In the late 90s, someone at Matador must have become tired of guitars or grown bored with indie rock because all of a sudden the label began releasing all kinds of really great electronic music. In retrospect it’s even crazier that the label releasing the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Pavement, Silkworm and Run On was all of a sudden confusing people by putting out albums by Plone, Solex and Boards of Canada. You have to admit that it was a pretty brave move and though it probably didn’t pay off financially, it established the label as even more of a maverick in the indie rock world than it already was. Let’s take a look back at some of the high points of Matador’s electronic years….

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Between shoegazers and ravers, the full-flowering of hair metal, some all-time classic rap and the peak of the American Underground, there was a hell of a lot going on musically in 1988. For a pop kid like me, what really made the year amazing was the incredible batch of releases on Sarah Records. They had come into existence the year before with the Sea Urchins‘ “Pristine Christine” but really began churning out the sensitive jams in ‘88 with singles by the Field Mice, the Orchids, Another Sunny Day and other great bands. With these releases the label became a long-lasting trademark of quality indie pop, for sure, but also through their writings (both in fanzines and on liner notes) and their fiercely independent way of doing business, they became a true inspiration. Let’s take a listen to some incredible indie pop from 1988.

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There’s something wonderful going on in Spain these days. Something light, frothy and fabulous that gives the impression that the country has taken over as the happiest, silliest, mod-est place on the map. Spanish label Elefant Records has been documenting this shift over the last couple years by releasing some amazingly good pop records from their home country’s best groups. Most of these bands have a sound that borrows from the easy listening boom of the ’60s and the smooth sounds of A&M records in the early ’70s, adds a sweet and slinky bossa nova undercurrent, and then a helping of the gooey goodness of the early Cardigans. This breezy concoction sits happily on top of some of the hookiest, giddiest pop tunes anywhere.

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Since slowly getting back into the record game a couple years ago, Slumberland seems to have been loading up for a huge display of fireworks in 2008. The years spent in inactivity haven’t dulled their knack for finding great pop bands and putting out great records, one after another.

The Lodger - Life is Sweet
The Lodger’s debut album, Grown-Ups, was a fine slice of indie pop that called to mind stellar groups like Orange Juice, the Wedding Present, and Heavenly, while making a case that they might someday be mentioned in that same class. Life Is Sweet is a step forward in both sound and song, and goes a long way toward making this thought a reality.

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It is an old, nondescript industrial building in Evanston, a struggling, mostly black suburb of Cincinnati, Ohio. Clearly visible from along I-71, the former icehouse is tagged here and there with graffiti and looks like any of the hundreds of similar ancient, non-residential structures located in the town Longfellow once called “The Queen City of the West,” but between 1943 and 1971, it was home to a “King.” King Records specialized in markets the major labels weren’t interested in — country and western, rhythm & blues, gospel, and more. The label launched a slew of artists and records that had intractable impact on American music, ranging from Homer and Jethro to Jackie Wilson to James Brown to the original version of “The Twist” by Hank Ballard. King Records closed its doors in 1971, and since then, the old King building at 1540 Brewster Ave. either sat empty or used for storage. For quite some time, there has been a frustrating effort on the part of Cincinnati’s music lovers to install a plaque on the King building, without much interest from civic leaders. However, on Sunday, November 23, a large group of musicians, volunteers, educators, reporters, and prominent Cincinnati citizens converged in front of the old icehouse to join Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum president Terry Stewart in unveiling a plaque designated to honor King Records.

King was founded by ex-record store owner Sydney Nathan to exploit the popularity of honky tonk, hillbilly, and later bluegrass music, then burning up the airwaves on regional, Cincinnati-based radio stations such as WLW and WCKY, but being recorded by practically no one for public consumption; Louis “Grandpa” Jones was King’s first artist. By 1945, Nathan had identified rhythm & blues as another niche market to address, and these records proved so important to his business that he hired African-American arranger and composer Henry Glover as his chief of A&R in 1947. In 1949, King Records officially adopted an interracial workplace as a core value of the company, initially to combine the then customary two segregated company picnics. This led not only to a happy workplace, but fostered a creative environment where black R&B artists were constantly intersecting with white cowboy singers and often sharing the same backup band. The resultant balance of friction and cooperation played a major role in the development of rock ‘n’ roll; beyond that, King’s passionate advocacy of James Brown led to the funk revolution of the 1960s. By 1960, King was the sixth-largest record company in the world, and unique to the business, as all of its operation was in-house; according to Darren Blase, proprietor of Shake It Records in Cincinnati and an early booster for the drive to place a marker at 1540 Brewster Ave., “They made everything in this building except for the shipping boxes.”

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As the year grinds to a close and the music industry continues to collapse, it seems like a good idea to give some credit to a major label who actually went out and released a few interesting records in 2008. Someone in the A&R department at Island UK deserves something extra in their Christmas stocking this year, not because they did anything to increase sales or anything productive like that, but because they managed to convince the suits to sign some decent artists. Let’s take a look at our hero’s work….

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Combining Beatles-influenced songcraft with the sort of wit you might expect from a pack of UC Berkeley grads, the Morning Benders are gearing up for a big year. Their debut album is set for a spring release on +1 Records, and the quartet will bring its sunny, West Coast pop to next week’s SXSW festival. Talking to AllMusic while simultaneously cooking curry and listening to the Trojan Rocksteady box set (how’s that for multi-tasking?), frontman Chris Chu sounds excited to take his music on the road. “We travel by van,” he explains. “Our van is named Daryl. You should put it in italics because you have to whisper it as you say it, and I don’t know how else to convey that. Daryl is beautiful, but sort of dangerous. There aren’t many working mirrors. The visibility is low.”

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In recent years, American major labels have been obsessed with best-of single-artist comps, or have dumped theme-related releases by classic or various artists into the bins to coincide with seasonal or greeting holidays. (Thank goodness Valentine’s Day is over for another year.) It takes little to no work to assemble these CDs, and the profit margin is higher. At the same time, well regarded catalog titles are allowed to either languish in the vaults or be licensed exclusively for release overseas. This leaves many true music fans — those that buy music continually and who don’t purchase low-fi MP3s — either to search out precious vinyl copies from online auctioneers and collectors’ web sites or drop equally big bucks to divisions of these companies or independents on retail sites.

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