January 22, 2001

Stephen Malkmus — The Voice That Makes It Happen
Stephen recently took time out from his busy interview schedule to... get interviewed again. Sick of softball questions like “how did you get your name?” and “is there a law that says you can only fall in love once?” Stephen willingly submitted to a harsh interrogation at the hands of Nils and Matt. Not sure who played good cop and who was bad, but you can see the results for yourself in beautiful real video footage.

Contest time! As you might have read, Stephen’s solo debut was provisionally entitled ‘Swedish Reggae.’ For fear of getting filed in the “reggae” or “world music” section at Tower, a corporate decision was made to force Stephen to call the album something really crazy. Like, ’Stephen Malkmus.’ Anyhow, if you can name another practicioner of Swedish reggae, you might win yourself a pair of tickets to Stephen’s sold out show at the Bowery Ballroom this Thursday night (1/25). The most creative answers will be unveiled in this space.

To Enter: Send your full name and answer to contest@matadorrecords.com. We’ll contact the winners via email, so make sure your return address is right. You’ve got to be 18 or older and will need to present ID at the door to claim your tickets. We’ve got 10 pairs to hand out.

Q: When does a “party” not have food, drinks, good conversation or any possibility of sex? Other than a party at my house, that is? A: An Internet “listening party.” The entire Stephen Malkmus album will be streaming through February 16 on broadcast.com

Twitch of Mount Florida — Flying In (and Flying Out)
Twitch, one half of Mount Florida and creative DJ beyond compare, will be supplying pre-recorded entertainment at 9:00 PM before Stephen Malkmus’ set at the Bowery next week (also on the bill — the aptly named Endless Boogie). Later that night, he’ll be spinning at the Flyer magazine party taking place at Fun (130 Madison at Pike St. 12:30 - 3:00 AM. $5) Twitch can also be seen & heard mixing it up at the Polar Bear Club (Tonic, 167 Norfolk St. 11:00 PM - 2:00 AM. No cover.) the following evening. Mount Florida’s long-awaited US full-length debut, ’Arrived Phoenix’ is available on January 30th on CD or double vinyl. In the meantime, take a listen to an hour long DJ Twitch mix made exclusively for Matador.

Belle & Sebastian — New Recordings
According to our friends at NME.com, Belle & Sebastian are about to commence new recordings with producer Mike Hurst, best known for his supervision of Petula Clark’s “Downtown.” More news as we learn about it (ie. read it about it somewhere else).

MC Paul Barman — Steady (Cock) Mobbin’
MC Paul Barman is hard at work finishing up his next single for Matador, “Cock Mobster,” and he’s got a bunch of February dates with dalek, Prince Paul and others.

February
15 - Providence, RI - The Met Cafe w/ dälek
16 - Northampton, MA - Pearl Street w/ DJ Spooky
17 - Medford, MA - Tufts
18 - New Haven, CT - Toad’s Place w/ Prince Paul and dälek
19 - Worcester, MA - Clark University
21 - Hoboken, NJ - Maxwell’s w/ Prince Paul and dälek
22 - Philadelphia, PA - Trocadero w/ Prince Paul and dälek

Matador & Music Industry Conventions —
A Match Made In Biz Heaven
Are there 2 words more despicable in the english language than “label showcase?” This could be a good contest (no SM tickets this time). Anyway, the following artists will be playing at Matador’s officially approved evening during South By Southwest 2001:

Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Mogwai
The Soft Boys

(Possibly one additional artist, but we’re not saying who today. Not because it is a big secret, but because we haven’t figured it out yet). The venue is the Austin Music Hall. The date to remember is Saturday, March 17. Austin is the capitol of Texas, the largest state in the Union. We would never in a million years seriously suggest that this great state be handed over to Mexico and would sincerely like to apologize for any confusion or offense that might’ve resulted from an ill-fated promotion that took place during our last visit. The person responsible for that promotion, no longer works for us, but can be reached in care of Warp.

Mogwai — Official News You Can Use
Looks like we finally scooped NME.com on something. The forthcoming Mogwai album, subject of intense speculation and adjectives like “huge,” “throb-tastic” and “succulent” is really / truly / seriously entitled ‘ROCK ACTION.’

