Matador Records

2016-11-17T23:51:00Z

108.122.220.78: /* Alumni artists */

{{Refimprove|date=January 2010}}
{{Infobox record label
| name = Matador Records
| image = [[File:Matador logo.jpg|150px]]
| founded = 1989
| founder = Chris Lombardi
| distributor = Matador Direct (US), [[Alternative Distribution Alliance|ADA]] (US), [[Beggars Group]] (UK), [[Beggars Group Digital]] (global digital)
| genre = [[Rock music|Rock]], [[indie rock]], [[experimental music|experimental]], [[electronic music|electronic]]
| country = United States
| location = [[New York City]]<br>[[London]]
| url = {{url|matadorrecords.com}}
}}
'''Matador Records''' is an [[independent record label]], with a roster of mainly [[indie rock]], but also [[punk rock]], [[experimental rock]], [[alternative rock]], [[electronic music|electronic]] and other artists.

==History==
Matador was created in 1989 by Chris Lombardi in his New York City apartment. Lombardi brought the Austrian duo [[H.P. Zinker]] into Wharton Tiers’ Fun City studio to record Matadors first release, "...and there was light". Lombardi continued to add artists to the label's roster, with bands like the [[Dustdevils]], [[Railroad Jerk]] and [[Superchunk]], before being joined by former [[Homestead Records]] manager [[Gerard Cosloy]] in 1990. The two of them have run it together since. Matador experienced its first taste of crazed media attention & big sales with the North American release of [[Teenage Fanclub]]’s debut record, [[A Catholic Education]] in 1990. In 1992 Matador released [[Pavement (band)|Pavement]]'s debut studio album [[Slanted and Enchanted]]. In 1993, not only did Matador release [[Liz Phair]]'s critically and commercially successful debut album, [[Exile in Guyville]], but the label also began a partnership with [[Atlantic Records]] which lasted for several years. In 1996, Capitol Records purchased a 49 percent stake in Matador, which Lombardi and Cosloy bought back in 1999. [[Beggars Group]] purchased 50% of Matador in 2002 and took over the label's worldwide marketing.<ref>http://www.discogs.com/label/194-Matador</ref>

Over the years, the label has moved from shoebox sized offices to larger and larger complexes, and now operates in both London and New York. Matador Europe supervises the promotion, sales and marketing of Matador titles in Europe. The London based office also licensed recordings from some of North America’s most acclaimed new artists, M. Ward, [[Sleater-Kinney]], [[Modest Mouse]], and Superchunk to name a few. The roster has also grown with the label and has helped artists such as [[Yo La Tengo]], [[Cat Power]], Cornelius, Solex, Pizzicato Five, Helium and the Arsonists reach audiences worldwide.<ref>http://www.discogs.com/label/194-Matador</ref>

In 1994 [[Patrick Amory]] became Matador's label manager, and has since progressed to label President, as well as a partner of Lombardi and Cosloy.

In the early 2000s, Matador had to sidestep unwanted involvement in the current [[Recording Industry Association of America]] dispute over [[Peer-to-peer]] file sharing networks. Matador's [[Patrick Amory]] contacted the RIAA multiple times in order to ensure that an erroneous listing on the group's website of Matador as an RIAA member was removed. After several attempts, the name of the [[Independent record label|independent label]] was removed from the membership list.{{Citation needed|date=December 2010}}

Matador acquired [[True Panther Sounds]] as an imprint in 2009. Cosloy, speaking through the Matador blog, stated that True Panther Sounds "will continue to be managed by label founder Dean Bein." And that the reason Matador acquired True Panther Sounds was simply, "As Victor Kiam once explained his decision to purchase the Remington Shaver operation, “I liked it so much, I bought the company.”<ref>http://matablog.matadorrecords.com/2009/11/04/true-panther-sounds-matador-a-love-story-with-legal-bills/</ref> The first joint venture by the two labels was [[Girls (band)|Girls]]’ debut critically acclaimed release ‘[[Album (Girls album)|Album]]’ and was "worked through Matador’s fearsome promotional & marketing machinery" <ref>http://matablog.matadorrecords.com/2009/11/04/true-panther-sounds-matador-a-love-story-with-legal-bills/</ref>

