As we fast approach April 16 - this year's Record Store Day, the music geek's Christmas - we're starting to see more vinyl reissues happening in independent stores especially for the occasion. Two of the most recent ones take us back to the rock and roll sound of the 1990s, from traditional grunge to spacier, experimental styles.
Twenty years ago, Matthew "Slim" Moon formed a record label in Olympia, Washington, with the intention of putting out eclectic records, from spoken word to punk. That label, Kill Rock Stars, is still going strong to this day, having attracted indie artists from Sleater-Kinney to The Decemberists. And for Record Store Day, the band is reissuing its first major release, a compilation also called Kill Rock Stars. Featuring tracks by Nirvana, Bikini Kill and The Melvins, this set will be limited to 2,000 vinyl copies in silkscreened, hand-numbered sleeves.
Not long after the grunge explosion, another interesting rock movement began: the rise of The Flaming Lips. The Oklahoma-based band, known for its densely-arranged, occasionally catchy tunes and theatrical live shows, continues to stay strong - this year, they're documenting their entire creative process, during which they will release a handful of songs each month - and longtime label Warner Bros. is set to honor their legacy for Record Store Day as well. Heady Nuggs: The First Five Warner Bros. Records 1992-2002 collects the band's first five major-label releases (Hit to Death in the Future Head (1992), Transmissions from the Satellite Heart (1993), Clouds Taste Metallic (1995), The Soft Bulletin (1999) and Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (2002)) on 140-gram vinyl. (The band's official Web store will also offer, in limited quantities, a version of the set on five different colors of vinyl.)
Have a look at the track lists after the jump.
Various Artists, Kill Rock Stars (originally released as Kill Rock Stars KRS-201, 1991)
- Girl Germs - Bratmobile
- Loch Ness- Some Velvet Sidewalk
- Don't Mix the Colors - Courtney Love
- N.O.U. Cooking with Gas! - The Nation of Ulysses
- You Speak Jealousy - Unwound
- Narrow - Mecca Normal
- Beeswax - Nirvana
- Feels Blind - Bikini Kill
- The Reaper Song - Witchypoo
- Ever Since My Accident - Melvins
- Immediate Impound Zone - Infamous Menagerie
- Make You Come - Kicking Giant
- Everybody and Their Dog - Fitz of Depression
- Red Dress - Jad Fair
The Flaming Lips, Heady Nuggs: The First Five Warner Bros. Records 1992-2002 (Warner Bros., 2011)
LP 1: Hit to Death in the Future Head (originally released as Warner Bros. 9 26838-2, 1992)
- Talkin' 'Bout the Smiling Deathporn Immortality Blues (Everyone Wants to Live Forever)
- Hit Me Like You Did the First Time
- The Sun
- Felt Good to Burn
- Gingerale Afternoon (The Astrology of a Saturday)
- Halloween on the Barbary Coast
- The Magician vs. the Headache
- You Have to Be Joking (Autopsy of the Devil's Brain)
- Frogs
- Hold Your Head
- Untitled
LP 2: Transmissions from the Satellite Heart (originally released as Warner Bros. 9 45334-2, 1993)
- Turn It On
- Pilot Can at the Queer of God
- Oh My Pregnant Head (Labia in the Sunlight)
- She Don't Use Jelly
- Chewin the Apple of Your Eye
- Superhumans
- Be My Head
- Moth in the Incubator
- Plastic Jesus
- When Yer Twenty Two
- Slow Nerve Action
LP 3: Clouds Taste Metallic (originally released as Warner Bros. 9 45911-2, 1995)
- The Abandoned Hospital Ship
- Psychiatric Explorations of the Fetus with Needles
- Placebo Headwound
- This Here Giraffe
- Brainville
- Guy Who Got a Headache and Accidentally Saved the World
- When You Smile
- Kim's Watermelon Gun
- They Punctured My Yolk
- Lightning Strikes the Postman
- Christmas at the Zoo
- Evil Will Prevail
- Bad Days (Aurally Excited Version)
LP 4: The Soft Bulletin (originally released as Warner Bros. 9 46876-2, 1999)
- Race for the Prize (Remix)
- A Spoonful Weighs a Ton
- The Spark That Bled
- The Spiderbite Song
- Buggin' (Remix)
- What is the Light?
- The Observer
- Waitin' for a Superman
- Suddenly Everything Has Changed
- The Gash
- Feeling Yourself Disintegrate
- Sleeping on the Roof
- Race for the Prize
- Waitin' on a Superman (Remix)
LP 5: Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (originally released as Warner Bros. 9 48141-2, 2002)
- Fight Test
- One More Robot/Sympathy 3000-21
- Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Part 1
- Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Part 2
- In the Morning of the Magicians
- Ego Tripping at the Gates of Hell
- Are You a Hypnotist??
- It's Summertime (Throbbing Orange Pallbearers)
- Do You Realize??
- All We Have is Now
- Approaching Pavanis Mons by Balloon (Utopia Planitia)
snipsly says
snipsly Looks good!