The forthcoming Khan album, also the subject of intense speculation (and the very same adjectives), is called ’No Comprendo.’ Apparently this means "what the fuck" in south Texan. Hot shot guest stars include Kid Congo Powers, Jon Spencer, Andre Williams, Diamanda Galas, and long-time Khan associate Julee Cruise.

Mary Timony is off on a brief tour in February. While she’s away, we’re offering an unreleased, alternate version of "Poison Moon" on the site. Also check out new MP3s from Stephen Malkmus, Large Professor, Lesser, and dälek.

January 11, 2001

Seeing as we’re all still engrossed in opening Xmas junk mail and prosecuting Stephen Malkmus bootleggers (in that order), there’s not much bona fide news to report this time. As you might’ve seen in the Village Voice, Stephen is making his NYC solo debut at the Bowery Ballroom on January 25, and no, we don’t have any tickets for you. Much like the Final Four or the Streisand Retirement Tour (hopefully more like the former), this is one tough ticket. And you are one tough crowd.

Other than that, we are very thrilled and honored to announce that Graeme Downes, the guitarist/vocalist behind The Verlaines (easily of the greatest bands of out lifetimes) has signed a new deal with Matador. Graeme’s solo debut, Hammers & Anvils will be available later in 2001, and when we have more information and art to show you, well, that’s just what we’ll be doing.

Year-end “best of” lists are a crazy thing, ’cept when we see our records pop up on so many of them. Yo La Tengo, Belle & Sebastian and Cat Power have all been raking in the accolades left and right, and if you are a member of the fourth estate who hasn’t received his or her “Christmas bonus” yet, please ring Nils on his cell phone.

Until then, Matador artists and staff were invited to compile their favorite records and events of the year 2000. As you’ll see, not everyone contributed to this orgy of identity politics, and perhaps that was a good thing. If worse comes to worse, you can always call them up and ask.

Pete Astor — The Wisdom Of Harry
Some things that have made The Wisdom Of Harry very happy in the year 00:
- The arrival of the excellent Otto
- Listening to The Sophtware Slump by Grandaddy, particularly “He’s Simple, He’s Dumb, He’s The Pilot” for the first time on a listening post where I remained transfixed for the full 8 minutes of the song.
- Marvelling at the combination of intelligence, stupidity and brilliance of The Marshall Mathers LP by Eminem
- Hearing ‘...And Then Nothing turned Itself Inside Out’ by Yo La Tengo in the lobby of the very corporate & very nasty House Of Blues hotel in Chicago, the unexpectedness & majesty of which almost reduced me to tears - (some other emotional factors did truthfully contribute to this also)
- Tuning in to Matrix on Sounds FM 94.3 early Sunday mornings when I’m hanging out with Otto
- Enjoying the righteous anger and funk of Lets Get Free by Dead Prez
- Digging in to the abstract hall of mirrors of weird shit by Thomas Brinkman, Pole, Morr Music, Ifach and many others some of whom are so abstract their names escape me
- Dancing to Tobias Thomas’s set at the Kompact night at Studio 672 in Koln
- Loving the magic and majesty of The Kingsbury Manx’s debut LP

best of 2000 / payola team:
- m.nikolai "back"/ perlon
- kid clayton "lateral forces" 12" /VForm
- our kids
- talib kweli & hitek "reflection eternal" LP/ rawkus
- madonna "music" LP/ maverik
- tarwater "animals,suns & atoms" LP/ kitty-yo
- Day One "ordinary man" LP/ virgin
- b.friedmann "....&the nun dub players" LP/scape
- hometrainer vs. fc-shuttle party all over there concerts
- daft punk "one more time" 12" /daft life


Ché Ryeback, Matador Records
- the White Stripes - "s/t"
- Drinking with Mogwai @ 6a.m. in the morning ordering Chris Lombardi flowers... 4 times.
- Blue sunglasses
- Two Lone Swordsmen - "Tiny Reminders"
- Playing pool
- Flirting
- Boards Of Canada - "In A Beautiful Place Out In The Country"
- New friends
- Old friends
- Dr. Pepper shots (well worth the hassle)
- Harry Smiths - "Anthology #4"
- Andre Williams - "The Black Godfather"
- Anything Scottish
- Maxim Magazine (The issue with the girl on the cover)
- Girls with Street names
- Floaty guitar laden songs or song number seven "despite" on the new Bardo Pond
- Introducing myself as Hank cos people can’t say Ché
- Flannel shirts
- The bar I go to all the time, my home away from home
- Napster (sorry Lars)
- The mess that is/was the U.S. Presidential elections. Only in America. (Glad I’m not American)
- And a ton of other stuff that I can’t remember cos’ I was inebriated at the time.

