Jenny Toomey and Kristin Thomson made indie-rock history with their co-run Simple Machines label in the '90s, providing a home for releases by cult bands like Ida, Retsin, and Autoclave, as well as Dave Grohl's short-lived and much-bootlegged solo project Late!. Hands-on and ethically-driven, scrappy but ambitious, the label was also home to the majority of the music that Toomey and Thomson made with their own band, Tsunami.

Formed in the punk-activist house share where they lived in Arlington, VA, in the winter of 1990, the Tsunami line-up was completed by drummer and former housemate John Pamer, and bassist Andrew Webster, who'd played with Toomey in their earlier band Geek. Tsunami put out a tape of 4-track demos (Cow Parade) the following spring, and went on to release three studio albums and a host of singles, EPs, and other bits and pieces – with a few line-up changes – before disbanding in 1998.

Given Toomey and Thomson's importance to third-wave feminism and the indie-rock canon as a whole, it's surprising that it has taken this long for their work to be reissued – but at least it's being done in style. Archival record label Numero Group have stepped up, and the complete Tsunami catalog will be reissued on 8 November as Loud Is As, a five-disc, 61-track boxset complete with comprehensive liner notes featuring new interviews with band members, and essays by rock critics Jenn Pelly, Ann Powers, Gina Arnold, and Evelyn McDonnell, among others.

Listen to three tracks from the boxset below. "Left Behind" comes from a Sub Pop Singles Club 7", while "Sometimes a Notion" and "Walking Tour" were released together on the 7" single Souvenir Folder of Beautiful Arlington, VA. All date back to 1992.

Toomey and Thomson closed up the Simple Machines label at the same time as disbanding Tsunami, but went on to make history again two years later as co-founders of the Future of Music Coalition, becoming leading advocates for fair and healthy working practices for musicians.

As well as their community organizing, research and activist work, Toomey went on to release a pair of solo albums (2001's Antidote and 2002's Tempting), while Thomson formed a new band, KeN, in 2005.