The Best Reissues of 2025 So Far
We’ve already shared our picks for the best albums of the year so far, as well as some of the under-the-radar gems from the first six months, and now we’re diving into the best of what was old: The best reissues of 2025 so far.
Note: When you buy something through our affiliate links, Treble receives a commission. All albums we cover are chosen by our editors and contributors.
Clikatat Ikatowi – The Trials and Tribulations Of…
Already having chronicled extensive collections of everything from music from Belize to rare and obscure cosmic Americana to the myriad Eccentric Soul volumes, Numero Group has continued its celebrated excavations with a distinctively North American subculture. Among the scenes and sounds the label has turned its focus toward is indie and emo scenes of the ’90s and early ’00s, one of the most recent highlights being this box set of the collected works of Clikatat Ikatowi. A short-lived part of the San Diego post-hardcore scene, their sound is descended from the rhythmic complexity of hometown heroes Drive Like Jehu and the blistering aggression of Heroin and Swing Kids. While there’s a charming rawness to the early 7-inch and EP recordings, its in the material from their sole full-length, Orchestrated and Conducted By…, where the group fully come into their own as a powerful, dynamic force. – Jeff Terich
Listen/Buy: Bandcamp | Amazon (vinyl)
Coil – Black Antlers
Industrial pioneers Coil seemed to arrive at a new creative peak in the early 2000s, evolving into a more active live band as well as pushing the limits of the cosmic psychedelia of their Musick to Play in the Dark series via a series of experimental yet beautiful albums released via their own Threshold House imprint. Though their swan song The Ape of Naples has come to be recognized as one of their most hypnotizing works, its predecessor, Black Antlers, is comparably entrancing, and has received a proper reissue—a beautifully packaged one at that—via Dais. Expanded with a second LP of bonus tracks (originally included on a 2006 double-CD reissue of the album), it builds on the album’s eerily serene nocturnal atmosphere with an additional sequence of glitchy extras, ever enlivening this mystic musical ritual. – Jeff Terich
Listen/Buy: Bandcamp | Amazon (vinyl)
The Faint – Blank Wave Arcade/Wet from Birth (Deluxe Editions)
The timing couldn’t be better for these deluxe reissues, with Omaha’s Saddle Creek Records getting a fresh look largely thanks to Rilo Kiley reuniting after two decades and Cursive still plugging away at a wicked long promotional push for the first studio album they delivered in five years. In their heyday, The Faint were as big of a draw as any Saddle Creek artist, with the exception of Bright Eyes, largely thanks to the fascinating but ultimately short-lived dance-punk subgenre they helped revive. Now in their 30th, the rare Saddle Creek band that never broke up take a breather, discover there’s a vinyl craze going on, and finally put their two best albums ’on wax for the first time ever – Kurt Orzeck
Listen/Buy: Bandcamp | Rough Trade (vinyl)
Ida – Will You Find Me
There are reissues, and then there are reissues. And, with the knowledge that slowcore groundbreakers Ida are involved, it was obvious that they’d make sure the 25th anniversary edition of their strongest record would park itself in the latter category. Scoping out deluxe edition reissues that typically come with a bonus disc of live recordings or demos, Ida replied, “Pshhaw!” and assembled a reissue that puts most others to shame. Available as a 4xLP and 5xCD box, the limited-edition sets have so many cover songs, demos, outtakes and alternative mixes that it’s practically too heavy to carry up a flight of stairs. As they’ve done time and time throughout their illustrious career, the band with MENSA-level intelligence shows everyone how it’s done. – Kurt Orzeck
Listen/Buy: Bandcamp | Amazon (vinyl)
Orbital – Orbital 2: The Brown Album Expanded
Following last year’s expansion on their debut compilation, this past May England’s Hartnoll brothers gave the deluxe treatment to the fully-formed studio LP that came next. Alongside early canon by Underworld and Chemical Brothers, Orbital 2 defined intelligent techno, a microgenre bridging the club/rave underground and the big beat sounds that would breach the mainstream. The original album was truly a self-contained dance party, 65 minutes of relentless grooves and suites (the “Lush” series, “Halcyon + on + on”) making a statement on a sound and where it was heading. This reissue’s 4xCD version includes B-sides like “Sunday” reconciling Orbital’s acidic origins with the hand percussion sounds that defined “tribal” trance, as well as everything from their stunning Diversions EP, radio sessions and rare remixes, and a crash-cut beatmatched live set from New York City’s Limelight in 1993. – Adam Blyweiss
Listen/Buy: Bandcamp | Rough Trade (4xLP) | Amazon (2xLP)
Gnonnas Pedro and His Dadjes Band – Roi De L’Agbadja Moderne (1974-1983)
