Dark and enthralling treasures, the biggest harmonies, contemporary bangers and other sublime sounds.

We start this new week with Tweez, the wonderfully harsh debut LP from Slint. Thirty minutes of tense, frenetic, smart, explosive, dark and urgent Steve Albini-produced music. On Tweez there is more of a brittleness than the band's seminal Spiderland, but it has a similar dark allure and some really off-kilter changes too. This Touch and Go 2024 reissue has been remastered by Bob Weston at Chicago Mastering Studio from the original analog master tapes and is pressed on limited edition 180 gram red vinyl.

We also have a very, very limited deluxe pressing on double Opaque White 180 gram vinyl. A pressing of just 3138 copies worldwide, it features the Bob Weston remaster on disc one and an alternative full album remix from the original multitrack masters on disc two. We literally have a handful.

“Their music was strange, wholly their own, sparse and tight. What immediately set them apart was their economy and precision. Slint were that rare band willing to play just one or two notes at a time and sometimes nothing at all… 1989’s ‘Tweez’ LP hints at their genius…”
- Steve Albini

We wrote a slightly longer read about the band’s Spiderland as a Sunday Classic.
We have something wonderful from the Jason Molina vaults on Secretly Canadian this week, with Songs: Ohia’s Protection Spells. Nine entirely improvised pieces that were recorded across several Songs: Ohia tours; no rehearsals, no second takes, no additions and no going back. Dark and fragile, these really are powerful. In print for the first time in ages and a vinyl debut too. Raw and vital stuff, quite amazing.

After famously playing their second show at Woodstock in August 1969, David Crosby, Stephen Stills, Graham Nash, and Neil Young spent the rest of the year touring and writing songs for what would become CSNY’s 1970 debut, Déjà Vu. Live at Fillmore East, 1969 is a newly discovered multi-track recording of the band’s September 20, 1969, concert at the historic Fillmore East in New York City captures an early moment from that first tour.

+ Available on limited and exclusive double Clear vinyl.

“quietly singing together on the one hand, then rocking like fuck for the rest of the concert” - Graham Nash

Dark Horse Records present a 25th Anniversary pressing of Rock Art and the X-Ray Style, the debut album by Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros. Released in 1999, it was Strummer’s first album release in a decade. It mixes the punk sound he helped create with some pretty out there production to include electronics, Cumbia beats and reggae strut.

This new pressing is spread over 2 LPs for optimal sound quality and the original gatefold artwork by Damien Hirst has been meticulously reproduced.

Also this week, Sub Pop present a new Petrol colour vinyl pressing of Mudhoney’s self-titled 1989 LP. Squarepusher’s Ultravisitor turns twenty and receives a lavish 20th Anniversary Edition on Warp. Erased Tapes have pressed a limited double Curacao Blue vinyl pressing of Ólafur Arnalds and Janus Rasmussen’s self-titled debut as Kiasmos. We also have a new pressing of Mount Kimbie’s latest (and very bloody good) The Sunset Violent album. Been glad to blast that one again.
Before he was riddled with seasickness, ‘Steve’ was just Steve Leach, a beach-soul smoothy. Ocean Potion was a French-only release on Philips in 1976, and it is truly a pop-funk firecracker. It’s all so lush, sonically right up there with Pacific Ocean Blue or Ned Doheny’s Hard Candy.

Lastly for today, we are absolutely delighted to have more copies of Daisy Rickman’s outstanding Howl LP. Following a Gold vinyl pressing back in March on Weird Walk's new Record Cult imprint, we now have an equally limited Purple pressing. Officially re-available on Halloween, we’ll be shipping them out this week to ensure you can add this absolute treasure to your Halloween playlists. A witchy stunner.