From October 4th, 21 of the best independent records shops in the UK will help Matador celebrate their 21st anniversary by selling a number of key Matador releases at heavily discounted prices, including albums by Cat Power, Yo La Tengo, New Pornographers, Interpol, Matmos, Fucked Up and Shearwater to name but a few. These stores will also be giving a free Matador label sampler away to anyone who buys a Matador album.

The centrepiece of the 21st anniversary will be a limited edition six CD boxset. The box contains five CDs documenting the history of the label with remastered songs released from 1989 through 2010, and one CD of unreleased live recordings from the Matador 10th Anniversary concerts in New York City in 1999. These were recorded to multitrack via the Rolling Stones Mobile Truck and not mixed down until now.

The set comes in a blue-grey foil-stamped linen-bound box. The six CDs sit in custom digipaks. An 85-page perfect-bound book documents the history of the label with essays, photos, ephemera, emails and more. In addition, the box holds 36 custom Matador poker chips in three values.

The release has been assigned the catalog number OLE-1000, which is pushing it a little bit because we’re really only up to OLE-949 (the upcoming Kurt Vile 7″) in the main sequence. A budget-priced double vinyl set reproduces the contents of Disc 5, ‘Matador Today,’ and will be available on the same day as the box. All proceeds from the set will go to benefit three charities chosen by the label owners.

Click here for full tracklisting and details of the charities.

Participating Record Shops:

• Action Records

  46 Church Street, Preston. PR1 3DH

• Crash

  35 The Headrow, Leeds, LS1 6PU

• Dada Records

  394 Chiswick High Road, Chiswick, London W4 5TF

• Drift

  91 High Street, Totnes TQ9 5PB

• Jumbo

  5-6 St John Centre, Leeds LS2 8LQ

• Monorail

  12 Kings Court, Glasgow G1 5RB

• Norman

  Unit 1, Armley Park Court, Leeds LS12 2AE

• One Up

  17 Belmont Street, Aberdeen AB10 1JR

• Piccadilly

  53 Oldham Street, Manchester M1 1 JR

• Probe

  Retail Unit 1, The Bluecoat, School Lane, Liverpool L1 3BX

• Record Collecter

  233-235 Fulwood Road, Broomhill, Sheffield S10 5BA

• Reflex

  23 Nun Street, Newcastle, Tyne & Wear, NE1 5AG

• Resident

  28 Kensington Gardens, Brighton BN1 4AL

• Rise Bristol

  70 Queens Rd, Clifton, BS8 1QU

• Rise Cheltenham

  Unit 19 Beechwood Shopping Centre, GL501DQ

• Rough Trade East

  130 Talbot Road London W11 1JA

• Rough Trade West

  Old Truman Brewery 91 Brick Lane London E1 6QL

• Rounder

  19 Brighton Square, Brighton BN1 1HD

• Sister Ray

  34-35 Berwick Street, London W1F 8RP

• Spillers

  31 Morgan Arcade, Cardiff CF10 1AF

• Sound Knowledge

  22 Hughhenden Yard, Marlborough, Wiltshire SN8 1LT