On August 7, Merge will reissue All the Nations Airports and White Trash Heroes, the final two albums from Archers of Loaf. Both albums have been remastered by Bob Weston and feature re-imagined cover art, new liner notes and copious bonus material. Also, each album will be available on double-CD, colored vinyl and digital download. Pre-order both albums now individually or together as a special bundle in the Merge store.

With All the Nations Airports, the band did not compromise its efforts to push itself in new directions. Archers of Loaf delivered an album that included the straightforward indie-rock songs that had made them famous, interspersed with instrumental tracks, layered tape loops, and even a solo piano song. In Stephen Thompson’s liner notes for the Airports reissue, he says, “It’s music that exists because it must, with all the bile, beauty, and bluster of youth and all the disaffected paranoia of a perpetually worried mind. The album might not have fulfilled Archers of Loaf’s commercial potential at the time, but that makes an awful lot of sense. The band tended to craft its greatest art when it saw fit to scribble in the margins.”

Archers of Loaf almost called it quits after All the Nations Airports due to the strain of touring and the rut of the album cycle (i.e., make record, make video, do interviews, tour, tour, tour; repeat) but decided they would make one more album and see how they felt after that process. They again enlisted the help of Brian Paulson to record the album that became White Trash Heroes. On this album, the band added keyboards to several songs as well as vocoder, and debuted the lead vocals of Matt Gentling on the track “I.N.S.” “Banging on a Dead Drum” found all the members swapping instruments and featured some of the worst cowbell ever attempted.

In the liner notes for Merge’s reissue of the Archers’ final album, Josh Modell says, “In hindsight, it’s easy to read White Trash Heroes as both the stormy end to a legendary band and as the beginning of something else: Bachmann’s next project, Crooked Fingers. Hints of what came two years later abound here, particularly on the keyboard undercarriage and restrained energy of ‘Dead Red Eyes’ and the epic, sequencer-assisted title track.”

Pre-order All the Nations Airports and White Trash Heroes or the special bundle on dbl-CD or colored vinyl now in the Merge store and receive an email download of the remastered original albums. Visit the Merge store to find our recent releases of Icky Mettle and Vee Vee remastered and reissued on dbl-CD, LP and digital download, too.

Archers of Loaf – All the Nations Airports
Artwork re-imagined by Ian Dingman; liner notes by NPR’s Stephen Thompson
Available for pre-order on dbl-CD and clear vinyl

Track listing:
1. Strangled by the Stereo Wire
2. All the Nations Airports
3. Scenic Pastures
4. Worst Defense
5. Attack of the Killer Bees
6. Rental Sting
7. Assassination on X-mas Eve
8. Chumming the Ocean
9. Vocal Shrapnel
10. Bones of Her Hands
11. Bumpo
12. Form and File
13. Acromegaly
14. Distance Comes in Droves
15. Bombs Away

Bonus Disc:
1. Density
2. Little Jets
3. Strangled by the Stereo Wire (4-Track Demo)
4. All the Nations Airports (4-Track Demo)
5. Scenic Pastures (4-Track Demo)
6. Trilogy (4-Track Demo)
7. Assassination on X-Mas Eve (4-Track Demo)
8. Chumming the Ocean (4-Track Demo)
9. Vocal Shrapnel (4-Track Demo)
10. Bones of Her Hands (4-Track Demo)
11. Bumpo (4-Track Demo)
12. Form and File (4-Track Demo)
13. Acromegaly (4-Track Demo)
14. Distance Comes in Droves (4-Track Demo)
15. Bombs Away (4-Track Demo)
16. Density (4-Track Demo)
17. Little Jets (4-Track Demo)
18. There Has To Be Something (4-Track Demo)
19. Total Failure (4-Track Demo)

Archers of Loaf – White Trash Heroes
Album art re-imagined by Casey Burns; liner notes by the A.V. Club’s Josh Modell
Available for pre-order on dbl-CD and white vinyl

Track listing:
1. Fashion Bleeds
2. Dead Red Eyes
3. I.N.S.
4. Perfect Time
5. Slick Tricks and Bright Lights
6. One Slight Wrong Move
7. Banging on a Dead Drum
8. Smokers in Love
9. After the Last Laugh
10. White Trash Heroes

Bonus Disc:
1. Jive Kata
2. Fashion Bleeds (4-Track Demo)
3. Dead Red Eyes (4-Track Demo)
4. Slick Tricks and Bright Lights (4-Track Demo)
5. One Slight Wrong Move (4-Track Demo)
6. Banging on a Dead Drum (4-Track Demo)
7. Smokers in Love (4-Track Demo)
8. After the Last Laugh (4-Track Demo)
9. White Trash Heroes (4-Track Demo)
10. Untitled and Forgotten (4-Track Demo)
11. Walk of Shame
12. Untitled
13. Whooh!