The final Matinée release of the year is a very special Christmas single called ‘The Matinée Holiday Soirée’ (matinée 078) and here are the complete release details:

VARIOUS ARTISTS – THE MATINEE HOLIDAY SOIREE CDEP

Tracklisting:
1. Math and Physics Club – It Must Be Christmas
2. Northern Portrait – Leave The Trees Alone
3. Strawberry Whiplash – Santa Needs A Holiday
4. Champagne Riot – Xmas Safari
5. Bubblegum Lemonade – White Noise Christmas

Brilliant release featuring exclusive new seasonal songs from five of Matinée’s most beloved current artists.

Seattle’s Math and Physics Club arrive with sleighbells on, as ‘It Must Be Christmas’ successfully manages to knit candy canes, carolers, mistletoe, reindeer, Santa’s sleigh, snowflakes, stockings, and winter into an indie Christmas carol of their very own. Copenhagen’s Northern Portrait answer the challenge with an acutely jangling take on Christmas tradition called ‘Leave The Trees Alone’ which speeds along at a distinctly steady pace. Tis the season to be jolly, indeed!

Glasgow duo Strawberry Whiplash celebrate the season with a reverb-drenched and highly melodic nod to our overworked chubby pal up north called ‘Santa Needs A Holiday,’ while new label signing Champagne Riot from Copenhagen set the bar high with their debut Matinée track, the orchestral and hypnotic holiday love song ‘Xmas Safari’.

Finally, Glasgow’s prolific Bubblegum Lemonade deliver a Jesus and Mary Chain-infused tale of the telly going out on Christmas day called ‘White Noise Christmas.’ This is not your standard Christmas fare and we’re all the better for it! Five festive songs from Matinée’s finest, the ‘Matinée Holiday Soirée’ is a sparkling celebration of the season that will be an essential holiday staple for years to come. All five tracks are featured on the Soundcloud player below.

The single is in stock for immediate shipping so please visit the Matinée shop to secure your copy. If you just can’t wait, the songs are also available to download right now via the usual digital services. While you’re in the shop, you should probably pick up one of the ace ‘Matinée Winter Warmer’ CDs (matinée 055) too because it contains ten seasonal songs from The Fairways, Harper Lee, The Liberty Ship, Lovejoy, The Lucksmiths, Melodie Group, The Pines, Pipas, Slipslide, and The Windmills. It’s also now on sale! There are even some of the limited edition Matinée 45 holiday ornaments left too but best be quick as the stack is growing shorter every day.

Hey, it’s time for the annual Matinée fanclub poll! Every December we survey the Matinée faithful to see which new releases made your A-list and reward voters with free records in the process. We are accepting poll entries all month long so if you haven’t ordered the latest releases yet there’s still plenty of time to get them before votes are due.

The six 2010 album of the year contenders are ‘Sophomore Release’ (matcd057) from Bubblegum Lemonade, ‘Dealing In Antiques’ (matcd056) from Cats on Fire, ‘I Shouldn’t Look As Good As I Do’ (matcd055) from Math and Physics Club, ‘Criminal Art Lovers’ (matcd054) from Northern Portrait, ‘Seconds’ (matcd053) from The Electric Pop Group, and ‘The Matinée Grand Prix’ (matcd050) compilation. Surely one of our best years ever, don’t you think?

The six single of the year contenders for 2010 are the ‘Matinée Holiday Soirée’ EP (matinée 078) plus the ‘Get-to-Bed Birds’ 7” (matinée 077) from The Lucksmiths, ‘Life Returns To Normal’ 7” (matinée 076) from Northern Portrait, ‘Jimmy Had A Polaroid’ 7” (matinée 075) from Math and Physics Club, ‘Caroline’s Radio’ 7” (matinée 074) from Bubblegum Lemonade, and ‘Shooting Star’ EP (matinée 073) from Pale Sunday. Now that’s a classy run of singles!

