Matador Records. Back in my "indie is all" days...let's say 1995 or so, I was all about Matador records. Pavement, Guided By Voices, Pizzicato Five...this little NYC label had the best "Alternative" act roster out there. Hell, they even took out snarky ads in the back of Peter Bagge's HATE comics back in teh day. Then they got bought out by a huge conglomerate. I thought they'd gotten rolled up and forgotten.

Turns out they're still around, and maybe even still relevant: I discovered through Pitchfork's Forkcast that their "Intended Play" sampler, normally distributed in plastic & cardboard format to radio stations, has been released in digital form, for now-old-farts like myself to enjoy as well. Which is smart. 'Cause lord knows the radio stations I can get in my car don't play this stuff.

Which relates directly to why I named this blog "Idea Czar": To showcase new ideas, good ideas, or god forbid both. What do you do with a radio sampler when radio doesn't move indie records like it used to? Remove the "radio" (-exclusivity) from the equation and make it a sampler for everyone.

Haven't listened to it yet, but it looks like there's plenty for aged indiephiles like myself to relate to: Stephen Malkmus, Cat Power, some re-released Mission of Burma, and god forbid some new stuff to keep my decrepit music-taste synpases firing. Should be good to listen to while traveling. I'll save it for then.