8 reissue labels you need to know about

Let’s face it; the rise of the internet has made us all music-guzzling, YouTube-devouring B-side fiends intent on one-upping each other with the deepest cuts.

Rare records are all over Discogs and eBay for four-figure prices, with the vinyl revival at a 28-year high. You only have to witness the obligatory online price bump to anything played in a Motor City Drum Ensemble set to see it’s serious business.

That environment has helped breed the re-issue game to what it is today; a world of ultimate record nerds who want to share hidden gems with a new generation without breaking the bank.

Floating Points is the latest name to dip his toes in the rarities pool. His first release on Eglo sub-label Melodies a trio of 7-inches complete with fanzine and featuring the longingly funky ‘You’re a Melody’ by Aged In Harmony.

But with these labels we’re not talking about the majors that re-release Bon Jovi for a cash grab; these are the best in the business at breathing new life into long sought rarities.

Just shy of two-years-old, Athens of the North already has a reputation for its feverish reissuing of some of the most looked-for disco and soul tracks. Specialising in 45s, the Edinburgh-based label has made waves with its painstaking approach to getting quality, licensed music to the masses. Like waiting 12 years to release The Reality Band and Show’s extremely rare ‘Gangster Boy’ which prior to the reissue, had copies “out of any sensible person’s reach” on eBay according to label founder Euan Fryer.

They were also launched into the spotlight in 2016 with a reissue of the track that closed Plastic People. Spirit of Love’s gospel hit ‘The Power of Your Love’ topped Phonica’s charts for weeks and had been all but forgotten about until Floating Points dropped it last year.

Essential listening: Bileo ‘You Can Win’

While not exclusively a reissue label, the Amsterdam record store has spent the best part of the last 20 years cultivating a back catalogue of obscure electronic groovyness. Working on a love for the music rather than the bottom line, their philosophy has seen them look far into the past to release some of the best records of the present.

Japanese video game composer Soichi Terada was given a career thanks to Rush Hour’s 'Sounds From the Far East' album which compiled the producer’s early 90s tracks into a much-loved 2015 release, launching him onto the international clubbing circuit with a tour of live shows.

Other artists like disco/boogie maestro James Mason (who’s original records can be found on the internet for a cool £1700), and the pumping Push/Pull album 'Bang The Drums', have either been made affordable or plucked from nowhere to be consumed by a new generation.

Essential listening: Soichi Terada ‘Do It Again’

Describing themselves as specialisers of 80s funk preservation, People’s Potential Unlimited have been prolific in the amount of quality they’ve reissued in the last decade.

The Washington DC-based label and store cemented themselves as the go-to place for incredibly rare boogie and disco cuts with their very first release, a 7" featuring TMS’ Get The Feeling and Candy Man by Caprice, the originals of which both going online for over £500 each.

While they also deal in quirky cassette releases and push plenty of merchandise online, their record selection is their defining feature and no re-issue more than Midnight Express’ 'Danger Zone' sums up the funked-up, squelchy boogie tracks they specialise in.

Essential listening: Midnight Express ‘Danger Zone’

Another Amsterdam label that’s quickly made a name for itself with a parade of offbeat leftfield and experimental electronic music, sometimes even sourced from artists’ self-released material. Music From Memory has a habit of putting out records from the 1980s that could easily be from 2016. Joel Graham’s 'Geomancy' is a slice of 1982 ambient techno that could easily fit on Hungarian imprint Blorp’s roster for example, and it’s this fusing of the past into contemporary dance music that’s seen the label pushed by Hunee and Pender Street Steppers.

Among all the industrial soundscapes you’ll also find a sprinkling of jazz fusion disco from Joan Bibiloni, a Spanish guitarist who’s best indulgences have been compiled into a groove-laden album, and an avant garde visionary of the New York City downtown scene, Vito Ricci, the man the label is named after.

Essential listening: Vito Ricci ‘I’m At That Party Right Now’

Also not strictly a re-issue label, there isn’t much introduction needed for this peerless imprint that has been supplying popular reissue compilations since the mid-90s. Making a name by having top DJs compile, releases like the Spectrum series which covered disco, funk, jazz and latin throughout the early 2000s as well as the sprawling anthologies for legendary artists such as Masters At Work, Roy Ayers and Dimitri from Paris, is what gave the label such a strong authority.

But it hasn’t been restricted to former glory, showing off it’s still got the goods with this years '20 Years of Henry Street Music' collection and Volcov’s …From the Archive, a mix of overlooked and unreleased tunes that has been a staple of BBE’s back catalogue.

Essential listen: Tronco Traxx ‘Walk 4 Me’

Pretty self-explanatory in why this label deals in reissues, its whole aesthetic was a tribute to David Mancuso’s legendary Loft parties during disco’s heyday.

Loft Classics’ announced themselves on the scene in 1995 with a rash of mini-compilations of tracks that were staples of Mancuso’s parties despite the DJ being adamantly opposed to the series’ use of the Loft name and logo. They went on to press 15 records that year before stopping completely, perhaps due to the unofficial nature of their operation. They did release volumes 16 and 17 in 2007 before switching to CD-only anthologies but in a case of everything coming full circle, the original Loft Classics volumes are still repressed today, proof their back catalogue is still worth mining.

Essential listening: Deodato ‘Whistle Bump’

Expect to find funk, Northern Soul, free jazz, gospel, boogie, afro-funk, calypso disco, soca and Latin boogaloo when going through Cultures Of Soul’s back catalogue. Specialists of compilations from international artists, the imprint has been up and running since 2010 and in that time put the spotlight on scenes ranging from Bollywood disco to Nigerian funk rock and also managed a smatter of quality 7"s as well featuring a number of unreleased gems.

Essential listening: Don Laka ‘I Wanna Be Myself’

The youngest label on this list, Flash Forward only started releasing this year but have already proven its aptitude for it with a stream of quality early 90s Italian house reissues. Relying on love for electro, EBM, italo and new wave, the label has worked hard to uncover cult hits from the early wave of house music and firmly believe in looking to the past to develop the future of dance music.

Beginning with Onirico’s sought-after 'Stolen Moments' EP and going on to reclaim underground efforts from Omniverse and Delicious Inc, Flash Forward’s identity as the upstart archaeologists of 90s house discovery could be upgraded to legendary status.

Essential listening: Onirico ‘Stolen Moments’