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Viva la Vinyl! The Resurgence Continues with Big Black and Man Or Astro-Man?

Viva la Vinyl! The Resurgence Continues with Big Black and Man Or Astro-Man?

This fall marks the beginning. The beginning of what? After a brave excursion looking deep into the Touch and Go and Quarterstick vaults, we have made our selections and begun preparing a steady stream of vinyl reissues and first-time-on-vinyl releases from now through the end of 2016. Here are the details on the first two reissues to find their way to the shelves of your local record store:

Big Black - Atomizer



Originally released in 1985, and now remastered by Steve Albini and Bob Weston at Chicago Mastering, Big Black's first full-length album Atomizer will be released on September 25th, 2015. To save you having to do the math in your head, yes, that makes this a 30th anniversary reissue!

This remastered version of Atomizer includes the song "Strange Things" which appeared on the first pressing of Atomizer, but was not present on subsequent vinyl pressings nor on The Rich Man's Eight Track CD. It also comes with a double-sided insert and a digital download coupon.

To put this release into context for the uninformed: Big Black began in 1982. Steve Steve Albini, then a sophomore at Northwestern University, fanzine writer and loudmouth, released the Lungs EP on the Chicago co-operative label Ruthless (whose other artists at the time included Naked Raygun and the Effigies). Lungs was recorded in his apartment on a borrowed 4-track for the price of one case of beer.

After that record’s release, Jeff Pezzati (singer for Naked Raygun) and Santiago Durango (Naked Raygun, Arsenal), both linchpins of the burgeoning Chicago music scene, joined Big Black. During this period, the band established itself as a live act, recorded two more records, the Bulldozer EP and the Racer-X EP, toured the U.S., and had - in general– a pretty good time.

Jeff Pezzati’s other obligations precipitated his departure from the band in 1984, when he was replaced by Dave Riley, bass player for Chicago swing-punk band Savage Beliefs. This lineup persisted until the band’s self-destruction in August of 1987.

Big Black toured the U.S., England, Europe, and Austrailia. They recorded a sh**load of records: Il Duce 45, Atomizer LP, Headache EP (which bore the heartbreakingly-honest disclaimer “Warning! Not as good as Atomizer. Don’t get your hopes up, Cheese.”), Heartbeat 45, He’s A Whore 45, Songs About Fucking LP, and Pig Pile LP / Video.

You can preorder this remastered version of Atomizer at the Touch and Go store HERE

Man or Astro-Man? - 1000X



On October 16th, get ready for round two... Touch and Go Records will reissue the galactic transmission 1000X from Man or Astro-Man? ! After years of searching, deep in the depths, we found enough moon goo to send out another wave of these 10" vinyl space anomalies.

Any group whose ultimate complot centers around escape and exodus from the Planet Earth and conquest of all its indigenous life forms would obviously not release even a minute, trivial link to their master plan. Yet most understandably, the higher-ups of Astro-Tech Inc. realize the need to perpetuate certain conquest propaganda procedures, and thus the possibility of this select Astro-info downlink:

Enter 1000X, originally transmitted in 1997. To human ears, 1000X may sound like “music”, but, in all actuality, it is a collection of ultra-modulated tone code transmissions originating from Outer Space, somewhere near the grid sector 23-B61. To capture these audio emissions, Starcrunch, Birdstuff, and Coco underwent self-inflicted electrical torture. This, combined with sleep deprivation, helped to produce the sonic sound unit that is 1000X. Altering mini-customary Astro procedures, the Astro-Men began to reveal the true sound of what lies beyond this atmosphere as the majority of Earthly transmission influences have been processed through various analog filter devices and eliminated.

But don't wait long to acquire this alien masterpiece. Moon goo is limited and so are these!

You can preorder your 1000X alien transmission at the Touch and Go store HERE

That's all for now but stay tuned! More vinyl announcements coming soon...