Beloved dream-pop trio Galaxie 500 have announced a new collection featuring unheard recordings from the band’s heyday.
Uncollected Noise New York ’88-’90, the group’s first post-breakup release of archival material in over 30 years, features two dozen recordings Galaxie 500 made at the studio Noise New York during those titular years, some of which have been released via B-sides and previous box sets. However, eight tracks in the new collection are entirely unreleased.
“Opening up these tape boxes was like looking into an old journal or datebook. I had forgotten most of this happened at all, but it only took a few quick details to put me right back in the drum seat,” drummer Damon Krukowski said of the collection in a statement. “There are songs from all the Galaxie 500 recording sessions included here.”
Ahead of Uncollected Noise New York ’88-’90’s release on September 20 via Silver Current Records and the band’s 20/20/20 imprint, Galaxie 500 have shared a pair of never-before-heard tracks, “Shout You Down” — recorded during the sessions for 1988 debut LP Today — and “I Wanna Live,” from the sessions for their landmark second album, 1989’s On Fire.
“I can see why we left some of these songs in the vaults, but there is pleasure in hearing them today; they sound very alive, like Galaxie 500 playing in the brick-walled room that was Noise New York,” singer and guitarist Dean Wareham added in a statement.
The 24-track collection — presented chronologically from sessions spanning February 1988 to June 1990 — also boasts unreleased songs like “Cactus,” “Moonshot,” “Never Get to Heaven,” “See Through Glasses,” and “I Will Walk,” as well as the band’s now-hard-to-find B-sides, CD bonus tracks, EP cuts and fanzine 7″ singles from the era, some of which previously appeared on the Uncollected disc from the Galaxie 500 box set released back in 1996, just five years after the band’s 1991 breakup.
Other tracks on Uncollected Noise New York ’88-’90 — available to preorder now — include the trio’s covers of songs by the Velvet Underground (“Here She Comes Now”), Joy Division (“Ceremony”), the Red Krayola (“Victory Garden”), and the Rutles (“Cheese and Onions”).
“There is a sweetness in hearing the progression of us finding our own sound, our own collective voice. The Proustian power of music,” bassist Naomi Yang added in a statement. “Listening to these early recordings I can hear myself figuring out how I wanted to play bass – finding my way up the neck to where the notes would cut through, where there could be a counter-melody to the singing. Making the bass my singing voice.”
Uncollected Noise New York ’88-’90 Track List
(February 1988 session)
1. “Shout You Down” (previously unreleased)
2. “See Through Glasses” (previously unreleased)
3. “On the Floor” (Noise NY version) (previously unreleased)
4. “Can’t Believe It’s Me” (Ryko Box Set bonus CD, otherwise unreleased)
5. “Oblivious” (Ryko Box Set bonus CD, Chemical Imbalance fanzine 7-inch)
6. “King of Spain” (Today CD bonus track, Aurora Records 7-inch B-side)
(July 1988 session)
7. “Jerome” (Ryko Box Set bonus CD, otherwise unreleased)
8. “Song in 3” (Ryko Box Set bonus CD, otherwise unreleased)
9. “Crazy” (Ryko Box Set bonus CD, European Today CD bonus track)
(February 1989 session)
10. “I Wanna Live” (previously unreleased)
11. “I Will Walk” (previously unreleased)
12. “Cold Night” (On Fire CD bonus track, Rough Trade BlueThunder EP)
13. “Ceremony” (On Fire CD bonus track, Rough Trade BlueThunder EP)
(August 1989 session)
14. “Never Get to Heaven” (previously unreleased)
15. “Maracas Song” (Ryko Box Set bonus CD, otherwise unreleased)
16. “Victory Garden” (On Fire CD bonus track, Rough Trade BlueThunder EP)
17. “Blue Thunder” (w/sax) (Ryko Box Set bonus CD, Rough Trade EP)
(June 1990 session)
18. “Cheese and Onions” (Ryko BoxSet bonus CD, Rutles Highway Revisited Shimmy Disc LP)
19. “Fourth of July” (video mix)
20. “Cactus” (previously unreleased)
21. “Moonshot” (previously unreleased)
22. “Them” (Ryko Box Set bonus CD, otherwise unreleased)
23. “Final Day” (Ryko Box Set bonus CD, otherwise unreleased)
24. “Here She Comes Now” (This Is Our Music CD bonus track, Rough Trade Fourth of July 12-inch B-side)
From Rolling Stone US