We are also collecting votes for song of the year, favorite Matinée artists, and favorite Matinée albums and singles of all time so please take a moment to vote for your favorites! As always, simply entering earns you a chance to win free music and this year a special $50 merchandise prize is up for grabs for one lucky winner. The poll closes January 1st so complete your entry today and best of luck in the draw!

If you haven’t picked up the latest releases yet now’s the time as our Matinée holiday sale is happening right now at the mailorder. Please see the Matinée shop for superb seasonal savings—7” singles starting at just $1 each, cd singles from $2 each, and cd albums as low as $5 each.

In addition to nice markdowns on virtually the entire Matinée catalog, we are offering an additional 10 percent off all orders $50 and above or 20 percent off all orders $100 and above through December 18th only. These discounts apply to everything in the catalog including new releases so take advantage of the savings to pick up some nice gifts for your friends!

Stock is perilously low on several titles so this may be your last chance at a few of these gems. There’s also another postal rate increase (boo!) scheduled in January so best to get things shipped before the new rates take effect. Happy holidays and thanks for all your support in 2010!

Finally, we have a new #1 on the Matinée hit parade with Bubblegum Lemonade claiming top honors with their brand new ‘Sophomore Release’. Here are the top sellers in the Matinée shop for the month of November:

10. Various Artists – The Matinée Winter Warmer CD
9. Various Artists – The Matinée Hit Parade CD
8. Bubblegum Lemonade – Caroline’s Radio 7″
7. Cats on Fire – Dealing In Antiques CD
6. Math and Physics Club – Jimmy Had A Polaroid 7″
5. The Lucksmiths – Get-to-Bed Birds 7″
4. Math and Physics Club – I Shouldn’t Look As Good As I Do CD
3. Northern Portrait – Life Returns To Normal 7″
2. Various Artists – The Matinée Holiday Soirée CDEP
1. Bubblegum Lemonade – Sophomore Release CD

The spectacular ‘Sophomore Release’ (matcd057) is the brilliant second album from modern Scottish pop revivalists Bubblegum Lemonade! The record is the highly anticipated follow-up to the celebrated 2008 debut album ‘Doubleplusgood’ (matcd048) and proves there’s no end to Laz’ pipeline of bubblegum pop hits.

‘Sophomore Release’ starts off strong with another airing of recent smash single ‘Caroline’s Radio’, a fantastic Scottish pop classic that pays homage to offshore pirate radio station Radio Caroline with spirited lead guitars and rich harmonies perfect for surfing the medium waves. ‘Maybe Someday’ is a mid-tempo hypnotic song with jangling guitars, a pulsing kick drum, groovy 60s bass line, and nice bits of glockenspiel, while ‘She’s Got A Gun’ is number 3 with a bullet, featuring a fuzzy 12-string guitar intro and more ace harmonies.

‘You Only Leave Twice’ is a smashing little tune, boasting big 60s production, soaring harmonies, acoustic guitars, bongos, and more glockenspiel, while ‘We Could Send Emails’ is a clever nod to early Aztec Camera with poetic lyrics, a circular jangle riff, ba-ba-ba refrain, more 12-string guitars, and nice harmonies. Meanwhile, ‘Alice Please’ is slow-burning psychedelic pop that recalls fellow Scots The Bachelor Pad with its fuzzy stop-start guitars and rolling drum rhythm.

Side two of the album kicks off with the up-tempo ‘Living For Today’, a nice slice of ‘Darklands’-era Mary Chain pop with a shoegaze bridge leading to what is possibly the album’s best guitar solo. ‘Girlfriend Ghost’ slows things down a bit with an atmospheric tale of relationships past complete with haunting counter melody and vocal harmonies that bring to mind The House of Love or various bands from the American Paisley Underground. ‘Autumn Sky’ is a page from Laz’ autumn almanac, set in 3/4 time and boasting major seventh chords, a lilting rhythm, Beach Boys percussion, and more handsome harmonies.