In October 2010, Matador celebrated the label's 21st anniversary with a series of concerts at the Palms Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. Pavement, Yo La Tengo, the New Pornographers, Spoon, Ted Leo & the Pharmacists, Guided By Voices, Kurt Vile, Cold Cave, Fucked Up, Liz Phair, Shearwater, Superchunk, Come, Times New Viking, Belle & Sebastian, Cat Power, Chavez, Perfume Genius, Harlem, and Guitar Wolf were amongst the participants. During the event Many of the artists stated their opinions and admiration of Matador. Damian Abraham, of Fucked Up, said that not only did Matador give them credibility as a band but also, "There were a lot of people who thought of us as that band with the swear word that yells, but Matador signing us was like, 'No, no, no, it's okay -- give it a second look.' We fell ass-backwards into being on one of the top indie labels of all time."<ref>http://www.spin.com/2010/11/matador-records-biggest-bands-look-back/101108-matador-6/</ref> Mike Hadreas said, "To me, signing to Matador was like getting into a really good school."<ref>http://www.spin.com/2010/11/matador-records-biggest-bands-look-back/101108-matador-10/</ref> 'It's a hard thing to talk about without resorting to clichés, but Matador really loves music.' Said Ira Kaplan of [[Yo La Tengo]] <ref>http://www.spin.com/2010/11/matador-records-biggest-bands-look-back/101108-matador-10/</ref>

Matador has continued to sign bands of various genres including [[Iceage]], Lower, Algiers, Majical Cloudz and Car Seat Headrest.<ref>http://matadorrecords.com/</ref>

==Current artists==
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* [[Savages (band)|Savages]]
* [[Pavement (band)|Pavement]]
* [[Yo La Tengo]]
* [[Interpol (band)|Interpol]]
* [[Belle and Sebastian]]
* [[The New Pornographers]]
* [[Cat Power]]
* [[Queens of the Stone Age]]
* [[Fucked Up]]
* [[Ceremony (punk band)|Ceremony]]
* Lucy Dacus

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* [[Majical Cloudz]]
* [[Kurt Vile]]
* [[Iceage]]
* [[Ted Leo and the Pharmacists]]
* [[Steve Gunn (musician)|Steve Gunn]]
* [[The Young]]
* [[Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks]]
* [[Perfume Genius]]
* [[Paul Banks (singer)|Paul Banks]]
* Lower

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* [[Thurston Moore]]
* [[Chelsea Light Moving]]
* [[Body/Head]]
* [[A. C. Newman]]
* [[Car Seat Headrest]]
* [[Lee Ranaldo]]
* [[Hælos]]
* [[Erika M. Anderson]]
* [[Darkside (band)|Darkside]]
* [[Algiers (band)|Algiers]]<ref>http://www.matadorrecords.com</ref>

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==Alumni artists==
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* [[Jay Reatard]]
* [[Silkworm (band)|Silkworm]]
* [[Unsane]]
* [[Guided by Voices]]
* [[Esben and the Witch (band)|Esben and the Witch]]
* [[Liz Phair]]
* [[Mogwai]]
* [[Chain Gang (band)|Chain Gang]]
* [[Ted Leo and the Pharmacists]]
* [[Jon Spencer Blues Explosion]]
* [[Dustdevils]]
* [[18th Dye]]
* 2 Foot Flame
* [[Aereogramme]]
* [[Arab Strap (band)|Arab Strap]]
* [[Arsonists (hip hop group)|Arsonists]]
* Babylon Dance Band
* [[Bailter Space]]
* [[Jimi Tenor]]
* Julian Plenti
* [[Khan (band)|Khan]]
* [[Kustomized]]
* [[Large Professor]]
* [[Laura Cantrell]]
* [[David Kilgour (musician)|David Kilgour]]
* [[Dead Meadow]]
* [[Demolition Doll Rods]]
* [[Thalia Zedek]]
* The Bionaut
* [[The Fucking Champs]]
* [[Lyres (band)|Lyres]]
* [[Thinking Fellers Union Local 282]]
* [[Times New Viking]]
* [[Dälek]]
* [[Unrest (band)|Unrest]]
* [[Unwound]]

