Matador At Fifteen CD

New York City's Matador Records has long been a progressive force in indie rock. Started in 1989 by visionary Chris Lombardi, the label achieved the first signs of success in 1990, when it unleashed Teenage Fanclub's stunning debut, A CATHOLIC EDUCATION, onto the world. In its wake, Matador would begin to assemble a distinct and diverse roster of artists and release genre-stretching music, culminating here in MATADOR AT FIFTEEN, a collection of the label's finest from 1999-2004.

If anything, the two-CD/one-DVD compilation displays the diversity for which Matador has come to be known. Disc 1's handpicked greatest hits features favorites from revered noise-rockers Guided By Voices ("My Kind of Soldier") and Mission of Burma ("Dirt"), alongside slabs of brooding post-punk from neo-hipsters Interpol ("Obstacle 1") and Pretty Girls Make Graves ("This Is Our Emergency"). Longtime fans will be glad to own Disc 2, with unreleased tracks and rarities from folk chanteuse Cat Power, as well as Mogwai, Yo La Tengo, Matmos, and many others. As a bonus, the DVD reveals rarely aired videos from Pavement, Cornelius, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, and more.

This anthology focuses on the last five years of Matador Records. CD#1 includes greatest hits from Cat Power, Interpol, Stephen Malkmus, Yo La Tengo, Belle & Sebastian, Mogwai, Mission Of Burma, and The New Pornographers. CD#2 includes unreleased tracks and rarities from many of the same bands including Interpol, Yo La Tengo, The New Pornographers, Cornelius, Guided By Voices, and A.C. Newman. The DVD includes videos from Pavement, Mary Timony, Interpol, The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, and most of the other artists already mentioned.