A rich week of new-not-new floats, ethereals and sonic thrillers.
Hello, Friends.
Our good friends at World of Echo have reissued the eponymous debut LP from Bristol underground icons Movietone this week and, well, it has us going! It was originally released in 1995 by Planet Records and reissued on CD in 2003 by The Pastels’ Geographic Music imprint, but this is the first time Movietone has been reissued on vinyl and this ‘23 edition is expanded to include bonus recordings and demos.
For those not familiar, it’s an album of whispers and haze; lush textures and euphoric builds. It’s the rich, homespun sounds of the underground and listening to it now (which is what we’re doing, you know) it feels like a huge cultural point of reference for a lot of the current loud-and-quiet scene of music makers. Low-key iconic and highly recommended.
The purest of good vibes from Acid Jazz this week with another reissue from the vaults of the enigmatic Albarika Store label. We’re back to late 70’s Benin and the ultra-rare Ogassa Original (Vol. 1), the first LP from the brilliant Porto Novo group, Ogassa. It has great drive without getting locked into the same rhythms throughout, the rolling beats and howling organs really make this one.
We have two Jon Hassell reissues on the Ndeya label this week with The Living City [Live at the Winter Garden 17 September 1989] and Psychogeography [Zones Of Feeling]. Both albums were inspired compositionally by the rise of hip-hop production, with Hassell chopping up his own performances and riffing against them. So much going on here with amazing ambience and orchestrals. The live performance had Brian Eno on mixing duties! Every moment requires attention, but the trip is well and truly worth it.
Both titles will be available as a double CD edition called Further Fictions later this week.
Another juicy double with two real corkers under the Blue Note ‘Classic Vinyl Series’ this week; with laid back vibes from American jazz pianist Horace Parlan on Speakin’ My Piece and alto saxophonist Jackie McLean’s blues-soaked Bluesnik.
Both releases are stereo and all-analogue, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original master tapes. Pressed on 180g vinyl at Optimal.
Another duo? Yep! The esteemed Be With Records have taken a dive into the Coloursound vaults this week with two pretty wild German library releases from the cult label. Fly Me To The Sun is a proper synth-funk odyssey from Polish composers Andrzej Marko and André Mikola. It really has such a shimmer, bringing on full serotonin vibes.
Delicious in an altogether different direction, Emotionally is an absolutely beautiful set from Croatian musician Branislave Živković and Polish jazz pianist Andre Tschaskowski. Dreamy and seductive with the occasional dark flash of Lynchian energy.
Both are highly recommended and are getting good rotation at Drift.
Diggers Factory have made the first vinyl pressing for Cut Copy’s 2016 ambient project, January Tape. The project was created during a break that the band took from recording the follow-up to 2013’s Free Your Mind. Really beautiful and slowly evolving, ambient, instrumental works.
Also firmly filled under ‘not to miss’ this week is the reissue of Alpha Mist's highly impressive 2015 Nocturne EP (he was still a teenager!) and also Sixteen Oceans from Four Tet, who is making all sorts of catalog available (yes!) over the next few weeks. The way Kieran Hebden makes every single note and bleep sing in unison is just magic.
Lastly this week - and available again for the first time since its release back in mid 2017 - Soul Jazz Records have pressed up a limited new edition of the classic Space, Energy & Light: Experimental Electronic And Acoustic Soundscapes 1961-88 compilation. Thirty years worth of synthesizer pioneers including artists Beverly Glenn-Copeland and Laurie Spiegel alongside more underground sonic explorers. Beeps and clunks through proto-new-age, ambient and natural world inspired, this really is a lush set.
+ Available as a limited-edition one-off pressing on triple yellow vinyl.
Can you say “my head is swimming” as a compliment? Because my head is swimming through this week’s riches and we love it.
- Drift
