This is the new music dispatch, and my word is it a stacked one?!
Hello, Friends.
You know White Denim? You know how they are one of the best band's of our lifetime? (They are, they really are) well, we were going to be celebrating the first gestures of their return this week with their new Crystal Bullets b/w King Tears 12"... But then we got word from English Mallard HQ that we should play it, and what did we find? Well, only that they've played a glorious joke and actually pressed up a full, new, bonkers, untitled White Denim album! Wild behaviour.
Full of jazz shapes, rock and roll jams, fast licks, analogue hues, thrilling arrangement and James Petralli's inimitable voice. It’s fun, it’s cool, it’s chill, it’s really, really good.
Next, so good is our Record of the Week, that we couldn't help but make it ROTW even though it is technically a reissue. Trouble In Mind reissue the self-titled debut from Guardian Singles (outside of the band's native New Zealand for the first time following its debut in 2020), an album bristling with raw, jangling energy and dark waves. The production is excellent, understated and very live with pounding drums and howling amp tones. We really love this one already.
Let Me Speak is the absolutely excellent debut long-player from Gemma Cullingford, one half of Norfolk's finest disco maidens Sink Ya Teeth! It is a really lush meeting place between cold-wave electronics and the human hands of post-punk. It's got such a great propulsion to it and we were absolutely delighted to make this our 115th Dinked Edition. If you rush presently to the Drift site (or the counter, proximity allowing), we have just a last few copies available.
Animal is the rich second album from LUMP, the collaborative efforts of Laura Marling and Mike Lindsay. The mantra here is scrapping of rule books, it's pure psychedelic exploration and the noises and tones they make really are pretty thrilling. Dark pop, glimmering tones and Laura Marling's voice has once again expanded with such amazing texture and quality. It's a brilliant and challenging collaborative effort, but she always sparkles as one of the very brightest lights.
+ Available now; CD, Tape and Deluxe LP (heavyweight 180g black vinyl, housed in a gatefold jacket with an extra die-cut slipcase outer sleeve, lyric poster and sticker pack.)
+ Available in a few weeks: Indie exclusive vinyl (Pressed on turquoise and white swirl vinyl, housed in a single sleeve jacket.)
Private Space is the third studio LP from the Indiana soul band Durand Jones & The Indications and my word have they blown off the lid. Without losing their distinct voice, they have looked backwards (at disco in particular) and cherry-picked beats, sounds and a lot of energy for this hugely gratifying Pop-Soul banger. You're going to hear this bad-boy quite a bit!
+ Available on limited Red Nebula vinyl.
A Night At The Baths is the debut solo album by Ruth Mascelli of New Orleans no wave/glam/industrial group Special Interest. Leans way more to the experimental and ambient end of the scale, with lush and long frequencies. It creates such a haze, it sounds massive on the speakers and is a thrilling headphone listen too.
The mysterious and (we think) pseudonymous Sven Wunder return with Natura Morta. My word, this is such a luxurious trip through woozing Jazz and 70's library music. The styling and delivery is just immaculate, a timeless and hypnotic journey with lots of weird turns. Very highly recommended.
Nick Murphy releases Hotel Surrender, his first album as Chet Faker in six years after library the moniker. It's a bold new collection, maximal production but clearly a personal set of songs.
+ Available on an exclusive Indie Shop Picture Disc pressing.
Nils Frahm's Graz LP has just this minute landed with us. He recorded it then shelved it back in 2009 before releasing it online in celebration of Piano Day 2021 at the end of March. Really special piano meditations, with improvisations playing against his technical prowess.
The Dap-Kings' electro-sax space warrior Cochemea Gastelum (best known simply as Cochemea) returns with his searching new LP, Vol. II: Baca Sewa. Really lush Afrobeat, jazz and soul vibes.
+ Available on an exclusive Indie Shop amethyst colour vinyl pressing.
Fat Possum release If I Fail Are We Still Cool?, the new solo LP from Patrick Paige II (bassist for The Internet amongst other roles). Free-flowing R&B vibes with Patrick emerging as a really great focus point. It's quite breezy across it's seventeen tracks with enough going on to keep it enthralling.
+ Indie edition is Smokey Translucent vinyl.
Also this week; Tomorrows groups together (in mighty impressive fashion) the three parts of NY based, post-rock-electronica experimentalist's - Son Lux's - three album series. The Grammy-nominated Yola returns with the massive, Dan Auerbach-produced Stand For Myself. She sounds amazing and we have a limited Purple vinyl pressing. Roots-rockers Son Volt return with Electro Melodier, sort of marking their 25th anniversary after the damp squib that was 2020. Available on limited indie exclusive, tan colour vinyl.
"After parting ways with the San Francisco 49ers, the ‘Dennis Rodman of the NFL’ swapped the pitch for the studio." - The Guardian. The EXUM story is trippy, but all that hype all dissolves into the background within seconds because... Well, Xardinal Coffee is really good! A strikingly contemporary record of slick hip-hop, rich textures, idiosyncratic grooves and electronic-tinged wonky R&B. Available on really limited “ücke yellow” colour vinyl.
We have our last few copies of the Borderline 7" from London based 4-piece Italia 90. We really like this lot.
The big one for paper reviews this week will likely be Billie Eilish's Happier Than Ever. It hasn't arrived yet so still remains shrouded in secrecy (even to us), but we will have stock and we should have some more of the limited indie edition too.
Email heading out to you tomorrow with a very good batch of Not-New Records of the Week to include; Jackie Leven, Leslie Winer, Sam Mehran, Nicolas Jaar, Scritti Politti and Prince.
- Drift
