I'm resurrecting this old thread to ask whether anyone else here has a copy of the US pressing of Hvarf/Heim by Sigur Rós on XL Recordings (the repress from last year on black vinyl). This one (click the image):
http://www.discogs.com/Sigur-Rós-Hvarf-Heim/release/4624877
I bought a copy of this at the weekend. Unfortunately, apart from a few scratches on side 1, there's what appears to be a pressing fault on side 2: there is a low 'ba-dum' rumble on every rotation, and there's a variation in pitch and volume of the sustained string notes reminiscent of the 'flutter' that you used to get on stretched audio tapes. I've compared this with the CD copy and there is a definitely drop in sound quality - on the CD, although slightly tremulous (which is inevitable when playing quiet, sustained notes on strings), the notes are definitely clearer and more consistent in tone.
I'd love to hear from anyone who owns or has heard a copy of this pressing, to give me an idea of whether if I ask for a replacement I'm likely to get a decent copy, or whether, as I suspect, all copies are likely to have this fault and I should cut my losses, get a refund and try to get hold of the (limited) UK pressing.
On a side-note, what has been everyone's experience of recent US pressings? I've had troubles with a lot of the ones I've bought in the past couple of years, since I started buying new vinyl again. In fact, most of them have either contained clicks and pops, had a 'wash' of pressing release agent across them that distorted the sound, been warped or had a combination of these and other faults. There have been problems with some UK/EU pressings (particularly when the pressings are on clear or coloured vinyl), but nowhere near as often as with US pressings. Is this a known, general problem, or have I just been really unlucky?