Be Prepared: Fleeting Joys | Despondent Transponder [Reissue] | 11 March

California-based shoegaze titans Fleeting Joys announced last week that the duo's stunning, twice-out-of-print full-length debut Despondent Transponder will be reissued with bonus tracks March 11 in Japan on the Thomason Sounds label. The reissue is augmented with two electrifying bonus tracks, "Cross Out My Heart" and "Morphine Drip." Both songs are streaming at Fleeting Joys' MySpace wigwam, and much to our delight the band has consented to our offering "Morphine Drip" as a download, so if you dig the stream come on back and grab the tune. To celebrate the renewed physical availability of the set the band jets off to Japan in early April for a short strand of performances that we would kill to be able to see. So, hey, Japanese readers (reader? oh come on, we must have one!), please shoot video and upload the clips to YouTube or Vimeo or whatnot. We've posted the Japanese dates below.

Despondent Transponder was first released in 2006 and we were hipped to its existence by the one of our favorite old blogs Spoilt Victorian Child (which has since transformed itself into a record label whose roster includes the ridiculously awesome, Austin, Texas-based shoegaze heroes Ringo Deathstarr). Fleeting Joys fans may recall that the label doing the Transpondent Desponder reissue, Thomason Sounds, also did the Japanese release of the band's spectacular sophomore set Occult Radiance. The domestic release of that latter record was one of our favorite albums of 2009, and its track "You Are The Darkness" one of our favorite songs of that year, and, frankly, one of our favorite songs period. Anyway, we honestly have no idea how much the Japanese reissue of Despondent Transponder will set you back, due to our inability to read Japanese. But we can tell you the record is fantastic and maybe you should enlist the services of a Japanese-speaking friend to do some investigating for you; it's that good. For the budget-conscious shoppers among you, both Fleeting Joys records are available from AmazonMP3.com, or, if you'd like to pay a little more, ITunes.

Fleeting Joys -- "Morphine Drip" -- Despondent Transponder [Japanese reissue bonus track]
[right click and save as]
[buy the Thomason Sounds reissue of Despondent Transponder here]

04/03 -- Sunsui -- Osaka
04/04 -- Tightrope -- Nagoya
04/05 -- Fever -- Tokyo
04/06 -- Liquidroom -- Tokyo