Matador Records is pretty much as big as an indie gets. Its roster rolls off the tongues of any Pitchfork devotee. The label has been responsible for the vinyl releases of the likes of F*cked Up, AC Newman and the New Pornographers.
Matador's success is due in part to the resurgence in popularity of vinyl over the last few years. Who knew it was a medium that would transcend the digital age? Sad news from the label, however, for vinyl aficionados: almost every vinyl master of Matador's releases pre-2006 has been lost.
The pressing plant responsible for their 150 gram releases, 33 1/3, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2006. When the plant closed, it took with it the lacquers and masters of the releases.
Never fear, while difficult and time consuming to do so, these can be replaced. It isn't any harder to produce vinyl than it was in its glory days, it just takes much longer and is exponentially more expensive. Aside from that, the main issue is that the process could be as labour intensive as having to remaster the lost albums from scratch.
On Matador's message board, however, there is optimism. GM Patrick Amory posted plans to reissue selections from Interpol, Belle and Sebastian, Cat Power, Guided By Voices, Yo La Tengo and even the New Pornographers' Electric Version and Twin Cinema.
(Kristina Mameli is a BCIT student in the Broadcast and Media Communications Radio program, and is interning at Radio 3 until May 15th. Ed.)
http://radio3.cbc.ca/blogs/2009/4/Mourning-the-loss-of-Matadors-Vinyl-Catalogue
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