Matador Records | News September

October 30, 2003

Matador Records and XL Recordings announce Dizzee Rascal release in US
* FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE *

Matador Records and XL Recordings are pleased to announce that we will jointly be releasing the acclaimed debut album by Dizzee Rascal, 'Boy In Da Corner' in the US this January.

18 years of age and hailing from East London, Dizzee's unique hybrid of hip-hop, drum & bass and UK garage coupled with his explosive real-life tales of street crime, poverty, sex and guns, are a combination unlike any MC we've heard --- underground or over. 'Boy In Da Corner' has been a major worldwide hit since its release last summer, and this past September, Dizzee was awarded the UK's Mercury Music Prize, beating out the likes of Coldplay, Radiohead and the Darkness.

some selected reviews :

Dizzee Rascal: Boy in da Corner
(XL)
Alexis Petridis
Friday July 18, 2003
The Guardian

Many people have become pop stars without possessing any relevant qualifications. They have carved out their own niches - jobs that enable them to hog the spotlight without the bothersome irrelevancies of singing, playing or writing songs. They are rock and pop's spare parts. Some have vanished into obscurity, such as Bob Markley, a millionaire who bankrolled 1960s psychedelicists the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band on the condition that he could be their tambourine player. Others are legendary, including the Happy Mondays' dancer Bez and Public Enemy's scowling Professor Griff.

No figure, however, sums up the spare part more completely than the British MC. No one really seems to know where MCs came from, but by the early 1990s they were everywhere, ruining perfectly good records by bellowing inanities over the top of them. "Sounds of the DJ!" they would cry, imparting vital information to ravers who thought they were dancing to the military band of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards.

Since the rise of garage, MCs have become stars in their own right, apparently without any corresponding improvement in what they do. With the exception of the Streets' Mike Skinner - whose style has more in common with the streetwise witticisms of the late Ian Dury than his garage peers - MCs' lyrics still tend to be embarrassingly gauche, as evidenced by the witless hectoring of So Solid Crew.

Under the circumstances, Dylan Mills seems an entirely unique figure. An 18-year-old MC, he has risen through the garage scene as a member of the Roll Deep Crew, an east London equivalent to So Solid. There, however, the similarity ends. On the evidence of Mills's debut album as Dizzee Rascal, he not only has something to say, he has the intellectual equipment to say it in a remarkably original way.

Before you get to the lyrics, however, there is the sound of the album to overcome. Mills allegedly honed his production style after being excluded from every school lesson other than music. Boy in da Corner certainly appears to have been born in isolation. It sounds like nothing else - which is surprising in a time when some people seem to think that rock and pop are trapped in a kind of terminal postmodernity, eternally doomed to borrow from the past.

Presumably, they haven't heard 'Boy in da Corner', which appears to borrow from nothing other than the terrifying sound inside Mills's head. Disjointed electronic pulses pass for rhythms. Above them lurch churning bass frequencies, disturbing choruses of muttering voices, clattering synthesisers that recall police sirens and arcade games, and, on forthcoming single Fix Up Look Sharp, bursts of rock guitar. In contrast to the macho swagger of most garage MCs, Mills delivers his rhymes in a frantic, panicked yelp. The overall effect is shocking and unsettling in the extreme.

Shocking and unsettling people may be the point. The lyrics of 'Boy in da Corner' deal with teenage life on an east London council estate, a world of "blanks, skanks and street robbery... pregnant girls who ain't got no love, useless mans with no plans". There is much talk of stabbing and shooting - "We used to fight with kids from the other estates," says Mills on Brand New Day, "now eight millimetres settle debates" - and a distinctly queasy humour on display. I Luv U tackles the subject of underage sex with mordant wit: "Pregnant? What you talking about that for? 15? She's underage, that's raw."

Given that Mills himself was stabbed last week in garage holiday destination Ayia Napa, you suspect that Boy in da Corner is likely to send Kim Howells apoplectic with rage. If it does, however, he's not listening properly. So Solid Crew's lyrics are repugnant not because they talk about violence, but because they explicitly equate violence with success, threatening to "bring the gats" or "take you to the morgue" before bragging about their champagne lifestyle. By contrast, Boy in da Corner depicts a bleak world, devoid of aspiration: no one in their right minds would want to live there. When, on Hold Your Mouf, Mills delivers the album's most striking line - "I'm a problem for Anthony Blair" - it sounds less like thuggish boasting than a despairing statement of fact.

