40 best: reissues of 2010

40: THE SOFT BOYS

UNDERWATER MOONLIGHT
(YEP ROC)

I Wanna Destroy You

The missing link between 60s psyche-pop, 70s punk and 80s new wave, Underwater M
oonlight is inexhaustible. This Yep Roc edition isn t as comprehensive or as revel
atory as Matador s from ten years back, but nonetheless it s great to have the album
available on vinyl album again and an excuse to marvel all over again at Robyn
Hitchcock s proto-punk snottiness and Kimberley Rew s incendiary guitar-playing.
39: FUTURISK
PLAYER PIANO EP
(MINIMAL WAVE)

Push Me, Pull You (Part Two)

Bringing together elements of electro-pop, punk and minimal synth, Futurisk s soun
d was heavy and propulsive, with layered drums (both live and synthesized, recor
ded in a bathroom for maximum resonance), grinding guitar and mannered vocals fr
om Jeremy Kolosine in the vein of Bowie, Ferry and Fox. This is a reissue of the
ir hitherto impossible-to-track-down 1980 EP Player Piano, which happens to be o
ne of James Murphy s favourite records.
38: ANTENA
CAMINO DEL SOL
(NUMERO GROUP)

Camino Del Sol

Long treasured by the Balearic crowd, Isabelle Antena s impossibly sleepy-eyed, bo
ssa-infused post-punk wonder seems to get even better with age, and deserves to
be considered as more than a mere cult curio today. This heavyweight library vinyl
edition from the Numero Group is definitive, adding a wealth of bonus tracks an
d restoring Benoit Hennebert s original sleeve art.
37: QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE
RATED: R (DELUXE EDITION)
(INTERSCOPE)

In The Fade
Fantastic modern rock record, capturing Josh Homme et al at the perfect meeting
point between the echo-heavy desert rock of former band Kyuss and the poppier so
und they went on to pursue as QOTSA. Hasn t aged one bit since its release 10 year
s ago, and is reissued here with live bonus disc.
36: NEUROSIS
GRACE / TIMES OF GRACE
(NEUROT)

Under The Surface

Neurosis don t get the credit they deserve in some circles, which is ludicrous the
ir modernisation of Black Sabbath s doom metal template in the 90s not only led to
some of the greatest rock music of all time, but opened the gates for Isis, Elec
tric Wizard, Pelican and the rest of the next decade s post-metal brigade to flood o
n in. Times of Grace is the first album they recorded with Steve Albini (and arg
uably, their last truly great album), designed to be played in sync with Grace,
an ambient record by sister band Tribes of Neurot. This reissue represents the f
irst time the set has been released as one.
35: REEL BY REAL
20 YEARS SURKIT
[A.R.T.less]

Surkit 1990 (Original Version)

Overlooked Detroit techno classic from Marty Reel by Real Bonds, released on limit
ed white label in 1990 and this year reissued with additional material, includin
g collaborations with fellow space cadets Antony Shake Shakir and Juan Atkins.
34: DESMOND SIMMONS
ALONE ON PENGUIN ISLAND
(ROUGH TRADE CUTS)

To Be Lost
A tense, conflicted work, Alone On Penguin Island isn t quite the post-punk holy g
rail that some would have you believe, but it s certainly a fascinating oddity. Si
mmons wasn t too happy with the way the album turned out, feeling his songs weren t
well served by the minimalist production work of Dome (Wire s Bruce Gilbert and Gr
aham Lewis), but surely he d acknowledge now that the sinister, synth-daubed To Be
Lost , to take but one example, benefits hugely from Lewis and Gilbert s deft touch.
33: REGIS & FEMALE
AGAINST NATURE (11 RECLAIMED FRAGMENTS)
(DOWNWARDS)

