Given that the original album only came out at the start of 2025, it’s arguably a little soon for Heard Noises to be getting the super deluxe vinyl box treatment. But clearly Matt Berry felt there was more to offer from this particular batch of songs. Regardless of timing, this is the epitome of a desirable product for Berry’s hardcore fans, with only 1,000 copies available.
So what’s in the box? It includes a half-speed mastered version of the original record, a 12” EP of four bonus tracks from the recording sessions, an album of remixes and a 7” picture disc featuring another two remixes. There are also two posters and a signed picture, plus a 64-page hardback book that includes detailed commentary in line with Berry’s reputation as a serious equipment head.
Of the ‘new’ material, it’s the remixes that are of the most interest, with the groove and vibe-based nature of many of Heard Noises’ tracks lending themselves particularly well to deconstruction and reimagining.
Four songs get the treatment – all but one multiple times. Wedding Photo Stranger is remixed the most, Berry’s funky but mysterious original audaciously transformed by Andy Votel into a seedy psycho thriller soundtrack with ringing phones and clever film samples, while Tennis turn it into driving dream pop, with Berry’s vocal re-voiced by Alaina Moore.
The Sébastien Tellier-esque Why On Fire is stripped back by Midfield General to bass, claps and ghostly echoes, like a minimal and considerably cooler Radio Gaga, while Rodeo Clown fashions a hi-energy, acid-tinged banger out of it.
Project Gemini’s ‘Woodland Carnival’ version of Stay On The Ground is self-explanatory; its psychedelic MOR becomes a particularly trippy scene from Rupert The Bear. But perhaps the best remix here is Moog Cookbook’s electro-prog retooling of To Live For What Once Was, with Berry now delivering the song in a windswept 80s music video.
The Super Deluxe edition of Heard Noises is on sale now via Acid Jazz.
