Holy crapitude. Matador is turning 21 this weekend in Vegas, because where else would you go for your 21st birthday? (If you can’t be there, we’ll be streaming most of the live performances right here all weekend.) And because they’re generous, they’re actually giving away presents rather than receiving them, so we’ve got something for you: one of their crazy limited edition six CD box sets featuring all your faves from the last couple of decades plus unreleased live recordings from their tenth anniversary. Which means PavementCatPowerInterpolDizzeeRascalGirlsTeenageFanclubDeloreanAHHHH Matador for hours yesss. To enter, tell us in the comments your favorite song/album on Matador over the last 21 years and why. Be sure to leave your real email address so we can tell you if you’ve won. Good luck and go nuts! Contest is closed. Thank you for entering!
DISC 1 – THE PRE-DAWN (1989-1992)
1. Teenage Fanclub – Everything Flows
2. H.P. Zinker – Dancing Days
3. Superchunk – Slack Motherfucker
4. Dustdevils – Throw the Bottle Full
5. Railroad Jerk – These Streets
6. Come – Fast Piss Blues
7. Bettie Serveert – Kid’s Alright
8. Chain Gang – Cut Off The Drug Czar’s Head
9. Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 – More Glee
10. Unsane – This Town
11. Circle X – Compression of the Species
12. Toiling Midgets – Mr. Foster’s Shoes
13. Bailter Space – The Today Song
14. Pavement – Perfume-V
DISC TWO – THE YEARS OF MILK AND HONEY (1993-1995)
1. The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion – Afro
2. Yo La Tengo – Big Day Coming
3. Railroad Jerk – The Ballad of Railroad Jerk
4. Helium – Superball
5. Pizzicato Five – Baby Love Child
6. Liz Phair – Mesmerizing
7. Pavement – Silence Kit
8. Guided By Voices – Game Of Pricks
9. 18th Dye – Whole Wide World
10. Chavez – Peeled Out Too Late
11. Come – String
12. Moonshake – Secondhand Clothes
13. Guitar Wolf – Midnight Violence Rock’n Roll
14. San Francisco Seals – Back Again
15. Bardo Pond – Rumination
DISC 3: DAYS OF WHISKEY AND TEARS (1996-2001)
1. Boards Of Canada – Telephasic Workshop
2. Spoon – Waiting For The Kid To Come Out
3. Yo La Tengo – Autumn Sweater
4. Chavez – You Must Be Stopped
5. Silkworm – Tarnished Angel
6. The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion – Flavor Part 1 (Beck)
7. The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion – Flavor Part 2 (Mike D)
8. Pole – Fliegen
9. Cat Power – American Flag
10. Belle & Sebastian – We Rule The School
11. Mogwai – Helps Both Ways
12. Arsonists – Backdraft
13. Large Professor – ‘Bout That Time
14. Cornelius – Tone Twilight Zone
15. burger/ink – Flesh & Blood
16. Pavement – You Are A Light
17. Arab Strap – Blood
18. Matmos – L.A.S.I.K
DISC FOUR: DON’T CALL IT A COMEBACK (2002-2007)
1. Interpol – Hands Away
2. Cat Power – He War
3. Yo La Tengo – Today Is The Day
4. The New Pornographers – From Blown Speakers
5. Dizzee Rascal – Fix Up, Look Sharp
6. Dead Meadow – Good Moanin’
7. Mogwai – Kids Will Be Skeletons
8. Mission Of Burma – The Setup
9. Early Man – Death Is The Answer
10. Belle & Sebastian – Dress Up In You
11. Pretty Girls Make Graves – All Medicated Geniuses
12. Cat Power – Love & Communication
13. Shearwater – Johnny Viola
14. Brightblack Morning Light – Everybody Daylight
15. Lavender Diamond – You Broke My Heart
16. Jennifer O’Connor – Tonight We Ride
16. Earles & Jensen – Just Farr A Laugh: The Yogurt Machine
17. Stephen Malkmus – Discretion Grove
DISC FIVE: MATADOR TODAY (2008 – )
1. Fucked Up – Son The Father
2. Sonic Youth – Sacred Trickster
3. Kurt Vile – Amplifier
4. Yo La Tengo – Nothing to Hide
5. Jay Reatard – There Is No Sun
6. Times New Viking – Move To California
7. Harlem – Friendly Ghost
