Near-Death Travel Services

Another of my outstanding wants from 2025 was the 'Near-Death Travel Services' LP by the newly reformed Deadguy. I had watched a Deadguy documentary at some point a year or so ago, and they seemed to enjoy being in each others company for the first time in years, so it was no real surprise that they decided to get back together and record some new music. However, even after watching the thing I watched, I was still surprised when this album was announced. It just seemed to come out of nowhere, and it seemed really exciting. I knew it was going to be good, and I wanted a copy. Yet somehow it has taken me a year and a couple of months to get one.

Part of the delay was that this was released by Relapse Records, and I knew that there was only going to be one colour that would be acceptable for me to own - the clear vinyl version. Throughout the life of Relapse Records, they have always made 100 copies of every release on clear vinyl, which (in theory) you can't buy. The label's site always includes the clear vinyl in the pressing info, next to which it states 'Not available to the public - Friends of band and label only'. Clear copies will usually surface for sale at some point, but sometimes you gotta bide your time. Initially a few clear copies sold to some lucky people, but then the well appeared to run dry. Hence the wait.

I hadn't listened to this until I received the vinyl. Most of the time, this is how I like to play the game. If I listen to something before I have the vinyl then chances are the incentive to buy one will reduce, and in some cases I definitely do not want that to happen. So I literally only got around to hearing this for the first time about two weeks ago. But this is, so far, what I hoped it would be. Firstly, it sounds like Deadguy. Well, I guess you could also say that it kinda sounds like No Escape, Bitter Branches or Kiss It Goodbye, as Tim Singer's voice is so distinctive. But it's Deadguy. Thirty years on from the release of their first full length, they've come back onto the scene with another monster. I'm sure that in time this won't be as highly regarded as 'Fixation On A Coworker', but right now this sounds both fresh and new and old and familiar at the same time.