Happy holidays! Our final missive of the year includes news of another new release, our annual year-end poll, big savings at the mailorder, special seasonal offerings, and oh so much more.
Surrounded again with boxes of just delivered new release goodness, this time courtesy of mysterious Matinée musicmakers The Snowdrops! The second single from the occasional collaboration of indie legends Keith Girdler (Blueboy, Beaumont, Arabesque, Lovejoy), Dick Preece (Lovejoy, Beaumont) and Pam Berry (The Pines, Shapiros, Black Tambourine, Glo Worm), the new ‘Sleepydust’ EP (matinée 053) features five tracks including a Pet Shop Boys-inspired title track with brilliant lead vocals from Keith plus backing from Pam. The song is now playing on the updated sounds page for your listening pleasure. Other tracks include a beautiful atmospheric number called ‘Too Cold To Snow,’ current favorite ‘The Boy With The Hummingbird Eyes’ featuring Dick on lead vocals and a guest appearance from Keris Howard (Harper Lee, Brighter), a short one called ‘Teddy Dragons’ and a remix of ‘Sleepydust’ with more Pam (always a good thing) and some other nice touches. The single will appear in shops just after the first of the year but you can get your very own copy exclusively via the Matinée mailorder right now! As with all our singles, the EP is limited to 1000 copies in our custom designed minijacket sleeves so they don’t take up too much space and look great without all the unnecessary plastic. We’re so green. So yeah, this single DOES in fact exist. Hurrah!
Also on every hipster’s shopping list is the excellent ‘Language Lessons’ CDEP (matinée 058) from London trio Tender Trap! As we mentioned last month, the EP finds band members Amelia Fletcher, Rob Pursey and John Stanley (DJ Downfall) in absolutely top form. Amelia is arguably the voice of the indiepop generation, fronting legendary acts Talulah Gosh, Heavenly and Marine Research from the mid-80s to the turn of the century and adding her unmistakable vocals to hits from The Wedding Present, Hefner, The Brilliant Corners, and Sportique, among others. Since forming in 2001 as Tender Trap, Amelia, Rob and John have released three singles and the superb album ‘Film Molecules,’ once described as “the unholy alliance between Blondie and The Magnetic Fields.” This long-awaited follow-up features lead track ‘Talking Backwards’ which will appear on a forthcoming Tender Trap album (matcd040) in early 2006. The song is a refreshing pop hit, full of chunky guitars, mellifluous vocals, smart drumming (courtesy of Claudia Gonson of The Magnetic Fields), ba-ba-ba’s and shimmering enthusiasm as it builds to its highly harmonious conclusion. Check it out now on the updated sounds page. The EP also includes three non-album tracks: ‘Unputdownable’ showcases more of Claudia’s ace drumming as it mixes lush string-filled verses with a shouty chorus that recalls the heady days of Heavenly’s P.U.N.K. Girl; ‘Friendster’ is a lovely ode to a certain online forum; and ‘Cómo Te Llamas?’ is a frighteningly catchy electropop hit featuring a bilingual duet between Amelia and special guest Lupe Nuñez-Fernandez of fellow Matinée superstars Pipas. Another classic single and a very welcome return for Tender Trap! The single is also limited to 1000 copies in custom minijacket sleeve so get to the order page for your copy now!
In early press action, Kisschase wrote “Tender Trap have taken a step back from recent electro-pop outings to deliver up a delightfully jangly and harmonic single that reminds me more of the early Heavenly 45s on Sarah than anything Amelia or Rob have done since.” Meanwhile, Tangents summarized the EP as “everything you would expect and more,” and Vanity Project reported “Talking Backwards cements their position through their long morph-friendly history (Talulah Gosh, Heavenly etc.) as life-presidents of the ‘proper’ indie/bowlie/twee pop scene.” The band has just completed an interview with Tasty fanzine as well which you can read on the Tender Trap artist page.
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Of course the Snowdrops and Tender Trap EPs are but two of the six singles competing in the best single of 2005 category in our annual Matinée fanclub poll. Other contenders include the ‘Fools in Love’ EP (matinée 054) from The Happy Couple, the ‘San Francisco’ EP (matinée 057) from The Lucksmiths, and the ‘Weekends Away’ (matinée 056) and ‘Movie Ending Romance’ (matinée 059) EPs from Math and Physics Club. Which one gets your vote?
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In other poll action, the five favorite album contenders are ‘Warmer Corners’ (matcd039) from The Lucksmiths, ‘Northern Drive’ (matcd038) from The Young Tradition, ‘Summertime?’ (matcd037) from Pale Sunday, ‘Chunnel Autumnal’ (matcd036) from Pipas, and ‘Everybody Hates’ (matcd035) from Lovejoy. Such a tough choice.
In addition to the favorite single and album categories, we are also collecting votes for song of the year, favorite band, and favorite release of all time, plus soliciting your suggestions for making the label even better in 2006. Please take a minute to give us your thoughts. As with prior polls, simply entering earns you a chance to win five free CDs of your choice. This year we are also offering every entrant a 20 percent discount off anything ordered via the mailorder between now and January 15, so you can pick up a few last minute Christmas gifts or order what you really wanted after the holidays are over. To receive the discount you must first submit a poll entry. While you are in poll mode, don’t forget to support your favorite Matinée artists in other year-end polls like the official TweeNet poll.