However, whether anybody will listen seems questionable. Both Dizzee Rascal's music and message are wildly unpalatable, and the British record-buying public is not currently renowned for wild risk-taking. If they ignore 'Boy in da Corner', however, they may well be ignoring the most original and exciting artist to emerge from dance music in a decade.

NME:

Dizzee Rascal : Boy In Da Corner (XL)
In 2002, UK Garage's bid for popularity crashed and burned. Acts like More Fire Crew turned out bullish garage-rap LPs with barrels of braggadocio but precious little substance. The likes of Romeoand Lisa Maffia learnt to assimilate or die, stealing into the Top 20 under the guise of nu-R&B. And the talent clung to the scene's underside, hidden, like cockroaches terrified to skitter into the light.

This is where Dizzee Rascal comes in. Dizzeethinks his music sounds "like the end of the world". He's right. It sounds like balaclava-clad gangs of teenagers wiring London's tenement blocks with dynamite and razing them to the ground. The Streets' Mike Skinner says Dizzee Rascal is the future, but Dizzee screams"no future!". Where 'Original Pirate Material' revelled in the wonderment of modern geezerdom, 'Boy In Da Corner' is primed for impending apocalypse.

Dizzee is Dylan Mills, an eighteen-year old rapper-producer from East London. He rose to prominence as a member of UK Garage collective Roll Deep, cites his favourite album as Nirvana's 'In Utero', and claims his music isn't even UK Garage at all. And indeed it isn't: throughout, the tempo sits around 90 BPM, meaning 'Boy In Da Corner' has far more in common with hip-hop than two-step's high-octane rush. But you never heard hip-hop sound this brutal, this alien, this foreign. No, scratch that. This English.

This 'Boy In Da Corner' is trapped like a rat. On 'Sitting Here', Dizzee's an observer, watching ruefully as gunshots rattle and police sirens tear out of the fog. There is terrible violence here - at one point, Dizzee threatens to smash your head in with a metal bar - but there is startling wisdom too. "We used to fight with kids from other estates/ Now eight millimetres settle debates," Dizzee notes, sadly, on 'Brand New Day' - an old head on young shoulders. This freakish mix of frenzy and ennui is a constant through 'Boy In Da Corner'.

'I Luv U' is Dizzee's bloody valentine. It finds him spliffed into a state of hypertension, voice exploding like a bag of firecrackers as he picks over the dire ramifications of a one-night stand: "Pregnant what you talkin' bout this for?/ Fifteen she's under age that's raw". The production here, like much of the album, is truly foreboding: piledriver kickdrum ripped from some head-stoving Dutch gabba white-label; dispassionate female voice intoning the title until it rings hollow, devotion spoke by rote. This jaundiced view of modern relationships is a running theme - 'Round We Go' describes a merry-go-round of loveless sex, charted by a narrator who's had his fingers burnt one time too many.

So many excellent moments left to chart: the staggering 'Fix Up, Look Sharp', riding a stadium rock drum loop so savagely sliced that the silence between the loop yawns like a vacuum, or the truly bizarre 'Jus A Rascal', insane Fiddler On The Roof operatics splashed over every chorus. Suffice to say this: 'Boy In The Corner' is one of the most assured debut albums of the last five years. It's anyone's guess where this one goes next.

-- Louis Pattison
Rating: 9/10

http://www.xlrecordings.com/dizzeerascal/
http://www.dizzeerascal.co.uk

October 10, 2003

Matador signs digital distribution agreement with iTunes Music Store
* FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE *

Matador Records is pleased to announce that major chunks of its extensive catalog -- as well as new releases -- are available as of today from Apple's iTunes Music Store, where, until now, no independent labels have been represented. At an a la carte price of $0.99 per song or for $9.99 for an entire album, cultured music fans in the U.S. (dummies too) can download AAC files of tracks by Interpol, Cat Power, Yo La Tengo, Stephen Malkmus, Mogwai, Guided By Voices, Pretty Girls Make Graves and countless others. Very shortly, the iTunes Store will be available to users of Windows PCs as well.

Said tracks are playable via iTunes 4 on their Mac using OS X, and through Apple's iPod. They can also be burned to CDR as part of self-compiled "mixes".

Matador and iTunes will be adding more new releases and catalog titles every week

Matador Records is a New York based independent label that has been getting the job done since 1989. Part of the Beggars Group family of labels, Matador's catalog includes titles from the above artists as well as Pavement, Pizzicato Five, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Belle & Sebastian, Cornelius, Arab Strap, Matmos, Bardo Pond, Mark Eitzel, Richard Hell, Tommy Keene, Arsonists, Preston School Of Industry and others.

