>> Although we first wrote about the news here in February, Comedy Minus One today finally revealed the details about its pending reissue of Silkworm's towering 1994 full-length Libertine, and it is going to be a whopper. Longtime Comedy Minus One fans will recall the label actually first reissued Libertine as a digital download in 2008, something we wrote about right here. But the definitive reissue formally announced today that will arrive in stores this fall presents a lovingly curated and exhaustively sourced version of the last record that Silkworm recorded in its original four-piece incarnation, prior to the departure of Joel R.L. Phelps. Comedy Minus One will issue Libertine, Silkworm's third record, as a double LP packaged with a CD containing a brilliant acoustic set recorded for Marco Collins that was released as a single in the mid-'90s. The records are pressed to 150 gram vinyl at 45RPM. The reissue touts all-new artwork plus liner notes from Silkworm's Tim Midyett; it was remastered by Bob Weston and pre-orders for three different permutations of the collection are being taken from now until June 11. The baseline offering is the double LP and CD for $20; for an additional $20 fans will get an exclusive t-shirt along with the double LP/CD package, and for $75 big American dollars fans get all of that plus rare bootleg audio as an additional digital download, a white label 12" of the material offered on the CD in the other packagings, and an exclusive photo print. All of the details and a link to pre-order are laid out at Comedy Minus One's web site right here. Libertine is considered by some as the greatest record of the 1990s, so choose wisely and allow us to remind you that, as always, Comedy Minus One ships pre-orders usually well before the records arrive in stores. To whet your appetite, below are streams of "Couldn't You Wait?" from the LP as well as a live version of "Grotto Of Miracles," recorded May 15, 1994, that is part of the "bootleg" audio included in the premium tiers.
>> Fat Cat Records last week announced it would make available on vinyl for the very first time Frighten Rabbit's titanic 2006 debut long player Sing The Greys. The 12" vinyl will be released in May as part of Fat Cat's reissue campaign for the Selkirk-spawned indie rock act's first few records. Prior to the May re-release of Sing The Greys, that album's 2008 follow-up The Midnight Organ Fight [review] will be reissued April 20 on vinyl for Record Store Day in the U.S. in a limited edition of 500 double albums packaged with exclusive art prints; the second 12" record of the two-record set will be Quietly Now!, the 2008 Frightened Rabbit live album that we've always called Liver! Lung! FR! [review], 'cause, you know, that is what the cover says. The Midnight Organ Fight/Quietly Now! package will also be available in the UK for Record Store Day in an edition of 1,000 pieces. According to the Fat Cat web site, the double LP will then be made available again from May 7 in a limited edition of 1,500 copies that will be sold without the exclusive 12" x 12" art prints. Frightened Rabbit, of course, now records for a major label; its most recent album Pedestrian Verse was issued earlier this year on Atlantic Records. The band is currently touring the U.S. and by all (social media) accounts FR delivered thrilling shows in both Boston and Philadelphia; the U.S. tour wraps Saturday with a sold-out show in Dallas, and then FR has two weeks off ahead of two weeks of shows in Australia. Wanna hear some new FR? Stream "Backyard Skulls" from Pedestrian Verse via the Soundcloud embed below.
>> Fans of top-shelf early '90s post-punk got a strong jolt across the bolts last week when Quarterstick/Touch And Go announced it will release in June Fifteen Quiet Years, a collection of singles, compilation tracks and a previously unreleased Peel Session by the legendary Louisville juggernaut Rodan. The band existed only briefly, from 1992 to 1994, and sadly two of its principle members have already shuffled off this mortal coil at altogether much-too-young ages. The music collected on Fifteen Quiet Years was never easy to acquire in the first instance, so the fact that this compilation now exists will be exciting for the Rodan fans out there whose sole copies were crappy rips sourced from Napster or Audiogalaxy at the turn of the century. All of the music on the comp was remastered in 2009 by Bob Weston along with Rodan guitarists and singers Jeff Mueller and Jason Noble; Mr Noble succumbed to synovial sarcoma last August, and original Rodan drummer John Cook died in February 2013. Fifteen Quiet Years will be sold as a vinyl LP or CD, and each comes packaged with codes for a digital download of 10 bonus live recordings hand-selected by the band. We were fortunate enough to see the band perform at an intimate house show in the very hot summer of 1994, a happenstance that was just a case of being in the right place (Princeton) at the right time. Not too long after the band splintered and its members went on to perform in equally notable successor acts including June Of 44, The Shipping News, Rachel's, The Sonora Pine and Retsin. Quarterstick/Touch And Go will release Fifteen Quiet Years June 11. We have to believe a reissue of Rodan's sole full-length, Rusty, must also be in the offing, as the album's tracks are conspicuously absent from this campaign. The record will be 20 years old next year, so the safe money is on a reissue of Rusty in 2014. Pre-order Fifteen Quiet Years right here, a hyperlink at which you will find a stream of Rodan's powerful instrumental "Darjeeling," which first appeared on Simple Machines Records Inclined Plane 7".
