For your deliberation we have soothing voices, euphoric bleeps, big bass and cinematic soul.
Hello, Friends.
It’s a very Dinked week, this week, with; FIVE new editions in the building, one streamable but slightly delayed and another just announced!
Bristol-based songwriter Rachael Dadd releases Kaleidoscope, an album of dense and beautifully hypnotic music. She creates such an amazing vibe with her voice. Spooky but euphoric and soothing all at once. It has to be said, the splatter vinyl looks delicious.
BLUSH is the striking debut from South-London-based three-piece PVA. From the shimmering electro pop to the industrial bangers, this is a hugely impressive release. They bring in so much sonically (it can be menacing and euphoric in the same song) whilst keeping it all ever-moving-forward with an electro strut. Playing this a lot.
The Rest Is Distraction is the pounding return of experimental post-punks Girls In Synthesis. An intense, dark and challenging collection of relentless drums, fractured guitar, desperate vocals, mechanical electronics and keyboards. This is tough, but extraordinarily euphoric through all the vitriol.
Recorded predominantly in his own Los Angeles studio, When the Lights Go is the first Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs album since 2012’s critically acclaimed Trouble. A double LP at 17 tracks, there is such a bubbling energy, with moments of contemplation and introspection too. A brilliantly paced journey.
Big bass got us bustin’! Ben Carr, aka CARRTOONS, is the hotly-tipped multi-instrumentalist and producer from New York whose music brings the electric bass to the forefront. His second full album set - Homegrown - evolves his trademark Modern Motown sound, expanding the sonic repertoire into jazz, soul, hip-hop, and more. This one got stuck in production hell so we’ve all actually been listening to it for about a year now at Drift and can testify that we keep going back, really highly recommended.
There is actually more, with A.O. Gerber’s lush Meet Me at the Gloaming also released tomorrow, but we’re afraid that the Dinked Edition has gone back a few weeks into early November. Available now on all the streaming platforms and highly recommended.
Education & Recreation is the cinematic return of Melbourne’s soul journeymen Surprise Chef. Their third album is a real trip, a vivid and flowing set that pulls in 70’s cinematics, laidback soul, jazzing frenetics and oozing funk, all slow cooked into a hazy headspace. It’s an album that keeps giving. Our Record of the Week and another real treasure.
+ Available on exclusive Clear Red colour vinyl.
Quiet The Room is the full debut album from Helen Ballentine as Skullcrusher and it’s a spooky gem. Stylistically it sounds more like a folk record than anything else, but it’s the layering and density that makes this one such a special listen. Washes and hazes of sounds that aren’t always directly decipherable, like memories shimmering in and out of the speakers. Don’t underestimate the subtlety, there is much to discover here.
+ Available on Indie Exclusive Cloudy White colour vinyl.
Another big return in these parts is organic-electronic extraordinaire Rival Consoles with Now Is. Although arguably more minimal than ever before, there is such a lightness here. The album has a bounce to it and the slow builds are really euphoric. Another highly recommended one.
+ Available on double Indie Exclusive Transparent Blue colour vinyl.
FOREVERANDEVERNOMORE is the first album in five years from Ambient Grandmaster and all-round hero Brian Eno. The new LP sees Eno singing on the majority of tracks, a deep heavenly voice that flows in between the bird song, pulsing tones and electronic glitches. Love it.
Stay Close To Music is the new LP from Mykki Blanco and it really is wild! Blurring genres and tones, it pulls rave, trap, grunge and punk influences into a swirling pool of experimental hip hop that celebrates queer and trans experiences. Created in collaboration with producer and multi-instrumentalist FaltyDL, each song started as a jam and there is a live energy here that burns bright.
+ Available on Limited Edition Clear colour vinyl.
Here Is Everything is the eagerly-anticipated third studio LP from The Big Moon, an expansive album with themes of motherhood, parenthood, birth, lockdown, friendships and love.
+ Available on limited Transparent colour vinyl.
Also this week… A couple of HUGE albums for the charts, with the eagerly-anticipated Being Funny In A Foreign Language from The 1975 and Return of the Dream Canteen from iconic Californian sock models, Red Hot Chili Peppers. Apocalypse Love is the tenth studio record from Atlanta garage band The Black Lips. Dreaming Kind is a new studio set from Glasgow icons and Sarah Records alumni The Orchids. We have some limited signed postcards with this one too. I Don't Belong Anywhere is the grunge-drenched new LP from October Drift. Our mate Simon assures us that 2023 is the year Grunge returns, so now you know. This week also sees the release of Poster Paints, the self-titled debut LP from members of Frightened Rabbit and CHVRCHES.
Louis Cole releases the FANTASTIC new Quality Over Opinion via Brainfeeder. The CD is here, but we’ll talk about it more when the LP drops next month.
Lastly this week, YTI⅃AƎЯ is the new album from Bill Callahan and it is, as you’d well imagine, absolutely wonderful. His solo output in the last decade (Dream River, Have Fun with God, Shepherd in a Sheepskin Vest and Gold Record) has seen an artist who could already be considered quietly-iconic, find new and subtle ways to excite and devastate with each new album. His voice is miraculous, his turn of phrase inspiring, these are all quite amazing albums. YTI⅃AƎЯ is another gorgeously warm addition. Funny, kind, surprising and just a treat from start to finish.
The only bad news is the LP is going to land with us late February :(
Well, we can’t end the week on bad news, so expect more from us shortly about (the well-meaning) National Album Day and some killer reissues from; Can, Damien Jurado, David Bowie, Set Fire To Flames and more Vince Guaraldi Trio!
- Drift
