Fred Miketa gets educational on our asses, and recommends a post-punk history for the holidays. Check out This Heat’s Out of Cold Storage Boxed Set.

I found this gem and thought, “Evidently there is a god and he really likes me.”

Even the most informed heads sometimes need to fill gaps in their music history knowledge, and any good student of punk/post-punk will jump at this boxed set of re-mastered goods from one of the era’s most daring acts.

It’s been over 30 years since This Heat formed in England and the world has finally been rewarded with the band’s entire catalog in one hell of a collection. For novices–and those sleeping under a post-punk rock–This Heat made prog-rockers shiver with envy and punks wish they hadn’t been so harsh on hippies. The experimental icons were unarguably ahead of their time, pushing space and dissonance to the absolute brink with an advanced arsenal of psychedelic guitars, sporadic sax squeals, and numbing percussion.

Out of Cold Storage contains re-mastered versions of This Heat, Deceit, Made Available, Repeat, Health and Efficiency, a disc of raw, unabated live mayhem, and a stylish book of interviews and photos. It could be a very long time until fate will again hand music weirdoes like myself something so killer. Relish it while you can, kids.

Fred Miketa 

The Other Days of Christmas
Day 1, Kids in the Hall DVD Megaset
Day 2, Eye of the Hawk beer
Day 3, Sad Ghost salt & pepper shakers
Day 5, Dustin Dollin’s Project 8 No Skool Vans
Day 6, Toys from Kid Robot
Day 7, Gama bird satchel and wallet
Day 8, Official Tourist Rave Hoods
Day 9, M-Audio IE-10 earphones
Day 10, King Jammy’s Selector Choice Boxed Set
Day 11, Madvillain action figure
Day 12, XLR8R Subscription