Meat
Originally released on Tresor and credited to the artists real names (Karl O Connor
and Peter Sutton), Against Nature is UK techno at its most uncompromising, and
this reissue on O Connor s own Downwards label restores the tracks to the sequence t
hat was originally intended. Though dominated by fearsome club tracks, the beatl
ess sections are of particular interest, making explicit the duo s debt to TG, Cab
aret Voltaire, Factory Records and the 80s synth wave.
32: ROLLING STONES
EXILE ON MAIN STREET
(POLYDOR)

Rocks Off
The greatest rock n roll album ever made.
31: IGGY & THE STOOGES
RAW POWER
(MUSIC ON VINYL)

Raw Power
Actually, sorry, this is the greatest rock n roll album ever made.
30: CHRIS & COSEY
HEARTBEAT / TRANCE
(CONSPIRACY INTERNATIONAL)

Heartbeat
2010 saw Chris & Cosey re-enter the underground consciousness in a big way, and
the reissue of their first two albums couldn t have been better timed. Picking up
where TG s Hot On The Heels Of Love left off, Heartbeat finds em channelling Euro-dis
co, electro-pop and krautrock influences into the most seductive yet chilling in
dustrial music imaginable.
29: LOU REED
METAL MACHINE MUSIC
(SISTER RAY)

Metal Machine Music (excerpt)

To call it the first ever noise record as some do is to flatter it, but what can t
be disputed is that Metal Machine Music is hands-down one of the strangest and
crankiest records ever to be issued by a mainstream artist in his prime. Considere
d a joke by the rock world upon its original release in 1975, the atonal, feedba
ck-driven MMM s stock has grown and grown in the intervening years, and rightly so
; it s a record as exhilarating as it is unpleasant, as this DVD remaster on Reed s
own Sister Ray label affirms.
28: NAGAMATZU
SACRED ISLANDS OF THE MAD
(DARK ENTRIES)

Carmine
The DIY synth boom of the 80s cold wave, minimal wave, call it what you will has
yielded more noteworthy reissues than any other genres in 2010, in part because
so many key records of the era were originally released only in very meager qua
ntities, and often only on cassette. Veronica Vasicka s Minimal Wave label is at t
he forefront of this culture, but Dark Entries and Italy s Mannequin Mailorder are
respectfully clipping at its heels. Sacred Islands of The Mad was first recomme
nded to us last year by Jam City; originally released on cassette in 1986, a phy
sical copy was impossible to get hold of, and we resigned ourselves to making do
with the low-res mp3 rip we found online. Then along came Dark Entries, making
the album available on vinyl for the first time in an eye-wateringly lavish edit
ion complete with newsprint zine full of flyers, gig tickets, ads and photos. Th
is is what reissues ought to be about.
27: GALAXIE 500
TODAY/ON FIRE/THIS IS OUR MUSIC
(DOMINO)
 On The Sofa 1987'
Dream-pop legends got the comprehensive reissue treatment from Domino this year,
complete with out-of-print live album, Peel Sessions CD and career-spanning rar
ities disc from 96.
26: MANDRE
MANDRE 4
(RUSH HOUR)

Magic Woman
Unique boogie-funk-meets-space-disco classic that commanded ridiculous prices un
til the wonderful Rush Hour got hold of the rights and pressed up this transpare
nt 12?. Apparently Daft Punk and Lindstrom are big fans.
25: GLENN BRANCA
THE ASCENSION
(FORTISSIMO)

The Ascension Pt.1'

One of the finest records to come out of early 80s New York s obscenely fertile ar
t and music scene, The Ascension is the perfect fusion of no wave guitar fury an
d classical minimalism, and it continues to exercise a powerful hold over the avan
t-rock imagination (not for nothing is Robert Longo s cover art referenced in that
of LCD Soundsystem s This Is Happening).
24: SURGEON
FORCE + FORM
(TRESOR)

Black Jackal Throwbacks (part 1)

