Seefeel Reissues -- May 14, 2021

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by blewmaearsout, Apr 6, 2021.

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  1. blewmaearsout

    blewmaearsout Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Toronto, ON
    Just noticed a trio of Seefeel releases are getting the expanded vinyl rollout this May: Succour, St/Fr/Sp, and (Ch-Vox).

    Succur (Redux) is an expanded 3LP edition, and the first time the album has been available on vinyl since original release. It comes an extra LP of bonus material, mastered from original DAT transfers by Stefan Betke aka Pole.

    St / Fr / Sp is a double LP, compiling two non-album EPs that Seefeel recorded for Warp in 1994, Starethrough and Fracture/Tied, alongside a rare Autechre remix of “Spangle” and the unreleased Transition Mix of “Starethrough”.

    (Ch-Vox) Redux is a double LP, and this will be the first time it has been available on vinyl since 1996. As with Succur, it comes with an extra LP of bonus material, mastered from original DAT transfers by Stefan Betke aka Pole.

    For those not vinyl-inclined, there's also a 4 CD anthology -- Rupt and Flex (1994-96) -- of Seefeel’s 94 - 96 work made for Warp and Rephlex, including their out-of-print studio albums Succour and (Ch-Vox), two non-album EPs, Starethrough and Fracture/Tied, and 22 bonus tracks from the Seefeel archives, most of which have been previously unreleased.
     
  2. blewmaearsout

    blewmaearsout Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Toronto, ON
    And for the completist, Bleep (in addition to having bundles offereings), has an exclusive 12", Sp19 Ga19, limited to 450; hype follows below:


    While precious few details are available about the when and where of these live recordings — it simply states on the label that they were developed in 2017 before originally surfacing as exclusive file downloads on the band’s own store in 2019 under the secretive moniker of Sfl4e — Sp19 Ga19 serves to showcase Seefeel’s immense creative flow as a performing act. Released on 12” for the very first time, the disc consists of two expansive renditions of the group's classic shoegaze-meets-electronic music.

    ‘Sp19’ builds on the glimmering intensity of its source material — Seefeel’s flagship song ‘Spangled’ — and sets a remarkable example of post-rock grandiosity with its snipping drum machines and angelic backing vocals. The star of the show is the deeply moving circular guitar pattern, which seems to have predicted the seraphim heights of many acts to follow. Meanwhile, the Succour track ‘Gatha’ appears transformed as ‘Ga19’, stretched to almost twice its length with a steady build-up of icy drones, later exploded into a menacing industrial dub rhythm.

    In a time when an accompanying fog machine-assisted light show in a crowded room seems like a far-off prospect, Sp19 Ga19 more than compensates with its hypnotic melee of tones.
     
    Tim Bucknall, ostrichfarm and ries like this.
  3. morelikespace

    morelikespace Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York, NY
    Wow, this is great news. Thanks for the update! Any links available to see track lists?

    I hope that the reissues include a lot of the stray compilation tracks from Seefeel in the '90s, such as:

    "Lief" (from the Ambient 4: Isolationism comp)
    "As If," "As Track," and "As Well" (from the Ancient Lights and Black Core comp)
    "Gathra" (from the Dubonology 2 - Lost in Bass comp) or maybe this is the same as "Gatha"?
    "Phase Maze" (from the Quid Deal soundtrack)
    "As Link" (From the Warp20 comp)
     
  4. blewmaearsout

    blewmaearsout Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Toronto, ON
  5. blewmaearsout

    blewmaearsout Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Toronto, ON
    The "As..." tracks seem to be in there, so you should be getting half of the extras you're hoping for.
     
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  6. 3Dman

    3Dman The Adventure Begins

    Location:
    MI
    Ordered the bundle from Bleep. Just over $100 to the US for eight records is good in my book. Looking forward to these.
     
  7. GordonM

    GordonM Forum Resident

    Location:
    N.Ireland
    Great to see a thread on these releases. I went for the Sp19 Ga19 12” and the CD box partly because I’m content to have the Warp albums and EPs from this period on vinyl from when they were readily available. I certainly hope the vinyl reissues with all the bonus material sound great and am prepared for feelings of regret I didn’t go for for that option!

