Tell you what, we’re gonna be playing a few of these crackers all year long!
Hello, Friends.
A really wonderful set of new releases for the racks this week. As we keep saying, February really is a fantastic month-full.
Cate le Bon's excellent Pompeii is released this week. As we mentioned online this week, it is our February Record of the Month and really is fantastic. Shimmering, hypnotic and positively thrilling. Don't miss out on the translucent yellow sun vinyl pressing.
Our Record of the Week is Ants From Up There, the fantastic return of Black Country, New Road. Still glowing in the white-hot heat of their Mercury-nominated debut, the young band return with a new album that is as weird and provoking as their fine debut, but also one that finds them searching for new space and sounding comfortable with some altogether more conventional structures. There is a certain something of Jarvis Cocker's frenetic honesty in the vocal delivery, against soundscapes that move from sparse through to contemporary Klezmer. It is nothing if not rammed with ideas.
Sadly the band's frontman Isaac Wood announced this week that he was to take an indefinite leave from the lineup, tinting this excellent new release with a downcast shadow. The band carry on, they will be back and Ants From Up There is a future cult-classic from this iteration of one of the most exciting bands around.
+ Currently available on a whole range of limited formats. Visit the site ASAP.
Another massive return this week with Mitski releasing Laurel Hell. As is her way, it's a full and dense pop album, but the nuance is really quite amazing. The smallest gestures create such vibes and she really is in the peak of her powers. Album number six finds her getting better and better.
+ Available on a very limited Opaque Red vinyl pressing.
It is a double-Dinked release week with a couple of very different albums on the racks.
Summer at Land's End is a really glorious new set from the prolific and quite remarkable Glenn Donaldson as The Reds, Pinks and Purples. So few people manage to capture the intricacies of music that is overwhelmingly sunny and overwhelmingly maudlin. A really great writer and this really is a fantastic set.
+ Available on limited Pale Green vinyl.
Let The Festivities Begin! is the absolutely thrilling new LP from Los Bitchos. It's good-time party vibes from the London-based pan-continental group, with little ambles into Exotica. Great rhythms, they really lock into some absolute bangers.
+ Available on limited Light Green vinyl.
The Order of The 12 is a psych folk group formed in Lewes, Sussex and man alive are we into their debut, Lore of the Land! They are Rachel Thomas, Fumaca Preta multi-instrumentalist Stuart Carter, and musician, writer and producer Richard Norris (the Grid/Beyond The Wizards Sleeve). I think it's their debut, we'll clarify. Actually, Richard reads these I think so maybe he'll clarify!
Warm, hypnotic vibes with odd psychedelic cues. Very highly recommended indeed.
LP3 is the new LP from Minnesota-based band Hippo Campus. Pretty euphoric stuff with big builds and some lovely little electronic flourishes.
+ Available on a limited Opaque Purple Swirl vinyl pressing.
+ While stocks last, we'll include an exclusive, indie-record-shop-only transparent flexi disc of the track 'Ride or Die' into all LP orders.
Time Skiffs is the new LP from the much-loved Animal Collective and it really is great! As the band approach their 20th year together, there is such a sense of unity here, from changes of pace to rich harmonies. Great stuff.
+ Available on a limited Translucent Ruby vinyl pressing.
Gratitude is the eagerly anticipated new solo album from Abiodun Oyewole, the poet, teacher and founding member of The Last Poets. The production is absolutely lush, tightly wound little loops and Oyewole is both commanding and deeply arresting in his delivery.
+ Both CD and LP formats include an interview booklet.
Iconic metal band KORN return with their fourteenth studio album, Requiem. Heavy, as one would expect, but less dense, with a lot lighter sound than we'd normally associate with them.
+ Available on a limited Milky Clear vinyl pressing.
+ Whilst stocks last, we have some very limited KORN enamel pin badges.
yeule - Nat Ćmiel, a non-binary, London-based, Singaporean multi-disciplinary artist - releases Glitch Princess this week and it is hugely impressive. Brittle and bubbling pop with some really fascinating production, from saccharine hooks to a sort of industrial screech.
+ Available on a limited 'Antifreeze' Green vinyl pressing.
Partner Look are a Melbourne-based band made up of German sisters Ambrin (Cool Sounds) and Anila Hasnain (Studio Magic), who are joined by their partners Dainis Lacey (Cool Sounds) and Lachlan Denton (The Ocean Party). By The Book is stacked with really good jangle, sort of Flying Nun via a more driving stateside sound.
+ Available on a limited Baby Blue vinyl pressing.
Nashville singer-songwriter Erin Rae releases her new LP Lighten Up. Produced with Jonathan Wilson, it’s really good vibes with Country hues and some pop fizzle. Guest appearances from Meg Duffy, Ny Oh, and Kevin Morby.
Lastly today, pop band Bastille return with the ambitious new Give Me The Future LP. We have a really limited 180g transparent orange vinyl pressing.
So that's even more than a baker's dozen for you. Dive in!
- Drift
