LP’s CDs #3: Everything Is Nice: The Matador Records 10th Anniversary Anthology, 1999 (and an ode to Fopp)

Everything is Nice is a three-disc compilation album that Matador released to celebrate its 10-year anniversary in 1999. This is the first of many compilation albums to come in this project. I bought lots and got loads free with magazines. Compilations were one of the key ways I found out about new music back then, along with reading mags and listening to late night Radio One.

I chose this one to tackle first because I realised that it introduced me to quite a few of the bands I’ll come to later on in this project. I think I bought this from Fopp on a whim. Fopp was another tastemaker for me. For anyone too young to remember/not from the UK, Fopp was a great independent chain of record stores. (Fopp’s still around, but only has a handful of shops now.) A branch opened in my town when I was about 14 and took all my babysitting and Saturday job money from then on. It had a well-curated selection, the staff weren’t snobby, and it was cheap. I got into so much good music because it was £5 in Fopp, and I’ll always be grateful. I miss having that kind of record shop in my life.

Anyway, back to Everything is Nice. When I bought this, I hadn’t heard of the bands, apart from Pavement, who I’d got into because I’d read that Graham Coxon liked them. (I was a Blur obsessive.) Matador is a diverse label, so it’s made up of indie, alt, electronic, even some hip hop. I’m including the track listing at the end, because I think it’s a good one for sparking some ‘Oh yeah, I remember them’ moments for those of us who read the NME in the 90s.

Relistening to this was interesting. A lot of these songs burned themselves into my brain: I could sing along even though I couldn’t remember the name of the band and hadn’t thought about them for years. I also skipped a few songs that didn’t feel worth listening to the whole way through. Just Mogwai to be honest. I didn’t get Mogwai then, and I don’t get Mogwai now. They’re tedious and leaden to my ears. The aural equivalent of walking through an endless sodden field in boots that are getting increasingly heavy from caked-on mud.(I’m not saying this because of the feud with Blur…Okay, not *just* because of the feud with Blur.)

As I alluded to before, the other thing that stuck out was how many great bands I heard for the first time here: Modest Mouse! Boards of Canada!! Sleater-Kinney!!! Cat Power!!!! (I’ll review some of these next.)

Choosing songs is hard even though I’ve decided I can pick three because there’s three CDs. Some songs I wanted to pick because of how much I ended up loving the band. Others because they’re just good songs.

I went with the good songs because I’ll talk about the bands that I ended up loving later on. So here they are:

• Maximum Sunshine, The Lynnfield Pioneers: this is a fun scuzzy little song from a band I think aren’t around anymore.
• Sugarcube, Yo La Tengo: a perfect stereotypical indie song.
• One Two Three Four Five Six Seven Eight Nine Ten Barbie Dolls, Pizzicato Five: kitch quirky Japanese pop.

Track listing

Disc 1

Stereo, Pavement
Count Five Or Six, Cornelius
Talk About The Blues, The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
Cross Bones Style, Cat Power
Flight ’96, Chavez
Fire In The Middle, Nightmares On Wax
Refuse To Lose, Non Phixion
Pitbull, Jega
NO TECH!, Unwound
Cosmic Rays, Helium
Maximum Sunshine, The Lynnfield Pioneers
Fujiyama Attack, Guitar Wolf
Heart Cooks Brain, Modest Mouse
Flux, Bardo Pond

Disc 2

Xmas Steps, Mogwai
Sugarcube, Yo La Tengo
The Official Ironmen Rally Song, Guided By Voices

Banned From The End Of The World, Sleater-Kinney
Our Louder Solex, Solex
The Banjo’s Categorical Gut, Matmos
Here We Go, Arab Strap
Booker To Hooker, Khan
Image Of You, Red Snapper
Blaze, Arsonists
Roygbiv, Boards Of Canada
Do The Strand, Burger Ink
Tanzen, Pole
X-Factor, Void

Disc 3

Windblown, The Lynnfield Pioneers
Naked, The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
Sleepwalkers, Non Phixion
Universal Skills, Arsonists
One Two Three Four Five Six Seven Eight Nine Ten Barbie Dolls, Pizzicato Five
Oh Cripes!, Solex
Body Dump (Super-8 Mix), Khan
Schtumm, The Wisdom Of Harry
Sugarcube (Live), Yo La Tengo
Grounded (Crooked Rain Version), Pavement
Choking Tara (Creamy Version), Guided By Voices
Aging Astronauts II, Mary Timony
Long Ride, Bardo Pond
Hugh Dallas, Mogwai
Sea Of Love, Cat Power