Pitchfork

Photo by Kathryn Yu

You up on this Half Speed Direct Metal Mastering yet? According to One Little Indian records, it is truly "the newest technology in vinyl manufacturing." Unlike past record-pressing processes, with Half Speed Direct Metal Mastering, "the groove is cut directly in copper metal. Transient response is greatly improved. Stampers are plated directly from the DMM Copper Master, eliminating two of the three plating steps required for lacquers. In short, DMM yields better detail resolution and a lower noise ratio." Fascinating?

Well, yeah, cuz this new process means better sound on all those vinyl records you kids have been buying these days. And it hopefully means more things like this are about to happen: June 30, One Little Indian will reissue a good chunk of Björk's back catalog both as a solo artist and as a member of the Sugarcubes, all of it remastered from the original master tapes (using Half Speed Direct Metal Mastering, of course), and all of it available on limited edition, hand numbered, 200-gram vinyl.

All of Björk's solo LPs and several of her singles, EPs and other projects will be put through the new process: Gling-Glo (with Tríó Guðmundar Ingólfssonar), Debut, Post, Telegram, Homogenic, Jóga, Selmasongs, Vespertine, Greatest Hits, Medulla, Drawing Restraint 9, and Volta. The Sugarcubes' Life's Too Good, Here Today, Tomorrow, Next Week!, Stick Around for Joy, It's-It, and The Great Crossover Potential are also included. What's more, all of the Sugarcubes' singles from October 1986 through October 1989 have been gathered into nifty new box sets, available now on either eight 7"s or six CDs. Sounds good, right? Real good, I'm told.

When Björk's not doing her part to make things sounds better, she's doing the world a solid with her pals in Sigur Rós at an environmental awareness gig later this month. Note that Björk's also got a new date scheduled coming up fast: a night at Paris' Olympia June 25.

Björk:

06-25 Paris, France - Olympia
06-28 Reykjavik, Iceland - TBA *
07-02 Sheffield, England - City Hall
07-05 Hertfordshire, England - Knebworth House (Wild in the Country Festival)
07-10 Helsinki, Finland - Finlandia Puisto
07-13 Vilnius, Lithuania - Vingio Park
07-16 Riga, Latvia - Arena Riga
07-20 Gräfenhainichen, Germany - Ferropolis (Melt! Festival)
07-25 Rome, Italy - Parco Della Musica
07-28 Verona, Italy - Arena Di Verona
07-31 Athens, Greece - Olympic Indoor Sports Center
08-02 Istanbul, Turkey - Kurucesme Arena
08-07 Zambujeira do Mar, Portugal - Festival Sudoeste TMN
08-15 El Ejido, Spain - Playa de Guardias (Ola! Festival)

* with Sigur Ros, Ólöf Arnalds