A full week of new sounds and we are crushing pretty hard on them. Come find out why…

Alex Izenberg, a real Drift favourite we tell you what, returns this week with the gorgeous new Alex Izenberg & The Exiles. The LA songwriter trades in the richest analogue melancholia, and this new, band-based album really is full. His vocals float across the retro-pop vistas to euphoric and ghostly effect, and the band pull in Country tones and Laurel Canyon strutting. Our Record of the Week and really highly recommended.

The mighty Wand release Vertigo this week on Drag City. Another band we hold very dear and this new LP is really impressive stuff. It’s like the trashing garage riffs of their early work were Saturday night at a festival, and this new LP is peak Sunday afternoon; introspective and vast sonics as your whole body Drifts. Tell you what, we can’t think of another contemporary band who have evolved so much over their discography as Wand, all that whilst still sounding recognisable as themselves. A great band and this one is already getting played plenty.
Red Mile is the new LP from Canadian art-punk collective Crack Cloud and it has a lot going on. Euphoric and quite pop sensitive songs, with flashes of synths, saxophones and even strings, all pinned with a punk aesthetic, especially to the vocals. It could easily have sounded pretty messy with so much in the mix, but it does have a charm and very much its own character.

+ Available as a Dinked Edition.
+ Available on limited 'Freefall' Blue colour vinyl.

His name is Bill Callahan! Rejoice, the Drag City heads plugged a tape machine into the desk when Bill et al were out on the road and Resuscitate! Is an absolutely fantastic document of those live shows. Recorded in March 2022 at Chicago’s Thalia Hall, the band included Matt Kinsey on guitar, Dustin Laurenzi on sax and Jim White on the kit. It really is masterful stuff, the way it all flows is pretty glorious. We did see one of the UK dates and Callahan’s rich baritone was like a beacon in the swirling sonic clouds. The man can do no wrong. Great stuff.

American soul singer Baby Rose returns on Secretly Canadian this week with Slow Burn. You will remember that we really loved her Through and Through LP last year and this new set has really taken that stunning voice and gone somewhere. Produced in partnership with Toronto jazz band kingpins BADBADNOTGOOD, it has a real lightness, loads of space for her gorgeous voice and some stunning flourishes across their impressive instrumental repertoire. It’s pretty limited so don’t miss out, it really does have a lush character to it.

+ Pressed on Clear Smoke colour vinyl.

Big up to the Trouble In Mind crew who put out two really great records this week.

Firstly, New Haven psychedelic quartet Mountain Movers release the hugely impressive double LP, Walking After Dark. The signature scorched earth guitars are brought right back to long rumbling notes and the rest of the instrumentation is full of lush acoustic meditations that really fill the stereo with warm and fuzzed out bliss. It is raining here and I am looking at the window, not sure if anything could have soundtracked it better.
Then, slightly closer to home, Glasgow musical collective Nightshift return with Homosapien. It’s less hard than their (excellent) Zöe LP, full of ramshackle drives and curious and rich instrumentations. Great band.

+ Available on limited Fruit Basket Swirl colour vinyl.

Also this week; North Carolina traditionalist Nathan Bowles and his Trio release Are Possible, a really fantastic set of instrumentals that wed Appalachian mountain music and jazz experimentalism. Rob Marshall releases On The Edge Of A Lost And Lonely World under his Humanist name on Bella Union. Great guests too with Dave Gahan, Tim Smith, Isobel Campbell, Ed Harcourt and more. Legendary Manchester band A Certain Ratio release a very limited new single called Clockwork Orange on Speedy Wunderground as part of their illustrious 7" single series. A banger! Dan Carey dubs on the B side.

Lastly today, something very special indeed. Kevin Fowley’s À Feu Doux is absolutely and honestly one of the lushest records we’ve heard in ages. Broadly; French lullabies and traditional folk songs - dating as far back as the 14th century - adapted with contemporary arrangements and faint tape manipulations in Dublin, Ireland. It is just magic. A soft and hypnotic coo with organic and flowing arrangements. Technically a mini LP at a fraction over 25 minutes, but there is not a wasted second. Really stunning.

Reissues are full of choice too, with; Talking Heads, fans of Talking Heads, Skip James, Modesto Duran, David Bowie, Sleaford Mods and An Electric Storm! We shall tell you more about that shortly.