Ding Dong, Merrily? We had our Lee draw on the window, but do not expect bloody tinsel on the shelves...
Hello, Friends.
A really good set of releases this week before we go into that couple-of-week slumber. That said, next week has some real beauties too including our December Record of the Month - On Reflection - from Selling.
Record of the Week is the simply stunning Fallen Trees LP on Erased Tapes from Lubomyr Melnyk. Renowned for his incredible technical skills (often dubbed 'the prophet of the piano'), it is worth noting right away that this is not a record focused in any way on ability or precision, it is hugely evocative and in places really quite overpowering. The furious rate at which he plays creates huge swells and the addition of Hatis Noit's vocals and Anne Muller's cello are very special moments. You can reference any of the singular piano composers of the last 50 years here and still fail to articulate the journey Lubomyr takes us on. Magical stuff.
+ The LP edition is running late, but hopefully with us shortly.
Conceived in pieces over the last several years and completed just the month before his awfully sad passing, The Hex is a wonderful and grand statement from Richard Swift. Often better known for his studio acumen and production work than his own songs, The Hex will be a place for MANY new fans to find him and work backward through a very fine body of work. Secretly Canadian have in fact reissued a double vinyl presentation of his The Novelist / Walking Without Effort and that is also out this week. Do get involved.
Sinking Into A Miracle is the debut album by Glasgow’s AMOR, a quartet of musical travelers exploring the sonic open-ended-ness of dance music. It s released on the impeccable Night School label and has been really getting us going this week.
+ Indie-shop-only LP version on Orange coloured vinyl and is limited to just 300 copies.
Briefly festive again, and in the old tradition, Aidan Moffat & RM Hubbert invite you to gather round the fire for Ghost Stories for Christmas. Alongside the seasonal, the album also features their cover of Yazoo’s synth classic Only You, already a popular number in their live set and the cover versions is topped off with a sombre rendition of Mud’s 1974 hit, 'Lonely This Christmas'.
+ The heavyweight white vinyl LP comes with a download card that doubles up as a personally-signed Christmas card from the duo themselves!
The Bevis Frond return on Fire with We’re Your Friends, Man. A 90 minute blast of grown-up angst that engages the best classic rock touchstones from Young and Stills guitar battles to Love’s tender melodies and Dinosaur Jr’s buzzsaw guitars. Great stuff.
We've been waiting ages on this one. Sophie's debut LP Oil of Every Pearl’s Un-insides lands on vinyl via Transgressive, an exhilarating album of dance-pop and epic ballads. The production is thrilling, very highly recommended.
+ Limited, indie-shop-only version on opaque red coloured vinyl.
Sea Change Festival alum Chris Carter this week releases Miscellany, a new box set of his early work, collating remastered (and mastered for the first time) solo albums alongside a disc of unreleased archival recordings from 1973-1977. Heavy and essential.
Philadelphia singer-songwriter Rosali Middleman releases her second solo album, Trouble Anyway on Scissor Tail Records / Spinster Sounds. Some pretty lush layered harmonies and guest appearances from Charlie Hall (War on Drugs), Paul Sukeena (Angel Olsen), Mary Lattimore, Mike Polizze (Purling Hiss), Nathan Bowles (Steve Gunn, Black Twig Pickers), Gretchen Lohse (Carol Cleveland Sings), and Dan Provenzano (Purling Hiss, Writhing Squares).
Loose today release the final recordings made by Robert Fisher and his band - Willard Grant Conspiracy - before his untimely death in February 2017. Untethered was completed before his death but the tapes have only recently been dusted down and brought to life with the care and attention of his longtime compadre David Michael Curry.
Loads of great releases back in press today.
4AD have done a lush job on the This Mortal Coil albums It’ll End In Tears, Blood and Filigree & Shadow.
Domino reissue two LP's from HRH King Creosote's vaults with pressings of Kenny and Beth's Musakal Boat Rides and Rocket D.I.Y.
We've been having great fun playing Bauhaus in the shop nice and loud and Beggars Arkive keep the turntable going with Crackle and Burning From the Inside.
Manic Street Preachers' This is My Truth Tell Me Yours turns twenty and there is a pretty sweet Collectors' Edition on the racks. Really nice edition.
Couple of really nice Paul McCartney and Wings editions in Wild Life and Red Rose Speedway. Both are newley remastered for 2018 at Abbey Road Studios and include previously unreleased material.
Now this last pair have been going down really well at Drift...
A real treat from Trunk. Jim Wilson's God's Chorus is an extraordinary ambient / minimal masterpiece made just using the sounds of crickets. Sounds like heaven. Or beautiful death. Or angels singing. Or a choir in the worlds most amazing cathedral. Not many of these so don't miss out.
WRWTFWW Records are fast moving into 'always essential' territory, and this synth LP is another reason why. A collection of never-heard and hard-to-find works by Swiss music pioneer and synth super wizard Bruno Spoerri. The album is sourced from original masters and available on a vinyl LP cut at Emil Berliner Studios (formerly the in-house recording department of Deutsche Grammophon), housed in a 350g sleeve with a superb artwork by Nicolas Eigenheer, and packed with track-by-track liner notes by Mr. Spoerri.
We, unfortunately, can't track down any Vince Guaraldi at the moment, but we do have Low Christmas for your seasonal needs.