For his fourth and arguably best artist album, Surgeon pushed his sound in sever
al different directions without disturbing its industrial roots. On the majestic
At The Heart Of It All and Black Jackal Throwbacks he pursued a more melodic, sinew
y production style informed by Detroit techno and the inward-looking electronics
of Autechre, and Returning To The Purity Of Current saw him perfect the kind of m
antra-like, Latin-spiced rhythm that had characterised most of his memorable sin
gles of the era. With each track clocking in at around 10 minutes and riddled wi
th well-judged interludes and intrusions whining synth noise, tense Spanish chat
ter, mobile phone interference, what sounds like Regis rambling into an answerph
one this is a work of epic scope, and moreover one with a narrative intelligence
and drive all too rare in dance music LPs.
23: DAPHNE ORAM
ORAMICS
(YOUNG AMERICANS)

Snow
Co-founder of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, Daphne Oram s contibution to the Briti
sh wing of electronic music innovation is arguably more impressive than that of
her better known contemporary Delia Derbyshire. Young Americans lovingly presente
d 4xLP, 44-track vinyl version of the 2007 Paradigm Discs compilation certainly
makes a convincing case.
22: G STRINGS
THE LAND OF DREAMS
(SEVENTH SIGN)
Props to Glasgow s Seventh Sign for another revelatory reissue (following last yea
r s Terence Parker s Tribute To Ken Collier EP). This is one of only two releases on
short-lived Chicago label G Strings, epic Chicago house-going-on-techno in the
style of Ron Trent.
21: CHROMATICS
NIGHT DRIVE
(ITALIANS DO IT BETTER)
The best album ever to come out of the Italians Do It Better camp, Night Drive f
inally made its debut on vinyl this year with a neat update of the original s fabu
lous cover art. Johnny Jewel s chilly electronics and Ruth Radelet s despondent voca
ls are inevitably the main players in this minimalist disco noir, but what makes
it great, and unlike anything else on IDIB or anywhere else for that matter, ar
e Adam Miller s eerie, spidery guitar lines.
20: GODFLESH
STREETCLEANER
(EARACHE)

Like Rats
Extensively annotated double-CD reissue of one of the angriest, heaviest records
in Christendom. A massive influence on Shackleton, The Bug and many more beside
s, and in its own way, the Midlands very own It Takes a Nation of Millions. Well,
sort of.
19: DOPPLEREFFEKT
GESAMTKUNSTWERK
(CLONE CLASSIC CUTS)

Porno Actress
The return of the coldest, baddest electro album of them all. The story goes tha
t International Deejay Gigolos were given this album to release after Gerald Don
ald wrote off label boss DJ Hell s BMW and had no other way to pay him back. True
or not, the music itself ended up being profoundly influential on the nascent el
ectroclash movement, but don t let that put you off: Gesamtkunstwerk lives up to i
ts title, strengthened, not weakened, by its myriad allusions to porno actresses
, eugenics, sex with mannequins and totalitarian power.
18: FENNESZ
ENDLESS SUMMER
(EDITIONS MEGO)

Endless Summer
The Austrian artist s breakthrough album and still his best, Endless Summer has be
en reissued several times on CD, but this is the first time it s been pressed on v
inyl in almost a decade, with two tracks previously only available on the Japane
se CD version and an extended version of Happy Audio .
17: JOHN FOXX
THE COMPLETE CATHEDRAL OCEANS
(EDSEL)

Oceanic
Think of John Foxx and one tends to think of his stark, Crash-referencing synth-
pop masterpiece Metamatic. Less well known is his ambient work, the pinnacle of
which is the Cathedral Oceans trilogy: a psychogeographic meditation equally inf
ormed by his Catholic upbringing and the underwater London of Ballard s The Drowne
d World.
16: JD EMMANUEL
WIZARDS
(IMPORTANT RECORDS)

