There’s been a quite a bit of 1990s relapse going on lately, whether it’s been the threat of new albums from Blink-182 or Bush, or that Soundgarden reunion, or the fact that Primus and Stephen Malkmus have a fresh ones on the way and early Elliott Smith and Modest Mouse have been recently unearthed.
And if you were an Archers of Loaf fan, then you must know already, but the band is back at it for the first time since 1998. They’re on tour on and off through September — mostly shows in the South where they’re from, the East Coast and West Coast — and Merge is reissuing all four of Archers of Loaf’s albums.
First up is 1993’s “Icky Mettle,” the band’s debut, out on Aug. 9 with remastering from Bob Weston and some new liners from Rob Christgau. “Vee Vee,” “All the Nation”s Airports” and “White Trash Heroes” will come back out next year.
Meanwhile, Archers frontman Eric Bachmann is seemingly done teaching English abroad and has been busy with an effort of his own. Under his moniker Crooked Fingers, Bachmann will release a new album “Breaks in the Armor,” also out on Merge. The drop date is Oct. 11 (are we really talking about October already), and it features guest vocals from singer/songwriter Liz Durrett, who has also helped out on records from Vic Chestnutt and Phosphorescent. Matt Yelton — and engineer who runs sound for The Pixies — is helming.
“Breaks in the Armor” is Crooked Fingers’ first album since 2008’s self-released “Forfeit/Fortune.”
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Check out a trailer for “Breaks”:
Breaks in the Armor (Album Trailer) from Merge Records on Vimeo.