Hey now! We’re winding down the extended summer holiday so sit back for top news including reports on brand new releases from Brighter, Math and Physics Club, and The Pines plus new-ish releases from Harper Lee, Lovejoy, Tender Trap and The Lucksmiths, a handful of upcoming live dates, and a colossal sale at the mailorder with prices slashed as much as 50 percent on some titles. Oh yes… You knew our latest web update would be worth the wait!
Let’s start with Brighter, shall we? Faithful followers of this label know that Harper Lee frontman Keris Howard can do no wrong in our book and if there is anything that rivals the brilliance of a new Harper Lee release it’s a new compilation of songs from his previous band Brighter. We had the honor of releasing the ‘Singles 1989-1992′ collection (matcd026) a few years back which compiled the four legendary Brighter singles released on Sarah Records but did you know that was only half the story? The fantastic new 20-track compilation ‘Out To Sea’ (matcd041) features the remaining eight songs from the Sarah Records catalog (all taken from the 1991 mini-lp ‘Laurel’) plus five songs from the rare German-released ‘Next Summer’ and ‘A Winter’s Tale’ flexis, a contribution to the impossible-to-find ‘Beckett House’ compilation LP, and six (!!!!!!) previously unreleased tracks, all remastered in glorious stereo sound. The full tracklisting is: 1. Christmas, 2. Frostbite, 3. Summer Becomes Winter, 4. Something To Call My Own, 5. Ocean Sky, 6. Out to Sea, 7. Maybe, 8. Journey’s End, 9. If I Could See, 10. Wallflower, 11. Airhead, 12. Don’t Remember, 13. Next Summer, 14. Looks Like Rain, 15. Falling, 16. There Is Nothing We Can Do?, 17. Nothing At All, 18. Hope to God, 19. Amy Never Knew, 20. Still. You can listen to four of these tracks on the updated sounds and catalog pages. The CD is just back from the pressing plant and scheduled for release to shops in early October but we have copies available RIGHT NOW exclusively via the Matinée mailorder for a mere $10. It’s true!
In the imminent release category is the highly anticipated debut album (matcd042) from Seattle quintet Math and Physics Club! We’ve gone for a self-titled affair which is a first as far as Matinée albums go but once you hear the songs you’ll see that no title is necessary. The world fell in love with Math and Physics Club as soon as the debut ‘Weekends Away’ EP (matinée 056) was released in February of last year. The EP sold out of its initial pressing in just a few months and has now surpassed even ‘T-Shirt Weather’ from the Lucksmiths as the best selling single on Matinée. Go figure. The follow-up ‘Movie Ending Romance’ EP (matinée 059) was released in July of last year and was even better in my humble opinion. Everyone loved it too and it has been a solid fixture inside the top five of the Matinée hit parade ever since. In a bold move the band decided to start from scratch on its debut album and the results are positively wonderful. The ten new tracks that comprise the album are: 1. Darling, Please Come Home, 2. I Know What I Want, 3. April Showers, 4. Holidays and Saturdays, 5. La La La Lisa, 6. Look At Us Now, 7. You’ll Miss Me, 8. Cold As Minnesota, 9. Such A Simple Plan, 10. Last Dance. From the first moment of the opening track you know you’re in for a treat and it doesn’t let up until the final note some 30 minutes later. You can listen to three tracks on the new catalog page, and ‘Darling, Please Come Home’ is also featured on the sounds page. The CD is at the pressing plant and we’ll have copies ready to ship by the 1st of October so you can order a copy RIGHT NOW if you’re the patient sort. Go on then! The CD is available in shops from October 16th.
The band will play a handful of album launch shows next month including their first along the East Coast. Please see confirmed dates below and check the MAPC website for further details. Hurrah!
Friday, October 6th @ Union Hall, New York, NY with The Envelopes.
Saturday, October 7th @ Pianos, New York, NY with The Icicles.
Sunday, October 8th @ The Elevens. Northampton, MA as part of the New England Popfest.
Saturday, October 14th @ Sonic Boom Records (Ballard), Seattle, WA – FREE 6pm in-store performance.
Saturday, October 14th @ Sunset Tavern, Seattle, WA with Boat and The Seaworthies – RECORD RELEASE SHOW!!
