Thom Yorke "Anima" (2019)

Anima
release date: Jun. 27, 2019
format: digital (9 x File, FLAC)
[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,92]
producer: Nigel Godrich
label: XL Recordings - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Traffic" - 2. "Last I Heard (...He Was Circling the Drain)" - 4. "Dawn Chorus" (live at Montreux) - 6. "Not the News" - 8. "Impossible Knots" - 9. "Runwayaway" (live at Montreux)

3rd solo studio album by Thom Yorke is very much 'business as usual' by being produced by Nigel Godrich. Apparently, Yorke found inspiration to the songs in readings about dreams and the subconscious, and the entire album was recorded partly through live studio recordings, Godrich's collaborative takes on Yorke's musical drafts, and eventually Yorke writing lyrics to pieces they came up with along the way.
Stylistically, the result is not far from his two previous solos, The Eraser from 2006 and Tomorrow's Modern Boxes from 2014, as well as drawing on similar elements from the Radiohead album A Moon Shaped Pool from 2016 with a clear glitch pop twist and the usage of musical loops.
The album release was followed by American film director Paul Thomas Anderson's 15 mins. short "Anima" featuring Yorke and his partner, actress Dajana Roncione as choreographed dancers with music from the album [excerpt from the film].
The album has generally been met by positive reviews with The Guardian and its 3 out of 5 stars review presenting the perhaps most luke-warm reception, and the Telegraph and a 5 out of 5 stars review as probably one of the most positive responds.
I find it quite fascinating and clearly bettering his second solo Tomorrow's Modern Boxes, and it took me quite a long time wondering whether the album, as some critics suggest, is his best. I finally settled with a similar judgement and rate it close to his solo debut from 2006, and I can only say that it's a very fine and originally sounding album, which is worth a great many spins.
[ 👎The Guardian 3 / 5, The Independent, 👍NME, Rolling Stone 4 / 5, The Telegraph 5 / 5 stars ]

Atoms for Peace "Amok" (2013)

Amok [debut]
release date: Feb. 25, 2013
format: digital
[album rate: 3 / 5] [3,22]
producer: Nigel Godrich
label: XL Recordings - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Before Your Very Eyes" - 2. "Default" - 3. "Ingenue" - 7. "Judge, Jury and Executioner" - 9. "Amok"

Studio album debut by project-band Atoms for Peace consisting of Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke on vocals and guitar, and that band's most frequently used producer Nigel Godrich on programming, Red Hot Chili Peppers Flea on bass, Joey Waronker of Beck and R.E.M. on drums, and with Mauro Refosco of Forro in the Dark (and David Byrne backing band) on percussion.
According to various magazines the band intended a sound and style, which took its inspiration in African funk, and drum and percussion-based music as exemplified by Fela Kuti; however, to me, this mostly falls in a much closer relation to the works by Radiohead and Thom Yorke with a supplement of a more advanced rhythm section... at times. More than the mutual work of a super-group, it mostly turns out as a [Radiohead] Yorke and Godrich project with what is quite familiar to that. Now, it's not bad - it's just really really close to the solo debut album Eraser by Yorke and e.g. Amnesiac by Radiohead, and in that way I don't feel it brings much new to the table. "Ingenue" is THE highlight here and the rest somewhat appears a bit anonymous.
[ allmusic.com, Rolling Stone 4 / 5, Slant 3,5 / 5, Sputnikmusic 3 / 5 stars ]

Radiohead "In Rainbows" (2007)

reissue cover

In Rainbows
release date: Oct. 10, 2007
format: digital (18 x File, FLAC) / vinyl (2016 reissue)
[album rate: 4 / 5] [4,04]
producer: Nigel Godrich
label: self-released / XL Recordings - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "15 Step" (4 / 5) - 3. "Nude" (4 / 5) - 4. "Weird Fishes / Arpeggi" (4 / 5) - 5. "All I Need" - 6. "Faust Arp" - 7. "Reckoner" ( 4 / 5) - 8. "House of Cards" (4,5 / 5) - 9. "Jigsaw Falling Into Place"
[ Live from the Basement 2008 (includes other tracks) ]

7th studio album by Radiohead is the first studio album after the record contract with EMI had ended, and the band initially made the album accessible for download only to the prize of 'what-you-want-to-pay'. Three months later it was issued on the British label XL Recordings (the American label ATO Records for the North American market).