Now this is the space in which we would normally entice you with details of some upcoming releases but in keeping with our year-end look back we instead will reveal that our back catalog spotlight highlights classic releases this month from The Visitors, The Windmills and Lovejoy. Each release is on sale for the next month if you want to complete your Matinée collection (and coupled with the 20 percent discount noted above means these could be yours for next to nothing). Here are some selling points:
The ‘Miss’ CD (matcd003) from The Visitors hails from May of 2000, but like CDs from Brighter, Razorcuts, Remember Fun and The Siddeleys, is a compilation of songs originally recorded in the late 1980s. The Visitors split up in 1988, following the release of one flexidisc, a play on the John Peel show, and the recording of a clutch of fine pop songs. The sought-after flexi, which featured the ace song ‘Goldmining’, was issued on the Sha-La-La imprint and has maintained a steady band of admirers since its release. We crossed the Atlantic to dig out the original tapes for Goldmining and ten other pop gems that are lost treats from a time when a particular kind of pure guitar pop still roamed the streets of the UK. The album received some lovely press, including a 4 1/2 stars out of 5 review in one of the very last issues of famed UK music paper Melody Maker before it turned into a third-rate Smash Hits and disappeared into obscurity. “Perfect for the Bowlie generation, these star-kissed melodies are tinged with a sweet regret and still sound fresh 12 years after this album was recorded,” they wrote, while longtime Visitors follower Tangents said “The Visitors Miss collection on the fine Matinée label is the sort of ignored and forgotten classic made by people who in a finer world and in finer times should have been Pop Stars. Miss is not a record of the past but is a record of Now because it sounds as fresh and as urgent a Pop record as I’ve heard.” So true… Check out full reviews and soundclips on the catalog page. If you haven’t heard The Visitors you should really check them out!
One of a handful of Matinée seasonal offerings, the ‘When It Was Winter’ EP (matinée 024) from The Windmills is our back catalog CD single of the month. The band’s third single for Matinée from March 2001 showed this English quartet in prime form. At the time, we suggested the EPs “unrestrained melodies, crisp guitars, and sincere vocals make it perfect for fans of the Go Betweens, Weather Prophets, Bodines, or Jazz Butcher” and I suppose those reference points still make sense today. In reviewing the EP, Splendid referred to another great band from the 1980s instead, saying “four deliciously shimmering slices of pure pop…its decidedly British demeanor and propensity for jangly, minor key musings should curry the group some favor with the more adventurous faction of the anglophile crowd, not to mention confused Smiths fans. Meanwhile, Pennyblack declared the EP would “undoubtedly delight all jangle-pop-picking-purists” and Tangents wrote “the new EP from The Windmills shows more than ever that here is a band who have been listening closely to their East Village records, which is to be applauded of course…the four tracks fuse a fine penchant for minor chords and a tension that might be akin to that felt by the great Last Party, or Hellfire Sermons even, at their most melodic and least abrasive.” The EP includes two songs that did not appear on the subsequent album ‘Sunlight’ (matcd014) so it’s well worth picking up. See the catalog page for reviews and sounds. Trust me, the Windmills rule!
Appropriately, our back catalog classic 7” is the ‘A Christmas Wish’ EP (matinée 025) from Lovejoy. Released in November 2000, the second of three celebrated Lovejoy 45s features three exclusive recordings in the holiday tradition and is perfect for fans of House of Love, Blueboy, or the Revolving Paint Dream. The superb a-side “I Dream of Angels” is an orchestral song that evokes the beautiful imagery of Christmas and features guitars, keyboards and magnificent female harmonies. Swedish fanzine Try Happiness loved it, writing “like running round with your tongue out your mouth, catching flakes in the crunching green-white grass,” while IndiePages suggested it was “like the Pet Shop Boys mixed with Pale Saints” and Parasol called it “gorgeous swooping pop with bells on.” Check the catalog page for more reviews and sounds. Lovejoy just go with the holidays so now is the time to click over to the order page.
In addition to the wintery Lovejoy and Windmills releases just mentioned, perhaps you should pick up the wonderful ‘Matinée Winter Warmer’ compilation (matinée 055) featuring seasonal hits from The Fairways, Harper Lee, The Liberty Ship, Lovejoy, The Lucksmiths, Melodie Group, The Pines, Pipas, Slipslide, and The Windmills. It’s available for the price of a single and is sure to get you in the holiday spirit.
We also have a handful of our nifty Matinée 45 holiday ornaments (matinée 045) left and if you act quickly there’s still time to have it in time for the holidays! Santa doesn’t have any of these so the Matinée mailorder is your only source. Hop to it!
[end of overt holiday commercialization]
We’ll leave you, as always, with our hit parade of top sellers from last month. No competition for the top this time as Tender Trap ruled supreme:
10. The Visitors – Miss CD
9. Pale Sunday – Summertime? CD
8. Various – Matinée Winter Warmer CD
7. Pipas – Chunnel Autumnal CD
6. The Lucksmiths – Warmer Corners CD
5. The Young Tradition – Northern Drive CD
4. Pipas – A Cat Escaped CD
3. Math and Physics Club – Weekends Away CDEP
2. Math and Physics Club – Movie Ending Romance CDEP
1. Tender Trap – Language Lessons CDEP
Check back in early January for the latest news, including lists of 2005 favorites from Matinée artists, results of the fourth annual Matinée fanclub poll, details of the 2006 release schedule, and more.
Seasons greetings to everyone and thanks again for your incredible support this year!
Jimmy
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