming 'Pig Lib' CD/LP might make you rethink SM's past and present musical oeuvre if not your feelings about guitar playing (and how they were formed). This is brave stuff. Just because Stephen makes it look and sound easy doesn't mean it is easy (and no, that doesn't mean we're inviting you to try it yourself).

We'll have more news about this album, Jicks touring and other things very soon. Keep in mind that the Jicks are curating the September 2003 edition of All Tomorrow's Parties at beautiful Asbury Park, NJ.

Cornelius - remix contest
Cornelius' official site, has launched a contest in which the individual tracks from 'Point' are being offered as source material for you, your friends, whoever, to remix. Winning entries might end up on a future Cornelius release (at least that's the idea). For all the rules and entry details, go here.

In other Cornelius news, there's talk of a series of US shows early next summer, including an appearance at the Matt Groening-curated LA edition of All Tomorrow's Parties. More news to follow.

Large Professor - (flying) First Class
Large Pro made his UK debut last weekend at London's packed 93 Feet East. He also managed to make appearances on XFM's "All City" program and visited Kiss FM, BBC's 1Xtra and chatted non-stop with dj's and journalists from all over Europe.

We're hopeful Large Professor will be taking the 'First Class' show on the road in 2003,but prior to that we're looking forward to a video for "Radioactive" which should be available for viewing on this site in the weeks ahead.

For more background on this pioneering artist, check out the Large Professor/Nas cover story in the latest issue of 'Mass Appeal'. Or, to find out for real why this hip hop legend is only getting started, you can hear a real audio stream of the Large Professor mix CD.

Interpol - NYC dates, new single
Following the completion of their first full-scale US and European tours in support of one of 2002's hottest albums,'Turn On The Bright Lights', Interpol have confirmed 3 Christmas shows back home in NYC.

12/19 - Bowery Ballroom (w/ The Caulfield Sisters) 16+
12/20 - Bowery Ballroom (w/ Calla) 18+
12/21 - Bowery Ballroom (w/ The Caulfield Sisters and The Stills) 12+

That's the good news. The bad news is that these shows might already be sold out, so you'd better move fast. Also check the tour update for other dates in the US in December. Another full tour is planned for January-February.

A UK-only 7"/CDS of "Obstacle 1" with non-album b-sides is currently available on Matador. If you are in North America, you can order it from the Matador Store.

And if you are in Europe, you can order it from the newly established Matador Mail Order at Beggars Group UK.

If you are anywhere else, you can order it from the webstore location nearest to you! The single will also be available on import from US stores who deal with Matador direct.

A video for "PDA" can be viewed here.

Finally, congratulations to Interpol's Daniel Kessler on being picked as one of the NME's 50 Coolest People in rock. Even if the concept of a "50 Coolest" list is totally juvenile and most of the other candidates were totally predictable.

Preston School Of Industry - Spiral writes.
"Hello from Seattle. It's cold, but everyone up here keeps saying oh, it's a El Nino year, at least it wont rain that much. I hit the North late September to follow my beautiful wife in her quest to be a lifelong student. Ha, tried the student route once, dropped out instead to follow the Bunnymen, but that's another story altogether. Besides helping out with the wife's homework, I'll be working on a new Preston School of Industry record, which I'm hoping will be done by the end of the year, that's if the drywall in the basement gets finished. Speaking of PSOI, we're all still buzzing from that Wilco tour we recently did. Hopefully it'll translate into something as good for us as that Wilco record is. Hey, maybe we'll get Tweedy to play harmonica on it, that's if he still likes us, especially after my sorry Iggy Pop imitation at the last Wilco show, my naked chest is in no way and will never be as hard as Iggy's. Seriously, I'd like to thank all who bought the record and came to see us this past year.

