Hello again and happy August! Things are moving swiftly here at Matinée HQ so sit back for a sampling of the latest news.
First off, we’re less than ten days away from our late summer pop celebration, the Matinée Summer Splash! What’s
that you ask? Well, it’s your chance to see seven Matinée artists in the span of six days…assuming you are in the vicinity of
London or Nottingham, England that is. Here is the complete skinny:
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Saturday, August 24th: Would-Be-Goods, The Windmills, Pipas and Lovejoy play the
Notting Hill Arts Centre (21 Notting Hill Gate) in London. This is a free event sponsored by RoTa, doors are at
4pm, and we’ll also have top tune spinning from celebrity deejays Tim Hopkins (The Visitors) and Pam Berry (The Pines).
Monday, August 26th: The Liberty Ship and Kosmonaut play at Junktion 7 (Canning Circus) in Nottingham
alongside Darren Hanlon, the Lollies and Dallas Burn. This is a great event sponsored by Tasty fanzine and our first foray into the Nottingham
scene so come check out the latest Matinée signings and say hello. Kickoff is 7pm and admission is £4 including a free
fanzine.
Tuesday, August 27th: Slipslide play the Dublin Castle in London (94 Parkway, Camden), with The Fades, The Mule
Boom and Kapowski. This gig is sponsored by Club Fandango,
doors are at 8pm and Slipslide are scheduled for a 9pm start so get there early. Admission is £5 or £4 with a flyer, which you
can’t download anymore.
Thursday, August 29th: Would-Be-Goods team up with Darren Hanlon for another London show at the Spitz (109
Commercial Street, Old Spitalfields Market). This is sponsored by the hip cats at Strange Fruit and tickets are £5 in advance from
Ticketweb.
To celebrate this uncharacteristic abundance of live action, we are releasing a low-price 12-song sampler CD featuring exclusive
tracks, rarities, and previews of forthcoming releases from the participating bands and a handful of other top acts from the
Matinée roster. Sharing the title the Matinée Summer Splash! (matinée 040), the tracklisting for the CD is: 1.
Harper Lee – Fine Bones, 2. Would-Be-Goods – Dilettante, 3. Airport Girl – When You Fall, 4.
Slipslide – X Supplies The Answer, 5. Melodie Group – I Do Not Not Love You, 6. Pipas – Cruel and
Unusual, 7. Sportique – Rollercoaster, 8. The Windmills – Walking Around The World. 9. The Liberty
Ship – Don’t React, 10. The Pines – Leavin’ On Your Mind, 11. Lovejoy – You Fell From Grace, 12.
Kosmonaut – Was It You? For anyone keeping track of these things, that makes nine unreleased songs and they
are all spectacular! It will be available at the aforementioned shows at the insanely low price of a single so its purchase is
compulsory for all of you, no? For everyone not in England, you can get a copy straight from the Order
page or from your favorite shop next month.
We’ll also have advance copies of new releases from Lovejoy and Harper Lee with us in England although supplies will be
limited so come to RoTa if you really want one. The new Lovejoy album is entitled “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?”
(matcd018) and includes nine songs that further demonstrate the innovation and creativity flowing from Lovejoy headquarters.
The album bends the band’s classic pop template slightly to encompass a bit more electronica (think New Order or the Wake)
and even a song that will make you get up and dance like you just don’t care. The album features a new version of the Biff
Bang Pow! classic “The Beat Hotel” with drums and electric guitars and other sparkly magic only possible in Lovejoy studios.
And it looks great! The official release date is September 2nd but you can get one now exclusively via the
Order page.
Another new release is the second album from Brighton’s Harper Lee called “Everything’s Going To Be OK” (matcd020).
In the past year, Harper Lee have earned great respect from the music press with positive reviews of recent single “Train Not
Stopping” and debut album “Go Back To Bed” piling up around the globe. This new album includes nine straightforward classics
that will surely engender a new set of superlatives. We think it’s the band’s finest release so far which is saying quite a lot.
Out officially on September 9th so get ready…we’ll have exclusive copies available via the Order page
very soon.
The Harper Lee album marks the temporary end of an era (yes, I realize that makes no sense)…as it is the final release to
come out while Matinée is headquartered in our nation’s lovely capital. Immediately following my return from the UK shows we’ll
be packing up our house and the overflowing Matinée warehouse to move all the way across the country to an equally lovely
place called Santa Barbara, California. The move should have no impact on the label aside from some unavoidable shipping
delays on all orders while our moving van traverses its way through 15 of the 50 US states. From September 2nd through the
15th, your best bet is to order your Matinée titles from one of the many fine establishments identified atop the Order page. We will have virtually no access to email during this time too so please be patient while we
get situated in California. Any orders that come in during this time will be filled no later than the 15th. Most importantly,
please do not send anything to the Washington DC post office box for delivery after September 2nd because we won’t be here
to receive it. It will eventually get forwarded to Santa Barbara but avoid unnecessary delays by playing it safe. There will
be a new Santa Barbara post office box ready for your envelopes and parcels sometime in the next two weeks so check the
order page for the updated address and send me some welcome mail! We plan to return to DC eventually because we love it
here, but we expect to call Santa Barbara home for a few years at least. It’s on the beach so how could one complain? We
will try our best to keep sand off the CDs.