Attaining Peace
A private press obscurity occupying the middle ground between Klaus Schulze-styl
e kosmische and new age pastoralism, JD Emmanuel s delightful Wizards feels all th
e more prescient in light of the similarly inclined recent work of Emeralds, One
ohtrix et al.
15: COCTEAU TWINS - BOX SET 1 (VINYL 180)
Simply some of the most haunting, not to mention influential music of all time r
ehoused to look more beautiful than ever.
14: SERGE GAINSBOURG & JANE BIRKIN - JE T AIME MOI NON PLUS (LIGHT IN THE ATTIC)
One of the sexiest and strangest records ever made, by one of the most unlikely
couples in the history of men and women, presented in its definitive edition by
Light In The Attic. Mange tout, Rodney, mange tout.
13: THOMAS KÖNER - NUNATAK / TEIMO / PERMAFROST (TYPE)
Thomas Koner s grievously honed style an immersive, often oppressive blend of tech
no, ambient, field recordings and power electronics has been aped a million time
s by lesser artists, but never bettered.
*12: SMITH & MIGHTY - B-LINE FI BLOW (PUNCH DRUNK UNEARTHED)*
If you needed proof of Punch Drunk s status as a gatekeeper of Bristol soundsystem
culture, then Punch Drunk Unearthed, their reissue label, is it. This re-releas
e of RSD-produced garage roller B-Line Fi Blow made the link between the city s rich
reggae/junglist/breakbeat past and its hyperactive dubstep present more concret
e (or, indeed, acetate) than ever. It might seem odd to have such a rude club si
ngle rubbing shoulders with NEU! and Cocteau Twins in the upper echelons of this
list but, hell, that s how much we love it.
11: NEU!- NEU! VINYL BOX (GRONLAND)
Brilliant box set retrospective featuring the albums NEU!, NEU! 2, NEU! 75 and, a
ppearing officially for the first time, NEU! 86, as well as NEU! 72, a previously
unreleased live maxi-single that clocks in at just under 18 minutes. All the NEU
! you will ever need, basically.
10: JEFF PHELPS - MAGNETIC EYES (TOMLAB)
First issued in a run of 1000 copies in 1985, Magnetic Eyes has become the stuff
of diggers legend, more recently hailed as a work of electro-soul genius by Dam-
Funk and Nite Jewel. It certainly lives up to the hype, Phelps rugged drum machin
e and synth arrangements providing the rough while teenager singer Antoinette Ma
rie Pugh ladles on the smooth.
09: DIETER MOEBIUS - TONSPUREN (BUREAU B)
Dieter Moebius s Tonspuren was a favourite long before Bureau B reissued it (along
with virtually everything ever made by he and his Cluster partner Hans-Joachim
Roedelius) this year, but it s great to have it readily available on vinyl again.
The opening sequence of dainty synth miniatures, so blithely innocent as to be a
lmost sinister, must have strongly influenced Ghost Box s Belbury Poly, and the al
bum gets darker and less predictable as it goes on, the pastoral whimsy giving w
ay completely to sickly sweet dissonance on Etwas , eldritch cackles on Furbo and dro
ning, panning proto-techno on B 36'.
08: CHARANJIT SINGH - SYNTHESIZING: 10 RAGAS TO A DISCO BEAT (BOMBAY CONNECTION)
Was acid house born in India? That was certainly Bombay Connection s contention wh
en they unearthed and repackaged this absurdly rare album of hypnotic 4/4 groove
s made with a 303, 808 and Jupiter-8 by Bollywood soundtrack genius Charanjit Si
ngh in nineteen-eighty-two. It s not often that a reissue comes along and complete
ly destroys your sense of historical narrative, but 10 Ragas To A Disco Beat did
exactly that.
07: DAVID BOWIE - STATION TO STATION: DELUXE EDITION (EMI)
Written and recorded at the height of his death-defying coke addiction, Station
To Station was the immediate precursor to the sombre, minimalist majesty of the
Berlin trilogy (Low, Heroes , Lodger); Young Americans slick funk beginning to give
way to more austere, Teutonic textures inspired by Kraftwerk and NEU!. The album