Style-wise, it's a combination of what may be found on OK Computer and the band's later releases with more experimental compositions. In addition to that, the band successfully incorporates strings on most of the tracks.

The album seems quite homogeneous but it's hard to narrow down an overall genre or style. It's somewhere in alternative rock-land. It's experimental without being strange and yet almost impossible to label as it explores stylistic elements taken from jazz, progressive rock, psychedelic rock, and ambient elements as well - but is it post rock? It sort of breaks stylistic boundaries and just... is. And what that 'is', is fascinating and truly exquisite music.

Even without including sales based on the download distribution, the album topped the UK album charts list, as it also did in Ireland, Canada, and France, and making it to #2 in Australia, Belgium, Finland, New Zealand, and in Switzerland, and it generally faired more than just well. According to Thom Yorke, the album is the band's best-selling album.

In Rainbows is the fourth and so far final studio album [as of 2016] by Radiohead to be enlisted in "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die". In my mind it's the most deserved Radiohead album on that list - and it's generally considered a major work by the music critics.

I find this particular album, the band's easily strongest and most fascinating release.

[ allmusic.com, Rolling Stone, NME 4,5 / 5, Spin 4 / 5, The Guardian 5 / 5 stars ]

Sigur Rós "Kveikur" (2013)

Kveikur
release date: Jun. 14, 2013
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,46]
producer: Sigur Rós
label: XL Recordings - nationality: Iceland

Track highlights: 1. "Brennisteinn" - 3. "Ísjaki" (4 / 5) - 5. "Stormur" - 6. "Kveikur" - 7. "Rafstraumur" - 8. "Bláþráður"

7th studio album by Sigur Rós follows only one year after Valtari and is released on XL Recordings and produced by the band assisted by former member Kjartan Sveinsson and Alex Somers.

Almost as usual with Sigur Rós, they enjoy stylistic changes. This time it might be the result of a change in the usual line-up due to the reduction from a quartet to a trio, as Kjartan Sveinsson (keyboards, guitar, vocals, since 1998) left the band in early 2012, and on this, he only contributes as technical personnel.

The album marks a stronger return to a more traditional shape of post-rock in respect to what we heard on the predecessor, and this time they combine with an industrial touch that I haven't heard them play with before. At some point it resembles the music of Mogwai more than ever (listen e.g. to Come on Die Young, 1999, and Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will, 2011), although, Sigur Rós is still more ambient, ethereal, and dream pop-founded, which ain't necessarily bad. In a sense it's also a return to their first more experimental releases only without the art rock connection.

Compared to Valtari, I'm not entirely convinced this is an improvement but as I've come to experience with this band, you need to give it time to unfold.

[ allmusic.com, NME 4 / 5, Rolling Stone 3,5 / 5 stars ]

The Prodigy "The Added Fat EP" (2012) (ep)

The Added Fat EP, ep
release date: Dec. 3, 2012
format: digital
[album rate: 2,5 / 5] [2,46]
producer: Liam Howlett
label: XL Recordings - nationality: England, UK

A 6-track studio ep that was issued on a bonus disc edition of The Fat of the Land (2012). All tracks are just new mixes of hit singles from that album, and they are rather dreadful. It contains two different mixes of "Smack My Bitch Up", two versions of "Breathe", a mix of "Firestarter", and a mix of "Mindfields", none of which are worth... much.
It seems the tracks are only techno and / or industrial versions of some really fine songs, and the only argument here is: money. Look, something new from your favourite hardcore breakbeat heroes, and all you get is the emperor's new clothes.
This is another low release from The Prodigy.

M.I.A. "/\/\ /\ Y /\" (2010)

/\/\ /\ Y /\
release date: Jul. 13, 2010
format: cd (XLCD 497)
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,70]
producer: various
label: XL Recordings - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 2. "Steppin Up" - 3. "XXXO" - 4. "Teqkilla" - 7. "It Takes a Muscle" (4 / 5) - 8. "It Iz What It Iz" - 9. "Born Free" - 11. "Tell Me Why"

3rd studio album by M.I.A. released on her own label N.E.E.T. through XL Recordings and Interscope Records. The album is named after herself, Mathangi Arulpragasam, or just "Maya", which is also the correct way to pronounce her artist name, M.I.A.