In the months ahead, we hope to make exclusive materials available via the iTunes Music Store, such as previews from forthcoming studio albums, outtakes, live tracks, demo versions, etc.

Matador's metadata and encoded content will be delivered to iTunes via Consolidated Independent (CI), a UK-based company specializing in centralizing and delivering all forms of data for independent labels. CI is a joint venture between playlouder.com and State 51.

For more information please contact Nils Bernstein at Matador.

September 18, 2003

Pretty Girls Make Graves
Hot on the heels of a ridiculously well received European tour with the Blood Brothers, Pretty Girls Make Graves hit the road last week for a US tour in support of 'The New Romance'. Kicking things off in front of delirious (if not overcrowded) audience at Seattle's Sonic Boom Records, the band are proving to fans old and new why their 2nd album is the pick of so many (including some that don't work here) for record-of-the-year. There's another in-store tonight at LA's Virgin Megastore, but check the tour dates for more gigs running through the end of November, most of 'em with Cobra High in tow. December looks like the month for a headlining European club tour, followed by more US shows until you fall in love or the whole band drops dead. Whichever comes first. We should have a video for "This Is Our Emergency" for you to gaze at, any day now.

Guided By Voices - Boxed Up, For Good.

The Five Point One DVD will be packaged with a 12 track CD, PM (for 'Point Mixes'). Said CD features the results of the contest hosted by Cornelius-Sound and Matador last autumn in which participants were invited to remix the tracks from 2002's Point album.

Interpol
As our flashy UK street poster campaign will confirm, the CDS/7" and DVD single of "Obstacle 1" is out today in Great Britain, the former 2 formats featuring the wild Arthur Baker remix. Interpol's biggest North American tour to date commences tomorrow, September 16 in Montreal. One of the highlights is certain to be September 20, at Devore's Hyundai Pavilion when Interpol appear alongside The Cure, Duran Duran, Echo & The Bunnymen and other examples of "they look really good for their age" at KROQ's Inland Invasion.

Another upcoming BIG DEAL event is the Shortlist Music Awards ceremony, taking place at Los Angeles's Wiltern Theatre on October 5. Interpol will be performing alongside fellow Shortlist finalists Cat Power, Damian Rice, The Black Keys and Bright Eyes. Other finalist nominees for this prestigious prize include Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Streets, Cody Chestnutt, Floetry and Sigur Ross. Judges for this beauty contest include Tom Waits, Cameron Crowe, Chris Martin, Perry Farrell, Josh Homme, Amir Thompson, Nic Harcourt, Pete Yorn, The Neptunes, Tori Amos, Mos Def, Dave Matthews, Musiq, Spike Jonze, the Chemical Brothers and Flea. We congratulate them on their excellent taste (assuming Chan or Interpol win). The whole shebang is meant to be broadcast on M2 later in October.

Interpol's NYC date at the Hammerstein Ballroom (October 15) is sold out. A headlining gig at Roseland has just been confirmed for October 21 (tickets go on sale September 16)

Cat Power
As mentioned above, Cat Power's 'You Are Free' is amongst the 9 finalists for the Shortlist Music Awards. But back in the real world, Chan has been bringing it to the good people of Australia recently in her first tour of that country in many a moon. A European tour with the Dirty Three is planned for later this year.

Yo La Tengo
Ira, Georgia and James are in the midst of yet another massive US tour, not only reminding us that 'Summer Sun' remains one of the year's best albums irregardless of season, but the forthcoming 12"/CDEP 'Today is The Day' is further evidence of their broad stylistic range (and ability to turnaround a great EP on short notice). The current tour includes a couple of in-store performances, one this Friday at Austin's terrific 33 Degrees, and another on the 30th of September at Indianapolis' Indy CD & Vinyl. The latter is the source of some small controversy in that the band were promised Isiah Thomas would be on hand and now we have learned he won't be attending. It seems that Zeke had allegedly made a comment to the effect of, "If Yo La Tengo were a four-piece�.they'd be just another quartet." While this remark is undoubtedly insensitive, I am sure the band would've let bygones be bygones and buried the hatchet. Oh well, maybe next time.