It sort of goes without saying that any release from Germany’s Analog Africa label is worth hearing, each one a stellar document of African—and sometimes Latin American—grooves from the ’70s and ’80s. This compilation of recordings from Benin’s Gnonnas Pedro is no exception, capturing a decade’s worth of highlights from an artist who previously appeared on the label’s earlier compilation Legends of Benin. The title of the compilation translates to “King of Modern Agbadja (or Agbadza)”, which is a style of music rooted in ancestral rhythms to be played during burial ceremonies. But Pedro puts his own unique spin on traditional sounds from Benin, hence the “moderne,” as heard in a track like the hypnotic “Dadge Von o Von,” whose hypnotic repetitions recall the likes of Talking Heads’ Remain in Light (itself heavily influenced by Afrobeat). Elsewhere he delivers a catchy psychedelic groove in “Yiri Yiri Bom,” and eases into Afro-Cuban jazz on “Bailando Mi Solo.” An outstanding introduction to a Beninese legend. – Jeff Terich
Listen/Buy: Bandcamp | Amazon (vinyl)
Scratch Acid – Box Set/Scratch Acid/Berserker
The very notion that, in 2025, more young bands would cite the Jesus Lizard and its quasi-antecedent Scratch Acid as inspirations would’ve been less believable than the idea of David Yow performing sober. Also nearly impossible to fathom is that Touch and Go Records would go to the trouble of assembling a Scratch Acid vinyl box set to the tune of $160—as well as individual reissues of their EPs for those in search of a more affordable option. But it sure as hell is the most convenient way of putting what is presumed to be every song by Austin’s noise-rock ragamuffins. Scratch Acid could’ve built a sturdy fanbase in the ’80s, but issues with their releases going out of stock or even out of print thwarted the plan. Finally, they get their comeuppance with this box set, splendidly designed and splendidly remastered by buddy Bob Weston. At least justice is still served in some quarters (or shall we stay “Quarterstick”) of this country. – Kurt Orzeck
Listen/Buy: Bandcamp | Rough Trade (vinyl)
Bruce Springsteen – Tracks II: The Lost Albums
Virtually no artist’s catalog lacks clunkers, with Bruce Springsteen being no exception. That’s what makes Tracks II so fascinating: He shelved seven albums’ worth of material between 1983 and 2019 for various reasons (some explained better than others). Every one of them on this box set is better, sometimes markedly so, than albums the Boss happily released. Many of the 83 songs contain sounds Springsteen never attempted across an entire album (the mariachi and Norteño strains on Inyo; the low dark synths and beats of Streets of Philadelphia Sessions). Some are areas we never knew him to explore at all (hard-charging country on Somewhere North of Nashville; the ’60s pop of Twilight Hours). Across this treasure trove, the things that draw people to Springsteen remain intact: his novelistic detail, the limitless empathy for those often ignored in popular song, the precision deployment of his voice (which also goes in some truly unforeseen directions across the set). Unmissable for fans but also worth exploring by neophytes. – L.D. Flowers
Listen/Buy: Spotify | Amazon (vinyl)
Various Artists – Trax Records: The 40th Anniversary Collection
Before there was glitch, future bass, or even UK garage, there was house. Popularized in Chicago, this genre, born out of disco, is to the EDM industry—which pocketed $12.9 billion last year—what the blues is to rock. Trax Records was launched by Larry Sherman in 1985 from a modest vinyl pressing plant on Chicago’s industrial west side. The label quickly captured the attention of music enthusiasts who were into punk, disco, rock, funk, dub, and jazz—essentially a little bit of everything, creating a soundtrack that continues to represent the many revolutions being fought in this country and around the world, 365 days a year.
To commemorate its 40th anniversary, Trax presents “Trax Records: The 40th Anniversary Collection”—a vivid, multi-format release that captures the essence of the label’s origins. This collection features iconic tracks such as “Your Love” by Frankie Knuckles and Jamie Principle, and Marshall Jefferson’s “The House Music Anthem (Move Your Body),” along with many other genre-defining classics from artists like DJ Pierre, Ron Hardy, Mr. Fingers, Phuture, Maurice Joshua, and Screamin’ Rachael. – John-Paul Shiver
Listen: Spotify
Xmal Deutschland – Gift: The 4AD Years
One of the crucial, if underrated, bands of the early years of 4AD Records, Xmal Deutschland emerged emerged from the German “Neue Deutsche Welle” scene with a sound rooted in gothic rock in the vein of Siouxsie and the Banshees or their labelmates Bauhaus. And after long being out of print, their 4AD releases—including their essential LPs Fetisch and Tocsin, along with the Incubus Succubus and Qual EPs—have been collected in a box set that documents the early half of their career. The material is, more than 40 years after its release, as gothic and haunting, noisy and immediate as ever, a necessary addition to any night creature’s music library. – Jeff Terich
Listen/Buy: Bandcamp | Amazon (vinyl)
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