Graeme Downes
CD player is busted which is not good. Bought Kid A but only listened to it once so haven’t really formed an opinion yet. New Coldplay album I’ve heard a cupla times and liked so that’s on the shopping list (along with a new CD player) as is the new Emmylou Harris album... and the Wallflowers... otherwise rediscovering Webern.

Patrick Amory’s
Top 10 audio experiences/experiments of the year
1. Electronic Tonalities Bottlehead Paramour monoblocks (power amps)
2. Amperex BugleBoy 12AU7s (Holland) new old-stock (vacuum tubes)
3. Klipsch Heresys with Radio Shack connector sealant wrapped around both horns on interior, stuffed with fiberglass, braced with two-inch dowels and a 3/4" MDF back panel with new terminals (loudspeakers)
4. Finally figuring how to adjust tonearm height on Thorens TD-145 and stripping the collar screw sockets on the pole at the same time (turntable)
5. Argent Room Lenses, unfortunately an improvement (acoustical tuning devices)
6. Cardas 300B Microtwin 1 1/2m lengths (interconnects)
7. Large inflatable mattress propped against right wall, unfortunately an improvement (acoustical tuning device)
8. Rogue 66 retubed with Amperex World Logo 6DJ8s new old-stock (vacuum tubes)
9. Blue flash and burning smell the first time I plugged in the right-hand Paramour (power amp)
10. Figuring out that the much-heralded brand-new McCormack DNA-125 power amp, at 125 watts per channel, is blown completely out of the water by a pair of hobbyist-built vacuum tube power amps at 3.5 watts per channel. Completely out of the water.

Dave Martin, Matador Records
1 Sonic Youth "NYC Ghosts & Flowers" (Geffen)
2 AC/DC "Stiff Upper Lip" (East West)
3 Damon & Naomi w/Ghost (Sub Pop/Drag City)
4 Come Ons S/T (Sympathy For The Record Industry)
5 Eleventh Dream Day "Stalled Parade" (Thrill Jockey)
6 Golden "Summer" (Slowdime)
7 OOIOO "Gold & Green" (Shock City/Tratorria)
8 Two Lone Swordsmen "Tiny Reminders" (Warp)
9 Jonas Bering "Bienfait" (Kompakt)
10 The White Stripes "De Stijl" (Sympathy For The Record Industry)

Christy Simpson, Matador Records
Top 7 Let Downs of the Over-Hyped Year 2000
1. M&M’s, although the "official" candy of the millennium, taste no better, really.
2. Other than ruining a Madonna video, Ali G never dominated the US comedy market. Instead, we got the dumber and less intelligible version - Tom Green.
3. It is almost 2001, and I am still no closer to being cloned than 11 months ago.
4. Dark Angel. Like Buffy, but without all that "messy" dialogue.
5. Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s shenanigans were so sub-par compared to his antics of 1998 and 1999.
6. The Backstreet Boy’s prophetic "Millennium" album just didn’t sum up the last (or next) 1000 years as promised by Carson Daly.
7. Fred Durst still breathes.

Twitch, Mount Florida
Sun City Girls - Torch Of The Mystics
Johnny Cash - American III
Atom Heart feat, Tea Time - XXX
Atom Heart / Erik Satin - Light Music
Fela Kuti - Box 2
Bergheim 34 - How To Sell Out When No One Is Buying
Shimmer Kids - Bury My Heart At Makeout Point
Miles Davis - Tribute to Jack Johnson
Max Romeo - Chase The Devil
Harry Smith - Anthology 4
Coil - Music To Play In the Dark Vol 2
Pink Floyd - Live 67 Bootleg
Outkast - Stankonia
ESG - A South Bronx Story
Various - Disco, Not Disco
Various - New Orleans Funk
Boards Of Canada - A Beautiful Place In The Country
Golden - Summer
Arab Strap - Rocket / Darkness
Him - Our Point Of Departure

homas geltinger (couch)
arovane-tides (cco)
tied+tickled trio-rmx (morr music)
fennesz-live at revolver (touch)
woody allen-small time crooks
shellac-1000hurts (touch&go)

jurgen soder (couch)
music related tops 2000
kelis - get along with you (virgin)
bebel gilberto - august day song (crammed)
tuxedomoon - what use (crammed/gigolo)
jeans team live at popkom, cologne
club2, munich
music publishing
dj koze
getting signed by matador and therefore getting a free bag for christmas