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* [[Cold Cave]]
* [[Barbara Manning]]
* Bassholes
* [[Bardo Pond]]
* [[Bettie Serveert]]
* [[Boards of Canada]]
* [[Brightblack Morning Light]]
* [[Bullet Lavolta]]
* Bunnybrains
* Babylon Dance Band
* [[Chavez (band)|Chavez]]
* [[Chelsea Light Moving]]
* [[Chris Knox]]
* [[Circle X]]
* [[Come (American Band)|Come]]
* Condo Fucks
* [[Console (muscian)|Console]]
* [[Cornelius (musician)|Cornelius]]
* [[Couch (band)|Couch]]
* [[Lavender Diamond]]
* [[Lemonade (band)|Lemonade]]
* Lesser
* Liquor Giants
* Live Human
* [[Lou Reed]]
* D-Story
* [[Preston School of Industry (band)|Preston School of Industry]]
* [[Pell Mell (band)|Pell Mell]]
* [[Pitchblende (band)|Pitchblende]]
* [[The Cave Singers]]
* [[The Clean]]
* [[The Modernist]]
* [[The Ponys (band)|The Ponys]]
* [[Toiling Midgets]]
* [[Tobin Sprout]]
* burger/ink

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* [[Dizzee Rascal]]
* Earles and Jensen
* [[Early Man (band)|Early Man]]
* Fire In The Kitchen
* [[Flipper (band)|Flipper]]
* [[Fuck (band)|band]]
* [[God Help the Girl]]
* [[Graeme Downes]]
* [[Guitar Wolf]]
* H.P. Zinker
* [[Harlem (band)]]
* [[Helium (band)|Helium]]
* Jad Fair & Yo La Tengo
* [[Jaguar Love]]
* [[Jega (musician)|Jega]]
* [[Jennifer O'Connor (musician)|Jennifer O'Connor]]
* [[Love Of Diagrams]]
* Lynnfield Pioneers
* [[M. Ward]]
* [[MC Paul Barman]]
* [[Magic Kids]]
* [[Mark Eitzel]]
* [[Mecca Normal]]
* [[Pizzicato Five]]
* [[Plone (band)|Plone]]
* Pole
* [[Portastatic]]
* [[Nightmares On Wax]]
* [[Non Phixion]]
* [[The Pastels]]
* The Double
* [[The Fall (band)|The Fall]]
* [[Dave Schramm (musician)|Dave Schramm]]
* [[Tommy Keene]]
* [[Two Lone Swordsmen]]
* [[Void (band)|Void]]

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* [[Mary Timony]]
* [[Matmos]]
* [[Mission of Burma]]
* [[Modest Mouse]]
* [[Moonshake]]
* Mount Florida
* [[Mr. Len]]
* [[Neko Case]]
* [[Pretty Girls Make Graves]]
* Prisonshake
* Prosaics
* [[Quickspace]]
* [[Railroad Jerk]]
* [[Red Snapper (band)|Red Snapper]]
* [[Robert Pollard]]
* [[Run On (band)|Run On]]
* SF Seals
* Sad Rockets
* [[Sensational (musician)|Sensational]]
* Shams
* [[Shearwater (band)|Shearwater]]
* [[Sleater-Kinney]]
* Smog
* [[Solex (musician)|Solex]]
* [[Sonic Youth]]
* Spiral Stairs
* [[Spoon (band)|Spoon]]
* [[Sportsguitar]]
* [[Superchunk]]
* [[Techno Animal]]
* [[Teenage Fanclub]]
* [[The For Carnation]]
* [[The Frogs (band)|The Frogs]]
* [[The Soft Boys]]
* [[The Wisdom of Harry]]

<ref>http://www.matadorrecords.com/bands</ref>
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== Discography ==
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On June 28, 2011, Matador added a comprehensive discography to its website.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.matadorrecords.com/discography|title=Matador Records - Discography}}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[List of record labels]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.matadorrecords.com Matador Records official Web site]
* [http://interviewsarchive.com/catalogue.htm Gerard Cosloy Interview 1999 & MP3 Sample]

{{Beggars Group}}
{{Atlantic Records}}

[[Category:Matador Records| ]]
[[Category:Record labels established in 1989]]
[[Category:Indie rock record labels]]
[[Category:Alternative rock record labels]]
[[Category:American independent record labels]]
[[Category:Beggars Group]]
[[Category:Hip hop record labels]]
[[Category:Electronic music record labels]]

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Matador Records