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Formats

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  THRILL317CDCD  £10.00Expected 29th October 2012

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  THRILL317LPLP  £15.00Expected 29th October 2012

Label

Thrill Jockey

Matthew Friedberger

Matricidal Sons Of Bitch

Matricidal sons of bitches was conceived and produced by Matthew Friedberger in Paris, where he now stays, and inspired by the films of Poverty Row. The production values and narrative techniques of these films became the basis for Matricidal sons of bitches. As Matt tells us:

Matricidal sons of bitches is not the soundtrack to not a film. But what if it wasn't?
"Poverty, always poverty." Since the building of my opera house is delayed (see spring 2013), I decided to to go into the picture business; I decided to start a movie studio.
I set up my office in the rest of the one room where everything, and by everything I don't mean much, else is already.
And by picture business I mean non-picture business. Since what could be more predictable then yet another film made up of something filmed? What could be more boring? And who could afford to do such a thing--film something, with some sort of equipment equipped to do so--anyway? Not I, says me. We'll leave questions of know-how to what's-his-name. But I digress.
What's more rock-n-roll than the red-carpet radio-interview exposition-sequence at the beginning of Singin' in the Rain? Where the tag-line is: "Dignity, always dignity."
Many, many things. And maybe the only thing more exciting than a shot of a Cowboy jumping on an Indian is a shot of people running around as fast as they can trying to shoot a shot of a Cowboy jumping on an Indian.
All that kind of thing has something in common with rock-n-roll--one might think. I've always assumed it does. What am I talking about? In the sequence mentioned above--think about it--Mr. Kelly says he and his partner spent some time down on: Poverty Row. It seems the audience is expected to know what that means.
And if they don't, well--then they're shown the Cowboy jumping on the Indian and the people jumping around filming the Cowboy jumping on the Indian.
That must be Poverty Row. Where they haven't got a moment to lose. "No time to'lose!" A very dramatic place to be.
What a minute. I'm thinking about it. Just a moment. I've got it all wrong. It's not Cosmo Brown and the other guy. From the first part of The Bad and the Beautiful, it's Shields and Amiel: they catch a quickie down on Poverty Row. And what's more, it's the Indian that jumps on the Cowboy.
Hmm. The hypothetical location of the sort of film studio or movie-making process where you had to pick up the camera and run to set up the next shot, which you didn't have time to set up: Poverty Row. I don't mean to bore you, but to leave out the dashes for once, a Poverty Row picture was a not even a B picture. For instance, the production budget didn't really have the money to pay for a decent script, or acting, or photography.
So: my new-fangeled old-fashioned Poverty Rue (in France) production didn't have the money to pay for a script, or acting, or photography. Score one for me
Being challenged all the way round, a Poverty Row movie certainly couldn't often pay for original music. A film would have to fill itself out, in general, with stock, 'royalty free' cues from a "Synchronization Service".
Well then. Keeping to tradition, here on Poverty Rue my non-filmed film would have to have as, or on, its non-existent ("non-existent", because the (non-existent) soundtrack is not the soundtrack, but the picture (or the not a picture) itself) soundtrack as much ready-made sort- of things-you've heard-before as possible. Or at least, as is feasible.
You'll see what I mean. Well, you won't see what I mean. Matricidal sons of bitches is a horror movie, by the way. A scary thought. The jealous rage of lonely old ladies; the desperate wrath of dads disappointed; the hormonal high jinks, how often hateful, of young men
at loose ends, haunting the boulevards, hiding in the cités, clambering up the drainpipes, whispering sweet nothings to the moon, outrageous obscenities to everybody else, counting their misfortunes, blaming those responsible; or 'responsible'; daughters or sons bent on revenge; domestics on the sixth floor, whose lives are broken records; crazy courtships and parental prerogatives; scientists in cemeteries; maternal substitutions: all this and much more is not depicted in, or on, Matricidal sons of bitches. I mean that literally. And the music isn't even scary.
Or is it? What could be more frightening, or maddening, than slow, unvarying, quarter-note accompaniment to an old, sentimental, simple type of tune? Over and over again. And then some more. Or: what could be more nice?
"Lots of sound and fury, signifying cacophony." To quote Bill Littman. See for yourself. I mean, don't. Listen as you like. Whistle as you work! Slumber as you sleep!

