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February
26, 1999
Matador
Does It Again! Beats the Competiton with Release of MPNC-17
NYC
February 26, 1999 /PRRockwyre/ -- Legendary independent label
Matador Records announced today that it will release band members
via the internet into fans' homes to help around the house.
This new technology, MPNC-17, requires no additional software,
but requires that visitors check with their parents before downloading.
"The
job of any record label should be to reach out to a given
artist's fans by any means necessary,'' said Christina Zafiris,
marketing director Matador Records. "Let others labels release
a song or two, we are ready to send people through the internet.
"
She continues, "once the artist appears at someone's home,
he or she will offer to balance the checkbook, clean the dishes,
heat up a burrito, walk the dog, whatever."
"Clearly,
Matador understands that to market music, one must go to the
music buyers," she continues.
Yet, for Matador, like any legendary record label, MPNC-17
is only the beginning. For an extra 98 cents, users are cordially
invited to download an actual part of the Matador office.
"There's a spare desk in the conference room," suggests Zafiris.
"And don't miss the Circle X posters, slightly soiled t-shirts,
and an entire refrigerator just waiting to be cleared." (Except
for the chicken sandwich, which is off limits)
Also, today Matador announces the launch of its new mp3 site,
mp3 matador
In New York-area news: One of the two Half-Cocked directors,
Mike Galinsky, will have photographs on display at CBGB's
Gallery, starting March 3 (6-8pm, free wine!). The show commemorates
the release of Galinsky's new book, Scraps, which includes
writing by Tim Foljahn, Cynthia Nelson, Tara Key, Tae Won
Yu, Alan Licht, and a bunch of other rockers....and there's
also a CD....Also, Mr. Galinsky and the other Half-Cocked
director, Suki Hawley, have a new film out called Radiation
that, as you may recall, stars members of COME. It's
screening as part of the New York Underground Film Festival
on Thursday March 11th at 7:45 p.m. at the Anthology FIlm
Archives with a party afterward at CBGBs (with COME, Two Dollar
Guitar, Sleepyhead, others).
Also not a joke, listen up: JOB ANNOUNCEMENT
Matador needs a full-time web person to replace yours truly.
Said individual will be responsible for the upkeep of Matador's
web site. You need design sense and writing abilities (believe
it or not), and must have a good general knowledge of the
internet, be familiar with the label, bands, etc. HTML and
Photoshop are a must. Send a cover letter, resume, and URLs
to christina@matador.recs.com
by March 10.
For those who care, Carrie is sticking around part-time for
a while (just doing advertising). I will spend the extra time
working on my zine and trying to figure out who got me pregnant.
February
12, 1999
A
few words about CHAVEZ, brought to you by marketing chief
Christina Zafiris:
Last month, the Bonnie "Prince" Billie's Easy Times tour of
Europe featured some boys of CHAVEZ. Matt played lead
guitar and James drummed along with Mike Fellows (ex Royal
Trux, Air Miami) and Will Oldham. Word is they used a lot
of set time with Thin Lizzy and AC/DC covers (the way it should
be)....On his quest for easy times in Iceland, Matt was flipped
off (given the finger) by the locals. Our friend Nils had
the same experience in that fine country (must be a nice place)...
Remember Chavez are playing at the Bowery Ballroom (New York)
on Tuesday (2/23) and tickets are still available. We heard
that they are starting "interband negotiations" to start working
on their new record, working title Deeze Nutz (as in "let
me consult with my associates, deeze nuts").
MOGWAI
will play in New York on Monday, Feb. 22, the band's only
U.S. show 'til the fall tour. There might be a possible recorded
webcast of the show in the future, but we're still trying
to work that out.
Cheers to BELLE AND SEBASTIAN for winning "Best British
Newcomer" in the Brit
Awards, England's equivalent to the Grammys. And thanks
to you people for weighing in.
In other B&S news, somehow they've found the time during the
recording of their new album to organize a holiday for their
fans, the Bowlie Weekender. It's April 23-25 at Camber Sands
Holiday Center UK. and stars Belle & Sebastian, Mercury Rev,
The Divine Comedy, Cornelius, The Delgados, Broadcast, Sleater-Kinney,
The Pastels, Godspeed You Black Emperor, Looper, Vic Godard,
Cinema, V-Twin, Camera Obscura. Pavement is listed as playing
but is actually not. Further details are on the
B&S site (gotta scroll down to get it).... also of note:
Stuart David does some spoken word stuff on the forthcoming
Looper CD
(Looper = Stuart + his wife and brother) on Sub Pop. "Not
bad," says house Bunnyman fan John Gazley.
LIZ
PHAIR diehards have one less item to collect: the She's
All Crap soundtrack has been cancelled... CAT POWER's
"Metal Heart" is in the new film by Morgan Freeman (director
of "Hurricane Streets)." A soundtrack with said track will
be released in June...
We've got a release date, if not a title, for the new PAVEMENT
full-length: June 8. The sessions were produced by Nigel Godrich,
known for his work with Beck, Radiohead and R.E.M. A tracklisting
isn't available yet because the song titles may not be entirely
set and we're trying to do our part to disrupt the scourge
of gambling. Bookies in London wait anxiously for the official
announcement to set up their next ludicrous line: Which song
is coming off the next Pavement album! Hey, there was once
a song called "The Hex" on Slanted and Enchanted, "Grounded"
and "I Love Perth" were on the advance cassettes for Crooked
Rain, Crooked Rain and Wowee Zowee respectively.
