The Features release one from the vaults. Literally!

In the early aughts I saw The Features a bunch*, but at the time didn’t even know they’d already recorded TWO full albums that hadn’t been released. One of those albums, pulled from a bunch 1999 sessions just popped up on Bandcamp this month.** And listening to it was a real trip back in time for me, since it captured the sound of the band that kept me coming back to see them time after time. And whenever I saw them I would bug them about when they would finally release a full-length album!***

Basically, The Mahaffey Sessions 1999 captures the band as I remember them best from my own live introduction to the group, and there are songs on here that never appeared anywhere else****, but I definitely remember wishing I had them to DJ with at the time. Two decades later I finally have the tunes, and even if I haven't DJed in years, quite a few of these will definitely make their way into a few solo apartment dance parties in the coming months. 

Dig in!

*I can't be certain, but it was probably Double Door that hosted the first show of theirs that I saw. And though my memory is fuzzy, it feels like they played Double Door a few times in quick succession before branching out to other venues in Chicago. I think.

**While I have never been  fan of mainstream bands who constantly recycle and re-release old albums everyone already own, I am finding Bandcamp to be invaluable when it comes to older bands who never got the due they deserved finally getting their music heard! And while The Features did garner some acclaim, this earlier recording really captures why they garnered label interest in the first place.

***Not knowing, um, it might have been sore spot for them at the time. Sorry! 

****When "33⅓" came on I literally screamed in joyous surprise, not having heard the tune in forEVer.