Published on
February 23, 2023
Category
Features
Essential reissues, box sets, and represses this month.
Featuring Phew, Neutral Milk Hotel, Laraaji and more.
Phew
Our Likeness
(Mute)
Aunt Sally vocalist and post-punk experimentalist Phew gets a reissue of her 1992 album Our Likeness. Available on clear vinyl for its first-ever reissue, Our Likeness sees Phew team up with Can’s Holger Czukay and Jaki Liebezeit for a daring and boundary-pushing collaboration. Our Likeness trades in the unexpected; hinting towards the angular dance-punk that would dominate the early ’00s whilst maintaining a choppy thread of doomer no-wave heaviness. A cult classic that deserves another moment in the spotlight.
Neutral Milk Hotel
The Collected Works of Neutral Milk Hotel
(Merge)
Neutral Milk Hotel’s entire recorded output has always been surprisingly small despite the influence of their music on a generation of indie-folk artists and fans. This collection from Merge seeks to rectify that by funnelling every second available of Jeff Mangum and co into a comprehensive boxset. Whilst the pillars here are their two full-length LPs–1996’s On Avery Island and 1998’s In The Aeroplane Over Sea–the real treats lie in the rarities like a studio-recorded version of fan-favourite “Little Birds”.
Laraaji
Segue To Infinity
(Numero Group)
Numero Group has collected together the early releases of Records That Made Me alumnus Laraaji for this beautiful boxset. Featuring Laraaji’s 1978 debut Celestial Vibration, three discs of unreleased material and new photos of Laraaji, Segue To Infinity is a treasure chest for fans of the multi-instrumentalist.
Mogwai
Mogwai Young Team (25th Anniversary Edition)
(Chemikal Underground)
Mogwai’s seminal 1997 debut gets the reissue treatment via Glasgow label Chemikal Underground. Released alongside a reissue of 1999’s Come On Die Young, this blue vinyl edition celebrates 25 years of an alternately intricate and crushing album that remains a defining release of the post-rock canon.
The Strokes
The Singles Volume 01
(Sony)
One for The Strokes completists, The Singles Volume 01 gathers singles from Is This It, Room On Fire and First Impressions Of Earth for a 7” vinyl boxset. The tracks on display here serve as a reminder of exactly why the New York band took over the world with their peppy, bright guitars and Julian Casablancas’ inimitably charismatic lyrics.
Whitney Houston
Whitney
(Sony)
Featuring essential cuts “I Wanna Dance With Somebody”, “So Emotional”, “Didn’t We Almost Have It All” and “Where Do Broken Hearts Go”, Whitney Houston’s eponymous second album remains one of the biggest-selling releases of all time and a landmark in pop songwriting. This reissue is available on black or blue vinyl.
Hiroshi Yoshimura
Green
(Light In The Attic)
Light In The Attic provides the first-ever reissue of Hiroshi’s Yoshimura’s Green. The 1986 album showcases some of the sound design and environmental artist’s most touching work to date–it’s tender and soothing, intimate and patient. Available on clear/green swirl and green vinyl.
Naughty By Nature
19 Naughty III (30th Anniversary Edition)
(Tommy Boy Records)
Tommy Boy Records give Naughty By Nature’s 19 Naughty III another life on its 30th birthday. With guest features from Heavy D and Queen Latifah, it cemented the trio’s reputation as crossover hip-hop superstars, disrupting the saccharine imagery of chart music at the time. This reissue features a double orange LP for the hip hop classic.
Saint Etienne
Good Humor (25th Anniversary Edition)
(Heavenly)
Marking 25 years since its release, Saint Etienne’s Good Humor gets a transparent green, dark green and white splatter vinyl reissue from Heavenly. The 1998 album saw Saint Etienne drift away from their dance origins to a more indie-folk sound under the guidance of producer Tore Johansson. Buttery and dreamy indie for the twee at heart.