Ben Goldberg, Matador Records
Scorched Earth Policy - Keep Away From The Wires (Medication)
Go Betweens - Friends Of Rachel Worth (Jetset)
Arovane - Tides (City Centre Offices)
Joshua/Six Organs Of Admittance at The Cooler
New Pornographers - Mass Romantic (Mint)
Dancer In The Dark/Bjork - Selmasongs (Elektra)
The Intima - No Lullaby for Sleep (Zum)
Aislers Set - The Last Match (Slumberland)
Slumber Party - Slumber Party (Kill Rock Stars)
Author Unknown by Dan Foster

James McNew, Yo La Tengo
what’s up 2000:
-- The Original Kings Of Comedy
-- Lambchop, Nixon LP
-- the "Behind The Laughter" episode of The Simpsons
-- Slum Village, "I Don’t Know"
-- Lois Maffeo & Brendan Canty, "How I Came To Know"
-- Aki Tsuyuko, Ongakushitsu LP
-- Child’s View, live in Osaka
-- Happy Flowers reunion gigs
-- Kreuz’s Market, Lockhart, TX
-- Go-Betweens, "Going Blind"
-- Vladislav Delay, Entain & Multila LPs
-- Lucy Grealy, As Seen On TV
-- Eleventh Dream Day, Stalled Parade LP
-- Chris Knox, "Laughter"
-- David Waltuck, Staff Meals

Lyle Hysen, Matador Records
top ten (or so) things of 2000 (besides getting married):
- Jason Moran "Facing Left"
- Andrew Hill - "Dusk"
- Matthew Shipp Trio - Pastoral Composure
- The Come Ons - "The Come Ons"
- Two Dollar Guitar - "Lame Beats " etc
- City Eatery - Restaurant- 316 Bleecker
- Shelby Lynne - I Am
- Bebel Gilberto - Tanto Tempo
- De La Soul-Art Official Intelligence
- Calexico - Hot Rail
- "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" - Ang Lee Film
- Gunter "Baby" Sommer Drum solo Vison fest. May 2000
- Silkworm - Live @ Mercury Lounge (date?)
- David Sedaris - Me Talk Pretty One Day

Nils Bernstein, Matador Records
Top 11 listening favo(u)rites of 2000 (no partic. order):
1) Godspeed You Black Emperor - Levez Vos Skinny Fists Comme Antennas To Heaven (kranky)
2) Bundle of Hiss - Sessions: 1986-1988 (Loveless)
3) Spoon - "Change My Life" (Merge)
4) Boards of Canada - In A Beautiful Place... EP (Warp)
5) New Pornographers - Mass Romantic (Mint)
6) The White Stripes live
7) The Fucking Champs - IV (Drag City)
8) Sigur Ros - Agaetis Byrjun (Festi/Fatcat)
9) Delgados - The Great Eastern (Chemikal Underground/Beggars Banquet)
10) True Love - S/T (Cropduster)
11) Enon - Believo! (Seethru Broadcasting)

Sad Rockets
1. Beige - I Don’t Either (Leaf)
2. Take Rodriguez - Prince of Mambo Breaks (Cheap)
3. Burnt Friedman - EP 1, EP 2 - (Nonplace)
4. Gramm - Personal Rock (Source)
5. Savath + Savalas - Two Blues for Marion Brown (Hefty)
6. Lo Soul - Belong (Playhouse)
7. Move D/ Thomas Meinecke - Freud’s Baby (Intermedium)
8. Recloose - Can’t Take It (Planet E)
9. Slipper - Invisible Movies (Rephlex)
10. Bergheim 34 - How To Sell out When No One’s Buying (Klang)

