April 14, 2003

Yo La Tengo:
The release of 'Summer Sun' was celebrated amidst a brutal snowstorm this past Monday evening when Yo La Tengo dj'd at New York's Other Music. Beers were served, autographs were signed, much shrinkwrap was torn.

As we prepare for 'Summer Sun's probable high entry in hearts, charts and minds everywhere, Ira, Georgia and James have already begun their most important tour (until the next one):

Thurs April 10 Music Factory, Columbus OH Fri April 11 Southgate House, Cincinnati OH Sat April 12 Beachland Ballroom, Cleveland OH Mon April 14 The Phoenix, Toronto ONT Tues April 15 Cabaret, Montreal QC Wed April 16 The Roxy, Boston MA Fri April 18 Trocadero, Philadelphia PA Sat April 19 930 Club, Washington DC Sun April 20 Recher Theater, Baltimore MD Tues April 22 Toad's Place, New Haven CT Weds April 23 Academy of Music, Northhampton, MA Thurs April 24 Lupo's, Providence RI Fri April 25 Beacon Theatre, NYC

(support on the above: Portastatic)

Sun 4 May Half Moon, Cork Ireland
Mon 5 May Ambassador, Dublin Ireland
Wed 7 May Shepherds Bush Empire, London also with Capitol K
Fri 9 May Paradiso Main Hall, Amsterdam
Sat 10 May Ancienne Belgique, Brussels Belgium
Sun 11 May Kantine, Koln Germany
Tue 13 May Maria Am Ufer, Berlin Germany
Wed 14 May Vox Hall, Arhus Denmark
Thu 15 May Rockefeller, Oslow Norway
Sat 17 May KB, Malmo, Sweden
Sun 18 May Fabrik, Hamburg German
Mon 19 May Feierwerk, Munich Germany tickets here
Tue 20 May Mousonturm, Frankfurt Germany
Thu 22 May Arena, Madrid Spain also with the Go-Betweens
Fri 23 May Primavera, Barcelona Spain with Teenage Fanclub, Belle & Sebastian and others
Sat 24 May Sala Azkena, Vitoria Spain
Mon 26 May Hiroshima, Turin Italy
Tue 27 May Velvet, Rimini Italy
Wed 28 May Link, Bologna Italy

(all dates through 5/23 with M. Ward in support)

Fri June 6: Majestic Theatre, Detroit MI
Sat June 7: Riviera Theater, Chicago
Sun/Mon June 8-9: First Avenue, Minneapolis MN
Wed June 11: Denver, CO (venue to be announced)
Fri June 13: Showbox, Seattle WA
Sat June 14: Crystal Ballroom, Portland OR
Sun June 15: Vogue Theater, Vancouver BC
Mon June 16 - to be announced
Wed-Fri June 18-20: The Fillmore, San Francisco CA
Sat June 21 - All Tomorrow's Parties, Hollywood Palladium, LA CA

(The Clean support through June 18)

Interpol:

Just one happy loving family gathered backstage at Irving Plaza in March.

Following Interpol's appearances on the cover of Magnet and the New Musical Express, some pundits have criticised Matador's use of embedded reporters during the band's campaign. And while it is true that allowing journalists to travel with Interpol and observe their difficult tasks at such close proximity lends itself to particularly biased coverage, we at America's Favorite Record Company would prefer to see it as the natural result of what happens when we extend our subscription to both publications. (for 3000 years).

Interpol have a big list of famous bands they'll have to blow off the stage at Coachella in a few weeks time, following that they'll be preparing for some US radio festivals and appearances at the Glastonbury, Reading and Leeds festivals throughout the summer. Paul, Carlos, Daniel and Sam can have some time off very soon. Once we're done cloning them.

Arab Strap:
Arab Strap continue their huge tour with Bright Eyes - see the tour page for all the dates.
And in case we didn't mention it, Bright Eyes' Conor Oberst also plays on this wonderful album, as does Mogwai's Barry Burns.