was co-produced by Bowie and Harry Maslin at LA s Cherokee Studios; asked about h
is host city at the time, an increasingly paranoid, occult-dabbling Bowie sugges
ted that the fucking place should be wiped off the face of the earth . The epic tit
le track is as high as a kite, one of the most uplifting, energetic pop songs of
all time, but its sporadic intimations of the hangover to come are terrifying.
06: DADAWAH - PEACE & LOVE (DUG OUT)
Though a prime example of nyabinghi (Rastafarian devotional music), Dadawah s Peac
e And Love originally released on Wild Flower in 1974- is no regular jah-praisin
g platter. Rather it s as bottomless and revelatory as an acid trip (but without t
he paranoia); in Dug Out s estimation, it s the closest reggae comes to psychedelia.
The peak of the album is Zion Land Ras Michel s languid vocals levitating over pung
ent keyboard parts which sound as though they were recorded in a cathedral, the
red-eyed studio genius of Lloyd Charmers and George Raymond in full effect.
05: MR FINGERS - SLAM DANCE EP (ALLEVIATED)
Cut loud, repressed and sounding crunchier and more dynamic than ever, there s rea
lly no excuse now not to own a copy of Larry Heard s greatest 12? (read: Chicago h
ouse music s greatest 12"). The none-more-jacking title track, Waterfalls and For So
Long are absolutely timeless, and Stars , well, just take a listen to Stars . Exactly.
04: KEVIN DRUMM - SHEER HELLISH MIASMA (EDITIONS MEGO)
Heavier than a death in the family, Sheer Hellish Miasma still stands as the gre
atest full-length from that fertile period of guitar abuse and plate-shifting dr
one that, in a perfect world, would have dominated the first half of the noughti
es (Khanate, SunnO))), Wolf Eyes, Jazkamer: thems was the days). This year Editi
ons Mego awarded it a timely reissue on double-vinyl, with, wait for it, an addi
tional track titled Impotent Hummer . Say no more.
03: DREXCIYA - NEPTUNE S LAIR / HARNESSED THE STORM (TRESOR)
It s true that the recorded legacy of Drexciya is dauntingly diffuse, spread acros
s numerous 12"s, CDs, labels, aliases and side-projects. But one thing any harde
ned fan will tell you is that James Stinson and Gerald Donald s strongest, most co
herent LPs are Neptune s Lair and Harnessed The Storm, released by Tresor in 1999
and 2002 respectively. Neptune s Lair is the more low-slung colourful record, hitt
ing the future-soul sublime on Running Out of Space ; Harnessed The Storm is a more
taut, more metallic, more techno effort. Both sound unique and thrillingly cont
emporary.
02: CHRIS CARTER - THE SPACES BETWEEN (OPTIMO MUSIC)
The supreme sonic architect behind Throbbing Gristle (no disrespect to Sleazy),
and subsequently Chris & Cosey, CTI and Carter Tutti, Chris Carter is one of ele
ctronic music s most important figures, his studio adventurousness matched only by
his natural pop nous. His 70s and early-mid 80s explorations of repetitive, tra
nce-inducing synthesizer music eerily prefigured techno, and despite the relativ
ely lo-fi recording techniques of the day, sounds as pristine and futuristic tod
ay as it did back then. Originally released on cassette in 1980 on TG s own Indust
rial Records label, The Space Between retitled The Spaces Between for Optimo s red
ux vinyl edition is an absolute landmark.
*01: VIRGO - VIRGO (RUSH HOUR)*
The greatest house record of all time? Yeah, it probably is. Certainly house has
never sounded as warm, natural and resonant as it does on Virgo s 1989 debut, rei
ssued by one of the labels of the year, Rush Hour. The Amsterdam imprint s remaste
ring job isn t particularly radical, but then Virgo s production is so crisp and fat
in the first place, it doesn t need much extra oomph it s already drum machine-heav
y dance music at its most cerebral, groovy, melancholic and magical.
[FACT MAGAZINE, 2010]