And now for this week’s edition of news for which there is actually pretty much no detail available at this point but that still made news-writer Taylor do that little thing he does where he claps with glee: This Heat are re-issuing themselves on vinyl! That’s right, the self-titled blue-and-yellow guy, Deceit, and the Health and Efficiency 12-inch will be remastered “to the highest spec” and “with all the attention to detail that [This Heat] have maintained throughout [their] history.” “When am I going to be able to grip these fine, high spec reissues, Taylor?” Well, that’s the question on the tip of everybody’s tongue isn’t it? “Very Soon,” the band says on their Twitter and Facebook, which is just vague enough to let me hold onto the irrational belief that it’ll probably be tomorrow (it won’t be tomorrow). Also on their Twitter page they warn against purchasing any extant versions of the albums on vinyl because many of them are poorly mastered bootlegs. “Wait, This Heat have a Twitter account?” They do now, man. And a SoundCloud. It’s the future.
Okay, so let’s back up a minute and answer the question that’s probably nagging at a least a couple of you: “This heat? Which heat?” Alright, guy, quit trying to be cute. They’re called This Heat, and if you don’t mind I’m going to go ahead use the adjective “seminal” to describe them. Originally active between 1976 and 1982, over two full-lengths and one EP (all of which are getting reissued, see above) This Heat went totally bananas with that whole post-punk thing, incorporating elements of noise, prog, kraut rock, African rhythms, and industrial into “a sound all their own.” Quotes there because I’m 100% sure without even checking that somebody’s used that phrase before to describe some band they were really excited about, but listen, these guys were/are the real deal. You want to hear about them from a better writer than me? Strap yourself in and scope Miles Bowe’s really excellent Delorean on Deceit for this very website. Listen, Danny Brown is all up on that This Heat tip, so it’s high time you hopped on this train with Danny, me, and probably a bunch of other cool people I’d be too nervous to actually talk to in person. I’m pretty shy actually.
• This Heat: https://www.facebook.com/thisheat.official