8. Ted Leo & The Pharmacists – Bottled In Cork
9. The New Pornographers – My Shepherd
10. Cold Cave – Youth and Lust
11. Interpol – Summer Well
12. Shearwater – Castaways
13. Esben and the Witch – Marching Song
14. Girls – Lust For Life
15. Magic Kids – Superball
16. Delorean – Stay Close
17. Cat Power – Metal Heart
18. Perfume Genius – Learning
19. Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks – Real Emotional Trash
DISC SIX: UNRELEASED LIVE RECORDINGS FROM THE 10TH ANNIVERSARY CONCERTS, NEW YORK CITY, SEPTEMBER 1999
1. Pavement – Here (Live 1999)
2. Pavement – Trigger Cut (Live 1999)
3. Pavement – The Hexx (Live 1999)
4. Pavement – She Believes (Live 1999)
5. Pavement – Unfair (Live 1999)
6. Pavement – Zurich Is Stained (Live 1999)
7. Pavement – Debris Slide (Live 1999)
8. Pavement – Spit On A Stranger (Live 1999)
9. Come – New Coats (Live 1999)
10. Bardo Pond – Walking Stick Man (Live 1999)
11. Bardo Pond – Tommy Gun Angel (Live 1999)
12. Cat Power – Good Woman (Live 1999)
13. Cat Power – Naked, If I Want To (Live 1999)
14. Cat Power – You May Know Him / Sea Of Love (Live 1999)
15. Mogwai – Ex-Cowboy (Live 1999)






Tough call, to be sure. But “Divorce Song” by Liz Phair off Exile in Guyville seemed monumental to me. The whole album did, in fact. How unslick! How true to life. “And it’s true that I stole your lighter.” Best line in a divorce song ever?
6. Liz Phair – Mesmerizing
Because she is the ultimate indie rock queen of the 90 s!
And that cd trully rocks!
Dizzee Rascal – Fix Up, Look Sharp
My favorite has to be Railroad Jerk One Track Mind — Some Girl Waved
“I wrote some lyrics to a beautiful girl…
Every bit of that record is a gem!
Yo La Tengo – Nothing to Hide
<3 My personal fav.
Its spanish and i love any kind of beat, this cought my attention. I enjoyed it lol
Yo La Tengo – And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out
Put it on headphones in a music store and listened to the entire album. It was my first time hearing YLT and one of my most memorable music moments ever.
Pavement – Slanted and Enchanted
Such a classic!
Mogwai
Hunted By A Freak
Happy Songs for Happy People
Jon Spencer Blues Explosion – Afro
So hard to pick just one. Some pavement sonic youth and Liz phair should make my list. Damn and auperchunk too. Why must you make me choose?
Interpol – Turn On The Bright Lights
I must have listened to that album well over 100 times. Perfect. I think.
Pavement-Brighten the Corners is my favorite release from Matador for sure. That cd is filled with great tunes and my favorite Pavement song-Starlings of the Slipstream is just lovely every time I hear it:)
They were so lovely at Summerstage shows.
It will always be ::: Pavement – “Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain”
I always liked cat power because I relate to it
Yo La Tengo “I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One”
Others come and go, but this record has always stuck with me.
Sonic Youth – The Eternal. Because SY are independent again.
Yo La Tengo – Prisoners of Love
My older brother listened to Yo La Tengo on a fairly regular basis starting when I was in fourth or fifth grade (circa 1999), and after buying Prisoners of Love in high school, I’ve used it as a way to introduce my friends to this great band and their great record label…..the songs have replay value, and after memorizing every note from every song over the majority of my lifetime, I still continue to go back to Prisoners of Love on a pretty regular basis; I’m sure I’ll continue that habit for years and decades to come.
Summer Babe – Pavement
I spent a lot of time waiting for that right girl…. until I realized I already had her.