Also now in production is a superb 20-track collection of singles, compilation appearances, and unreleased tracks from South London pop duo The Pines! Appropriately titled ‘It’s Been A While’ (matcd043), the album is the first release from The Pines since their magnificent ‘True Love Waits, Volume 2′ EP (matinée 048) nearly three years ago. That EP was one of six limited edition singles the band released on various labels from 2000 to 2003. In addition to Matinée, The Pines have graced the discography pages for Annika (Spain), Becalmed (UK), Foxyboy (USA), Gifted (Australia), and Long Lost Cousin (UK), and contributed compilation tracks to collections by Chickfactor (USA), Papercuts (UK), and Red Square (USA). Over the years they also recorded a handful of covers and other gems that saw very limited release or languished in the vaults with no release at all…until now! We’re doing what any respectable record label should by pulling songs from each of these fantastic releases to form the debut full-length for the band. In addition to highlights from the aforementioned releases, the CD includes three songs from the extremely rare self-released Christmas 2000 CD and unreleased covers of songs by Young Marble Giants and The Cat’s Miaow! Of course being absent from the new release shelves for three years means there are some of you who may not know anything about The Pines at all so we’ll tell you that the band consists of an amiable English gent called Joe Brooker plus legendary American expat songstress Pam Berry. Joe is a prolific songwriter and also one-half of pop duo The Foxgloves, while Pam’s distinguished resume includes association with numerous indie bands including Belmondo, Black Tambourine, Bright Coloured Lights, The Castaway Stones, Glo Worm, The Seashell Sea, The Shapiros, The Snowdrops, and Veronica Lake, plus guest spots on recordings by The Clientele, Jasmine Minks, The Lucksmiths, The Relict, and The Saturday People, among others. The tracklisting is sorted but we are still working on artwork so look for more release details next month. In the meantime, have a listen to the splendid track ‘Milk Bar’ just added to the sounds page and dream about listening to 70 straight minutes of Pines magic in the near future.
Switching to our fantastic summer releases, the fresh ‘England Made Me’ EP (matinée 062) is Lovejoy‘s impressive follow-up to the ‘Everybody Hates Lovejoy’ album (matcd035) last year. Lead track ‘Brightness Falls’ is possibly the finest Lovejoy song to date, mixing keyboards and jangling guitars in a twinkling pop hit with vocals from Lovejoy supremo Richard Preece. If we lived in a just universe this would be blasting from car stereos all day long in place of the latest inane hip hop flavor-of-the-week, but we’ll settle for its current feature on the Matinée sounds page instead so you can have a listen whenever you like. ‘Are You Analogue or Digital?’ sports a bit of the pesky electronica that first showed its face on the popular ‘Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?’ set (matcd018) and also rather nicely recalls the sparkling pop of The Human League, while ‘In the Rain’ is a lusciously paced and mesmerizing cover of the mid-80s indie hit from The June Brides. ‘Made in England’ closes the EP in top form, layering guitars, strings and percussion alongside a rhythmic vocal track with angelic backing – a return of sorts to the chiming orchestral pop of Lovejoy’s debut album ‘Songs In The Key of Lovejoy‘ (matcd008).
In review action, English zine I’d Rather Be Fat Than Be Confused said “England Made Me [makes] me want to immediately go and get everything else they’ve ever released,” suggesting each song “could’ve quite happily been a single in its own right,” while Left Hip wrote “another all-too-brief spree of pop-perfection, England Made Me is beautiful music for fans of melancholy 80’s indiepop with an electronic twist.” This one is limited to 1000 copies in custom minijacket sleeve so get going if you want one!
Also just out, the 5-track ‘He Holds A Flame’ EP (matinée 061) is the first release in nearly two years from revered English duo Harper Lee! The exquisite title track, presented here in two takes, contrasts trademark Harper Lee melancholy with an upbeat, keyboard-driven tune that recalls the more optimistic moments of lead singer Keris Howard’s former band Brighter. The song is now playing on the sounds page if you’d like a listen. Among the three other exclusive tracks, ‘I Could Be Wrong’ is a perfect slice of Go-Betweens-by-numbers acoustic pop, its jangling guitars the perfect complement to a curiously hopeful message. The moody and churning ‘William Blake’ is a sumptuous textured pop gem that best demonstrates the multi-layered instrumentation characteristic of the band’s acclaimed previous releases, while ‘Come Rest Your Weary Head,’ a chiming lullaby featuring hypnotic percussion and the most plaintive of vocals, ends the EP in sublime fashion. Limited to 1000 copies in custom minijacket sleeve so get to the mailorder or your favorite shop soon!
As expected, the press has declared the EP an unequivocal hit. Among our favorite quotes, indie juggernaut Pitchfork wrote “I Could Be Wrong is the kind of gentle indie pop song that might easily be overlooked for lack of impenetrable avant-garde pretensions or fashionable time-signature changes – too obvious, Pitchfork! – but I listen to a lot of gentle indie-pop songs, and few are this effortlessly graceful.” Meanwhile, Aversion.com concluded “He Holds a Flame is just as relevant and meaningful as anything from Death Cab or The Shins,” and You Ain’t No Picasso declared “it’s like the solemn side of Morrissey and the romanticism of Stephin Merritt got put together in a mason jar with just the tiniest bit of The Lucksmiths, and was left to ferment for a couple years.” Aversion.com also conducted a new interview with the band which you can read here.
Finally, Harper Lee make a very rare live appearance September 16th at the Pop Revo Festival in Aarhus, Denmark. See the Pop Revo website for show details as well as another exclusive interview. Lucky Danish people (or those of you with a penchant for last minute travel)!
