I've been really impressed with Matador's steady stream of vinyl reissues over the last few years (such as the beautiful Mission Of Burma editions released last year) and 2009 is looking to be really wonderful as well. I think it's somewhat strange though that they're being sort of low-key and quiet about it. It's like Matador is taking cues from my grandmother: "Oh, I don't want to make a big fuss about it..."
There was, interestingly, a big splash of news when they decided to release the deluxe CD version of Pavement's
Brighten the Corners. However, the vinyl reissues of
Slanted & Enchanted and
Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain that came out this year seemed (to me) to be pretty under the radar. Perhaps this is actually just a good sales tactic: you walk into a record store, flip through new arrivals bin, then exclaim "Holy shit! When in the fuck did they reissue this? I must buy it right because what if... yes, what if... this is in fact actually a hidden warehouse gem that only this very store that I happen to be standing in right now was lucky enough to get... I mean I'm sure it's not, but god, what if it is...?"*
[UPDATE: So, I've been under the impression that the
Brighten the Corners reissue was CD-only, mainly because every other Pavement deluxe reissue has been CD-only, and because, you know, it was
announced as being CD-only. However, while dicking around on Insound's site, I come across the listing to
pre-order the 4xLP box set of said record -- which would be great, were it not for the $80 price tag... kind of like how it would have been kind of fun to pick up the deluxe vinyl version of Beck's
Odelay that came out late last year
, except that $100 isn't a fun price to pay. By the way, many thanks to Sonic Youth for getting their 4xLP boxsets down to $35-40, seeing as fucking Beck and Pavement can't get close to that price point...]
I suppose some of it has to do with Matador being pretty good about trying to keep (at least the hot sellers) in print on vinyl -- one barely notices when Cat Power records get repressed, because it happens so regularly that you don't have time to notice that they were ever even out of print. However, there are a number of things that haven't been on vinyl in quite some time that are getting reissued, much to my excitement.
The vinyl reissue of Guided By Voices'
Alien Lanes has just hit stores, and Yo La Tengo's
I Can Hear the Heart Beating As One and
Electr-o-pura on on their way very soon. These were titles I had thought were about due for it, but I hadn't heard the news at all. I suppose this is because I don't keep up with Matador's
bulletin board -- primarily because, well, I had kind of forgotten that bulletin boards still existed.** Had I actually been following this forum, I would have also learned that the following things are also on their way: The New Pornographers'
Twin Cinema, Yo La Tengo's
And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out (thank you, thank you, thank you!) and
Painful, Mogwai's
Happy Songs for Happy People (Question one: do we really need this
before you get around to
Come On Die Young? Question two: Is there any way to convince Mogwai to change the artwork so it no longer looks like a reggae Christmas record?), and Pavement's
Wowee Zowee.
Well, Matador's definitely getting a decent chunk of change from me this year (though, I do keep holding off on grabbing
Dear Catastrophe Waitress because I want it to not be $27). At least reissues keep me from spending crazy money on eBay.
On only a vaguely related note, I have to admit that I think that the Matador
record bag (manufactured by Dickies) is kind of cute, and exactly the sort of thing that someone
else should decide to spend the $40 on, as a gift for me.
__________
* This is the kind of thing that seriously goes through my mind at times.
** So very gauche!
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