Funny how 4AD, one of the most interesting big-indie labels of the 1980s and 1990s, has become a sort of post-new-wave K-Tel. Nowadays all their releases appear to be either (a) rereleases from their legendary back-catalogue, (b) new albums by artists who were big 10 years ago, or (c) new albums by artists poached from smaller indie labels, which the critics say aren't as good as those artists' earlier and more obscure releases (i.e., Sybarite, Piano Magic).
Except in Australia, where 4AD has always been through Shock since 1989, and the Pixies stuff has just been re-released again with the Remote Control sigil on it.
(Is Remote Control just a marketing outfit? These days they seem to handle the marketing of bands on Matador and a few other big-indie labels in Australia, but it seems they leave distribution in the hands of Shock and Inertia.)
I missed the Death To The Pixies with the bonus live disc, which was apparently the only reason for getting it. The B-Sides compilation is very definitely worth getting, however.
Also, the Breeders' set from last year was pretty good, in a sparse, stripped back way.
Elsewhere, Stereolab have resigned to Elektra outside UK, which is... interesting.
Please keep comments on topic and to the point. Inappropriate comments may be deleted.
Note that markup is stripped from comments; URLs will be automatically converted into links.
http://www.eastwest.nu
Wed Apr 23 08:19:25 2003
Hmmph, quite right on the K-Tel thing.
The only band of that whole gang that's evolved beautifully -- albeit strangely -- is His Name Is Alive. Perhaps everyone else needed to undergo some drastic changes.