‘You’re Still Beautiful (When You’re Sad)’ is another instantly memorable smash with 12-string intro, playful lyrics, and jangling chords that build to a ba-ba-ba conclusion. ‘When She Goes’ is a slow 12-string chimefest originally recorded by Laz’ former band The Search Engines now back by popular demand with Sandra of Strawberry Whiplash on backing vox and a nice Phil Spector-inspired drum pattern. Finally, ‘Last Train To Clarkston’ is an up-tempo album closer that pays respect to the Monkees with plenty of 60s guitars and loads of tambourine.

Inspired by all the right pop music from the past 50 years, Bubblegum Lemonade create insanely catchy and melodic songs filtered through their very own scruffy Glasgow charm school. ‘Sophomore Release’ builds on the great promise exhibited on ‘Doubleplusgood’ with a wide variety of song types, rich instrumentation, superb female harmonies, and enhanced production. A modern classic!

For complete release details and soundclips, please see the catalog page or visit the Matinée and Bubblegum Lemonade pages on Facebook.  You can stream a few key album tracks on the handy player below.

The album is available now in the Matinée shop and smart record retailers across the land, plus digitally via the usual digital outlets including iTunes, emusic, Amazon, Darla.com, Spotify, and others. Don’t forget your copy of the snazzy red vinyl ‘Caroline’s Radio’ 7″ (matinée 074) with two exclusive tracks before they’re gone too!

The final Matinée release of the year is a very special Christmas single called ‘The Matinée Holiday Soirée’ (matinée 078) and it’s now available for preorder! The EP includes exclusive new seasonal gifts from Matinée hitmakers Bubblegum Lemonade, Math and Physics Club, Northern Portrait, and Strawberry Whiplash, plus the Matinée debut of excellent Danish act Champagne Riot! While there are a few mentions of sleighbells and mistletoe on the record, the EP is not your average Christmas offering. We thought about writing some clever text to describe the songs but decided you really must hear them yourself so we’ve just added all five songs to the Soundcloud player below.  The tracklisting is: 1. Math and Physics Club – It Must Be Christmas; 2. Northern Portrait – Leave The Trees Alone; 3. Strawberry Whiplash – Santa Needs A Holiday; Champagne Riot – Xmas Safari; 5. Bubblegum Lemonade – White Noise Christmas.

You know four of these bands well of course, and Champagne Riot are sure to be firm favorites too as the band features Caspar from Northern Portrait. You may know their previous EP ‘Paris and I’ released by our good pals at Shelflife Records in 2008? If not, you really should check that out as we’ll be releasing the follow-up ‘Confessions of a Poker Pro’ EP in short order and it’s really pretty amazing.

‘The Matinée Holiday Soirée’ is released December 6th but you can preorder a copy right now exclusively from the Matinée shop and we’ll ship it as soon as we have copies back from the pressing plant. If you’re in a festive mood, you should pick up one of the ‘Matinée Winter Warmer’ CDs (matinée 055) we released a few years back too because it contains ten seasonal songs from The Fairways, Harper Lee, The Liberty Ship, Lovejoy, The Lucksmiths, Melodie Group, The Pines, Pipas, Slipslide, and The Windmills. It’s ace, naturally and it’s also now on sale!

Hope you haven’t already finalized your ‘best of 2010’ list because the new album ‘Sophomore Release’ (matcd057) from Scottish pop revivalists Bubblegum Lemonade is now in stock and you really need to hear it. The record—the penultimate Matinée release of the year and the highly anticipated follow-up to the smash 2008 debut album ‘Doubleplusgood’ (matcd048)—proves there’s no end to Laz’ pipeline of Scottish pop hits.

The album includes a dozen new Bubblegum Lemonade hits, including 1. Caroline’s Radio; 2. Maybe Someday; 3. She’s Got A Gun; 4. You Only Leave Twice; 5. We Could Send Emails; 6. Alice Please; 7. Living For Today; 8. Girlfriend Ghost; 9. Autumn Sky; 10. You’re Still Beautiful (When You’re Sad); 11. When She Goes; and 12. Last Train to Clarkston. Inspired by all the right pop music from the past 50 years, Bubblegum Lemonade create insanely catchy and melodic songs and filter them through their very own scruffy Glasgow charm school. ‘Sophomore Release’ builds on the great promise exhibited on ‘Doubleplusgood’ with a wide variety of song types, rich instrumentation, superb female harmonies, and enhanced production. It’s a modern classic and definitely worthy of a spot on your year-end list!

