Vault back to the dawn of 2009. Signed the previous year to Glasgow independent label Chemikal Underground are The Phantom Band, a six-piece group that melds folk, Krautrock, the blues, art-rock and anything else that comes to hand, lacing their idiosyncratic, intricate tapestries with effortless pop melodies delivered by the mahoganied baritone of singer Rick Anthony. The group’s debut album, Checkmate Savage, immediately attracted widespread acclaim from critics in the National music press and newspapers. Fans of the group’s heady brew swiftly snapped up all vinyl copies of the album, the resulting stratospheric prices for those searching for it on the secondhand vinyl market.
A decade on, Chemikal Underground announce the rebirth of an album that remains as spectacularly imaginative as it was the first time around, presented in a package that does 100% justice to the original songs, which were deftly produced by Paul Savage – whose credits include Mogwai, Franz Ferdinand, King Creosote, Deacon Blue and many more – at the label’s affiliated recording studio Chem 19 in Lanarkshire and Franz Ferdinand’s studio in Glasgow.
Released exactly ten years since the original release, cut from the original masters and for the first time spread over four sides of heavyweight vinyl housed in a gatefold sleeve, with a download code for MP3 versions of the album’s nine songs.
Side A The Howling / Burial Sounds / Folk Song Oblivion
Side B/ Crocodile / Halfhound
Side C Left Hand Wave / Island
Side D Throwing Bones / The Whole Is On My Side
Vault back to the dawn of 2009. Signed the previous year to Glasgow independent label Chemikal Underground are The Phantom... View Details
