Thrill Jockey Records has always been very accommodating to it’s collector fans by providing exclusive limited-edition releases– usually in the form of some vinyl pressing. Releases that come to mind are the super-cool Records Toreism release for Record Store Day 2009, The limited-edition Plum boxset of 7″es, well and every vinyl pressing of their albums are limited to 1000 for the first run!
Thrill Jockey has announced a 12″ Subscription Club! The first series (optimistically keeping my fingers crossed for future ones!) will be for 7 very rare 12″es– some of these you can only get in the subscription, some of them guarantee you to get one before they are generally available. The lineup of acts providing releases is great– a mixture of long-time acts on the label and some new and future acts!
Already the demand has been so great that they have had to substitute a release that ran out. Although this isn’t too surprising because some of these releases are less than 500 pressings! In the case of the Pit Er Pat 12″ there was only 300!
The subscription ships in three packages.
Package #1 (Ships immediately)
Pit er Pat – “High Time Remix” (thrill 12.31) Early subscribers got in on the remainder of the 300 hand-numbered pressings of this release which included remixes of tracks off the band’s new album High Time. Cool hand-assembled sleeve with art cards glued to each side.
The Fiery Furnaces – “The End is Near” (thrill 12.32) The rest of the orders will be filled with the remainder of this release– so now this is OOP! One album track, one “radio” edit, an alternate version and an unreleased track make this a great replacement for the Pit er Pat 12.
Tortoise – “Beacons of Ancestorship Remixes – Eye / Mark Ernestus (thrill 12.34) Tortoise’s first new remix 12″ since 1998’s T.N.T. pair of 12″es. This one has a gorgeous cover done by Andrew Paynter who did the cover of Beacons as well as the video for “Prepare Your Coffin.” The Eye remix is the same remix that is available on the Japanese version of Beacons. “Gigantes” remixed by Mark Ernestus. This is a 45 RPM pressing! 1500 copies, so I’m sure this will be available on tour and on the Thrill Jockey store.
Package #2 ( Ships in October)
Thank You – “Pathetic Magic” (thrill 12.35) Limited edition pressing of 300. Two new studio track and three remixes.
Pontiak – “Sea Voids” (thrill 12.33) Limited press of 500 with hand-printed covers. New material recorded before they went on tour with Earthless.
White Hills – “Dead” (thrill 12.36) 1000 copies. Three brand-new songs and a remix of “Oceans of Sound.”
Package #3 (Ships in November)
Javelin – TBA (thrill 12.37) Limited edition of 500. Just found out about Javelin through this club. A pair of guys from NYC who craft J Dilla-influenced electronica (my opinion). Their self-released CD was raved about by Pitchfork. Cool stuff I wouldn’t have expected from Thrill Jockey. 5 song release with covers that are recycled from vintage album jackets they found at thrift stores (hopefully they don’t smell musty!!).
Mi Ami – TBA (thrill 12.38) One of the casualties of the stop of new releases from Quarterstick/Touch and Go was Mi Ami. Their newest album and debut on Quarterstick was released the same day the label announced layoffs and ceasing new releases. It appears that Mi Ami just took their business across town to Thrill Jockey and will have a new release next year.
The price of the subscription is $84 (U.S.–$98 Canadian, $122 International) for the seven 12″es which includes shipping! In addition club member will get one of the Thrill Jockey 15th Anniversary record bags that were sold at the shows in December 2007.
Click Here to Read More about the Thrill Jockey 12″ Subscription Series.