I find the album more complex than the fine Kala (2007), and initially found this a lesser album, but it really contains some fine tracks. Stylistically, this is not like her 2007 album, but more electronically-founded with glitch pop, electroclash, and what may be identified as industrial - some also call it synth punk or noise pop. Anyway, it is more 'noisy' and probably less mainstream oriented, and I think of it as her second best album. It really makes sense that it's more complex - giving the fact that it's about herself. It reflects her life, her struggles with identity, the Sri-Lankan (violent) background, and her view and feelings about love and politics, which is a bit of a mouthful. And therefore it can only be complex, and anything but polished.

[ allmusic.com, The Guardian, Slant 3 / 5, Rolling Stone 4 / 5, Spin 4,5 / 5 stars ]

M.I.A. "Kala" (2007)

Kala
release date: Aug. 21, 2007
format: cd
[single rate: 4 / 5] [4,08]
producer: various
label: XL Recordings - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Bamboo Banga" - 2. "Bird Flu" (4 / 5) - 3. "Boyz" (4 / 5) - 4. "Jimmy" - 5. "Hussel" (feat. Afrikan Boy) - 8. "World Town" - 10. "XR2" - 11. "Paper Planes" (4 / 5) - 12. "Come Around" (feat. Timbaland)

2nd studio album by M.I.A. Her debut album Arular (2005) was with reference to her father, and this is dedicated her mother, named Kala. Her third album /\/\ /\ Y /\ (aka 'Maya') (2010), succeeding this one, is literally her own.

I first came across her in 2008 after she had released the single "Paper Planes" taken from this very album. The track is (like most of her music) great uk hip hop dance-pop electropop fused with grime (making it very different from American hip hop) and some glitch pop, and then that track is very cleverly sampled from the song "Straight to Hell" by The Clash. Her style is unique, and then she utilizes her music to speak openly about Sri Lanka vs. India vs. England vs. how the world ignores the impotent political situation in her parents' foster land. Other great tracks from the album are "Bird Flu" and "Boyz", which were both composed, recorded, and arranged in the process of travelling. M.I.A. had laid the foundation of the songs at home, then left to various parts of the world and each new place she rearranged bits, wrote new stuff and added new instrumentation to the individual song making them real world tunes.

In my mind, this is her best album and also one of the most interesting releases in 2007, although, she's really a great singles artist, as her albums are more than just interesting but also lack consistency or homogeneity.

The album ended up on many best of lists including number #1 on Rolling Stone's best albums of the year. And quite deservedly, the album is enlisted in "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die".

[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5 stars ]

Thom Yorke "The Eraser" (2006)

The Eraser [debut]
release date: Jul. 10, 2006
format: cd
[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,88]
producer: Nigel Godrich
label: XL Recordings - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "The Eraser" - 2. "Analyse" - 3. "The Clock" - 4. "Black Swan" (4 / 5) - 6. "Atoms for Peace" (5 / 5) (live) - 8. "Harrowdown Hill"

Studio solo album debut by Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke, who has worked with the 'usual' Radiohead producer, Nigel Godrich, also credited 'extra instrumentation'. Yorke's associate from the band, multi-instrumentalist, Jonny Greenwood also features on piano on the album's title track. Aside from these two, most tracks only have music composed, programmed, played and sung by Yorke himself. The style is electronic glitch pop with hints of post-rock. It took me more than a few listens to fully appreciate the album, but I kept returning to it 'cause it just had something highly original and insisting. However, the track "Atoms for Peace" immediately caught my attention. It's a haunting and utmost beautiful composition, which needs full volume. The album was nominated the Mercury Prize in 2006 (won by Arctic Monkeys for the debut album Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not). Great music for driving.
[ allmusic.com, Uncut, Rolling Stone 4 / 5 stars ]

M.I.A. "Arular" (2005)