The Wisdom Of Harry
The new look TWOH trio are playing London's 12 Bar on October 15, preceded by a Pete Astor sojurn to Paris this week for press and radio promo. In lieu of a big money video budget on behalf of the forthcoming 'Torch Division', world famous cinemaphotographer Gerard Cosloy accompanied the men of The Wisdom Of Harry into the deepest woods of�uh, Muswell Hill, and shot clips for the following :

"Capsule"
"Ladies & Gentlemen"

Matmos - 2 NYC shows this week, and they don't get paid for either one!
We swiped the following info from our friends at WFMU:

MATMOS/PEOPLE LIKE US/DONNA SUMMER playing
BENEFIT for WFMU's Tuesday night DJ, OCDJ, at RARE
in New York City > Thursday, Sept. 18th RARE, 416 West 14th Street
(between 9th and 10th Aves.), New York.
Doors at 8, show at 9pm $10 with all proceeds to OCDJ's medical expenses.

**************************************************

WFMU has organized a show to drum up some medical expenses for our friend and colleague OCDJ (aka Dan Gaeta), a very good guy who incurred a nasty injury to the eye due to stray July 4th fireworks this summer. He's got multiple surgeries ahead in the next year, and no medical insurance. These kind musicians are lending their supreme talents to the bill.

MATMOS
AKA the duo of MC Schmidt and Drew Daniel, their first NYC appearance in a while, on the eve of their long-awaited new Matador release 'The Civil War', September 23rd. In Drew's words: "Drawing upon the heritage of musique concrete and contemporary sampling, sequencing and digital signal processing techniques, the San Francisco electronic duo Matmos make music which is based upon the musical possibilities of unusual sound sources, and the unusual playing possibilities of everyday instruments. Their past recordings have built baroque rhythmic collages out of the noises of plastic surgery, rat cages, balloons and whoopie cushions, latex clothing, walkie talkies and, infamously, the amplified synapse of crayfish nerve tissue. This unusual approach has brought them into collaborations with a diverse cast of musicians from indie rock/new chamber ensemble the Rachel's to Icelandic pop phenomenon Bjork, whose Vespertine album was partially programmed by Matmos and who chose the duo as her backing band for her last world tour.

In performance Matmos veer wildly between toe tapping pop structures and chaotic improvisation, frequently accompanied by their own video work.
More info: http://www.brainwashed.com/matmos/

PEOPLE LIKE US
Under the name People Like Us, Vicki Bennett has been
smash-and-grabbing from the shallows of cultural waters for twelve years. Through the channels of mixed media appropriation and Dadaist collage, People Like Us expose a surreal world of bad connections and faulty communications, where presenters, interviewees, lost stars and found sounds become trapped in a misfiring loop of
reference and repetition. Bellowing a gagged love song in a stifled spew, this mean mash of psychobabble is a window into a world of monotony induced trance.
Using modern tools as afforded by the advent of desktop video/audio manipulation and editing, People Like Us create new landscapes where once were merely soundscapes, with seemingly no limit to the possibilities for new emerging narratives.

Vicki's latest project is a collaborative CD with WFMU's own Kenny G,called "Nothing Special" (after Kenny's show monicker), out on 25 August on Mess Media, through Soleilmoon Recordings.

DONNA SUMMER
Donna Summer (not the disco diva!) lives in Brooklyn, does a program on WFMU called Advanced D&D, and is a world-travelling, record-releasing laptop fiend of the highest order. His performances and releases encompass straightforward electronic hardcore, plunderphonics, drill'n'bass, abstract glitchery, and a severe pop culture jones. His site is
http://www.cockrockdisco.com, and he's recently released a disc called
THIS NEEDS TO BE YOUR STYLE on the Irritant label."

Yeah. Matmos will also be playing at Mondo Kim's (St. Marks Place between 2nd and 3rd avenues, NYC) this coming Friday night, September 19.

Dead Meadow
Just back from their West Coast excursion, Dead Meadow are preparing for a European tour that includes a long stretch of UK dates playing in support of Super Furry Animals.

monday 13 Keele, UK Keele University
with Super Furry Animals
tuesday 14 Southampton, UK Guildhall
with Super Furry Animals
wednesday 15 Newport City, UK Live Arena
with Super Furry Animals
thursday 16 Birmingham, UK Birmingham Academy
with Super Furry Animals
saturday 18 London, UK Brixton Academy
with Super Furry Animals
sunday 19 Bristol, UK Colston Hall
with Super Furry Animals
monday 20 Norwich, UK UEA
with Super Furry Animals
wednesday 22 Manchester, UK Manchester Academy
with Super Furry Animals
thursday 23 Newcastle, UK Newcastle University
with Super Furry Animals
friday 24 Glasgow, Scotland Glasgow Academy
with Super Furry Animals
saturday 25 Leeds, UK Leeds University
with Super Furry Animals

