"We be reading Marx where I'm from, the kids be rockin Clarks where I'm from." This legit repress of Digable Planets' debut has been a long time coming. Reachin' (A New Refutation of Time and Space)'s forward-thinking juxtaposition of classic jazz aesthetics and Brooklyn street culture stunned us when it was first released in 1993, and has remained a Lab staple ever since. Here's The Voice's review from 2010: "I remember when "Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat)" first came out and was all over KMEL in the Bay. Barely in high school, I thought that Butterfly, Ladybug and Doodlebug were just ripping off all of the old jazz records they were sampling from. But by the time the album dropped I was sold. From the album opener "It's Good to Be Here" to the classic "Nickel Bags;" it's all quality material. With cuts like "Where I'm From," "Jimmi Diggin' Cats" and "Swoon Units," how can you go wrong?" In the time since this exhaustive review of Digable's groundbreaking debut, Ishmael "Butterfly" Butler re-emerged from relative obscurity on some afrofuturist next-shit with his latest project Shabazz Palaces (now four albums deep on Sub Pop), and Modern Classic Recordings released a gorgeously-packaged reissue of the Planets' follow-up to Reachin', Blowout Comb. They're once again handling this reissue of Reachin', on double vinyl for the first time ever (all previous pressings were squeezed onto a single LP) with a heap of bonus materials: full-color printed inner sleeves, booklet containing printed lyrics for the first time ever and extensive liner notes by Butler and Larry Mizell Jr. This is the limited LITA colorway, pressed on blue/purple swirl colored vinyl. Only 1,000 pressed, recommended!

• blue/purple swirl colored vinyl pressing
• limited edition of 1,000
• first time on double vinyl
• housed in deluxe wide-spine jacket
• includes lyric booklet + printed inner sleeves
• extensive liner notes by Ishmael Butler + Larry Mizell Jr.
• music label: Modern Classic Recordings 2018

reviewed by hannibal chew 12/2017