A week of extraordinary voices and intense and thrilling noises.
Hello, Friends.
In another very full edition of excellent new music, our Record of the Week is nothing short of an instant classic. Fetch The Bolt Cutters is the first album in eight years from Fiona Apple and she just dropped it online back in April. Her lack of fanfare only accentuated the mass critical acclaim (it remains the highest-rated album of all time on reviews aggregator Metacritic) and now three months later we finally have physical copies to absolutely hammer on the stereo. Her delivery (and production) is equally fascinating and enthralling, both her voice and instrumentation change and morph throughout. It's like a stream of consciousness, dense and honest and almost dreamlike. (She acknowledged in an interview recently that, "the songs change who they’re about a lot.") Believe the hype, here is one of the finest songwriters around in extraordinarily experimental form.
+ Available on a very limited 'Pearl Opaque' double vinyl pressing.
+ Both vinyl formats are 180 gram double vinyl, with 5"x8" 20-page booklet.
Heart's Ease marks the glorious return of one of our finest treasures. Back in the normal world we'd be reminiscing about Shirley Collins having joined us to play these amazing songs live at Sea Change in May, but that wasn't to be this time around. What we do have however is a really lush set of songs that finds Shirley in both beautiful voice, but also quite experimental mood. Her voice is confident and the songs span her life and the lives of others, but the subtle experimentalism (including collaboration with sonic artist Matthew Shaw) really takes this one somewhere distinctly different. Much to discover in its vivid landscapes.
+ Both LP formats are pressed on 140g vinyl. Our Deluxe edition features very limited edition gold foil blocking on the sleeve.
Summerlong is the second LP (following last year's lush self titled release) from Rose City Band, sprawling sunshine Americana from Wooden Shjips and Moon Duo psych lord Ripley Johnson. We're massive fans of everything he does, but there is something about this record - right now - that has hit such a tone at Drift HQ. In less deft hands it could have come off as a bit of posturing, but he has used modern Country music tones to deliver a really exploratory headspace. We are high on this.
+ We're just counting the stock backwards and might well have a pretty colour pressing if you click quick.
Wu Hen is the second studio album from Peckham Jazz visionary Kamaal Williams. A positive tour de force through jazz, rap and R&B without necessarily observing any of the rules. There is just so much going on and it makes for a genuinely thrilling sonic journey. Highly recommended.
+ Indie exclusive edition pressed on limited red vinyl.
Drift favourite Jessy Lanza returns on Hyperdub with All The Time. Arguably the straightest pop-sounding set she has released to date. There is still plenty of big bass, glitching and weird bubbling turns, but the fact that it has a distinctly more pop style means it is going to bring her experimentalism to more people than ever before.
+ Indies Only edition LP on Turquoise vinyl.
Swirling drums and electronic timbres combine for Laurence Pike's powerful and really quite spiritual third solo LP Prophecy. It was written and recorded (with plenty of improvisation) in reaction to the devastating wild fires in his native Australia and you can feel the heat and pain. Been playing this a lot and it really is full of cosmic treats.
+ Pressed on limited yellow colour vinyl.
Courtney Marie Andrews doubtless has one of the finest voices in modern American Country, and on her new third LP - Old Flowers - she proves she has the songs and bags of heart too. It's actually full of subtlety and you really get drawn into the songs.
+ All preorders will receive a signed postcard.
Howl is the gloriously synth heavy fifth album from John Foxx with an all-star edition of 'The Maths' joining him, including former Ultravox guitarist Robin Simon, Benge and Hannah Peel.
+ Really limited indie shop edition on Orange vinyl.
The Upward Spiral is the full debut on Mute from Canadian-born, Berlin-based Nicolas Bougaïeff. The guy is a brain on legs, and although this is super smart-sounding techno, there is still a lot of life to it. LP on limited edition double blue vinyl.
Also this week; RY X and Frank Wiedemann reunite as Howling to present Colure on the Counter label. The production is amazing. 1 is the deeply personal album from Luke Jenner, front man of New York post-punk's The Rapture. Includes an indies exclusive edition on double yellow vinyl. Devendra Banhart is in fine vocal form on Vast Ovoid, a 12" companion EP to his latest studio album, Ma.
Soul Jazz are bringing pure kaleidoscopic fire this week with a killer new compilation of 'New Spirits Known and Unknown'. They explain the release themselves as “deep spiritual jazz, electronic experimentation, punk-edged funk, uplifting modal righteousness, deep soulful vocals and much more.”
Spread across double CD and triple LP, Kaleidoscope features 25 artists and groups including SEED Ensemble, Mackaya McCraven, Tenderlonious & the 22archestra, Joe Armon-Jones, Nubya Garcia , Maxwell Owin, Emma-Jean Thackray, Theon Cross, and Yazmin Lacey. The limited 3LP edition includes a bonus 7" single.
To celebrate the compilation’s release, this week Soul Jazz also present an exclusive one-off pressing double-headed 12” single featuring Theon Cross and Pokus.
An excellent batch of reissues this week, with;
A remastered reissue of Thurston Moore's brooding and fiercely stripped back second solo LP, Trees Outside The Academy. Featuring Sonic Youth's Steve Shelly and violinist Samara Lubelski. Limited pressing on 'Cream and Army Green' swirl vinyl. Includes a 12 page lyric sheet/fanzine.
An essential repress of Makaya McCraven's sprawling breakthrough double album Universal Beings.
A new blink-and-you'll-miss-it vinyl pressing of the classic Guided By Voices album, Vampire on Titus on Opaque Yellow / Gold vinyl.
An essential repress (on 'sunburst psyche' coloured vinyl) of World Music, the explosive and psychedelic debut album from the mysterious Goat.
The first of the excellent Spoon 'Slay On Cue' reissues with their debut Telephono and rare as hell Soft Effects EP back on vinyl. One of the very most underrated bands around.
And lastly this week, a double PJ Harvey helping that has us thrilled and pretty excited for the next few weeks and months. Back in print for the first time in almost 20 years, Beggars Archive / Too Pure Records reissue PJ Harvey's amazing debut LP Dry. It still sounds incredibly arresting and well ahead of its time. As a lush extra, a previously unreleased standalone LP of Demos is available this week too, including brand new artwork with previously unseen photos by Maria Mochnacz. Not only a landmark debut, but a quite remarkable album in its own right.
Keep your eyes peeped tomorrow for the announcement of Dinked No.61 at 11am. We've also got even more restocks hitting the site with Neil Young Homegrown CDs, Paul Weller indie vinyl, Lianne La Havas on minty vinyl, the Mercury-nominated Michael Kiwanuka and Porridge Radio 💕
- Drift