Still beaming on a new release shelf near you is the magnificent album ‘6 Billion People’ (matcd040) from indie legends Tender Trap! As lead singer of Talulah Gosh, Heavenly and Marine Research, Amelia Fletcher was the voice and face that launched a thousand fanzines, an iconic presence whose influence can be traced in bands as diverse as Le Tigre and Belle and Sebastian. Together with her cohort in the latter two of those bands, Rob Pursey (guitar), and Marine Research drummer John Stanley aka DJ Downfall (bass), Tender Trap formed in 2001 and released the coolly electronic album ‘Film Molecules’ and a clutch of fine singles. With the addition of crisp drumming from The Magnetic Fields’ Claudia Gonson, ‘6 Billion People’ marks a move away from the pared-down approach of its predecessor towards a sound recalling the best of the band’s previous incarnations. This is immediately evident on the big chorused title track, Rob Pursey’s sub-sonic backing vocals uncannily reminiscent of erstwhile collaborator Calvin Johnson, while recent single ‘Talking Backwards’ (matinée 058) is a pop rush of shimmering guitars and mellifluous vocals and ‘I Would Die For You’ marries a chugging rhythm to an ethereal melody. The short-but-spiky ‘Applecore’ ups the sass quotient as Amelia demands answers from an indecisive lover to a series of oblique questions over a stop-start bassline, whereas the spacey-keyboard sounds of ‘Fahrenheit 451’, the heartfelt ‘(I Always Love You When I’m) Leaving You’ and the haunting album closer ‘Dead and Gone’ lend the album variety and depth. ‘6 Billion People’ is Tender Trap’s most fully realized work to date, a collection of sumptuous tunes and bold arrangements that makes a claim to be one of the best pop albums of the year.
You can listen to album highlights and peruse the latest press on the sounds and catalog pages. Of particular note, American magazine Verbicide has just featured Tender Trap in its ‘bands on the rise’ spotlight, while Pennyblack is currently running a great three-part interview with frontwoman Amelia Fletcher. Get yours at the webshop today.
Also still gracing the new release shelf is the splendid ‘A Hiccup In Your Happiness’ EP (matinée 060) from The Lucksmiths! The second single lifted from the ‘Warmer Corners’ album (matcd039) validates yet again why The Lucksmiths are among the most popular indie bands of our time. Boasting strings, horns, a funky guitar and a bassline possibly borrowed from Orange Juice, ‘A Hiccup In Your Happiness’ is a dancefloor sizzler that just had to be a single. We’re featuring the song on the sounds page now if you fancy a listen. The EP also includes exclusive new tracks ‘From Macaulay Station,’ ‘Rue Something’ and ‘To Absent Votes,’ which combined with ‘A Hiccup In Your Happiness’ form a brilliant EP designed to give ‘Warmer Corners’ another shot at the glory it deserves. Life’s good with a new Lucksmiths release around, don’t you think?
The back catalog spotlight is on hold this month because we are having a sale on the entire back catalog instead! The Super September Sale applies to virtually all releases and includes price reductions as much as 50 percent on some titles so stock up now to take advantage of the savings. The sale ends October 10th though so get going!
While you’re on the order page you may notice we have added a dozen or so splendid releases from our good friends at Labrador Records in Sweden. We have limited quantities of titles from Club 8, Edson, The Radio Dept. and Sambassadeur available at great prices so grab some of these essential releases while you can!
If you think buying CDs is so 2005 and have made the switch to downloading instead, we are happy to report that close to 50 Matinée titles are now available via iTunes! We are uploading releases in roughly reverse chronological order so expect to see more of the back catalog up over the next few weeks. We’ll be adding special links to the website shortly too to make it easy to find the releases online. Of course, iTunes gives you the ability to listen to 30-second soundclips of every song so if you’re just curious to sample songs before you buy the release now you can do that too.
With many releases now available for download, we will likely allow some of the back catalog to go out of print so if you’re after a physical copy of something please act now. At the sale rates many titles are selling quickly. We have added notations to the order page for releases that are close to selling out as an extra impetus to buy.
The final word as always is a recap of top sellers from the past month. This one is a combined July/August chart which gives a slight edge in the Blur/Oasis battle (see July news) to the new Harper Lee EP:
10. The Lucksmiths – Where Were We CD
9. Brighter – Singles 1989-1992 CD
8. The Fairways – This is Farewell CD
7. Tender Trap – Language Lessons CDEP
6. Math and Physics Club – Weekends Away CDEP
5. Math and Physics Club – Movie Ending Romance CDEP
4. The Lucksmiths – A Hiccup In Your Happiness CDEP
3. Tender Trap – 6 Billion People CD
2. Lovejoy – England Made Me CDEP
1. Harper Lee – He Holds A Flame CDEP
farewell!
Jimmy
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