Listen to a few of our current favorites on the ‘Sophomore Release’ catalog page and grab a free download of the lovely ‘You Only Leave Twice’ on the Matinée sounds page. If that’s not enough, you can hear even more songs now playing on the Bubblegum Lemonade page on Facebook!

The official album release date is November 29th but you can get your copy right now exclusively in the Matinée shop! While you’re there, you may want to pick up the snazzy red vinyl ‘Caroline’s Radio’ 7” (matinée 074) too as it has two additional songs that do not appear on ‘Sophomore Release’ and it’s selling fast!

So that’s two months atop the Matinée hit parade for The Lucksmiths ‘Get-to-Bed Birds’ 45. We are currently shipping copies in the 600s so get yours before they’re all gone. Matinée has just half the pressing (the evens) as we shipped the rest (the odds) to our good pals at the Lost and Lonesome Recording Company in Australia and they are reporting brisk sales as well. Here are the top sellers in the Matinée shop for the month of October:

10. The Guild League – Speak Up CD
9. Cats on Fire – Dealing In Antiques CD
8. Bubblegum Lemonade – Caroline’s Radio 7″
7. Northern Portrait – Criminal Art Lovers CD
6. Strawberry Whiplash – Picture Perfect CDEP
5. Northern Portrait – Napoleon Sweetheart CDEP
4. Math and Physics Club – Jimmy Had A Polaroid 7″
3. Math and Physics Club – I Shouldn’t Look As Good As I Do CD
2. Northern Portrait – Life Returns To Normal 7″
1. The Lucksmiths – Get-to-Bed Birds 7″

Matinée 45 assembly line is in full swing again! At top, the ‘Get-to-Bed Birds’ 7″ (matinée 077) from The Lucksmiths is looking sharp in its heavy reverse board record jacket and classic black vinyl, while the ‘Life Returns To Normal’ 7″ (matinée 076) from Northern Portrait is one of the most handsome records we’ve ever seen with its jacket featuring vintage Volvo estate cars and its stylish ultra clear vinyl! Apparently we even impressed the pressing plant with this one as they showcased the single on their weekly ‘Record of the Week’ blog.

At bottom, the recent ‘Jimmy Had A Polaroid’ 7″ (matinée 075) from Math and Physics Club is pressed on the coolest of cool ice blue vinyl and the ‘Caroline’s Radio’ 7″ (matinée 074) from Bubblegum Lemonade boasts transparent red vinyl and another ace record jacket!

All of the new singles are hand numbered and come with free download cards. They are going fast so get yourself to the Matinée shop to secure copies before they run out!

We are happy to report the world has officially gone 7″ crazy as our new singles have captured the top four spots on the Matinée hit parade this month. As expected, The Lucksmiths take the prize by a country mile with their farewell single but you should never underestimate the power of a new release from Northern Portrait. Do you have your copies yet? Here are the top sellers in the Matinée shop for the month of September:

10. Cats on Fire – Dealing In Antiques CD
9. Math and Physics Club – Weekends Away CDEP
8. Bubblegum Lemonade – Ten Years Younger CDEP
7. Bubblegum Lemonade – Doubleplusgood CD
6. Bubblegum Lemonade – Susan’s In The Sky CDEP
5. Math and Physics Club – I Shouldn’t Look As Good As I Do CD
4. Bubblegum Lemonade – Caroline’s Radio 7″
3. Math and Physics Club – Jimmy Had A Polaroid 7″
2. Northern Portrait – Life Returns To Normal 7″
1. The Lucksmiths – Get-to-Bed Birds 7″

