Last Friday in July.
All roads lead to Sea Change, but today we're on location in a tent.
Hello, Friends.As is becoming customary, we are ramping up the countdown to Sea Change by talking a working holiday in St Germans for the Port Eliot festival. The music lineup is really strong this year so keep an eye on the website next week for - potentially - signed copies and other nice things. If we get any 4g we'll be Instagramming the weekend on @driftrecordshop
Record of the Week is a work of extreme beauty and detail. Masayoshi Fujita returns on Erased Tapes with his new album Book of Life and it is honestly stunning. It is the final album in a trilogy that began in 2012. He explains; “There is a story or a scenery behind each song on all three albums, some of them are connected or part of a series. For me, these songs are similar to playing cards: some of them have the same suit or the same motif, some look minimal and others have more complex drawings.”
The maestro has extended his palette, working initially from improvisations and incorporating an esteemed neoclassical orchestra of Peter Broderick, Hatis Noit, David Allred, and the vocal ensemble Shards. It is seriously overwhelming stuff.
+ Available as a very limited edition clear vinyl pressing
🚨🚨Sound the Brainfeeder klaxon. 🚨🚨
British producer Ross From Friends effortlessly shifts from the world of lo-fi to the world of FlyLo with his debut album Family Portrait on Flying Lotus’ Brainfeeder. Incredible attention to detail. There are layers upon layers of beats and tones and textures and pulses, but it's as thrilling far away as it is up close. Considering how meticulous it is, it has some of the easiest beats to lock into this year. Very highly recommended indeed... but then, it's Brainfeeder... what were you expecting?!
+ 2LP black vinyl housed in a 5mm spined sleeve with paper obi strip
Formed in Boston, 2014, ShadowParty comprises members of some of the most iconic electronic bands of a generation, New Order and Devo. At the pulsing heart of the group are Josh Hager, Jeff Friedl, Tom Chapman and Phil Cunningham. For Devo, Hager plays guitars and keyboards, whilst Friedl plays drums; in their hitherto day-job with New Order, Chapman and Cunningham play bass and guitars respectively. The four piece have recorded an album, with guests including Denise Johnson (Primal Scream) and The Verve’s guitarist Nick McCabe. It’s said to have a synth-pop vibe, with strings and guitars.
The self-titled ShadowParty debut on Mute is brilliantly produced, you can hear everything perfectly and it is truly maximal indie pop. The foil scratch reveal artwork is really lush too!
Phantastic Ferniture is the delightfully lighthearted self-titled debut from Julia Jacklin, Elizabeth Hughes, Ryan K Brennan and Tom Stephens. Pounding bass lines, guitars swimming in reverb and Julia at the front sounding really quite brilliant. They wanted to make a giddy adolescent album and they've managed to capture the mood and the vibe... right into this.
Sacracorpa is the final installment in a trilogy of albums by Chicago experimentalist Whitney Johnson as Matchess. Dense atmospheres and tape hiss with drum machines, a viola and tooting organs wrapping up the layers of her ghostly vocals. Really lush headspace this one.
+ Turmeric coloured Vinyl for Indie stores only.
Melbourne quartet Deaf Wish return on Sub Pop with Lithium Zion and it's a right banger. It flies out the traps and doesn't let up, some serious chops to the riffs. The vocals are pretty lush too, lazy and drawn out. Got a feeling we'll be playing this right into the Autumn.
+ Indie shop Loser edition on Pink Vinyl.
Teatime Dub Encounters is a 4Track EP from Underworld and Iggy Pop. Inspired by their work on the Trainspotting soundtrack, the EP is the result of a few clandestine hotel room recording sessions.
Before The Day Has Gone is the first album in a decade from Italian-American post-punk stalwarts Bellini. Heavy.
Texas’ genre-bending rock ‘n’ roller Israel Nash presents his latest long player on Loose Music. Lifted is a modern day hippie-spiritual, a tonic for those needing to put aside the mess of the daily grind.
The rather brilliant London-based record label Speedy Wunderground releases its third compilation of its limited edition 7” and one 10” singles.
David Holmes presents Mosaic, 50 minutes of new, original music that soundtracked Steven Soderbergh’s six part tale of passion, intrigue and deception.
+ Limited Edition LP pressed on Transparent Red Vinyl
We'll Take It is a breakout 12" from Oneohtrix Point Never featuring music for actual space travel, a blinder off his most-recent album and two new tracks.
Some utterly brilliant reissues today.
Mute enter their final phase exploring the A Certain Ratio studio album reissue series with new editions of Sextet, Change The Station and Mind Made Up. All have indie shop coloured vinyl pressings and look and sound absolutely fantastic. Can't recommend these enough actually.
What with ShadowParty and ACR on Mute, it was already a busy week, but they have scheduled in more more more with a couple of Swans. Soundtracks for the Blind - originally released in 1996, and the band’s last studio album prior to their 2010 reformation - is released for the first time on vinyl. Also today is the Die Tür Ist Zu EP, a German language version of some of the material from Soundtracks that also includes unique material. Was a (huge sell out) Record Store Day USA release this year.
Now this got delayed and is super limited already, so please do not miss out. Dais Records reissue Black or Yellow editions of Coil's (billed as ElpH vs Coil) Worship The Glitch. During the studio sessions that developed into what would become “Worship the Glitch”. Coil became aware of random compositions emitting from their gear, and were at odds with constant "accidents” that were perpetually plaguing the recordings. The band called these unintentional emissions "ELpH": a conceptual being that is one part physical equipment, one part celestial being... constantly playing the role of trickster, throwing a wrench into Coil’s methodology. Intense man.
Two huge reissues just landed on us, Hiroshi Yoshimura's Music For Nine Postcards and Midori Takada's Through The Looking Glass (2017 Re-Edition). We've honestly been waiting so hard on these, incredible releases. Another shout out for the MIKWAJU Ensemble KI-Motion release too... solid golden air.
Special anniversary repressing of Wild Nothing's Gemini on Captured Tracks. Pressed on super limited Translucent Purple vinyl. Forgot about how much we loved this LP, such great melancholy. One of the touchpaper-lighting-moments for Dream Pop, super smart using the electronic tones and bleeps against Jack Tatum's deadpan and frenetic reverbing guitars. Really, really lush.
Pssssttt... we don't have that many.
- Drift Crew.