Stephen Malkmus and The Jicks:
Damn, that 'Pig Lib' album is off to a fast start. We're hearing reports of supplies running low and chaotic scenes of lawlessness in our nation's retailers - though perhaps we're getting this mixed up with that Interpol story.

Part Two of the Stephen Malkmus trivia contest is up, with nine fiendishly difficult questions submitted by Malkmus/Pavement fans, chosen out of 946 by Patrick Amory and Jesper Eklow, and vetted as accurate by SM himself.

We'll see if anyone actually is able to answer all 9!

Remember, the contest is closed to Matador employees, I suggested closing it to Spin Art employees too, but we can't find any legal reason to do so. Grand prize is an Apple iPod supplied by smalldog.com.

Mogwai - Happy Songs, unhappy times:
As we struggle to find a match for "blinding silver" in our color wheel, the absolutely epic 'Happy Songs For Happy People' inches ever closer to June 9 release. The new look Mogwai website launches this weekend and if that isn't a good excuse to bust out the malt liquor and fudge than how about this: there's nothing on the television but brutal atrocities and people lying!

Miwa Okumura tells the tale of the New Pornographers visiting NYC, and Chan Marshall making her network TV debut:
Carl Newman, Kurt Dahle, and Blaine Thurier were recently in NYC doing press; at the same time, Chan Marshall was coming into town for her performance on CBS' "Late Night With David Letterman" (though since he was afflicted with shingles, Dave stayed home and let Paul Shaffer run the show).

We brought the parties together for an evening of karaoke at our local East Village spot where Takaaki, the manager, now greets us by first name.

Not exactly a Star Search audition here, but we had Blaine on one end belting out traditional Japanese pop songs and on the other end, shock and awe from the audience. "That white guy is...?? Oh, he's good."

Kurt doesn't sing but supplies good sound effects. Chan picks Billie Holiday. Carl is concentrating hard on the song book. It's about 12:40pm and we hear Blaine saying something like this to Takaaki: "sumimasen, kanojo (points to Chan who is sitting low in her chair with her baseball cap covering her eyes), sugu David Letterman (points to TV monitor)... someone's shouting "I Shot the Sheriff" until the bar manager cuts her off and forces everyone to direct their eyes to guest host, Paul Shaffer, who introduces Cat Power. Inside sources say he ran over to console her: "It'll be okay, you'll be alright."

The evening continues and ends with Mr. Newman serenading us all with a lovely rendition of "Love on the Rocks." I've got to hand it to them (the mic, that is), these guys may not be playing the MGM Grand anytime soon, but they sure do it right.

Chan takes the next flight back meet up with her bandmates in Athens and the NP guys get airlifted back to Vancouver.

(Management note: we're slashing the karaoke budget as soon as possible)

Dead Meadow:
After a particularly sick sojurn to Austin, TX, minds were expanded, blown and then expanded again during Dead Meadow's SXSW gigs. The only power trio are preparing for a European promo trip in advance of the June release for 'Shivering King and Others". Dead Meadow will be playing London's Metro on Saturday, May 12, with more events to be announced shortly.

Aereogramme:
Currently crisscrossing the USA in support of the delgados. Make sure not to miss them - the live experience is ferocious and memorable.

M. Ward checking in:
"hi. travels is happening starting this weekend around the u.s.a. with vic chesnutt (www.mergerecords.com/events) and the name of his band is the Amorphous Strums - and then, barring whatever, i will reach lower Ireland in time to support yo la tengo through the upper portions of greater europe - and then drift off down and into australia where something new will happen ===hope it should go w/out saying that its always nice to see everyone everywhere...."

JSBX - Standing Up For The Right To Play A Sitdown Venue.
What could be better than seeing The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion at NY's Beacon Theatre? Seeing Cheap Trick play their cavalcade of hits 15 or 20 minutes after the Blues Explosion have left the stage to a standing ovation. If the headliners can avoid all songs from "The Doctor", it could be a perfect night.

