Pitchfork

As Pitchfork's Dave Maher aptly pointed out last time we addressed a resurgent college rock fave of yesteryear, lots of bands from the late 80s and early 90s have opted to hop back in the saddle here in the aughts. You might even call it a trend.

My Bloody Valentine, the Verve, and Swervedriver are leading the shoegaze charge, while largely unsung heroes of the underground like Big Dipper, Chavez, Polvo, and Versus have poked their heads into this century to say "Hi" and help remind us why we missed them.

And then we have San Francisco's Swell, led by David Freel, who never really went anywhere but whose two new/"new" releases still feel like a reemergence of sorts. The act formed in 1989 and has treated folks to eight full-length albums of brooding balladry that should sit well with fans of fellow monosyllabic faves and contemporaries like Slint, Low, Come, Spent, Seam, and Drunk.

Album number eight arrived just this week. Collecting ten new Swell songs, South of the Rain and Snow is a self-released affair, available only on the Swell website. South marks Freel and co.'s first disc since 2003's Whenever You're Ready on Beggars Banquet. Also out now is The Lost Album, which bundles nine "tracks that got left behind" from Swell's recording sessions for 1997 LP Too Many Days Without Thinking.

Thanks to reader Ethel Chauvin for the tip. Oh, and while we're on the subject: Dear Rodan, please reunite. Love, Matthew.

South of the Rain and Snow:

01 Kicking All Them Ghosts
02 Trouble Loves You
03 Saved by the Summer
04 Comes Right Here
05 Our Aquarium
06 South of the Rain and Snow
07 Good Good Good
08 Tell Us All
09 The Measure of This Moment
10 Waiting for a Beer

The Lost Album:

01 Bongstarr
02 Why Don't You Leave
03 So Would I
04 Two Dimes in the Sun
05 Easy
06 Fuc Yew
07 What I Saw
08 Bitter Friends
09 Sunshine Everyday