And so, Matthew Friedberger presents Matricidal sons of bitches, a horror movie made so economically that the film itself is unneccesary. Fortunately for the rest of us in front of the imaginary screen, he has decided to take this opportunity to take this show on the road, and will be playing some of his first solo performances in the past half-decade in support of the film.

Tracklist

• 1. Ladies-in-Waiting – Waiting Forever I. The Neighbors
  2. Ladies-in-Waiting – Waiting Forever II. "Fleeing Plus Pursuing"
  3. Ladies-in-Waiting – Waiting Forever III. "Tell me What it is You Want, Boys"
  4. Ladies-in-Waiting – Waiting Forever IV. "You’re Getting Yourself Worked Up"
  5. Ladies-in-Waiting – Waiting Forever V. "Same Every Night"
  6. Ladies-in-Waiting – Waiting Forever VI. "Wondering What, Exactly?"
  7. Ladies-in-Waiting – Waiting Forever VII. Drifting Down the Alleys
  8. Ladies-in-Waiting – Waiting Forever VIII. Frustration by the Boulevards
  9. Ladies-in-Waiting – Waiting Forever IX. "Pursuit, Less Acute"
  10. Ladies-in-Waiting – Waiting Forever X. "I’m Sure It’s… For the Best"
  11. Ladies-in-Waiting – Waiting Forever XI. "But at the Door – Is it Him?"
  12. Brand-New Mothers – Trying it Out I. Matricidal Sons of Bitches
  13. Brand-New Mothers – Trying it Out II. Over Again
  14. Brand-New Mothers – Trying it Out III."Can I Tell you Something?"
  15. Brand-New Mothers – Trying it Out IV. Making the Preparations
  16. Brand-New Mothers – Trying it Out V. Zeroing in Across the Crowded Bar
  17. Brand-New Mothers – Trying it Out VI. Completing the Activity
  18. Brand-New Mothers – Trying it Out VII. The Next Morning
  19. Brand-New Mothers – Trying it Out VIII. The Problem Becomes the Solution
  20. Brand-New Mothers – Trying it Out IX. Brand-New Mothers
  21. Brand-New Mothers – Trying it Out X. What? Again?
  22. Expectant Fathers – In for a Surprise I. "What will You Say?"
  23. Expectant Fathers – In for a Surprise II. "You Know what this Means, Don’t You?"
  24. Expectant Fathers – In for a Surprise III. Disappointed Dads
  25. Expectant Fathers – In for a Surprise IV. "That’s a Rendezvous and a Half!"
  26. Expectant Fathers – In for a Surprise V. Well, Make your Calculations Quick
  27. Expectant Fathers – In for a Surprise VI. Despite Yourself? Or to Spite Yourself?
  28. Expectant Fathers – In for a Surprise VII. As if in the Car with the Kids
  29. Expectant Fathers – In for a Surprise VIII. Paternal Prerogatives
  30. Expectant Fathers – In for a Surprise IX. What did You Do?
  31. Expectant Fathers – In for a Surprise X. Off You Go!
  32. Expectant Fathers – In for a Surprise XI. Back and Forth
  33. Expectant Fathers – In for a Surprise XII. It’s no Surprise to Me
  34. Dying on the Sixth Side I. Early in the Morning and Late at Night
  35. Dying on the Sixth Side II. The View from the Top
  36. Dying on the Sixth Side III. Lying on the Sixth Side
  37. Dying on the Sixth Side IV. Dying on the Sixth Side
  38. Dying on the Sixth Side V. Popping the Cork
  39. Dying on the Sixth Side VI. Down to the Place
  40. Dying on the Sixth Side VII. Seeing Double, Thinking Twice
  41. Dying on the Sixth Side VIII. The Corpse Vanishes
  42. Dying on the Sixth Side IX. You’re not Really Discouraged, Are You?
  43. Dying on the Sixth Side X. Done at the Place
  44. Dying on the Sixth Side XI. The View out the Basement Window
  45. Dying on the Sixth Side XII. Working at the Cemetery – Again