Records of the Week: Group Listening, Bill Callahan and Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, Charlotte Day Wilson, Kreidler, Eels and Burial.

Our last new set for January. It’s been a great start to the new year right?

Hello, Friends.

Record of the Week is Clarinet & Piano: Selected Works, Vol. 2, the absolutely sublime return of Stephen Black and Paul Jones as Group Listening. This really is a beautifully meditative set, slower than the first volume as it slowly unfolds. Lots of touchstones across slow and ambient music, but the duo honestly have found their own space and it really is majestic.

+ Available on a limited Gold vinyl pressing.
+ We have a few dozen signed copies if you get in quick.

Blind Date Party is one of the most glorious collaborative works we can remember in a very long time. Released on Drag City and headed up by (arguably) their roster's most enduring sons - Bill Callahan and Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy - the party features (deep breath); Azita, Matt Sweeney, Alasdair Roberts, Matt Kinsey, Sean O'Hagan, Dead Rider, George Xylouris, Bill MacKay, David Pajo, Mick Turner, Meg Baird, Ty Segall, Cooper Crain, Cory Hanson, Six Organs of Admittance, David Grubbs, Cassie Berman, Emmett Kelly and Sir Richard Bishop. Wow.  Stuck at home, with no gigs in the foreseeable future, Bill and Bonnie needed an outreach program to keep themselves busy, not to mention sane. Favourite songs were chosen; players from around the Drag City galaxy were messaged. Pretty soon, songs were flying back and forth: music in the air! Some glorious moments and some deliciously deranged avenues too. Highly Recommended. 

Released digitally at the end of last summer, ALPHA is the debut full-length release from Canadian R&B artist Charlotte Day Wilson and at long last, we have a physical pressing. Featuring guest appearances from BADBADNOTGOOD, Daniel Caesar and Syd, it's a hugely impressive set and constantly shows off her amazing voice. She's the real deal.



Düsseldorf's Kreidler release Spells And Daubs this week and it really is quite the vibe, tightly-wound, with intricate beats through dub haze. We were delighted to work with the band and Bureau B to release it as Dinked Edition No. 159 and we have just made the last few copies available now. 

+ White vinyl LP *
+ Bonus 3 track white vinyl 12“ EP *
+ Alternative sleeve artwork *
+ Alternative inner sleeve design *
+ Limited pressing of 400 *

The inimitable Eels return this week with new LP Extreme Witchcraft on their own E Works label. The fourteenth studio album - co-produced with John Parish - has great energy and E really is in fine (and very amusing) voice.

There was a bit of a change up on vinyl colours during production, please read the notes if you've just opened one that you think looks wrong!

Another of the week's big returns is Burial with the Antidawn EP on Hyperdub. Sparse and haunting, "Antidawn reduces Burial’s music to just the vapours," as the label aptly explain. A brilliant space between meticulous and stirring in its ambience. 



Imarhan return on City Slang with Aboogi and it is absolutely essential for you Tuareg and Desert Blues heads. Introspective but gets up to a great pace at times too and the guest vocals (including Gruff Rhys) add depth as well.

Colorado singer-songwriter Josephine Foster returns on Fire with her new LP Godmother. Still focused around her amazing voice, but including weird and wonderful electronic hues. One to get quite lost in.

Three Dimensions Deep is the long-awaited debut from Amber Mark. We first heard her yonks back on the Dirty Projectors LP and we've been waiting patiently for this excellent first set. Bubbling tones between R&B and pop, her voice is amazing.

Also this week we have the self-titled Thyla LP on Easy Life Records, Spectrums from the Toronto-based duo Odonis Odonis and a limited 12" of Sean Ono Lennon's remixes of Matt Berry's Summer Sun / Like Stone.

Lastly today, former Mansun frontman, Paul Draper, returns with a collection of his finest songwriting since the band's imperial phase. Cult Leader Tactics is a satire on the genre of self-help manuals. Really expansive production. We have limited indie editions that include a bonus 7".

- Drift