Mark Eitzel reports:

"Uhm - for me same as last time - A tour of Spain/ Portugal in April and May- then work with Howie B in London in May. Then back to America to finish my new record - currently being recorded with Jay Bennet. Then - perhaps a tourwith Jesse Harris. Then -negotiations are now on to record another American Music Club record in June/ July - just in time for the series of Jihad terrorist attacks that will cripple the country, destroy its economy and turn it into the most terrifying fascist state the world has ever known. In order to please Clear Channel all the new AMC songs will have the theme of 'fucking' 'fighting' and 'buying' expensive consumables. Sad Songs decrying addiction are to be replaced with rallying cries promoting it. (Management Note: not only will Mr. Eitzel's missive pretty much guarantee he's not getting into the Baseball Hall of Fame --- as a visitor, even --- but we're very worried that his character on "The West Wing" might be recast in favor of Donna Reed).

J Lesser writes:
Well... the Lesser record is finished and titled 'Suppressive: Acts I-X' and is a bit of a tribute to my father who died over the holidays. In keeping with the Lesser 'something for nothing, or close to nothing' ethic the CD also includes the entire "Robotic" album, which was my early 90s fake early 80s (think men without hats) band, in mp3 format.

I'm beginning to look into the possibly of doing a bit of touring this summer with bLevin bLectum and Wobbly, which would be a fun touring party so i know this outing will be good. I got the word that i need to come up with a Matmos remix soon.

re: new addition to our household - the day after my pop died, bLevin and I adopted Keeki -- a sweet white-capped pionus parrot and Peeper -- the cockatiel confirmed her female status by laying a clutch of 3 (so far) eggs. Finches Drew and Martin remain nonplused.

btw - sorry about the lesser website but i am doing what little i can to stop this inane war.

The Wisdom Of Harry:
"We've been playing music in our shed and working up songs from our forthcoming album, 'Torch Division', as well as some older stuff and covers from Randy Newman, The Blue Orchids, Richard Hell & Anne Briggs.

The new line up is:

Pete Astor - guitar, electronics & singing
David Sheppard - drums
Tom Hodges - baritone & soprano sax, harmonica

& we'll be playing live at the following places & times:

May 16th at the Betsy Trotwood Farringdon Road, London EC2 with Alan Tyler & the Lost Men of Littlefield and Darren Hayman playing records

May 20th at the Buffalo Bar, Highbury Corner, Islington, London N1 with the Chap.

Listening Habits & Assorted Lists of Record Company Types & The People Who Make The Magic Happen:

Stephen Malkmus
records good:
gorkys minci singles collection.
aslan second helping,
pavement covers compilation (especially appendix out, lunch box gangster and pranksters, boxstep - stop breathin, silkworm,
yuppie flu concert in Milan
kansas lookin good in ncaas,
everton solid in the premiership,

Jesper Eklow, Matador Records
Speed, Glue & Shinki - Eve CD (WEA Japan)
Speed, Glue & Shinki - s/t DBL CD (WEA Japan)
Folke Rabe/Bo Anders Persson - Va!!??/Proteinimperialism LP (Wergo France)
Peter Green - The End of the Game LP (Reprise US)
MC5 - A True Testimonial VHS (Future/Now)
Paula Wolfert - The Cooking of South-West France BOOK (Dial Press)

Miwa Okumura, Matador Records
Top SXSW moments that I can recall:

--I check into my hotel room and immediately noticed they gave me the key to an occupied room (SXSW canvas bag sprawled on what was suppose to be my bed was a pretty big giveaway). Went to the lobby and mumbled how careless a move that was and advised them to not do airport security.
--The unveiling of barbecue meat and sausage off the trunk of Patrick's rental car and consuming it with certain members of YLT (this is after we
just ate a 16 ounce sirloin).
--The cab ride back from the Arthur Magazine party located above a Grateful Dead shop where our driver tells us which shows on which night on which
label we should check out while blaring Todd Rundgren and "What?? You missed"A Mighty Wind," that new Christopher Guest film??!!!" [we don't get these sorts of engaging conversations with cab drivers in new
york city.]
--Pretty Girls Make Graves!!!