Hello pop fans! Another day, another new 45! Here’s the skinny:

matinée 077
THE LUCKSMITHS – GET-TO-BED BIRDS 7″

Tracklisting:
1. Get-to-Bed Birds
2. The World of Professional Golf 1994

Plucked fresh from the ether, here it is—the final offering of new material from The Lucksmiths! Released one-year posthumously, ‘Get-to-Bed Birds’ (matinée 077) collects the last two songs the band scribed before hitting Splitsville. Both A and B-sides are non-album tracks, recorded especially for separate compilations: ‘Get-to-Bed Birds’ was originally featured on the ‘Matinée Grand Prix’ CD (matcd050), while B-side ‘The World of Professional Golf 1994’ appeared on one edition of Australian literary journal The Lifted Brow’s collections.

The title-track is a gem; drawn from the well of introspection occasioned by New Year’s Eve, ‘Get-to-Bed Birds’ is a weary-eyed tale of a drunken wee-hours stumble through familiar streets. ‘The World of Professional Golf 1994’, meanwhile, is the wistful lament of a caffeinated couch-dweller’s televised sports fixation. Unintentionally, the coupling of the two songs makes for a well-rounded summary, neatly pulling together some well-worn Lucksmiths themes (drinking/sports/revelry/pensiveness), and dishing them up attractively on one glorious, beautifully packaged piece of funeral black vinyl.

Having served sixteen years on the planet as a hard-working indiepop troupe, The Lucksmiths, through a coveted knack for turning the phrase and touching the heart, earned themselves a place alongside forebears The Go-Betweens in the annals of great literate Australian pop. ‘Get-to-Bed Birds’ is a superb coda to an illustrious career.

The 7” is co-released with our good pals at the Lost And Lonesome Recording Company in Australia and is limited to 1000 hand-numbered copies with free MP3 download code. Sadly—just like the band—the singles will not last forever so visit the Matinée shop to secure your copy now. We begin shipping orders this coming Tuesday the 28th so you won’t have to wait too long. If you’re feeling strictly digital, both songs have been delivered to the usual online services and are available to download right now! All good record shops will start receiving copies next week as well.

Stop press #1: There is a free download of ‘Get-to-Bed Birds’ on the Matinée sounds page right now if you’re feeling like a little preview. Enjoy!

Stop press #2: In other Lucksmiths action, we can now confirm a forthcoming DVD release of the band’s 2009 farewell shows in Australia. Watch for more details on this special release soon!

After what seems like an eternity, we now have an approved test pressing of the new Northern Portrait single! Here at last are the complete release details:

matinée 076
NORTHERN PORTRAIT – LIFE RETURNS TO NORMAL 7″

Tracklisting:
1. Life Returns To Normal
2. Some People

Ladies and gentlemen, we are very pleased to present the ‘Life Returns To Normal’ 7” (matinée 076), the elegant first vinyl release from our very favorite Danish quartet Northern Portrait!

The title track originally featured on the band’s smash debut album ‘Criminal Art Lovers’ (matcd054) earlier this year and is presented here in a newly remastered version perfect for spinning at 45 rpm. The lush guitar track about Volvo Estate cars is arguably one of the band’s finest moments to date and practically begs for repeat plays. Check it out now spinning on the Matinée sounds page!

Exclusive b-side ‘Some People’ is a cover version of a song made popular by Sir Cliff Richard back in 1987. The Northern Portrait interpretation strips the original of its excess 1980’s gloss and reveals a modern and unique take on an unexpected pop song. You’ll be singing it for days!

The single is limited to 1000 hand-numbered copies pressed on stylish ultra clear vinyl and comes with free MP3 download code. Single of the week indeed!

We’ve been told the pressing will arrive by the end of next week so please visit the Matinée shop now to secure your copy and we’ll ship as soon as the UPS man turns the corner. If you just can’t wait that long, both songs are available to download right now via the usual digital services. Look for copies in a shop near you in early October.

The band is currently finishing three new songs for yet another 7” release we’re calling the ‘Pretty Decent Swimmers’ EP. Watch this space for more news soon!