Reissue Mania.

It seems like every album of any remote significance is getting the reissue treatment lately, some more deservedly than others (the second Foo Fighters album? Alright, whatever). Yeah, there's the new tricked-out versions of Sonic Youth's Daydream Nation or a good chunk of the early Sebadoh discography, but there's also been some other reissues popping up that that aren't Western Mass-centric & are also not nearly as overhyped.



Mint Records has just re-released two albums by the wonderful early/mid-90s Canadian all-girl twee pop band Cub, Betti-Cola (a collection of early singles alongside a batch of new songs) & the proper 1995 album Come Out Come Out. If you're at all interested in the old school K Records/Kill Rock Stars cuddlecore scene (Beat Happening, Tiger Trap, Go Sailor, The Softies, All Girl Summer Fun Band, et al), this is pretty much essential listening. Pure jangly, melodic pop-punk goodness. Bonus points for the awesome Archie Comics-style cover art on Betti-Cola.



The Young Marble Giants' excellent 1980 album Colossal Youth has just be reissued as well, this time by Domino Records, bursting with extra tracks & even a Peel Sessions disc. Cold, detached, almost Nico-esque female vocals backed by minimal post-punk styled guitar, bass, organ & drum machine (vaguely like a less dramatic Joy Division, but not really) leads to a recipe for greatness. You could even trace the art-damaged pop minimalism of this record to the kind of stuff K Records (see above) would be putting out a few years later, but regardless, these folks were one of the weirdest & most original bands to get slapped with the unfortunate "post-punk" tag.


Be a good consumer & pick up these jams instead of further pumping up Lou Barlow's ego.