XL Recordings is celebrating the 25th anniversary of Leila’s album Courtesy Of Choice. The LP was originally released on September 11th 2000. Twenty-five years later, and collaborations with Bjork, Aphex Twin and Terry Hall and performances at the V&A and Venice Biennale.

“I realised very early on that people don’t really belong anywhere. That’s what gives me the freedom to do any kind of music…I don’t feel any commitment or loyalty to anything. My commitment is to noise.” – Leila

Richard Russell, who originally signed Leila to XL, wrote the following email to Leila’s product manager who’d sent him the new masters to hear (which Leila heard about and asked to use): “Leila is so expressive in every moment of it. The stylistic breadth is incredible — funky, beautiful, cinematic, eerie, ravey. As nakedly human as any electronic music ever made. The album was always great but probably twenty-five years ahead of its time, so this is the right moment for people to catch up.”

The new version, Courtesy Of Choice… includes asides and besides, re-presents the original 14 track album, including the previously vinyl-only “Relax the Pleasuredome” — alongside unreleased material. Leila chose to re-edit rather than remake the album (she has all the original data… midi and audio), choosing to set the parameters of only recovering buried details while preserving its spirit. “I wanted this reissue to be honest,” she explains. “Nothing added, just making sure the performances came through as they were meant to.” Among the twenty unheard tracks are Roya Arab’s striking collaboration on Cabaret classic “Mein Herr,” the surrealist collage “A Reasoning” with a sample of Max Ernst, the hypnotic “Acid Frog Fave,” the digi rave blowout “Birdie Rave,” and “techyarr”’s future forever funk from the realm of primetime Neptunes.

Pre-order Courtesy Of Choice Asides and Bsides HERE