    Seefeel doesn’t get mentioned here much so its worth saying that the Too Pure material is essential - probably my favourite Seefeel era. Quite apart from Quique, More Like Space and Pure, Impure are superb! (Many years ago I was on a great mailing list named for pure, impure.)
     
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  8. tengram

    tengram Forum Resident

    Location:
    State College, PA
    I also just ordered the Bundle--they offer Fedex Courier to the US for a couple bucks extra, that makes delivery almost as fast as we'll get stateside, and then there's the exclusive single along with everything else!

    Now I am hoping Too Pure will follow suite with what they did with Stereolab back in 2018, and maybe join Warp in doing their own reissues. I'd love to see them reissue Quique (Redux) again, as well as some kind of other material on Too Pure package (maybe a Polyfusia (Redux)?)
     
    GordonM likes this.
  9. radiophonic

    radiophonic Forum Resident

    Location:
    Nottingham, UK
    I woke up to a day off work, sunshine and a YouTube video from Stuntrock Confiusion alerting me to the Seefeel reissues, plus a run-through of all the SF related stuff he has - which reminded me of a bunch of great music I will now spend today listening to. Vinyl bundle ordered. A thought - if the SP19 EP is limited to 450, presumably the bundle is also limited? It seems like a pretty good price for 8 records, assuming the pressing quality is OK - but I've been burned by Bleep before, so we'll see...
     
  10. blewmaearsout

    blewmaearsout Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Toronto, ON
    Just to be clear, Sp19 Ga19 can be purchased as a standalone item. Bundling is just a nice way to save some $$$.
     
    tengram likes this.
  11. jimod99

    jimod99 Daddy or chips?

    Location:
    Ottawa, ON
    Tempting as the vinyl is I think I'll just go for the cd version.
     
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  12. tengram

    tengram Forum Resident

    Location:
    State College, PA
    Right--sorry--my phrasing makes it sound like Sp19 Ga19 is only in the bundle, which it's not. I was just meaning it was a cool feature of it, along with the other aspects I mentioned.

    For folks who just want it digitally, it's also been available on their bandcamp page for a little while now.
     
  13. GordonM

    GordonM Forum Resident

    Location:
    N.Ireland
    Yeah - I ordered the digital Sp/Ga19 along with the CD of Autechre’s remix of Spangle only about three weeks ago! Ah well - it will be nice to have the former on 12”.

    I noticed today that only one of the tracks from the between-labels 12” i-01 has appeared elsewhere (that I can tell) - the Filter Dub mix on Quique (Redux) from several years ago. The Stare through (Charlotte’s dub) mix on that is nice (I only have a digital copy) but is not listed on this Warp era collection even though it might have fitted. It was pre-Warp (I guess) and maybe not hugely dissimilar to the Warp released version. Just an observation - not complaining.
     
  14. octophone

    octophone immaterial girl

    Location:
    Scotland
    My 4CD set arrived today. Looks like they've had to order a second batch to meet demand, which is good news. Hopefully, they'll fix the mastering error which inserts a jarring 2 second silence in between 'Rupt' and 'Vex', thus spoiling the flow. GAH!

    Still, looks lovely.
     
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  15. GordonM

    GordonM Forum Resident

    Location:
    N.Ireland
    GAH could be a track title! My 4CD set also arrived today along with the Sp19/Ga19 12”. I agree, attractive packaging for the CD set. I havn’t had a chance to listen yet.
     
    octophone likes this.
  16. radiophonic

    radiophonic Forum Resident

    Location:
    Nottingham, UK
    The vinyl bundle showed up this morning in reassuringly substantial packaging. ChVox has a nice laminated sleeve but the others are matte. Looks spotless but for some reason the St/Fr/Sp set doesn't have poly liners whereas all the others do.Spinning the Sp19/Ga19 12" with my morning coffee. Super Clean pressing so far.

    Update. ChVox is warped. How ironic. Contacting Bleep for a replacement.
     
