Customer Reviews

What's Up Matador

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It's a MATADOR compilation. Since the label is immune to signing bad bands, you won't find a bad track on this disc.

An excellent sampler, but works just as well as an album. If you prefer to have your sounds mixed, you'll love the variety of this album.

Particularly good?: GBV, Pavement, Pizzicato 5, Chavez, Helium, and Yo La Tengo(as usual).

What an amazing collection! I bought it because I wanted to have Liz Phair's stunning and fun "Stuck on an Island"... for me, the bargain price was worth it just for her! But the rest of this 2 CD collection is stellar! Yo La Tengo is a consistent favourite, Pavement's super cool version of Echo and the Bunnymen's "Killing Moon" is exquisite, the Pizzicato 5 tracks are **SO FUN** (especially the cute "Happy Birthday"), and Cat Power is always a subtle and subdued hue of brilliant ("Nude as the News" is one of her louder songs and is also just... breathtaking)! Other treats here: Teenage Fanclub, the much overlooked Bailter Space, The Fall and Guided by Voices. Nothing bad about this collection... and if you are lucky you will find something new to love! There is definitely enough variety here to please everyone.

Matador Records is known for its selection of outstanding musical artists -- the bands that are/were signed to them range from indie-rock legends to obscure gems.

"What's Up Matador" is a good compilation of some of Matador's highlights -- it's not only a good cross-section of the best and most timeless work here, but also a fun listen, and a good introduction to some good music. It's missing a few of the best and bravest, but is still an excellent place to start on some cool indie-rock.

Several indie-rock staples were signed onto Matador over the years, and they are given places of honor: the gone-but-never-forgotten Pavement, excellent Guided by Voices and Spoon, as well as other outstanding bands like The Fall, Cat Power, Superchunk and Yo La Tengo. Often these bands get more than one song.

But Matador also gives the spotlight to lesser known bands and artists. For example, the quirky Japanese pop band Pizzicato Five. Also present are the rough-edged rock of Silkworm and Railroad Jerk, a couple of songs by Liz Phair before she went teeny-pop, the trembling lo-fi of Helium, the energetic pop of Bettie Serveert, and the aggressively weird Mecca Normal.

Okay, sprinkled here and there are a few duds. I have to admit that Chavez is not my favorite -- I can only take a few explosive chords at a time, unless Billy Corgan is playing them. And there are a few glaring omissions -- where are Nightmares on Wax, Solex, Sleator-Kinney?

Fortunately, those omissions are compensated for by the excellent -- sometimes ingenious -- music that surrounds them on all sides. Pop, electronica, rock -- it's all here. Matador plays it safe with some of the songs, such as Pavement and Teenage Fanclub, but also plays risky by including so many songs by little-known bands.

Like the other Matador compilations, "What's Up Matador" is a good place to start on the voyage of indie rock bliss. Smooth sailing.

Never before have I bought a cd, "blind", and been so all-out psyched with it! There is NOT a dud on here, and I'm a picky listener. I've got a whole bunch of new bands to seek out. Particular stand-outs are Guided By Voices, Helium, Cat Power, Railroad Jerk, Pizzacato Five... VERY guitar-driven, though, so, if that's not your bag, look elsewhere... What a bargain! Snap it up!

Too cool for mainstream radio listeners. If thats you, you might grimmace through most of the songs. If you listen to indie rock already, then its definately worth the price. It took me a couple times through to weed out the unlistenable tracks, Wich I later sratched out on the jewel back, track list. I am left with about 30 songs that have proven quite enjoyable. This comp has prompted me to buy CDs from Cat Power, pavement, bettie serveert, and posibly more when I find them. If you do own this set, you no longer have to buy these artists "blindly", wich I suspect was the original marketing strategy from the people at Matador.

44 tracks for $10 is an incredible value. Besides classics from Matador mainstays like Pavement, Yo La Tengo and Guided By Voices, this 2 CD set also contains great tracks by lesser known bands like Helium, Railroad Jerk and Thinking Fellers Union Local 282. The liner notes are also fun. Consider buying a used copy for a couple bucks and loading it onto your MP3 player.

An earlier review contains an extremely obvious error: Sleater-Kinney isn't on this compilation because S-K IS NOT on Matador!

It's pretty sad when reviewers attempt to sound authoritative when they don't know even the basic facts.

the silliness of this plastica is like my old pair of silicon implants -- not useful and skewed demais.

Concidering The Price Of THis CD, It's Pretty Good( And Cheap). The Songs Are Only OK. Some Are Bad and Some Are Good. I Really Like Pizzicato Five On This CD. If You Like THis CD, Get LiZ Phair's "WhiteChocolateSpaceEgg," Cibo Matto's "Vavi! La Women," and Any Pizzicato Five CD.