Among the pile of CD releases last week was an odd and potentially interesting reissue for anyone who is currently (or is about to become) a Viva Voce fan: a 2-disc re-release of the band’s first two albums, Lovers, Lead the Way! and The Heat Can Melt Your Brain, featuring a ton of extra b-sides and bonus tracks. It’s a value-packed release and a great companion to last year’s excellent Get Yr Blood Sucked Out, but a quick look at the band’s discography may have you scratching your head a bit—weren’t these albums released only a couple of years ago?

I bought The Heat Can Melt Your Brain back in 2005, after seeing them open for Sleater-Kinney in Vancouver, but a lot can happen in two years. In this case, the album apparently went out of print, along with Lovers. With the 70s-influenced acid rock of Get Yr Blood Sucked Out winning Anita and Kevin Robinson quite a few accolades, leaving their earlier albums unavailable would be a crying shame. Luckily for those of you that missed out on the Robinsons’ early career, you now get to reap the rewards.

This sort of reissue isn’t all that uncommon, actually; popular California duo Mates of State (who also happen to be a married couple, like Viva Voce) moved to Polyvinyl and re-released their first album, My Solo Project, because they’d managed to practically sell out their entire pressing. And just looking at last week, Viva Voce wasn’t the only indie band to put out a re-release; Enon’s first album, Believo!, also got the reissue treatment.

(P.S. Sorry for the erratic posting schedule as of late. I blame Valve and the new Half-Life 2 package that came out on Tuesday. Especially the end of Portal (spoilers).)