Matador

Following not-so-hot on the heels of a long-since sold out 2021 repress of Bardo Pond’s monolithic Matador label debut, ‘Amanita,’ we are pleased to announce a much overdue reissue of the Philadelphia group’s gritty psychedelic milestone, ‘Set And Setting’ (1999). Out October 25th, the record has been fully remastered and returns pressed on purple vinyl.

‘Set and Setting’ will be accompanied by a new double LP compilation, Melt Away, cataloging late-’90s rarities and outtakes from a creative apex in the band’s career, and released together on vinyl for the first time. Of these, album highlight ‘The Trail’, originally recorded for the 1997 compilation What’s Up Matador, dissolves six minutes into a moment. Blink once and you’ll miss it. Blink twice and the wallpaper might begin to move.

The songs on Bardo Pond’s first two Matador releases – ‘Amanita’ and ‘Lapsed’ – were largely worked up at home and then recorded on the clock at a professional studio. On ‘Set and Setting,’ the band chose to work out of its home base, Lemur House, and the end result benefited from the open-ended DIY flexibility. “It was closer to the heart of what we do,” says guitarist Michael Gibbons. “There was more improvisation, but also more culling of material. We had more time to find things that jumped out at us, go places we wouldn’t normally go, do investigative work. I think there was a shift. It’s just somehow a more true experience of Bardo Pond.”