Arular [debut]
release date: Mar. 22, 2005
format: cd (XLCD 186)
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,62]
producer: various
label: XL Recordings - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 2. "Pull up the People" - 3. "Bucky Done Gun" - 4. "Sunshowers" - 8. "Bingo" - 9. "Hombre" - 13. "Galang"

Studio debut album by M.I.A. [birthname: Mathangi Arulpragasam] produced by Paul Byrne, Cavemen, Diplo, KW Griff, Richard X, Switch, Anthony Whiting, and Wizard. Before this, she was involved in documentary as a way of expression, and she was hired by Elastica - through her friendship with guitarist and vocalist Justine Frischmann - to cover the band's live tour in 2001. It was then Frischmann who let M.I.A. play with a Roland MC-505 sequencer on which she recorded several demoes that was eventually used to pursuade XL Recordings to invite her in to record some of her own music.

M.I.A. is both a reference to her birth name - often shortened to Maya - and to the abbreviation for Missing in Action. I didn't come across this album until around 2010, and only regret not to have heard it when it was released. Her following two albums are named after her parents. This one has its name after her father's political code name in the Eelam Revolutionary Organisation of Students (EROS, a resistance group fighting for a free state, Tamil Eelam, in Sri Lanka).

I really enjoy her aggressive style, sometimes making me think of a more contemporary Lil' Kim, but with more sophisticated lyrics and music. The sampling and glitch pop tone is just another positive element and fusioned with electropop and grime, it's a nice and original cocktail. What's really impressive about M.I.A. is her involvement in her own music. She hasn't got a bunch of songwriters and composers but basically makes everything herself. The story is, she send a demo tape to several labels with XL Recordings being the only label to invite her in. Alledgedly, she knew from the very beginning exactly what she wanted and was so lucky to actually have it her own way. She also did her own cover art.

[ allmusic.com 5 / 5, The Guardian, The Independent, Rolling Stone 4 / 5 stars ]

The Prodigy "Always Outnumbered Never Outgunned" (2004)

Always Outnumbered Never Outgunned
release date: Aug. 23, 2004
format: digital
[album rate: 2,5 / 5] [2,68]
producer: Liam Howlett
label: XL Recordings - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Spitfire" (feat. Juliette Lewis) - 4. "Get Up Get Off" (feat. Twista) - 5. "Hotride" (feat. Juliette Lewis)

4th studio album by The Prodigy released nearly seven years after the huge success with Fat of the Land (1997). The tracks are primarily written by Howlett and several tracks are co-written with Neil McLellan who also mixes, does programming, and adds vocals to several tracks, although, he has not been adopted as an official member. Musically, this is a 'back to the basics' of techno (which has much of its origins in the US), but it's also a continued journey into sampling and with much hip hop-inspiration.
To me this was a rather disappointing release. It's put together and produced by Howlett as usual, and both Flint and Maxim's vocals are missing. However, the mix with more original techno simply ruins the 'clean' British breakbeat and big beat somewhat. Some of the tracks are mere samplings of former The Prodigy hits, i.e. track #6 "Wake Up Call" is simply too close to "Firestarter". The album had no real single hits but sold rather well. Both Q Magazine and Rolling Stone only gave it a two-stars review, and allmusic.com handed it 2,5 to this their so far lowest point, which I agree on is a mediocre output. The best tracks feature Juliette Lewis (from Juliette and the Licks) on vocal.

Peaches "Fatherfucker" (2003)

Fatherfucker
release date: Sep. 15, 2003
format: digital
[album rate: 3 / 5] [3,18]
producer: Peaches
label: XL Recordings - nationality: Canada

Track highlights: 1. "I Don't Give A ..." - 2. "I'm the Kinda" - 4. "Kick It" (feat. Iggy Pop) - 5. "Operate" - 7. "Shake Yer Dix" (feat. Mignon) (live)

2nd studio album by Peaches, again produced by herself, is bettering her 2000 album The Teaches of Peaches by being better produced and having better and more original material. Also, I like the stronger electroclash and dance-punk style on this.
[ allmusic.com 3,5 / 5, Rolling Stone 3 / 5 stars - Album of the Year 74/100 % ]

<  alternate cover >

US alt. cover

The Prodigy "Baby's Got a Temper" (2002) (single)

