Broadcast deep-cuts, four killer Jazz LPs and some other excellent happenings.
Hello, Friends.
Today's Best New Reissues kicks off with the always-essential Broadcast and three releases via Warp that cover lesser known areas of the band's history.
Microtronics: Volumes 1 & 2 was originally released as 3" tour only CDs in 2003 and 2005. The double set (21 tracks in total) has been remastered for this edition. Also originally released (in 2009) as a tour-only CD is Mother Is The Milky Way, available now for the very first time on vinyl. Lastly, Maida Vale Sessions collects four live appearances at the Maida Vale complex between October 1996 and August 2003.
Warp have really put in some great work here, each release feels pretty lavish and the 2022 remasters really highlight just how sonically full Broadcast were as a band. They always created such full and arresting music, but if you really concentrate, you can hear just how wild the palette was.
A really vibrant trio on Blue Note this week.
Milt Jackson and The Thelonious Monk Quartet is a super-breezy compilation (1948 to 1951) from vibraphonist Milt Jackson. Such an evocative sound.
Time Waits is the 4th volume of The Amazing Bud Powell series. Recorded in 1958, the bebop piano master is in fluid form.
The Latin Bit is a real Latin-chiller with super smooth vibes from the lightning fingers of Guitarist Grant Green.
+ All three of these Blue Note Classics reissues are all-analogue, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original master tapes and pressed on 180g vinyl at Optimal.
Also for the Jazz heads this week - and also full-body amazing - is the 'Verve Acoustic Sounds Series' reissue of Duke Ellington & John Coltrane on Impulse! Although Duke was very much the main billing (and Coltrane the rising innovator), they share the space beautifully. Duke Ellington controls the mood (that moves gracefully between maudlin and upbeat) and Coltrane really lets rip.
+ A lush presentation with Stoughton printed gatefold old-style tip-on jackets. Mastered by Ryan K. Smith at Sterling Sound from the original analogue tapes and pressed on 180-gram LPs at Quality Record Pressings.
A big one for those who like it abrasive! Mute and Young God Records reissue Soundtracks for the Blind on vinyl, the final Swans album released in 1996 prior to their 2010 reformation. It remains an extraordinary listen; nearly two and a half hours (over 4 LPs) of equally provocative and thoughtful music, and that, in a nutshell, is always the Swans balance. Light and dark. Loud and quiet. Such a trip.
As main man Michael Gira explained; "This album has everything in there – all the ideas from Swans’ initial 15 years of work."
Electribal Soul is the fabled, previously unreleased second album from UK electronic pioneers Electribe 101. We didn't presell these as we only have a few, online now!
Rearviewmirror [Greatest Hits 1991–2003] is a two-part compilation album by Pearl Jam, originally released in 2004 via Epic Records. Just this minute sold out of volume one, but expecting more shortly.
Fire Records continue their work with the much-loved Nightingales this week, releasing the soundtrack to the excellent King Rocker film. A brilliant story and a great jump-off point into a fantastic body of work.
New and just in the building (and also in limited supply) is Thurston Moore's Screen Time on Southern Lord. The LP is a series of instrumental guitar pieces recorded during the summer of 2020 as the world confronted the pandemic shutdown.
We're currently alternating between Thurston and Swans if you wanted to get the full shop vibe going at home.
- Drift