New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Frontier Records (https://www.frontierrecords.com/), the independent Los Angeles-based record label who are celebrating their 35th anniversary this year, announced today that a new dynamic 21st anniversary reissue of the LILYS iconic sophomore release Eccsame The Photon Band is set for release on Friday, October 31. The first vinyl pressing of Eccsame, available exclusively through ILD (https://www.ildistro.com), is on a ghostly shade of pale vinyl with free digital download. The limited 200-piece splatter vinyl version sold out on the Frontier website in 48 hours!
Keeping the festive mood alive for its anniversary, Frontier Records is also celebrating its coral/jade anniversary in a truly unique way. On November 5, from 5-8pm Frontier will be giving away a free 7" colored vinyl from THE ADOLESCENTS, WEIRDOS and CHRISTIAN DEATH with purchase of corresponding St.
George Spirits small batch gin, bourbon and absinthe. This event will take place at K&L Wines via their Faultiline Imprint (https://spiritsjournal.klwines.com/klwinescom-spirits-blog/2015/10/14/new-faultline-releases-nov-5th-in-store-only.html) in Hollywood. Each bottle's label and 7" picture sleeve was designed by the legendary graphic novel artist, Jaime Hernandez (LOVE & ROCKETS, PENNY CENTURY), who will be attending and signing his work at the in-store that evening only. Furthermore, no singles will be sold by K&L or Frontier via mail order or other retail channels. This is an unprecedented promotion between three California small business legends: Frontier Records, K&L Wine Merchants and St.
George Spirits!
"Because Frontier Records is celebrating our landmark 35th year as an independent label, I wanted to do something really special to celebrate it, "said Lisa Fancher, President of Frontier Records. "First we worked on the re-releasing LILYS' Eccsame The Photon Band, out of print for twenty years, which was truly a dream come true. Our label manager then,
Julie Masi, got the ball rolling on the collaboration between Frontier, K&L and St
George Spirits last year, and it really came together when Jaime Hernandez said he would design the labels and picture sleeves. The project was finally finished this summer and Jaime also said yes to signing them at K&L's event: can't think of a more perfect way to celebrate our 35th—with a small batch spirits California cocktail and rare vinyl!"
A first-edition LP of LILYS' Eccsame The Photon Band is highly sought after and nearly impossible to come by for less than $300. The 21st anniversary re-release on Frontier Records includes the original artwork but has an enhanced dynamic range with the reordering of songs. In 1995, Spin magazine called "The Hermit Crab" a "…stuttering and tense tightrope walk between musclebound shoegaze and dizzier dream-pop ". On the reissue, the track has been moved and now begins side two, allowing for a deeper cut of side one and therefore increased audio fidelity, creating a more exciting listening experience than before. Eccsame The Photon Band has been described as "one of the LILYS best", "a hallucinatory revelation" and "a masterpiece of mood, atmosphere and production".
What's more, the band just played three sold-out East Coast shows October 9-11 and will be featured by BrooklynVegan at its CMJ showcase on October 17. As all American shoegaze fans know, LILYS is the constantly changing concept vehicle of Kurt Heasley, the group's front man, founder and sole constant member. His harmonically complex songwriting has resulted in six albums and five EPs. None other than
Johnny Marr recently tweeted that some of his favorite guitar players include Heasley alongside Pete Shelley, Isaac Brock and Ray Davies.
Originating in Washington, D.C, the nomadic Heasley refers to LILYS different periods as Epochs I, II and III. Through him and the rotating players in LILYS, the musical style and approach shifts continually. The early recordings or Epoch I, including 1992's stunning, noise-laden debut album In the Presence of Nothing and the etheric sophomore album Eccsame the Photon Band, were strongly influenced by MY BLOODY VALENTINE. LILYS' first seven-inch single "February Fourteenth," released on SLUMBERLAND RECORDS in 1991, even gives direct tribute to their impact. The spare, minimalist Eccsame the Photon Band is described as a "hallucinatory revelation" by Marc Hogan of Pitchfork, and marks Kurt Heasley's LILYS shift to a slower, moodier, and more spaced-out sound. Robert Christgau describes the band's sound at this time as "amplified watercolors"