Baby's Got a Temper, single
release date: Jul. 1, 2002
format: digital
[single rate: 3 / 5] [3,22]
producer: Liam Howlett
label: XL Recordings - nationality: England. UK

Tracklist: 1. "Babys Got a Temper (Main Mix)" - 2. "Babys Got a Temper (Dub Mix)"

A single release by The Prodigy, which wasn't released on any of their studio albums. The track is written by vocalist Keith Flint for his side-project, Flint featuring on the album Device #1 (2003) as last uncredited (hidden) track "No Name No Number (NNNN)", but as usual it has been produced and mixed by Liam Howlett.
The reception of the single was mostly a negative one, as many saw this as a step backwards and / or in a more superficial direction. Also, the music video led to a lawsuit against the band due to its depiction of drug abuse and sale of cows milk with drug effect.

Peaches "The Teaches of Peaches" (2000)

The Teaches of Peaches [debut]
release date: Sep. 8, 2000
format: digital
[album rate: 2,5 / 5] [2,68]
producer: Peaches
label: Kitty-Yo / XL Recordings - nationality: Canada

Track highlights: 1. "Fuck the Pain Away" - 2. "AA XXX" - 4. "Set It Off" - 5. "Cum Undun" - 8. "Lovertits" - 10. "Sucker"

Studio album debut by Peaches [aka Merrill Beth Nisker] but her second studio album, as she released Fancypants Hoodlum in 1995 as Merrill Nisker. I haven't come by her actual debut, which I have seen enlisted in the genre of post-punk, and this is far from that. Peaches is a Canadian performance artist mainly associated with electronic genres as electroclash, electro-disco with elements of glam rock. I also find an evident use of industrial in her first two albums as Peaches. She currently lives in Berlin, and knowing that it may seem easier to associate her with Nina Hagen. Like the German "art punker", Peaches make use of shock and provocation as means in her musical shape, and she also refers to and speak much about sex - both as subject, as well as part of her language. This is not bad. it really has great beats and tracks but some of the songs seem like fillers. Anyway, the overall rating may not do justice to the originality of this.
[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5, Rolling Stone 3,5 / 5 stars ]

The Prodigy "The Fat of the Land" (1997)

The Fat of the Land
release date: Jun. 30, 1997
format: cd
[album rate: 4,5 / 5] [4,26]
producer: Liam Howlett
label: XL Recordings - nationality: England, UK

Tracklist: 1. "Smack My Bitch Up" - 2. "Breathe" (4 / 5) - 3. "Diesel Power" (feat. K. Thornton) - 4. "Funky Shit" - 5. "Serial Thrilla" - 6. "Mindfields" (3,5 / 5) - 7. "Narayan" (3,5 / 5) - 8. "Firestarter" (5 / 5) - 9. "Climbatize" - 10. "Fuel My Fire"

3rd studio album by The Prodigy. If Music for the Jilted Generation was their musical high and their real international breakthrough, this one was their biggest commercial success, putting the album as number 1 not only nationally but world-wide. Actually, it entered the Guinness World Records in '99 for being the fastest selling UK album to date. The music has changed in respect to the previous release. It's still hardcore breakbeat and big beat but the presence of samples of others artists' works have become more dominant, and a "new" style has been adopted: industrial hip hop. Both "Breathe" and "Firestarter" were monster selling single tracks, and "Smack My Bitch Up" became more of an issue of sex debate as The National Organization for Women (NOW), among others, criticised the song for being offensive, to advocate for violence against women, and for depicting (the video) heroin sale in a positive way. The Swedish music director, Jonas Åkerlund, made the highly controversial music video that was banned in many countries including the UK (UTube link). The track "Serial Thrilla" features a sample of a riff from "Selling Jesus" by English alt. rock band Skunk Anansie. The album has been included on many official list of essential albums including "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die", Q Magazine's "100 Greatest British Albums Ever", Rolling Stone's "Essential Recordings of the 90s", I don't really agree, though. It's great but not on par with the predecessor, imho.
[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5, Rolling Stone 3,5 / 5, Q Magazine, Sputnikmusic 5 / 5 stars ]

