Cold and bright salutations from Devon.
Quaranta is the sixth album from Detroit rapper Danny Brown and he’s always one to relish in our books. When people say “deeply personal”, Brown means it, the album was recorded in the grips of addiction and his candour is really something. It’s an introspective set but there is no idle dwelling, it’s all about the high contrasts of good and bad. The production is rich and it has a great flow throughout, but it always comes alive when he gets really nasal and fires through lines. Record of the Week and great to have him back.
Little Rope is the high fidelity return of absolute icons Sleater-Kinney. It’s a cathartic album forged in grief and loss and all the other ephemera that 2023 kept offering, but there is such a tightness to it that it carries more of a euphoric edge than anything else. The production with John Congleton is a great balance between keeping the songs raw, whilst also making them ripped and ready for the radio. We’ve been really enjoying this one.
+ Available on exclusive Orange colour vinyl.
Instafuzz is the collaborative debut from Ultrasonic Grand Prix and it really is full of fuzzed-out nuggets. The duo - multi-instrumentalist / producer Shawn Lee and guitar maestro Barrie Cadogan of Nottingham freakbeaters Little Barrie - united over a shared love of vintage kit and vintage tones. They have totally avoided sentimentalism or indolent posturing, this is all about fuzz sonic experimentalism, and it’s really good fun!
Also this week, the divine Kathryn Joseph releases a new EP featuring reworks of tracks with her long time collaborator Lomond Campbell. There is also a new song that goes really hard too. East Bay punks Green Day - the scourge of the Republican party - release their fourteenth studio LP, Saviors. We have a limited Black and Pink marbled edition. Orange Head is the swaggering and really fun new LP from anarchic Manchester icons Black Grape. We have a limited double LP edition with extra tracks.
Lastly today, the ever industrious King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard release the fifth and sixth volume of their rolling Demos series. Recorded between 2010 and 2022, the sheer scope of where the tracks went and the diverse genres and styles they cover is pretty mind boggling. Weird and wild with some jacked up riffs and plenty of oozing soothers. Pressed on particularly impressive looking Red and Blue marbled vinyl.
Some powerful reissues for you this week too, with; Saint Etienne, The Undertones, Spiritualized’s Amazing Grace, Stornoway, 90 Day Men and the always essential Nuggets.
- Drift