Dave Martin, Matador Records
1. Cobra Verde - Easy Listening (Muscle Tone) I just can't stop listening to this. Easily as good as the first CV record, Viva La Muerte and one of the best records of this year. Easy! (http://www.cobraverde.com/)
2. Deadly Snakes - Ode To Joy (In The Red) 3rd fantastic record in a row from this, once again, all Canadian line up of the Deadly Snakes. For these guys to lose a member like Greg Oblivion and not lose any ground is just about the highest praise I could give them. Essential!
3. Clone Defects - Shapes Of Venus (In The Red) Distorted: Sonically, Phsyically, Emotionally. These guys nail it.
4. Dan Melchior's Broke Revue New 12" + Unreleased stuff + the older albums too. These days anybody releasing an all covers record is gonna raise an eyebrow or two from me, but Mr. Melchior and crew come through in fine fashion on their 12", they've also been hard at work on a new record that I've heard some of and it is fantastic.
5. Subsonics A Lot To Forget (Slovenly) Straight outta the "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!" school Atlanta Georgia's most deranged band returns with a great new album. Over the course of the past ten years or so they've mangaed to release 5 albums of primative, Velvet Underground on speed action that is light years removed from most of the "garage rock" that people love to talk about. The Subsonics are the real deal!
6. Modey Lemon Enemy/Crows/ Six Minutes Of Blackness Dbl 7" (In The Red) - What would a top ten from me be without the Modey Lemon on it? This should hold you over until the new Modey Lemon album later in the Spring. Two new songs (that actually will pale to the album versions once you hear them) the otherwise unavailable "Six Minutes of Blackness" that is fantastic. Plus a reissue of the extremely limited first 7." All in one handy package.
(http://www.themodeylemon.com/basepage.html)
7. Voi Vod - S/T CD (Chophouse) I know that a new Voi Vod album w/Jason Newsted on bass(!?!?!?) sounds as appealing as going to war or something, but this is amazingly solid and if it weren't just a bit too long I'd say it was downright great.ï
8. Television - Live & Live at the Academy NYC 12-4-92 CD (Ohoo) Even with the PHD candidates in the crowd (Hey, I Love the Dead Boys, I just don't wanna talk about during a show) I had a great time. Lots of guitar weedilidge and then some. The Live CD is a CDR they were selling and it's pretty great. A bit heavy on the S/T Capitol stuff, but that had just come out so what do you expect.
9. Pere Ubu The Shape Of Things (Hearpan) Two live sets from April 7th, 1976. Lots of talking between songs (mostly from the audience.) All the hits plus a choice (pre-redundency era of course) selection of covers.
10. Thomas Brinkmann It Was Never You/Tina 12" & Mix CD (Max Ernst)ï Pretty straight forward, crowd pleasing type stuff, but pretty great as well.

The Wisdom Of Harry:
Most influential gigs:

David
Kraftwerk - The Lyceum, London - 1982 (http://www.kraftwerk.com)
Tom Waits - The Dominion, London - 1984
Josef K - Heaven, Charing X, London, 1981
Jonathan Richman - Dingwalls, Camden, London, 1984
Tom Verlaine - Electric Ballroom, Camden, London, 1984

Tom
Buddy Rich Big Band, Folkestone Leas Cliff Hall 1983
Rico Rodrigues and Laurel Aitken, George Robey 1990
Ween, Astoria 2001
Kurt Wagner, Water Rats 2001
Townes Van Zandt, Union Chapel 1994