Okay, so once we are situated in our new office we’ll get to work on the autumn release schedule, which begins with the debut
Matinée record by Kosmonaut – two new tracks called “Desert Song” and “Bee Song” on opposite sides of a beautiful
45 rpm slab of vinyl. As I mentioned last time, Kosmonaut is a relatively new band featuring Stephen Maughan (ex-Bulldozer
Crash) and Geoff Suggett (ex-Lavender Faction). They have so far released a 7″ on the eternally hip Firestation Tower Records
and contributed a song to a Motorway Records compilation 45. For a taste of the band’s sound, check out the
suberb song “Was It You?” on the new Matinée Summer Splash sampler and come to their debut gig at the Tasty showcase
on August 26th in Nottingham.
The “R is for Razorcuts” CD (matcd012) from Razorcuts is still in the works and now on track for an early October
release. The CD includes 21 hits carefully selected from the band’s former works on Creation, Subway and Flying Nun plus a
few rarities including a previously unreleased lost recording. The full tracklisting is: 1. I’ll Still Be There (LP version), 2. Big Pink
Cake, 3. Summer in Your Heart, 4. Mary Day, 5. Sorry to Embarrass You, 6. A is for Alphabet, 7. 8 Times Around The World,
8. I Heard You The First Time, 9. Jade, 10. A Contract With God, 11. Brighter Now, 12. Storyteller, 13. Everyday Eyes, 14. Try,
15. Across The Meadow, 16. I Won’t Let You Down, 17. The World Keeps Turning, 18. The Last Picture Show, 19. Sad
Kaleidoscope, 20. The Horror of Party Beach, 21. I’ll Still Be There (single version). Don’t miss it!
Other autumn releases on the way include the outstanding new album from Pipas called “A Cat Escaped” (matcd021),
the debut “Updownaround” full-length by Melodie Group (matcd022), the tasty “Do You Dream In Colour?” CDEP
(matinée 037) from Airport Girl, the Matinée debut from The Pines called the “Familiar” EP, and the return of
The Fairways with their “Don’t Call Me Dear” CDEP. More details on these releases next time.
Since the next update will not occur until at least the middle of September, we will give you advance notice of a few upcoming
gigs: September 7th – Sportique play the Spitz in London with the Butterflies of Love; September 28th and 29th –
The Pines, Pipas and Would-Be-Goods play a Chickfactor show at Bush Hall in London (alongside
the absolutely lovely Camera Obscura, The Montgolfier Brothers, Future Bible Heroes, The Clientele, and A Girl Called Eddy).
All shows are sponsored by Strange Fruit so have a
look at their website for details.
Here at Chez Matinée, we pride ourselves on staying atop of all press action, so we were troubled to learn of an interview that
slipped below our radar recently…a lengthy and humorous discussion with the lovely and outspoken Johnny Johnson of The
Siddeleys that appeared on IndieSpinzone. It’s
really good so check it out! There are several other interviews in the works as we speak so look for links to those next month.
In other press news, summer singles from The Liberty Ship and The Guild League continue to generate
positive reviews. Some recent quotes include:
“Three songs of surprisingly lovely pop from a band certainly worth watching…Single of the Week!”
Mundane Sounds
“Worth hurrying back from Yorkshire, Andalucia, Londres or any other of the jet-set locations mentioned within these
super-suave grooves to secure your copy.” In Love With These Times
“The group’s sound is remarkably relaxed…with sweet harmonizing and melodic guitar lines that for some reason evoke
holidays and summer vacations.” Erasing Clouds
“This all reminds me of 1986 before I had hassles like relationships, bills and keeping a job down…It will bring the summer
into your heart.” Pennyblack
“Rich and laid-back, this is pop for all seasons.” In Love With These Times
For more information on these releases check out the newly revised catalog page.
Finally, the mailorder will be closed from August 20th through August 28th while we are in England, and again from September
2nd until September 15th as we move across the country. In an attempt to count you among our friends during this period, we
are extending the Matinée summer clearance sale prices to all orders received through September 15th so go crazy! The top
sellers for the month of July were:
10. Harper Lee – Train Not Stopping CDEP
9. Airport Girl – Honey, I’m An Artist CD
8. Lovejoy – Songs In The Key Of… CD
7. Pipas – A Short Film About Sleeping 7″
6. Simpático – The Difference Between Alone & Lonely CD
5. Would-Be-Goods – Brief Lives CD
4. The Windmills – Walking Around The World CDEP
3. The Liberty Ship – I Guess You Didn’t See Her 7″
2. The Lucksmiths – Where Were We? CD
1. The Guild League – Jet-Set…Go! CDEP
Hope to see you at the shows later this month!
cheers,
Jimmy
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