My Favourite Reissues of 2022
Here's a list of ten of my favourite reissues from the year just been.
Selected Works is a weekly (usually) newsletter by the Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Aotearoa (Wellington, New Zealand) based freelance music journalist, broadcaster, copywriter and sometimes DJ Martyn Pepperell, aka Yours Truly. Most weeks, Selected Works consists of a recap of what I’ve been doing lately and some of what I’ve been listening to and reading, paired with film photographs I’ve taken + some bonuses. All of that said, sometimes it takes completely different forms.
MY FAVOURITE REISSUES OF 2022
Like I mentioned in My Favourite Albums of 2022 post, I spent most of last year with my head buried in the past. A big part of that came down to how much time I spent working on liner notes and release notes for reissue projects with a bunch of great labels like Isle of Jura, Glossy Mistakes, Frederiksberg Records, Soundway and Lo Recordings. I loved those releases, but I’m not going to include them in this list, as that just feels a little bit too self-congratulatory. Besides, I’ve already recapped those projects in an earlier newsletter. Anyway, here’s my alphabetically ordered list of the reissues that stuck with me throughout 2022.
Ferkat Al Ard, Oghneya (Habibi Funk)
How about a forty-four-year-old album from Lebanon that lives and breathes at the intersection of Arabic jazz, folk and Brazilian bossa nova, tropicalia and MPB? Sounds good, right? A cult release from the legendary Lebanese singer-songwriter, guitarist and composer Issam Hajali’s Ferkat Al Ard group, "Oghneya", is a vivid musical representation of the close cultural and social links between Lebanon and Brazil. Recently reissued in a resequenced format through the Habibi Funk label, it's a direct window into a special moment and space within late 20th-century music.
Hydroplane, Self-Titled (Efficient Space)
An understated classic within the Australian underground music canon, Hydroplane’s debut is a nocturnal melange of breakbeat drum loops, ambient guitar experimentation, haunting keyboards and ghostly, dreamy vocals delivered by Kerrie Bolton. Call it ambient pop, perhaps? Read my interview with Hydroplane here.
Picture Music, Self-Titled (Left Ear Records)
In late January 2020, amid muggy Southern hemisphere summer heat, Melbourne’s Left Ear Records label made an Instagram post. They’d acquired some deadstock of an obscure Australian ambient cassette tape titled Picture Music, originally recorded three decades earlier. Intrigued by the artwork and the backstory, I ordered a copy. Several weeks later, I received a pristinely preserved copy in the mail. Haunting from the very first notes, Picture Music was an embarrassment of riches. That summer, I thrashed the tape on the stereo in the mornings and late at night, constantly in awe of the pictorial elegance of its dimly lit but richly atmospheric instrumental evocations. Read my story on Picture Music for Test Pressing here.
Ros Bandt and LIME, Soft and Fragile (Efficient Space)
In 1983, Ros Bandt and LIME (Live Improvised Music Event), a group of composer-performers who studied improvisation under her at Melbourne’s La Trobe University in the late 1970s, released Soft & Fragile through Move Records, one of Australia’s premier art music labels. A series of three stunningly textured long-form improvisations played with the flagong, a custom-made vertical glass marimba; clay and metal bells; and tape loops, Soft & Fragile was born out of a period of intensely focused creativity for Bandt and LIME. Read my story on Bandt for Bandcamp Daily here.
Sharon Benson, Sunshine (Bandcamp)
This one flew right under the radar IMO. If you enjoy the 90s UK Street Soul, Swingbeat and Future Jazz group Zushii, here’s former Zushii vocalist Sharon Benson’s lost album Sunshine. P-Vine got this one in circulation in 2015, but it also sounds like it could have been released in 1993 or reissued last year. Street Soul meets New Jack Swing with a London bop. Jason Halliday on instrumentation and production, Benson on songwriting and vocals, Gary Bent on BVs. It’s a magical combination. I’d love to explore this one properly.
Susumu Yokota, Baroque (Modern Obscure Music)
Baroque, originally released on CD in 2004 through Frogman Records sub-label United Sounds Of Blue, is one of the strongest windows into the depths the Japanese composer, producer and DJ Susumu Yokota was plunging in the mid-'00s, now released on vinyl for the first time by the Spanish record label Modern Obscure Music. Read my review of it for Resident Advisor here.
Various Artists, America Dream Reserve (Smiling C)
America Dream Reserve is an hour-long road trip through the late nights of an unsung generation of American entertainers. Working with drum machines, synthesizers, and early home recording gear, the artists expressed their aspirations, heartbreak, and sorrow through private press records sold at shows that were often punctuated by magic tricks and comedy routines. Read my story on the compilation for Bandcamp Daily here.
Various Artists, Down & Out (NTS)
For my money, this is one of the best folk music compilations I've heard in a long time (maybe ever?) Compiled for NTS by Bruno Halper & Samuel Strang, "Down & Out" brings together a collection of fourteen private press folk records, predominantly recorded in the UK and US between 1968-1980. NTS call it "Downcast Folk" and as the loner figures gathered together here express their existential exhaustion and acid burnout through song, the descriptor rings true. To avoid too much myth-making, it's worth noting that two of the figures included here, Jim Leedy and Brenda Wootton, went on to find wider success.
Various Artists, Ghost Riders (Efficient Space)
If you've ever enjoyed the soulful rock pleasures of 'Baby' by the late 70s teen duo Donnie & Joe Emerson, the brilliant Efficient Space label's Ghost Riders compilation is - to put it lightly - an embarrassment of riches. They've called it "A North American road trip of coming of age garage soul", curated by the equally brilliant Ivan Liechti. Over the course of seventeen ballads recorded between 1965 and 1974, the Ghost Riders generation bless us with the sort of private press magic you normally only dream of stumbling across. Meet me at 3 am at the roadhouse. I hear they've added it to the jukebox.
Various Artists, V4 Visions: Of Love & Androids (Numero Group)
Numero Group shoots and scores with V4 Visions: Of Love & Androids, a compilation album that explores how during the UK house rave explosion of the early-’90s, London’s V4 Visions imprint managed to sit at the intersection of street soul, deep house, swingbeat, and jungle. Over the course of eighteen tracks, the influence of lovers rock, jazz-funk, sound system reggae, hip hop, new jack swing and UK garage bubbles up through killer cut after killer cut. Artists featured include Ashaye, Julie Stapleton, Maureen Mason, Rohan Delano, The Wades, and Endangered Species, all contextualised by liners from Simon Reynolds.
AFTERTHOUGHTS:
In retrospect, it looks like Efficient Space releases and compilation album reissues really had a hold on me last year. That’s a testament to the great work Michael and the team at ES are doing. It’s also a testament to the power of compilations as a tool for recontextualistion. And if any labels out there reading are looking for someone to help out with reissue projects or liner notes, don’t hesitate to send me an email.
FIN.