BEAK>: >> LP

To celebrate the addition of Bristol's preeminent out-rock trio, Beak>, to the Temporary Residence family, the label reissues their acclaimed second album >> on audiophile-quality double vinyl. Remastered for the format by Josh Bonati, and packaged in a heavyweight foil-stamped jacket, >> includes the original album in its entirety, as well as a vinyl-only bonus track not available on the CD or Digital formats. Following the release of his Quakers hip-hop project, and the Judge Dredd-inspired Drokk soundtrack collaboration, Geoff Barrow unveiled the 2012 second album by Beak>, the krautrock-influenced band formed with Billy Fuller and Matt Williams in 2009. There is an accepted music industry strategy, mainly from the mouths of experienced music managers and A&R men, that for a band to get ready to present themselves to the world they should go on tour. In most cases this advice works; the band hone their craft on the road so by the time they get on to late-night TV and summer festivals, they can amaze with their slick, tight rock performance. However, this doesn't always work. Beak> recorded their eponymous debut in Bristol, created from 12 days of improv sessions and then edited into song form. Shorty after releasing it, the band went on a successful tour, playing various festival dates across Europe and the U.S. Buzzing from the tour, Beak> promptly returned to the studio to start work on album No. 2, only to find that the time on the road had taken its toll on the band's delicately sensitive and creative nature – and, by consequence, had turned them into a truly awful-sounding pub prog-rock band. The magic had gone. It seemed that the band were thoroughly moribund. Until...one rainy afternoon in Bristol – after many tortured, truly terrible recording sessions – something changed. It may have been the diesel fumes from the band's tour splitter bus had finally worn off; others say that the band simply turned their amplifiers down. We may never know the true events of that afternoon, but the band began to play and, once again as before, their bleak, wobbly, anti-blue note sound had returned – now with more synthesizers. And once again as before, it was all recorded live in one room (with very few overdubs).