    Last edited: May 14, 2021
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  17. octophone

    octophone immaterial girl

    Location:
    Scotland
    Bleep's reputation re. customer service is very good so I'm sure they'll sort you out.
     
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  18. GordonM

    GordonM Forum Resident

    Location:
    N.Ireland
    I missed if this has been highlighted already. It’s very noticeable - and is even in the download version (an abrupt cut to 2 seconds of silence at the end of Rupt). By way of contrast e.g. the long fade out to silence of Utreat into the fade in of Tempean is not similarly affected - I don’t detect an extra 2 seconds of silence there. I hope this is not replicated in the LP version. That said, it’s a minor glitch which, for me, is not too disruptive (ahem) to the overall.

    Of the many tracks I hadn’t heard before, a surprise track on (Ch-Vox) CD3 was Evio with its queasy melody (which vaguely reminds me of ambient Aphex Twin). Starethrough (Transition mix) stands out on CD4. I had heard some but not all of the As- tracks before - they all flow well together in sequence.

    The bonus+ (redux) material is all strong - no weak links. Good collection!
     
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  19. radiophonic

    radiophonic Forum Resident

    Location:
    Nottingham, UK
    Amber from the Autechre bundle was warped too and I got an instant replacement. Campfire Headphase was unplayable noisy mess tho. I was mid house move and got stuck with it.
     
  20. octophone

    octophone immaterial girl

    Location:
    Scotland
    I agree entirely. Finished my first listen tonight and I'm more than satisfied with this - the unreleased material shows that they could really stretch their sound...amazing what they could wring from guitar and voice.

    I hope this is where they get their due. I adored 'Succour' when it was released and always felt it got passed over due to a perception of them as being bandwagon-jumpers whereas, in truth, they just underwent the kind of accelerated development that make Autechre kindred spirits.
     
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  21. jsb!

    jsb! Forum Resident

    I’ve got the vinyl bundle coming from Bleep, but I must admit I’ve been extremely tempted to pick up the CD box too because it looks so lovely… so I’m both glad and dismayed to hear it’s just as nice in real life as the pictures made it look…
     
  22. morelikespace

    morelikespace Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York, NY
    I jumped the gun. Am still waiting for my vinyl set (in NYC), but couldn't resist also getting the CD bundle. It looked so awesome. Bank account a little more depleted, alas.

    In the meantime, Pitchfork reviewed the set: Seefeel: Rupt and Flex (1994-96)
     
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  23. GordonM

    GordonM Forum Resident

    Location:
    N.Ireland
    As noted (maybe by you?) over on discogs, there is another mastering error on the track Monastic on CD2. Although it’s a very brief digital glitch, it is rather more unpleasant than the gap at the end of Rupt. These are the only two glitches I have heard across the entire set - not that I noticed them independently. As mentioned before, let’s hope the LP mastering has avoided these as they are also present in the download.

    I have listened to the entire set in the background over the past few days and think Seefeel really did mine a lot from this particular seam. To me it comes across as fairly bleak, minimal and austere - particularly the (Ch-Vox) related material. The earlier Too Pure-era material sounds really lush in comparison. It took a listen to pure-impure and it forms quite a contrast.

    I have not changed my opinion that this is a good collection from a unique band.

    Due to the slipcases being very tight I’ll probably rehouse the CDs in plastic inner sleeves.
     
  24. octophone

    octophone immaterial girl

    Location:
    Scotland
    The 'Monastic' glitch sounds like a fault on the DAT. I'd have thought they could have done something about it. If they noticed it but left it, they could have at least flagged it up.

    Musically, it's a wonderful collection and I;d hate for a couple of glitches to detract from the reassessment the music is due, which is why I've kept any talk about that side of things away from social media and kept it to places like this and, yes, Discogs.
     
    GordonM likes this.
  25. GordonM

    GordonM Forum Resident

    Location:
    N.Ireland
    I agree with this. I have enjoyed listening to this material over the past few weeks. I do keep coming back to Seefeel and I can’t think of a band that occupies the same sonic world as Seefeel did/do. I have enjoyed the Oto Hiax stuff over the past few years.
     
    octophone likes this.
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