Christina Zafiris
Website Highlights for 2000:
- Satellite Orbit Tracking Site
- Madonna "Music" Mixer
(hard to work unless your connection is super fast, go to flash site then to "Music" mixer section)
- Sanrio Greeting E-Cards
(was better when hosted directly by Sanrio)
- If You’re Really Into SimCity
- Essential For Travelers: MapBlast & MapQuest
(but you must bring a regular map as well)

Solex most frequently received e-mails top 5 of 2000
1. Daily e-mail lunch news from Dutch newspaper Het Parool.
2. NME newsletter.
3. Good Records newsletter; recordshop in Dallas Texas. (don’t even try to unsubscribe !!!)
4. The agenda of the German Gallery / venue Club 2. Since anyone can copy/paste to whom these e-mails are sent, I now get newsletters from about 35 other German ’art’lovers. And I even never ever subscribed to the Club 2 agenda in the first place. GGRRRRRRR (or should I say Scheisse??)
5. Gerard Cosloy’s request-e-mails for lists, news and other exciting stuff. Makes you wonder if life really should be exciting....

Mark Ohe, Matador Records
Top 10 Records for the Last Year of the 2nd Millenium
The Moving Sidewalks, "Flash", Album Reissue (Arkama)
Guided by Voices, "Suitcase", CD Box (Rockathon/Luna)
Spoon, "Love Ways", CDEP (12XU)
AC/DC, "Stiff Upper Lip", Album (East/west)
Console, "Rocket in the Pocket", Album (Matador)
ESG, "South Bronx Story", Album Reissue (Universal Sound)
Skip Spence, "Oar", Album Reissue (Sundazed)
Bardo Pond, "Slab", 10" (Three Lobed)
The Pretty Things, "Defecting Grey", 10" (Norton)
V/A, "Teenage Shutdown, Howlin’ For My Darlin!!!", Album (T.S.)

Top 11 Shows/Live Events
for the Last Year of the 2nd Millenium
NY Mets vs. SF Giants, NY/SF
Sam Phillips (In Person!), Documentary Film Screening/Talk, Museum of Television and Radio, Manhattan, NY
Ralph Nader (In Person!), Green Party Rally, Madison Square Garden, Manhattan, NY
The Snakes, The Crow’s Nest, Brooklyn, NY
Robyn Hitchcock, Joe’s Pub, Manhattan, NY
Chris Bonnington (In Person!), The Union Club, Manhattan, NY
Spoon, Brownies, Manhattan, NY
NY Mets vs. St. Louis Cardinals, NY/St. Louis
Live Human, Westbeth Theater, Manhattan, NY
Spaulding Rockwell, Rubiat, Brooklyn, NY
Eddie Palmieri, Tarrytown Theater, Tarrytown, NY

Ill Miller’s Top Records and/or
Favorite Wrestling Moments of 2000
At The Drive In "Relationship of Command"
Ric Flair winning his 15th Heavyweight Championship
The Promo Mr. Flair cut the night after.
The (International) Noise Conspiracy "Survival Sickness"
All 3 tag title matches from Royal Rumble, Summerslam and Wrestlemania
Modest Mouse "The Moon & Antartica"
Hulk Hogan getting fired live at the Bash At The Beach
DJ Assault "Off the Chain For the Y2K"
Any promo Edge and Christian cut after Wrestlemania
Any promo Kurt Angle cut
Miracle Of ’86 "s/t"
Trish Stratus doing anything.
Les Savy Fav "(Rome) Written Upside Down"
Rob Van Damn creates the greastest wrestling move ever in the Van-Terminator.

Shelby Campbell, Matador Records
I had to really think about this (not a whole lot to choose from this year), but I finally managed to eek out a top 10 list for my favorite y2k releases:
1. OutKast - Stankonia
(+ the "Mrs. Jackson" video is one of the best i’ve ever seen)
2. Modest Mouse - Moon & Antarctica (god, they sound sooo great looking)
3. Radiohead - Kid A
4. Corrosion of Conformity - America’s Volume Dealer
5. Red Snapper - Our Aim is to Satisfy Red Snapper
6. ACDC - Stiff Upper Lip
7. De La Soul - Art Official Intelligence: Mosaic Thump
8. Alex Gopher - You, My Baby & I (not new, but new to me)
9. PJ Harvey - Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea
(was never a fan before this album)
10. Built to Spill - Live (they’re always a good standby)

Matt Ransford, Matador Records
Saddest and Most Infuriating Moment:
‘Freaks & Geeks’ cancellation by NBC.

