What's Up Matador
With its sardonically intelligent liner notes, this 2 CD (Favorite TracksandUnreleased Tracks, respectively) collection is the ultimate introduction to the record industry's harbinger of hip.  Home to indie-rock integrity, Matador has helped usher critic's darlings like Liz Phair, Guided by Voices, Yo La Tengo, The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, and others to cult status, just as Matador cofounder Gerard Cosloy's Homestead Records provided a haven for groups like Dinosaur Jr. and Big Black in the '80s. If Homestead'sThe Wailing Ultimateably summed that label's influence before Cosloy's departure,What's Up Matadoris doubly impressive. Besides, where else can you hear Pavement's lazy-cool version of Echo & The Bunnymen's "Killing Moon"?-- Mark Woodlief