bailter space wammo

Bailter Space's 'Wammo' getting 25th anniversary reissue on Matador

bailter space

New Zealand indie rock greats Bailter Space‘s 1995 album Wammo is getting a 25th anniversary reissue on February 12 via Matador, as part of the label’s “Revisionist History” series. The album has been remastered from the original tapes and has been pressed on translucent orange vinyl. Pre-orders are available now.

Growing out of New Zealand noise rock group The Gordons, Bailter Space were originally around from the late-’80s through the early-’00s, and made dissonant-yet-melodic indie rock not too far from what Sonic Youth were doing. The band relocated to NYC and Wammo was Bailter Space’s fifth album and third for Matador.

Says Barry Burns of Mogwai (who also put out albums on Matador), “[Our] frequent visits to the Matador office invariably resulted in Patrick, Chris, or pretty much anyone on their coffee break generously shoving records in our faces and convincing us that ‘if we hadn’t heard this band already, our lives were about to get better. Bailter was one of those bands. I loved the use of just one or two chords (economical!) with vocals that I was happy enough with being almost indecipherable. Listening back to Wammo, that guitar sound hasn’t dated to my ears at all. Please generously shove this record in your face.”

You can watch a newly remastered video for Wammo single “Splat,” and listen to the album below.

The band, who now spell their name as one word, Bailterspace, have been active again since the late ’00s, and surprise released Concret, their first album in seven years, this summer.

Other records in the “Revisionist History” series include Pavement’s Wowee Zowee, Yo La Tengo’s Electr-o-Pura, Guided by Voices’ Alien Lanes, and Mary Timony’s solo debut.

bailter space wammo