Last week of April 2020...
It's been a weird one right?
Hello, Friends.
Record of the Week is the return of Ben Lukas Boysen on Erased Tapes with Mirage. As with many of those magic moments on Erased Tapes, Mirage finds itself in the beautiful spaces between contemporary classical, electronic and sonic textures. It's an album full of slow builds and beautifully composed headspaces. The guest appearances of Anne Müller and Daniel Thorne are particularly thrilling. The fluidity of the production really works to house them. Highly recommended, going to be playing this a lot.
+ Indie edition available on limited clear vinyl.
+ Watch Ben Lukas Boysen's DJ set at Sea Change Goes Online here.
The two-time Mercury Prize nominee Ghostpoet returns with I Grow Tired But Dare Not Fall Asleep and he sounds fantastic. It's a tense album, full of anxiety and driving sonics but he sounds totally in control in the middle of it all. Laid back but confident, he's quite a revelation here.
+ Indie shop version is limited and pressed on ghostly clear vinyl.
+ Whilst stocks last we have signed cards
Another big return with Car Seat Headrest back after a four year absence with Making A Door Less Open. Sonically it's quite a shift, incorporating a sort of collaboration with is own electronic side project... does that make sense? Vocally he has developed a lot and all the smart and swelling production frames him rather than drowning him. Very good, enjoying going back in on this one.
+ Limited Indie shop edition is pressed on opaque pink coloured vinyl.
Happyness release Floatr this week with a fairly epic reimagining. Drummer Ash Cooper's emergence from a supporting role into a fearless drag queen to co-front the project with singer Jonny Allan is pretty wild stuff. Loads of gnarl to the mix still, got some bangers this one.
+ Indie edition is pressed on clear vinyl.
Damien Jurado is in beautiful form on his new What's New, Tomboy? LP via Loose Music. He has always been an impeccable songwriter (and a fine producer too), but as he moves past the 25 year point in his career it's his delivery that dazzles, he is just approaching those higher echelons... Effortless grace.
Man Man release Dream Hunting in the Valley of the In-Between on Sub Pop. Some fantastic pop songs here, the lead single Cloud Nein has some brilliantly controlled euphoria. It all sounds so expertly produced that you have to really listen to clock how weird this is.
+ 2LP Loser Indies Edition is on Pink vinyl in a Gatefold jacket etching on side D.
Joan As Police Woman returns with her new album Cover Two, her second collection of covers, this time featuring Gil Scott-Heron, Prince, Blur, Michael Macdonald and Talk Talk!
+ Indie edition pressed on red vinyl
The mysterious Pêtr Aleksänder has fully remixed and reimagined Ride's This Is Not A Safe Place LP, landing today as Clouds In The Mirror. Some really stunning moments here folks.
+ Indie version LP is pressed on limited clear vinyl. One-run-and-done.
Austra (aka Katie Austra Stelmanis) presents her fourth album, HiRUDiN this week on Domino.
+ Super pretty moss green colour vinyl.
Kanye West's ninth studio album Jesus Is King landed today on special transparent blue heavyweight vinyl. We only have a couple left. Did we mention that we also got stock of his 808s & Heartbreak LP a few weeks back? Well, we do.
We really like the First Terrace label and they have kindly passed us a very few limited copies of the new Peter Broderick release. They invited him to rework two compositions from Justin Wright’s 2019 album Music For Staying Warm and the two pieces here are knockout. Beautiful piano meditations. The recordings are released in a limited edition of 150 white label 12”s, handstamped & numbered with love and each featuring a homemade lino print which seals the record shut. The artwork was created by Louise Overy who is one of our bestest mates and is the poor thing who has to copy edit all of Rupert's garbled words for Deluxe Magazine.
More fire on Blue Note due in the building tomorrow with Lee Morgan's The Cooker and Dr Lonnie Smith's cosmic All In My Mind.
Lastly this week, an album of supreme beauty that has really knocked our little socks off. Green-House is the project of Los Angeles based artist Olive Ardizoni. Six Songs for Invisible Gardens is just perfect. Bird song and other field recordings with simple and utterly captivating melodies on strings, blown things and sunshine drenched drones. I think we've listened to this about 28 times this week, just shut your eyes and let everything else just melt away... trust us.
Some other things of note.
+ We just took stock of some seriously tasty rare cuts (zany af colour vinyl) from the Castle Face label. Give us a few hours to load them up to the site, but also... manically hit F5 as they are super limited.
+ As we mentioned over on our Instagram, we'll be popping copies of Loud & Quiet into mail order. It's a hell of a magazine and they really have taken a kicking during the last few weeks. If you enjoy it (note, you will), then we strongly encourage you to visit their website (www.loudandquiet.com), subscribe to their subscription service and have forthcoming issues delivered to your door.
+ Essential restocks in the building from BC Campight, Nap Eyes, Midlake, Breeders, Metronomy and caroline... this is the nudge we promised loads of you.
I think thats is it? Take care of your minds, stretch them with beautiful sounds and be sure to tell us about it.
- Drift