"Speaking of my nakedness, you all have to check out the new Pavement Slow Century DVD just released. It has all of the Pavement videos and non-videos on there. Plus there's a 60 minute documentary with lots of cool live footage, interviews, commentary from the band and directors, and of course me getting naked at the West Virginia Lollapalooza. Not to be missed. Speaking of the Pavies and since this is the 10th anniversary of Slanted and Enchanted, Matador Records are releasing a deluxe re-issue cd which includes Slanted, Watery Domestic, singles, b-sides and rarities (an unreleased Spiral song), compilation tracks, a live show from '92 and 2 Peel sessions that were recorded around this time. It all comes in a beautiful 2 cd package with extensive liner notes and photos from the vaults (my garage). Worth it dude. Another thing that's worth it is the new Panty Lions record we just released on Amazing Grease Records. Panty Lions is Ashod and Arianna from the band Earlimart. We put out So Dang Rad a few months ago and it's still sounding good. They even recorded an old Pavie song. SO CHECK IT OUT. Anyway, thanks for listening and I hope to talk to you again when 1. it rains, 2. my basement gets finished, or 3. Wilco ask me to be their permanent bell soloist.

"Bye,
"Spiral"

Thalia Zedek
Thalia has a new CD EP available from the Kimchee label, a six-song collection called 'You're A Big Girl Now'. Recorded during the summer of 2002 with David Michael Curry and Daniel Coughlin, the CD includes Velvet Underground and Bob Dylan covers along with 4 new Zedek originals.

Yo La Tengo
(the following was swiped from http://www.yolatengo.com) :

"We are very happy to announce that we will be playing all 8 nights of Hanukkah again this year, at Maxwell's in Hoboken, NJ. Last year was the first time we did this, and it went so well we decided to do it again. The 2001 shows each featured a special opening act (Yung Wu, Lambchop, +/-, Antietam, Hypnolovewheel, Zusaan Kali Fasteau, Annie Hayden, Consonant), a special comedy act (David Greenberger, Todd Barry, Janeane Garofalo, David Cross, Jon Benjamin, Jon Glaser, The Upright Citizens Brigade, Penn Jillette w/ Gilbert Gottfried and Paul Provenza), and special guests sitting in with us during our sets (Terry Adams from NRBQ played our whole set with us opening night, Jon Spencer played guitar & sang with us for our whole set closing night; in between, Kurt Wagner sang "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You" and "Jeepster" by two of the many great Jewish songwriters we spotlighted, and Todd Barry rocked the house on drums, to name but a few). We calculate that we played close to 900 different songs over the course of those gigs. All the proceeds from each show went to a different charity, as did the money from the 2 special t-shirt designs (by Steven Hunking of Hypnolovewheel) we had made for the occasion.

"This year we will be including a brand new 3-song Christmas CDEP in the ticket price. That's right, Christmas. Where are the good Hanukkah songs? For crying out loud. Anyways, we'll be at Maxwell's from Friday November 29-Saturday December 6. Tickets are officially on sale as of now (stay tuned for the full schedule of charities, opening acts, comics, and special guests, to be updated as soon as we know, ourselves). Maxwell's only holds about 200 people, so act fast. We hope to see you there. (Tickets are on sale at Other Music in NYC, Tunes in Hoboken, at Ticketmaster elsewhere, and if you're from overseas, but planning on Hanukkahing in these parts, we recommend contacting Maxwell's at www.maxwellsnj.com.)"

in slightly less joyous news, the brand new Yo La Tengo "Nuclear War" 12"/CD EP (coming November 18) received the following review from noted music historian Sarah Dempster:

"Jazz. Huh. What is it good for? Absolutely nothing, if this streak of
smug avant-wankery is anything to go by. As befits a cover of a song written by overrated jazz waster Sun Ra."

Nice to know that an entire musical genre can be so easily dismissed, not to mention such a succinct assessment of Sun Ra (admittedly his contributions don't nearly rival those of say, Bobby Gillespie or the Libertines) but hey, we're _all about_ learning.

The Soft Boys
If you want to check out the band's recent live broadcast on WFMU, here's the link to the archived broadcast.

There's also a new Soft Boys 7-song CD EP of outtakes from the recent 'Nextdoorland' album ; 'Side Three'. You can purchase your copy at http://www.thesoftboys.com.

Soft Boys guitarist Kimberley Rew is making a rare solo appearance at London's Spitz on November 29.