Soul vibes, big riffs, smooth jazz plus some booms and bips.
Hello, Friends.
Our first Record of the Week in August is Belief, the self-titled, collaborative debut album from producer Boom Bip and drummer to the stars (and Warpaint permanent fixture) Stella Mozgawa. Using early-'90s techno and acid house textures, this one is so evocative. It is bass-heavy, but there is a real lightness to the production. It really floats along and arrives just in time to be an ever-present on the Drift office summer bangers playlist!
We were really thrilled to work with the band and LEX on a gorgeous Dinked Edition and have made our last few copies available in the shop and online now!
Alluvium is the fourth album from Glasgow’s classically trained multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter C Duncan. His previous albums have been nominated for both the Mercury Music Prize and the (SAY) Scottish Album of the Year Award; beautifully constructed suites to really get lost in. This new LP is released with Bella Union and really is pretty, such graceful arrangements.
+ Available on limited Ochre Colour vinyl.
Mouthful Of Earth is the first spoken-word album from Alex Rex, the nom du plume of drum god, former Trembling Bell and darkly brilliant songwriter Alex Neilson. Returning to his experimental roots, this set is both gloriously funny and emotionally gripping. Far from easy going, but very much one we've gone back to a few times already.
Perth's Psychedelic Porn Crumpets return with new album Night Gnomes and it has to be said; this is gloriously good fun! A wash of huge riffs, with fuzz and distortion leaking across the whole sonic landscape. As we say, super good fun.
+ Available on limited Purple Splatter colour vinyl.
Dance Ancestral is the latest new-age jazz excursion from the ever prolific John Carroll Kirby. A real shimmer to the energy, jazz fusion that floats in the breeze. A guest appearance from Laraaji is an early album highlight too.
Another album this week with a gloriously sunny flow is Could We Be More, the debut album from eight-piece jazz/Afrobeat band Kokoroko. Released on Gilles Peterson's Brownswood Recordings, they can make a huge sound, but their ability to move between that fullness and subtle gestures is really lush.
+ Available on limited Blue colour vinyl.
+ We have numbered album prints to give away.
Louisiana-born, 81-year-old Portland resident and legit soul icon Ural Thomas returns with his 'The Pain' band this week on Bella Union with the psychedelic and grooving Dancing Dimensions. Hardly surprising we guess, from a man who has graced the same stages as James Brown and Otis Redding, but his voice sounds mint.
Also this week; In The Wild is the explosive new album from ska-punks The Interrupters and includes a limited, exclusive White colour vinyl pressing. You Of Now Pt. 1 is the debut EP from London-based singer, songwriter and producer Léa Sen. She's already guested for Joy Orbison and this first EP is lush, expect big things! Forest Nocturne is the debut solo LP from Greg Anderson aka The Lord (Engine Kid, sunn O))), Goatsnake and Southern Lord Recordings curator); heavy af and on exclusive Grey colour vinyl. Oklahoma singer-songwriter John Moreland's lush Birds In The Ceiling has landed, this one includes a limited Opaque Blue colour vinyl pressing. Also just landed and getting played a lot here is Andrew Tuttle's Fleeting Adventure on Basin Rock, golden banjo plucking with guests to include Steve Gunn, Chuck Johnson, Luke Schneider and Balmorhea... Really lush.
Lastly today, Noise & Flowers is a live album that captures Neil Young + Promise Of The Real on their 2019 European tour. It's a right ripping set, with Mr Soul, On The Beach and Are You Ready For The Country in particular sounding pretty fierce.
Hefty set of reissues this week too, more on them to follow, but on the shelves now we have; Marvin Gaye, Ryo Kawasaki, Bobbie Gentry, essential new jazz cuts, a tribute to John Anderson and a lot of David Bowie.
- Drift