The name was an explicit signpost. Maryland’s Velocity Girl named themselves after the B-side of Primal Scream’s May 1986 second single “Crystal Crescent.” At this point, Bobby Gillespie and Co were still a Byrds-leaning, Sixties-inclined, polkadotted jangly pop outfit. There were no hints of what came later.
Velocity Girl formed in College Park, Maryland in 1989 but were embedded in the Washington, DC music scene – one which, for much of the outside world, was defined by hardcore punk and the various flavours springing from it represented by bands like Fugazi and Nation of Ulysses. Looking to any British indie archetype was atypical. As the liner notes for new compilation 1989-1992 put it, “Velocity Girl arose from a new…
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Since Chapter Music’s inauspicious start as the musical spinoff of a Syd Barrett fanzine, the Australian label has had a knack for curating quirky, eclectic compilations. Their 
Cat Stevens’ Buddha and the Chocolate Box, originally released in 1974, is the latest title in the singer-songwriter’s venerable cat-o-log to get the remastered reissue treatment. One of Yusuf’s four consecutive LPs to reach the top three in both the United States and Great Britain and his sixth A&M release overall, Buddha returns September 4 on CD, vinyl, and digital formats.
On the Boston stop of the 1995 tour promoting their second album Blonder and Blonder, the Muffs stopped off at Fort Apache studio to play a set that was broadcast on WFNX, the area’s alternative station. The band sounds energized and full of punk vim and vigor, even though the daytime session was like putting in an extra shift at work. Guitarist Kim Shattuck, in particular, is on fire, attacking her instrument like it was a six-stringed monster that needed immediate subduing. She crashes and slashes through a set of songs mostly derived from the album they were touring, and her singing is even more fiery. On record she mostly kept her howls and screams in check but on-stage she lets loose, favoring pure emotional release over melody. The band follows her…
…completely remastered and include a replica of Horse Feathers’ original six-song demo CD.
Formed in 1969 by The Crazy World of Arthur Brown keyboardist Vincent Crane, 
…remastered by legendary audio engineer Howie Weinberg and includes 12 previously unreleased tracks. This bonus material compiles B-sides, outtakes, and raw demos from the original recording era.
During the first wave of post-punk, the bulk of its practitioners lived in nations with undeniably agit-worthy issues. But they weren’t faced with anything like the existential chaos that’s been a day-to-day reality for generations in Lebanon. In other words, Beirut bands like 
…The deluxe edition introduces 2 previously unreleased studio tracks rescued from the original sessions, newly mixed by Stephen Mougin.
‘Normalization’ in Czechoslovakia in the 1970s and 1980s was paradoxical: rather than a return to normality, it in fact meant renewed state control over society, culture, and public life. It followed the Prague Spring of 1968, which had grown out of the political and cultural relaxation of the 1960s, where under Alexander Dubček, reforms aimed to create ‘socialism with a human face’ allowed greater freedom of expression and artistic experimentation. The Soviet Union considered these reforms too radical, however, and in August 1968 Warsaw Pact troops invaded Czechoslovakia, bringing the reform process to an end.
…Arriving 26 years on from its original 2000 release by the Fuzzbox label, and after a 2003 reissue via Beggars imprint too pure, the album has been newly remastered by Sean Magee at Abbey Road Studios.
In 1957, John Coltrane was still building the foundation of a career that would eventually alter the course of modern music. Having already established himself as a vital member of Miles Davis’s first great quintet, the fully realized artist behind Blue Train, Giant Steps, A Love Supreme, and countless other landmarks had not yet completely emerged. Coltrane, his debut album as a leader for Prestige, captures him at the beginning of that evolution. Coltrane arrived between his work with Davis and his celebrated tenure with Thelonious Monk.
The mark that Miles Davis left not only on jazz but also on hip-hop, rock, and funk cannot be overstated. This year marks what would have been the 100th birthday of the jazz legend, and the year-round centennial celebration is seeing multiple reissues from labels. As part of their Original Jazz Classics series, Craft Recordings is releasing Cookin’ with The Miles Davis Quintet featuring all-analog mastering from the original tapes by Cohearent Audio.
Donald Fagen’s Kamakiriad would be notable if only for the fact the album marks a full-on reunion of the two principal 
…newly mastered by Matt Colon at Metropolis Studios (under the supervision of Bobby Gillespie and Andrew Innes) and features the original track list alongside a curated selection of B-sides and rarities.
In the mid ’60s, Chess Records released a series of 
Fondly referred to as “The Rockin’ Chair Album” due to the depiction of a rocking chair on its cover,