Robyn Hitchcock
Ok, not technically a Matador recording artist but we always do our best to keep abreast of what's happening with the Soft Boys' main guy and all-around entertainer. Robyn as a few US solo gigs forthcoming :

Athens GA October 8th
Club Congress, Tucson, AZ October 17th
Bottom Line NYC, October 31
Portland OR, Aladdin Theatre, November 12th
Seattle Crocodile Nov 15
San Francisco, Great American Nov 17
Hollywood Cafe Largo Nov 22

On October 21, Off Records will be releasing 'Wig In A Box', a extension of the Hedwig & The Angry Itch musical/film. This features a new song of Robyn's "City Of Women", recorded with his new band:

Kimberley Rew on guitar, Morris Windsor on drums, Terry Edwards on keyboards and horns, and Paul Noble on bass. Please note that the same compilation will feature contributions from Yo La Tengo (with Yoko Ono) and Spoon, though Robyn was the only person who asked us to mention it.

Large Professor
We don't have a ton of news to report on Large Pro this time around, though we did just read something about him producing a track for upcoming Konfusion (aka Organized Konfusion) reunion album. Large Professor will also be appearing at the PS2 UK B-Boy Championships, taking place October 4 at London's Brixton Academy.

Favorite Musics & Products of Record Company Employees & The Musicians They Serve:

Jesper Eklow, Matador Records
Reverend Charlie Jackson - God's Got It CD (Casequarter)
Scavengers - Scavengers CD (Xerox)
Nino Rota - Fellini Casanova OST LP (Cam)
November - En ny tid �r h�r LP (Sonet)
Tony McPhee - The Two Sides of Tony McPhee LP (WWA)
"Ingmar Bergman Makes A Movie" documentary by Vilgot Sj�man DVD
(Criterion Collection)
Norman Cohn - Pursuit of the Millenium
Steven Runciman - A History of the Crusades Vols 1, 2 & 3

Fred Navarrete, Beggars Group
The Constantines - Shine a Light (Sub Pop)
Broken Social Scene - You Forgot it in People (Arts and Crafts)
The Sleep Jackson - Lovers (Astralwerks)
These Arms Are Snakes - This is Meant to Hurt You (Jade Tree)
Pelican - ep (HydraHead)
Reading up on the I-Pod. Looks like I'm making the transition from the minidisc. It was a wonderful idea that never got off.
Also, reading Galapagos - Kurt Vonnegut w/ my spiffy new Mojave 3 bookmark keeping my place.

Sujan Hong, Beggars Group
Songs that I was guaranteed not to fall asleep to when played in the car on
road trips this summer or would wake up to if I was already passed out.

"The Argument" - Ike & Tina
"All For Swinging You Around" - The New Pornographers
"Gonna Get Me Someone" - The Greenhornes w/ Holly Golightly
"Ode to a Black Man" - The Dirtbombs
"Liberty Belle" - Super Furry Animals
"I'm A Pretender" - The Exploding Hearts
"Here Comes the Summer" - The Undertones
"Ban Marriage" - The Hidden Cameras
"Caught Up" - Millie Mclain
"Boys Boys Boys" - Nikki and the Corvettes
"Time Bomb High School" - The Reigning Sound
"No Culture Icons" - The Thermals

Jenn Lannchart, Beggars Group
What I'm listening to:

Spiritualized, Amazing Grace
Stereophonics, You Gotta Go There to Come Back
Mojave 3, Spoon and Rafter
Mark Lanegan Band new EP, Here Comes that Weird Chill
PEACHES, Fatherfucker
& Anything Interpol, esp. The Specialist
& SFAs

What I'm into:

Buying all sorts of import vinyl online
UNKLE
Djing
Harry Potter books
& all Isabelle Allende books

Daniel Eastop, Seachange
Stalingrad - Antony Beevor
Scout Niblett - 'I am'
Handsome Family - Through the trees
Broken Dreams - Tom Bower (Vanity, Greed and the Scouring of British football)
Ojos De Brujo (Eye of the Witch) - Spanish band album and watching, listening to, playing dream team, and following the great soap opera of football.

