Like the string section on the Titanic... we're going to keep telling you about records, come what may...
Hello, Friends.
Bizarrely perhaps, all the stock is in the building and we're ready for a pretty much uninterrupted release day tomorrow morning! Here are your Records of the Week...
We utterly love Arbouretum, hell of a band. They have successfully mastered monolithic rock and pastoral folk (often on the same album), but the Baltimore-based band sound at their very fullest on this new LP Let It All In. There are moments of drive and moments of beautifully held peace. It really is joy for both directions and the journey between the two. Record of the Week and a brilliantly varied collection of songs it is too!
+ Limited edition indie in light blue vinyl
Through Water is the highly-anticipated second album from Låpsley. Glacial production that swells and flows around her vocals quite perfectly. Some really complex and full bits and some very stripped back sections. It's hugely accomplished and the real master stroke is it all sounds so coherent as a whole. Been playing this a lot, her voice really is lush.
+ We have exclusive clear vinyl copies and an edition with a bonus 7".
Baxter Dury returns on Heavenly Recordings with his new LP The Night Chancers. Full of sex and swagger, it's funny, urgent and really captivating. Although he sings about affluence and decadence, there is no disconnection, it's all about human interactions.
+ LP Format is on Crystal clear heavy weight vinyl with a download code.
The Performer is the debut solo LP from James Righton, frontman of the Mercury Prize-winning Klaxons. Contemporary piano pop ballads with some really smart production (part recorded in Bryan Ferry’s studio and released on DEEWEE, the heads behind Soulwax), there is a lot to this one.
Welsh singer Georgia Ruth releases the gorgeous Mai on Bubblewrap. Her voice is utterly delicious, beautifully warm production here too. The LP is VERY limited, we have a small stack.
Rustin Man (aka Paul Webb of Talk Talk) releases the beautiful new Clockdust – his second in two years. Having waited 17 years for the previous 'Drift Code', some may be surprised at Clockdust’s swift arrival, but the album’s roots can be found in the same extended sessions. Got such a lush vibe going on.
+ Indies only edition includes 12” x 12” photo print.
Los Angeles-based Moaning return on Sub Pop with Uneasy Laughter, a shift away from the guitars to the synths. GOT a nice sort of goth-pop to it.
+ Loser Edition LP on white vinyl.
Container is the project of American noise veteran Ren Schofield. Scramblers is intense, fiercely chopped up music with drive and loads of menace.
We have Roger Eno and Brian Eno's collaborative Mixing Colours album on Deutsche Grammophon. Utterly vast sonic soundscapes that are full of beautiful melancholia. Nearly made me cry.
Staying in the same sonic neighbourhood, Vancouver-based singer/composer Ian William Craig returns with a brilliant and powerfully emotive new album called Red Sun Through Smoke, largely centred around the piano. Some seriously overpowering moments here. It's another fantastic headspace.
+ LP is pressed on Translucent Red Vinyl.
Max de Wardener returns to Village Green with Music For Detuned Pianos, you guessed it... An album of detuned acoustic piano pieces! It's performed by British jazz pianist Kit Downes and this one really turns your mind inside out for a few minutes, but once your ears are on wrong, it's really magic stuff this. Highly recommended.
Understandably, LOADS of dates are changing for releases (our Hinds Dinked has slipped back, Lemon Twigs also) so we're keeping the website updated as we can. Worth noting that we're expecting Xoros (which is amazing), Primo , Tony Allen & Hugh Masekela and Alfa Mist, keep an eye on our socials for updates.
An excellent time to go looking backwards at albums missed from the last months and years. This week's fresh repressings are really exciting.
The Pop Group issue breakout editions of Alien Blood (featuring previously unreleased material) and Y Live (capturing a number of the band’s live performances) on Mute. It all sounds pretty on point this week, especially if you've been anywhere near a supermarket.
4AD this week reissues Garlands, the debut LP from Cocteau Twins, also the largely acoustic fourth album Victorialand. Both have been remastered from the original analogue tapes and sound dope.
Another brilliantly suitable peice of current climate listening is Hypermagic Mountain, the fourth album from the formidable Lightning Bolt. We have indie shop LPs pressed on Hypermagic red vinyl, it also includes a four page booklet. Worth checking out the Lightning Bolt collection as we managed to cop a few more copies of their back catalogue on any coloured wax. Similarly, we have the last few colour copies of Wasted Shirt, Brian Chippendale's collab with King Ty Segall. Gnarly AF.
Closing out this week with something a bit special. Available again on vinyl for the first time in 42 years, and CD for the first time in 30 years, Jon Hassell's Vernal Equinox has been fully remastered from the original tapes. It's a hugely evocative blend of field recordings, ambient music, natural textures and jazz, a form of music that would become known as "fourth world". Dedicate some time to this one, it sounds unlike anything else. It's a great space to get lost in. Oh, and what day is the Vernal Equinox? Well, that'll be Friday 20th of March my pals... neat huh!
Do keep in touch, we've really enjoyed the company over here. For the time being we're operating like Argos in Totnes, but the website is fully functioning and the safely isolated control tower crew are shipping stuff out in fine fettle.
Look after yourselves and lets keep in touch
- Drift