Best Live Show:
Yo La Tengo. Town Hall, February 2000.

Other Things I’m Thinking of Now:
Ralph Nader.
Superdrag. In the Valley of Dying Stars.
Black Eyed Peas. Bridging the Gap.
Mark Bowden. Black Hawk Down.
PJ Harvey. Stories From the City...
Sleater-Kinney. All Hands on the Bad One.
Dr. Dre. 2001.
The Fucking Champs. IV.
OutKast. Stankonia.
ODB. McDonald’s Parking Lot.
Mary Harron. American Psycho.
Kiki and Herb.

Adam Carroll, Matador Records
Midleton
Redbreast 12 year
Jameson Gold
Tyrconnell Single Malt
Jameson 1780
Black Bush
Bushmills Malt
Crested Ten
Power’s
Tullamore Dew

Jesper Eklow, Matador Records
Jesper Eklow, that’s me. Good stuff I can remember from the year 2000
* Henri Michaux exhibit at Drawing Center, NYC
* Prinzhorn Collection exhibit at Drawing Center, NYC
* Nikon F
* LSD - Real Garage Punk From Sweden 1966! LP, Subliminal Sounds - can’t listen to it too much, but I often stare at it in awe.
* I finally, after 15 years, got a copy of the Nobby Tåfjutt Band 45 - I’m still stimulated, and it’s been 10 days already (which is a new record).
* Richard Harris, Richard Harris, Richard Harris
* Lucky Love Management
* Mom’s awesome christmas home cooking
* the late Beehoven Quartets still kick ass, espec when the Budapest boys cook Æem.
* Kris Gillespie leaves the ship... and still delivers Arthur Bryant’s ribs to us!!!!!
* and how about those Mets.

And what the fuck, “Super Rally” and Eddie Vedder obviously is the wrong way of thinking here, Nader. I guess we can’t expect more than that from a moderate Social Democratic Party (this is the “rebel,” “outlaw,” “outsider” in American politics? Come on!! It actually is that bad?? Not even people who care can do better than this crap???)

Gary Labao, Matador Records
Personal punk faves:
"Angels With Dirty Faces" 2 cd anthology of Sham 69
"The Worldwide Tribute to Real Oi!" v/a
Most played Matador stuff this year:
"And Then Nothing..." Yo La Tengo
"Mogwai EP+2" Mogwai

Coolest movies I’ve seen this year:
"Couching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" Totally awesome!!!
"In My Mind Forever" An Italian indie
Protest of the year:
April 15-16 Anti-IMF-WB summit, Washington, DC

Gerard Cosloy, Matador Records
Giant Sand - Chore Of Enchantment (Thrill Jockey)
Silkworm - Lifestyle (Touch & Go)
Richard Buckner - The Hill (Overcoat)
Sole - Bottle Of Humans (Anticon)
The Fall - Unutterable (Eagle Rock)
Capitol K - Island Row (Planet Mu)
J-Zone Presents - A Bottle Of Whupass (Old Maid)
Blechtum From Blechdom - The Messy Jesse Fiesta (Deluxe)
Shellac - 1000 Hurts (Touch & Go)
Marumari - The Wolves Hollow (Car Park)

(you can’t count to ten without stopping before eleven: Them - s/t (Anticon), Jamie Lidell - Muddlin Gear (Warp), Rick Rizzo/Tara Key - Dark Edson Tiger (Thrill Jockey), Dr. Dre - 2001 (Aftermath), Steev Hise - Original (Illegal Art), Storm & Stress - Under Thumb & Flourescent Light (Touch & Go), Anti Pop Consortium - Tragic Epilogue (75 Ark), Eleventh Dream Day - Stalled Parade (Thrill Jockey), Turing Machine (Jade Tree) Euro 2000 (more competitive than the Subway Series, though Mike Bordick would’ve done just as poorly here, too), "Curb Your Enthusiasm".

Heard It B4 (Don’t Wanna Hear It Again) Dept.: Sigur Ros, At The Drive In, Low, Jets To Brazil.