Miwa Okumura, Beggars Group
Discoveries on my recent trip to Japan:

--The 7-Eleven convenient stores in tokyo have large flat screens that display music videos. White Hassle was playing when I was inside purchasing minutes for my cell phone.
--As of May 2003, they dropped the alcohol level to .03% which means drivers can't drink even one beer. If a cop randomly pulls you over, and you had a few sips of an alcoholic beverage, you will be fined �300,000 ($2800). Your passengers will also be fined the same amount.
--You can't go without seeing a David Beckham poster (still!). Even if you don't follow soccer, you better like him. His name is sacred amongst the Japanese.
--The subway maps are actually diagrams of the cranial nerve.

Euvin Weeber, Beggars Group
David Bowie - Ziggy Stardust Motion Picture Soundtrack
The Gibson Les Paul that I got in San Francisco
The Stooges at Roseland (one of the most incredible shows I've seen in years)
Parsley Sound
Super Furry Animals - Phantom Power
M Ward - Transfiguration of Vincent
Stoked 'The Rise and Fall of Gator'
Dead Meadow - Shivering King and Others
Bob Dylan - Love and Theft
4 Tracking
Betty Davis - They Say I'm Different
Marvin Gaye Deluxe editions
www.atomfilms.com
Don Delillo - White Noise

Nick Dewitt, Pretty Girls Make Graves
Ok. Some things I like a lot. In no particular order. Of course they are liable to change as time goes by.
the Twilight Zone/
David Berman-the Silver Jews
I just bought a trumpet and can't play-yet
Shaolin Soccer-a movie Battle Royale another movie
AK-47-the ganja
Astrud Gilberto- monotone never sounded so good
Reverb
Modest Mous
Le Circle Rouge-movie
the Ace Frehley solo record
James Gang
the Birthday Party I know this is obvious, but to remain in obscurity with ones interests is too restrictive- to remain in obscurity with ones interests to impress others is chickenshit. I have done that before.
Trial and error
Tea cakes- the ones with the marshmallow
getting what you want
savory delicious food
well, I never think about my favorite things often enough to know what they are. When I am in a moment, good or bad, I never think about lists to put them on, until now that is. Shit, I like a lot of stuff. Peace-NICK

Dave Martin, Matador Records
1. Modey Lemon Thunder + Lightning
2. Major Stars New album CDR
3. Wayne Rogers Constant Displacement
4. Dirtbombs Dangerous Magical Noise
5. Miminokoto S/T & 2
6. Hospitals S/T
7. The Fall Touch Sensitive...Bootleg Box Set
8. Mystery Girls Circles In The Sand 7"
9. Kraftwerk Tour De France Soundtracks
10. Country Teasers Secret Weapons Revealed At Last or Full Moon Empty Sportsbag
+ Caves, Caverns, Centralia, PA and the smell of babies.

David Shepard, The Wisdom Of Harry
To earn some pin money, I have been reviewing records by people old enough to be my father, which - given that there are many musicians out there young enough (though not unfortunate enough) to be my offspring - is somewhat sobering, in a mid-life/half-time oranges kinda way....

So, that means listening to:

John Cale 'HoboSapiens'
the 'No New York' comp from '78
Robert Wyatt 'Cuckooland'
And the new bleedin' Dave Bowie. Some of which is rather good, I kid you not.
Books? Herman Hesse 'Knulp'. That's the way I want to go.

Patrick Amory, Matador Records
The Sons of Champlin - "1982-A" from "Loosen Up Naturally" (Capitol dbl LP)
J.J. Cale - "Okie" (Shelter LP)
Chicago - "II" (Columbia dbl LP)
The Oranges Band - "All Around" (Lookout/Amish LP)
AC/DC - "Powerage" (Albert Productions LP)
Joni Mitchell - "Hejira" (Asylum LP)

Gerard Cosloy, Matador Records
Consonant - Love & Affliction (Fenway)
Chris Cacavas - Kneel (Return To Sender)
Various Artists - New Town (Ai)
Double Leopards - Halve Maen (Eclipse)
The Playwrights - The National Missing Person EP (Sink & Stove)
Alias - Eyes Closed EP (anticon)
Flipper - Generic (Subterranean)
The Kingsbury Manx - Aztec Discipline (Overcoat)
Rilo Kiley - The Execution of All Things (Saddle Creek)
David Banner -Mississippi : The Album (Universal)
Luomo - The Present Lover (Force Inc.)
Middle Class - A Blueprint For Joy (Velvetone)
Kaffe Matthews - CD Eb & Flo (Annetteworks)