Pete
Autechre - Trumans Brewery 2001
Neutral Milk Hotel - The Garage 1999 (http://neutralmilkhotel.net/)
Dick Gaughan - Middlesex Poly 1984
The Pop Group - Electric Ballroom 1982
Throbbing Gristle - Centro Iberico 1979 (http://www.brainwashed.com/tg/

Mike Holdsworth, Matador Records
recent repeated listening

the saints - wild about you
the clash - the clash
michael hurley - blueberry wine
calexico - feast of wire
white stripes - elephant (http://www.whitestripes.com)
jakob - subset of sets
sugar minott - ghetto-ology + dub

current events listening

kill for peace - the fugs
masters of war - bob dylan
black steel - tricky
tribal war - little roy

J Lesser
Listening to:
Slammin' Chinglish fo that ass - repeats about once an hour
Listen at: http://shoutcast.com/sbin/shoutcast-playlist.pls?rn=4947484&file=filename.pls
Shirley & Spinoza
The Superbowl is Gay
The Quiet American

Christy Simpson, Matador Records
1. Yeah Yeah Yeahs "Fever to Tell"
2. Fresh Kills "Here for the Backlash"
3. The Roots "Phrenology"
4. Calla "Televise"
5. Subsonics " A Lot to Forget"

Mark Ohe, Matador Records
ten objects on my office desk:

1) one unused pair of black leather shoelaces (made in u.s.a.)
2) a wiley coyote fabric patch (purchased in 1968)
3) an empty bottle of 200mg milk thistle softgel capsules
4) a, country joe and the outlaw band, flyer (now out of date)
5) a pair of knock off ray ban "square aviators"
6) scrap of paper with pete jamison's phone number
7) a magazine article title, "going wild with blueberries"
8) a four cd set of, velvet underground, bootlegs
9) four 60 minute mini-dv tapes of ice climbing & ravens
) half full cup of coffee (still warm)

Patrick Amory, Matador Records

Les Petits Chanteurs de l'Ile de France et Renée Caron - Rondes et
chansons de France, troisième série (Philips LP)
Haydn - Symphony No. 49 (Leslie Jones & the Little Orchestra of
London) (Nonesuch LP)
Finbar and Eddie Furey - Finbar and Eddie Furey (Transatlantic LP)
Tim Rose - Love, A Kind of Hate Story (Capitol LP)
Folque - Kjempene på Dovrefjell (Philips LP)
Alun Ashworth-Jones - Al Jones (Parlophone LP)
Mark Radice - Save Your Money/Wooden Girl (RCA 7")
The Peelers - Banished Misfortune (Polydor Folk Mill LP)
Steamhammer - Steamhammer (Bellaphon LP)
Bill Fay - Bill Fay (Deram Nova LP)
The Nice - The Thoughts of Emerlist Davjack (Immediate LP)
Yes - The Yes Album (Atlantic LP)

Gerard Cosloy, Matador Records
Califone - Quicksand/Cradlesnakes (Thrill Jockey) (http://www.perishablerecords.com/)
Bob Hund - 10 år bakåt & 100 år framåt (Silence) (http://www.bobhund.com/)
Dump - A Grown-Ass Man (Shrimper)
Undertones - True Confessions / A's & B's (Castle)
50 Cent - Da Club (Shady/Aftermath)
Various - Estate (Ai Records) (http://www.airecords.com/)
Sole - Selling Live Water (Anticon) (http://www.anticon.com/)
The Playwrights - Good Beneath The Radar (Sink & Stove) (http://www.theplaywrights.co.uk)
Damien Jurado - Where Shall You Take Me? (Secretly Canadian) (http://www.damienjurado.com/)
Styrofoam - A Heart Without A Mind EP (Morr Music)
Murs - End Of The Beginning (Def Jux)
Calexico - "Not Even Stevie Nicks" (Quarterstick)
Thalia Zedek - "Everything Unkind" (Kimchee)