Ambient landscapes, early disco bloopin’, pop maximalism and the heady sounds of Electric Lady.

Absolutely dominating the stereo (at over three hours a pop) this week is Selected Ambient Works Volume II, a proper landmark album of ambient electronic recordings from Aphex Twin. As far as we know, it hasn’t been pressed on vinyl since its release twenty years ago so this really is a huge delight here at Drift. These expanded editions include all songs on all formats for the first time, including previously vinyl-exclusive track #19 alongside two additional tracks (officially released and on physical formats for the first time).

Tranquillity with brooding tones, it really is a masterpiece.
Talk Talk’s second album It’s My Life gets a 40th anniversary pressing this week. Listening back to it now, the production is so interesting; forceful and pop ready and very 1984 à la mode, but actually full of curiosities in the mix that already hinted at where they would go over the following releases. This new pressing has been cut at Half-Speed by Matt Colton at Metropolis Studios, overseen by Talk Talk drummer Lee Harris and Mark Hollis’ son Charlie.

A real stunner this week as part of Blue Note’s Tone Poet series with Donald Byrd’s sublime Kofi. The album is drawn from two sessions recorded in December 1969 and December 1970 (although not first released until 1995) and charts the early stages of his transformation from hard bop into fusion. Some lush spiritual timbres in there too.

+ This stereo edition was produced by Joe Harley, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original analog master tapes, pressed on 180g vinyl at RTI, and packaged in a deluxe tip-on jacket.

Jackpot Records have pressed a very nice new edition of the near-mythical self-titled 1969 Gandalf LP. Low key grovers and super psychedelic studio techniques, it really has a lot of style.

+ This pressing utilises an all analogue process (AAA), cut from the original analogue master tapes by Kevin Gray. Includes liner notes and photos by Peter Sando from the band and pressed on super clear vinyl.

We have a really great new compilation via Soul Jazz Records called ‘Electro Throwdown’... A Sci-Fi Inter-Planetary Electro Attack on Planet Earth 1982-89! The album is comprised of mainly private-press and independent label electro jams of the highest calibre. All created in the 1980s, at a time when a vocoder, a Roland TR-808 drum machine and a groove was all that was needed to get the party started! Great liner notes from Derek Walmsley of The Wire too.

Too Pure have pressed a 20th anniversary pressing of mclusky’s The Difference Between Me And You Is That I'm Not On Fire. Hard, poignant and full of hooks, mclusky are absolutely one of the most overlooked bands around, bloody brilliant. The record - their third - was produced by Steve Albini and this new pressing has been mastered by Bob Weston.
Also new but not new in the racks we have UK Subs’ Flood of Lies, Animal Collective’s Sung Tongs and ‘Electric Lady Studios: A Jimi Hendrix Vision’, a really lush new box set from the Jimi Hendrix estate with almost entirely unheard tracks recorded by the new-look Jimi Hendrix Experience (Billy Cox on bass, Mitch Mitchell on drums) at Electric Lady Studios between June and August of 1970.

Lastly this week, Numero have solved any anxieties about what might need playing on Halloween with the superb Haunted Presence compilation; ghoulish garage, skeleton-rattling soul, mutant proto-metal, and spine-chilling ’60s kitsch. It really is a proper hoot, so buy now and avoid any tricky end of month decisions. Boom. Available on limited Ghost Power Silver colour vinyl.