This week has propulsion and it all comes from richly dark places. It all sounds good.

SickElixir is the XL Recordings debut album from experimental producer Blawan, a dark and disorienting 45 minute trip through bass music. Timbres of industrial music informed by the clanging sound of a mincer in a maggot factory (yep, for real!), the sound design is oppressive and pretty threatening, but the energy and intensity of the rhythms are just so enthralling. One for the adventurers.

+ Anyone who preordered/orders this title will go into a draw to win a test pressing (plus balloon + pigeon keyring combo!)
+ Visit @driftrecordshop on Instagram for no purchase necessary options.

If you are ready to look out the windows a bit and watch the last of the early autumn chill away, man do we ever have a tip for you. Tear Your Heart Out is the latest LP from prolific Ohio songwriter Mark Allen Scott as Villagerrr. Melancholic and daydream cinematic chuggers that are unmistakably Midwestern and still richly DIY in tone. Originally released in 2024 by Darling Recordings, this full and expanded edition on the LA based Winspear label is going to win Villagerrr many admirers. Good!

+ Available on Hi-Vis Orange colour vinyl.

Corporal is the seventh LP from Mexican duo Lorelle Meets The Obsolete. Ruthless, bringing darkly industrial timbres to their psychedelic post-punk. This is distorted dance music, and very addictive that is too. We’re waiting for just the right time to play this LOUD… got a feeling it’s gonna go off to another level.

+ Pressed on limited Neon Orange colour vinyl.

Blight is the new LP from Brooklyn treasures, The Antlers, and it is enchanting. Lots of mournful instrumentation and Peter Silberman’s vocal is really ghostly, but there is plenty of strange optimism too. Fragile and pretty, and not without some proper stereo shimmer. Rating this.

+ Available on double Ocean Blue & Meadow Green colour vinyl.

Montreal’s The Besnard Lakes return with The Besnard Lakes are the Ghost Nation and it has big rock reverbs that got us all going. The production is fantastic throughout, maximal and vast, but not a dense fug; you can really hear all the details as they sway through rock and psychedelia, with dream pop energy too.

+ Available on limited Hand Numbered Gold colour vinyl with a poster.
+ Anyone who preordered/orders this title will go into a draw to win a test pressing
+ Visit @driftrecordshop on Instagram for no purchase necessary options.

Public Works and Utilities is the new LP (his sixth in the last five years) from retro-futurist, Warrington-Runcorn New Town Development Plan. This one turns its gaze onto our public services that have been starved of cash or privatised since 1980, and there is a palpable sense of motion and movement. Good bleeps.

+ Available on limited Red and Black Split colour vinyl.

Multi-instrumentalist and producer Jenn Wasner (also of Wye Oak) releases her new The Life You Save LP under the name, Flock Of Dimes. Her voice sounds gorgeous over the rootsy Americana, with little electronic bubbles too. Absolutely one to check out.

+ Available on limited double Pearl vinyl.
+ Anyone who preordered/orders this title will go into a draw to win a test pressing.
+ Visit @driftrecordshop on Instagram for no purchase necessary options.

The Utopia Strong - Kavus Torabi (Cardiacs, Gong), Michael J. York (Teleplasmiste, Coil and one of the UK’s foremost bagpipe makers) and Steve Davis (DJ and six-time World Snooker Champion) - return to Rocket Recordings this week with their third full length LP, Doperider. Absolutely their most experimental yet, this record really does need to be listened to as you float backwards through your lounger. A proper synth trip of drones and spiritual crescendos.

Oklahoma rock band Other Lives return with their fifth LP - Volume V - their first in a good while. The sonics are vast, big church sounds with warm Americana hues and the odd long rumbling guitar clatter. A really focused set.

Also this week. Australian producer HAAi returns on Mute with the confessional and human/electronic HUMANiSE. Spiritualized release the limited Crazy EP, with two alternate mixes from the most recent album Everything Was Beautiful and a cover of Junior Kimbrough "Sad Days Lonely Nights". Hell of a band. Brighton four piece The Wytches are loud and spiky on their new Talking Machine LP. Got a real live sound to it. Hollie Cook brings it all back home to the Mr Bongo label for her swooning fifth LP, Shy Girl. Lovers rock vibes. We have just a handful of copies of KNEECAP’s Sayõnara / THE RECAP 12”... which is a certified banger. Delete Everything is the all new eighth LP from industrial rock icons Pop Will Eat Itself. We have a very limited edition with a bonus 7” single. Richard Ashcroft of The Verve releases his new solo LP, Lovin’ You and it is a hard one to describe. There’s a sample of Classical Gas that loops a few times before he raps. Wild scenes, I promise. We have tote bags and guitar picks to bundle into your orders. Slightly on the topic, this Mason Williams video is just an absolute scorcher, always cheers me up.

Lastly for today, something limited, loud and pretty thrilling. MATTER AND CARE brings together the first two EPs on vinyl for the first time from the much-hyped, THE NONE. Bassist Gordon Moakes (Bloc Party, Young Legionnaire), vocalist Kai Whyte (Blue Ruth, Youth Man), guitarist Jim Beck (Cassels) and drummer Chris Francombe (Frauds). Was really taken by these guys live and they sure have packed that same wallop onto the discs. Abrasive and weirdly life-affirming. Don’t miss out.