<  2012 cover >

2012 expanded reissue

BEST OF 1994:The Prodigy "Music for the Jilted Generation" (1994)

Music for the Jilted Generation
release date: Jul. 14, 1994
format: cd
[album rate: 5 / 5] [4,82]
producer: Liam Howlett, Neil McLellan
label: XL Recordings - nationality: England, UK

Tracklist: 1. "Intro" - 2. "Break & Enter" (5 / 5) - 3. "Their Law (feat. Pop Will Eat Itself)" - 4. "Full Throttle" (4,5 / 5) - 5. "Voodoo People" (5 / 5) (org. video) - 6. "Speedway (Theme From Fastlane)" - 7. "The Heat (The Energy)" - 8. "Poison" - 9. "No Good (Start the Dance)" (org. video) - 10. "One Love (Edit)" (5 / 5) - 11. "The Narcotic Suite: 3 Kilos" - 12. "The Narcotic Suite: Skylined" - 13. "The Narcotic Suite: Claustrophobic Sting" (5 / 5)

2nd studio album by The Prodigy. The importance of this album can only be underestimated. When grunge rock was on its high with its focus on simplicity and with accepted 'normal' electrified instruments, programmed electronic music with breakbeat and big beat was the music for another huge fraction of music lovers. This is genius, and it's revolutionary. This was their first album to go to number #1 in the UK, as all their following albums have done, which is quite unique. The album is enlisted in "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die".
[ allmusic.com, Record Collector 5 / 5, Sputnikmusic 4,5 / 5, The Guardian, Q Magazine 4 / 5 stars ]

1994 Favourite releases: 1. The Prodigy Music for the Jilted Generation - 2. Everything but the Girl Amplified Heart - 3. C.V. Jørgensen Sjælland

The Prodigy "Experience" (1992)

Experience [debut]
release date: Sep. 21, 1992
format: cd
[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,82]
producer: Liam Howlett
label: XL Recordings - nationality: England, UK

Tracklist: 1. "Jericho" - 2. "Music Reach (1/2/3/4)" - 3. "Wind It Up" (4 / 5) (official video) - 4. "Your Love (Remix)" (4,5 / 5) - 5. "Hyperspeed (G-Force Part 2)" - 6. "Charly (Trip Into Drum and Bass Version)" (4 / 5) (official video) - 7. "Out of Space" - 8. "Everybody in the Place (155 and Rising)" - 9. "Weather Experience" - 10. "Fire (Sunrise Version)" - 11. "Ruff in the Jungle Bizness" - 12. "Death of The Prodigy Dancers (Live)"

Studio debut album by The Prodigy. I only listened to the entire album after The Fat of the Land, and found it a difficult step back in time in 1997. I thought it was okay but didn't really like it a great deal for the first many years, and actually only in the late 2000s I have come to fancy this album as well. My initial verdict was 2,5 / 5 stars, I guess, whereas today, I think it's worth 4. "Jericho", "Wind It Up", "Your Love (Remix)", and "Charly" are great breakbeat tracks suited for a sweaty night at the disco.
After re-discovering the album, I am almost certain to have heard some of the tracks when watching a techno rave truck driving through a park at Copenhagen Carnival in the summer of 1992. The truck was full of young 'ravers' dancing away on the lorry while The Prodigy played at maximum volume. I recall being impressed by the music, which seemed to come from another planet.
[ allmusic.com 5 / 5, Record Collector 4 / 5, Q Magazine 3 / 5 stars ]

The Prodigy "What Evil Lurks" (1991) (ep)

What Evil Lurks, ep
release date: Feb. 1991
format: digital
[album rate: 3 / 5]
producer: Liam Howlett
label: XL Recordings - nationality: England, UK

Tracklist: 1. "What Evil Lurks" - 2. "We Gonna Rock" - 3. "Android" - 4. "Everybody in the Place"

Studio ep debut by The Prodigy, project name for producer and composer Liam Howlett who included Keith Flint and Maxim [aka Keith Palmer] on vocals, and as dancers when performing live. This is initial breakbeat hardcore or rave. The ep was released in only 7000 copies but reissued in 2004 as a 15th Anniversary edition celebrating XL Recordings.