Maybe next week we'll release each word from the prospective
song titles in alphabetical order. Whoever puts them in the
right order first gets an advance cassette or something. Or
maybe not.
The JEGA bio is now
online. Astute fans will note that our release has two
new tracks ("Unity Gain" and Naem"), replacing the track "DMC."
"Unity Gain" is actually a remix of a 2 Lone Swordsmen track
("Black Commandments" from "A Bag Of Blue Sparks"), which
will mostly likely be appended to our domestic release of
the 2LS "Stay Down" LP/CD).
New links:
Joel R.L. Phelps fan page former Silkworm guy
Bunny Brains
Audio Files - all Quicktime.
Sleater-Kinney bio
is up.
Finally, much thanks to Brian Turner/WFMU for forwarding us
to following memo:
TO: ALL EMPLOYEES
FROM: Ron Shapiro
DATE: February 5, 1999
RE: Awareness-Raising Seminar
I am pleased to invite all employees to attend a special
awareness-raising seminar, hosted by Atlantic and led by
the nenowned Buddy Arnold of the Musicians Assistance Program.
The 75-minute presentation and interactive program is directed
at bringing an informed perspective to issues of drug and
alcohol dependency. For Atlantic employees, the talk may
be especially beneficial in its guidelines for dealing with
addiction as it impacts our professional lives.
A dramatic highlight of the afternoon will be the role-playing
portion of the program, where volunteers will be called
on to assume different characters in a real-life scenario:
a record label staff is forced to confront a drug-addled
rock star in the grips of addiction. There is a fourth-quarter
release riding on their being healthy enough to make a scheduled
SNL appearance and the situation is critical. Chief participants
in this mock intervention include the label president, the
manager, the troubled rocker and their significant other
(for good measure), there may be supporting roles for the
publicist and the product manager.
It's been found that these kinds of acted-out hypothetical
scenarios are effective at getting people in closer touch
with their feelings and perceptions/misconceptions of addicts
and addiction. Mr. Arnold has staged these educational sessions
for companies across the country since 1997, winning universal
praise and thanks. In the meantime, all of our would-be
Oscar winners are encouraged to prepare their method school
motivations.
The free event is scheduled for Tuesday, Feb 9th at 4pm
in the 28th floor conference room.
February
5, 1999
Several
release schedule changes (and additions) this week. Most notably,
the ARSONISTS "Pyromaniax" 12" has been pushed back.
We don't have a new street date just yet, but the upcoming
releases page has the current schedule.
Also note the arrival of THE DEMOLITION
DOLL RODS and VOID to the roster. The Doll Rods
are from Detroit (Danny Dollrod was in the Gories) who've
got a full-length, Tasty, on In the Red, and about
a million 7"s. Perhaps you've heard something about their
live shows, although you're probably better off not, that's
the past. A new record should be out on Matador some time
in summer.
VOID--Chantelle
Platter and Kim Robinson--are dj's/programmers with a shadowy
history in the West London experimental scene. They are in
no way related to the legendary, drunken DC hardcore band,
though they are avowedly "hardcore" in a very different way.
Previously, they've released two 12" singles, one from 1995
on an obscure Czech imprint (tiny label, but very heavy vinyl)
and another from last fall on their own Void label.
The tentative plan is for Matador Europe to release three
successive Void 12" singles. A full length CD/LP will follow
in late '99.
What else....BELLE AND SEBASTIAN have been nominated
"best newcomers" for the Brit Awards (a BBC thing). I'm not
exactly sure how this works, but fans can help them win by
going to the BBC Radio 1 website and casting their Vote
for Belle and Sebastian. You can only vote once, although,
for all practical purposes, voting is anonymous.
This just in from Lyle "The Guy from Doormat" Hysen: Sticky
Fingers of Time is opening within the next two weeks in
New York and L.A. It features music by Bardo Pond! ("Tantric
Porno") It features the lady who played Madonna in the TV
movie based on Madonna's life!
Lyle would also like all the kids interested in licensing
Matador stuff for films/tv shows, to read
his FAQ before emailing.... And Mr. Hysen has offered
to share this report of his trip to Utah:
SUNDANCE
ROCKED
Ok, well not really, but supposedly this year had the most
music yet in the house.
I missed Janes Addiction and Guns N Roses (sans Axel!),
but did get to see a duo of throat singers. One Kongar-ol
Ondar is from Central Asia and Paul "Earthquake" Pena is
from SF. They were promoting the film "Genghis Blues." The
film I didn't see, but the show was great.
"Radiation"
showed several times. It was no competition for the film
about the lady who fucked 250 people, but the screening
was well-attended. Mike and Suki also set up a gig featuring
Come (as a duo), Two Dollar Guitar, and Dave Spalding from
Pell Mell. The end "jam" of the Two Dollar Guitar set featuring
Come and Spalding was great.
Allison Anders' new film "Suger Town" made its debut to
a big full house of stars and near-stars. The filmed is
about an older rock band trying to make it and is filled
with music (including Come and Arab Strap). I'm happy to
say that John Taylor from Duran Duran is quite the actor.
Jon Spencer and the Blues Explosion played the Indie Wire
party and were rockin' as well. Against a snowy mountain
backdrop the boys played loud enough so everyone HAD to
shut of the ol' cell phone.
Hysen unleased. Go here for more
Sundance.
And on a final note, Helen and I would just like to cast our
votes for more public nudity at Yo La Tengo shows. Thank you.
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