Needle Mythology is a label co-founded by lifelong record collector, music writer and broadcaster Pete Paphides with fellow enthusiast and record company “lifer” Will Harris. The aim was, on the face of it, simple: to take re-present beloved albums to the world in a manner worthy of their brilliance. Many titles on Pete and Will’s wish list had never made it onto vinyl in the first place. Cases in point included Stephen Duffy’s I Love My Friends, Ian Broudie’s Tales Told and Finn – the beautiful under-the-radar 1995 collaboration by Neil and Tim Finn. 

With every Needle Mythology release, the question Pete and Will asked themselves is: “Is this the best possible iteration of this album that can exist?” The aim was to do just that, be it the Finn album which came with a whole second album featuring the original demos made by Tim and Neil for Crowded House’s Woodface album; be it Whipping Boy’s 1995 masterpiece Heartworm, which came with an extra disc of B-sides and rarities; be it the four albums by feted Australian troubadour Robert Forster; or the breathtaking triple disc set of The Lilac Time’s Astronauts. 

There have been anthologies too: You Had A Kind Face, the lovingly curated set by Scottish ensemble Butcher Boy, featuring an original piece by acclaimed author and fan John Niven and photography by John Walmsley; the Tanita Tikaram’s career-spanning collection To Drink The Rainbow; the rapturously received definitive anthology of the 1980s indie pop renaissance Sensitive and Love Crowns and Crucifies, the amassed recordings of short-lived Liverpool post-punk “superduo” Care. There have even been brand new albums such as the iridescent left-field synth pop of Ed Dowie’s The Obvious I and Iraina Mancini’s life-affirming cinematic pop riot Undo The Blue. 

The glue that binds all these disparate releases is quite simply the desire to create artefacts that would take pride of place in any discerning collection. Every Needle Mythology release should give you as much joy hanging in a picture frame as it will do when you place its contents on the turntable. Whether it’s the 10,000+ words of liner notes waiting for you in Sensitive and Astronauts or the seven-inch singles secreted in the gatefold sleeve of all four Robert Forster albums, no opportunity is wasted. 

Before we ran a record label, we used to fantasise about running a record label. Recurring dreams about stumbling upon a stack of quarter-inch reels whose contents might yielded new treasure. And sometimes dreams come true. In 2026, inspired by a discovery of reels in a two-up, two-down in Birmingham, England, Needle Mythology is set to launch a new reggae imprint Roots Mythology. Its inaugural releases feature music from those quarter-inch reels: an album of lost songs by an early line-up of Musical Youth and a cache of recordings by Handsworth septet Natrus. 

The stories told by these albums make them valuable historical artefacts. But then, you could say that about every single Needle Mythology release – both their vinyl and CD iterations (we’re equally respectful of both formats). Because we’re in the business of artefacts. And as with all precious artefacts, if you look after them, they’ll help look after you – and perhaps even their future owners. “We are,” as inventor of the gramophone record Emile Berliner once said*, “not fucking about here.” 

*probably