Dear sweet lord, if this first week of total, non-stop bangers is anything to go by, September is full of bounty.
Starting us off this week is our September Record of the Month; I Love You Jennifer B, the debut LP from London-based duo Jockstrap (Georgia Ellery of Black Country, New Road and Taylor Skye). It is an album of smart and sublimely disorientating pop music, one of the year's most-hyped debut albums and one that absolutely warrants it. An experimental waltz through timbres and tones.
+ We wrote a little more about it and you can read that, here.
+ Available on Limited Green colour vinyl.
+ Both LP formats will include a signed 12” art card.
Natural Brown Prom Queen is the absolutely glorious return of Sudan Archives and it is our Record of the Week. It is pure scale! A hugely ambitious listen across its eighteen tracks, swooping between fast and slow modes with club beats, cinematic strings, R&B energy and traditional music shapes, but it manages all of this whilst remaining essentially post-genre. She is a thrilling voice and this is a massively expansive progression from her fine debut LP.
+ Available on Indie Exclusive double Orange colour vinyl.
Hideous Bastard is the debut solo LP from xx bass player and vocalist Oliver Sim. It’s brave in its directness and he certainly has a lot to say without having to trade in vague affirmations. The production comes from bandmate Jamie xx and is really really good; subtle, graceful, driving and very big when it needs it. You can almost hear where Romy Madley Croft’s vocals would fall in an alternative xx universe, but it does give Sim loads of space and the richness of his voice never feels shallow, even when Jimmy Somerville pops up to lend an imposing falsetto.
+ Deluxe Edition is pressed on crystal clear vinyl, with bespoke die cut gatefold sleeve and exclusive fold out poster.
+ We’ll be putting exclusive 7” singles and film strips into the first few dozen orders.
My Boy is the third solo LP from New Zealander Marlon Williams and it’s quite the departure from the warm, country tinges of his earlier work. The elevator pitch is big pop, but there is a lot going on here under the high energy and upbeat sound.
+ Available on Indie Exclusive Lemon Yellow colour vinyl.
+ LP’s include a limited signed print.
Australian singer-songwriter Stella Donnelly returns on Secretly Canadian with her new LP Flood and it’s a bit of a corker. It’s disarmingly funny and her turn of phrase is really enthralling. Need to spend more time with this one, feels like we’re going to keep finding more and more.
+ Available on Indie Exclusive Opaque Red colour vinyl.
Spirituals is the fourth studio album (and first in a good yonk) from Santigold and it is a really brilliantly structured beast. Released via her own Little Jerk Records label, it feels full of life, with cavernous beats and her alluring voice sparkling across the production. Really good stuff.
Indie icons (they are!) Built To Spill return (and debut for Sub Pop) with When The Wind Forgets Your Name, their first new LP in ages. It’s surprisingly wistful, but jangling and really engaging.
+ Available on Misty Kiwi Fruit colour vinyl.
+ Follow us on the Drift socials for a chance to win a test pressing.
Another big return this week with Ohio’s The Afghan Whigs releasing How Do You Burn. They've always flirted with the epic, but this is proper stomping on pedals, sirens in the background, massive euphoria! Greg Dulli sounds amazing vocally and it’s his assured voice that locks this all in.
+ Available on Indie Exclusive Baby Pink colour vinyl.
Gabe Gurnsey (of Drift favs Factory Floor) returns on the Phantasy Sound label with Diablo. Gloriously observed, it’s dark and slow and evolving. He always manages both smart and gratifying at the same time.
The gloriously titled ‘Freewave Lucifer F<ck F^ck F>ck’ marks the return of woozy popsters Of Montreal. The Georgians are in pretty psychedelic mood, from dark and chugging into more shimmering tones. Lush sleeve art and this one is pressed on limited Cyan colour vinyl too.
Saxophonist and flautist Chip Wickham debuts on the Gondwana label with the glorious Cloud 10. Floating around in Spiritual Jazz waters, but there is a real lightness to it too.
+ Available on Indie Exclusive Clear colour vinyl.
Talk Talk Talk is the second LP from LA-based garage rock band The Paranoyds. Released on Jack White’s Third Man, it has a great punch to it, with plenty of fuzz to the guitars too.
+ Available on exclusive Violet colour vinyl.
Also this week;
How Will I Know If Heaven Will Find Me is the massive new LP from Reading’s The Amazons.
+ Available on exclusive Blue colour vinyl.
Longtime Daptone Hammond ace, Adam Scone, releases the tropical Brooklyn To Brooklin as Scone Cash Players.
Boston’s rocking GA-20 release Crackdown on Karma Chief Records and it is a right baller. Smoking rock ‘n’ roll vibes with some lush throwbacks.
+ Available on Indie Exclusive Purple colour vinyl.
Air Waves is the moniker for Nicole Schneit and her collaborators (including Cass Mccombs, Skyler Skjelset (Fleet Foxes, Beach House), Luke Temple, Brian Betancourt (Hospitality, Sam Evian), Rina Mushonga, Frankie Cosmos and more). The Dance is rammed full of gleaming indie pop bangers, this one should be huge!
Gently Tender (ex-Palma Violets members Sam Fryer, Will Doyle and Peter Mayhew alongside The Big Moon’s Celia Archer and guitarist Adam Brown) debut for So Young with Take Hold of Your Promise!
The vinyl format of Ladyhawke’s excellent Time Flies has just landed, pressed on deluxe ‘Three Colour’ vinyl, no less!
Brighton sextet Opus Kink release their debut EP - 'Til The Stream Runs Dry - on the ever interesting Nice Swan Recordings.
We toldyaso! It really is such a superbly full week, that we’re going to have to end this with a ‘don’t miss out on this couple’ warning for you. Something loud, something sublime.
Loud first; the exceptional and full-body-thrilling Party Dozen with The Real Work. Not a dozen, a duo in fact, comprised of Sydney-based Kirsty Tickle (saxophone) and Jonathan Boulet (percussion and sampler). That said, they make one hell of a din. An abrasive sort of noise punk that really trades in euphoria. Even Nick Cave shows up on “Macca The Mutt” to howl like he hasn’t in years. A proper riot.
Lastly then, the sublime, with Drift favourite Sarah Davachi releasing Two Sisters on her own Late Music label. Spread across a double pressing, Two Sisters is a collection of nine extended compositions for chamber ensemble and solo pipe organ. Deeply enveloping tones and movements from the Canadian experimental musician and composer. She always is, but my word, this is truly special stuff.
+ Available on double Indie Exclusive Dark Green colour vinyl.
Choice reissues in the racks too, with the Charles Stepney LP getting a lot of love, also essentials from; Reverend Horton Heat, Spoon, Daft Punk, The Heads, Arushi Jain and Caribou.
- Drift.
