Some very different and very new sounds, plus a wedge of essential reissues from the vaults. Ended up as a pretty big week.
Hello, Friends.
Record of the Week is Tirzah's pretty magical debut Devotion on Domino. Produced by Mica Levi, it's incredibly intimate and has a constant balance between her utterly perfect voice and how imperfect pop music can be. It is so beautifully constructed, most of the tracks gently unfolding and unwrapping themselves from short loops and fragments. The scattering club beats on 'Holding On' is a gloriously little change of pace, in that way, it is an album of both glorious micro-moments and an all-encompassing vibe. It's hazy and almost conversational in its amity. A quite brilliant debut and one we're going to be playing this loads.
+ Limited Edition LP pressed on heavyweight white vinyl
Hilang Child is Ed Riman, singer, songwriter and collaborator of Bella Union labelmates Lost Horizons. His debut album Years is a sweetly poppy collection of songs about adolescence and finding your own way. He has a hugely evocative voice and that is the main event here, direct and beautifully honest ahead of some really lush, textured production. Limited Indies-only clear vinyl pressing.
+ A reminder that Hilang Child plays solo and as a part of Lost Horizons at Sea Change 2018.
From When I Wake The Want Is, is the new album from Kathryn Joseph via Glasgow’s Rock Action Records. She again sounds positively ethereal, but it can be pretty haunting. We'd go as far as to say she is one of the most interesting singers about right now, really quite unlikely anyone else.
+ On coloured, heavyweight vinyl for the Indies.
Odetta Hartman’s second album Old Rockhounds Never Die is a really fascinating one to place. Sonically it does all sorts of clever things, but at times also sounds like a DIY 1930's recording. It's quite traditional but then also weirdly modern in its sexiness. Odetta has a great voice and it's a really enjoyable set to get into.
+ Indie shop pressing on transparent red vinyl.
New Zealand's The Beths release their debut Future Me Hates Me on Carpark Records today, energising a sonic space between joyful hooks, sun-soaked harmonies, and acerbic lyrics. Super breezy, it feels like road trips with some endorphin rush clattering choruses.
+ CD is a four panel Digipack with 4 Panel Lyric Sheet Insert.
+ Limited First Pressing on Tangy Yellow Vinyl, 12" x 12" Lyric Sheet and download.
Death Grips return with the release of Year Of The Snitch, another remarkably grim sleeve image too. It is about as glitchy as they have sounded, but the drops are still huge, pretty jacked listen. The LP is due early September and is on a limited clear vinyl pressing if you're quick.
Miles Kane (The Last Shadow Puppets, The Rascals, Friend to Leighton Baines) returns with his third album today, Coup De Grace. Jamie T and Lana Del Rey amongst the guests. Limited LP is on Pink vinyl with download card.
More amazing sonic adventures on the Moog Recordings Library label with Charlemane Palestine, Chris Watson and Jimi Tenor out today.
Anamnesis is the fourth Studio Album by acclaimed multi-instrumentalist Ethan Johns. Recorded with his band The Black Eyed Dogs, the album is released as a double set on CD and Vinyl on Ethan's own Three Crows Records label. CD is here, LP due next week.
Some really excellent reissues today.
The biggest drop is the Teenage Fanclub reissue series with five albums receiving limited repressings. The series includes new editions of 1991’s Bandwagonesque, 1993’s Thirteen, 1995’s Grand Prix, 1997’s Songs From Northern Britain, and 2000’s Howdy!. Each LP includes a bonus 7" single containing rarities, B-sides, and previously unreleased tracks selected by the band. Again LIMITED.... available only with these initial pressings.
So good to have these albums back in press... that kind of goes without saying though right?
The Moldy Peaches self-titled debut gets a limited red vinyl pressing today, the first time in a good fifteen years. Have to be honest, haven't listened all that much in the interim but really really enjoying going back to this. There are some moments of utterly gold here. First pressing includes a bonus 7" single of 'County Fair/Rainbows'
Tom Waits' Blue Valentine is reissued today on... Transparent Blue Vinyl... obviously. The album is bookended by Somewhere and the title track, two of his most magical moments.
Southern Lord have made fresh pressings of Sunn O))) White 1 and White 2. Double vinyl and posters on each, seriously heavy stuff. Sounds INCREDIBLE.
Released in the immediate aftermath of the runaway success of The Breeders’ platinum-selling second album, Last Splash, and the Pixies calling it a day the first time around, The Amps are an important part of the Kim Deal canon and Pacer really is one of the most intriguing chapters.
Beggars Banquet reissue The Fall singles compilation 45 84 89: A Sides. Seventeen songs from The Fall’s Brix Smith era. This is a perfect introduction to the band, and as legendary critic Robert Christgau said, it’s “The only Fall record any normal person need own”. Originally released in 1990, this pressing will be on white vinyl.
First time reissue on any format of the 1994 album Highs, Lows, and Heavenly Blows by Spectrum. Spectrum is the project of Sonic Boom (ex-Spacemen 3 as well as Experimental Audio Research) and collaborators (technically his 3rd album but the 2nd under the name Spectrum). Was this a record store day thing? Who knows?!
Audiophile reissue of Songs Of Experience, lacquered directly from David Axelrod’s original EQ’ed master tapes at Capitol Records by Ron McMaster, housed in a deluxe gatefold jacket. CD here now, LP due to land soon.
A couple of weeks ago we said that Hiroshi Yoshimura (Music for Nine Postcards) and Midori Takada (Through The Looking Glass) were back in stock... that was a lie, we misread the invoice, but today we DO have them... that said, Hiroshi Yoshimura LP's are late so due soon.... clear?
Heavenly release the Out The Window 12" today from the marvelous Confidence Man (with Andrew Weatherall and Greg Wilson & Ché Wilson remixes ) in a delicious new house sleeve... but it is too marvelous and sold out last week. As ever, keep an eye on the pre-order section as stuff does fly!
Napoleon Dynamite came out of nowhere back in 2004, a surreal and beautifully subtle oddball of a movie. The soundtrack was one of the many subtle gestures and the soundtrack carries the score, songs, cuts from Bow Wow Wow, Money Mark, Jamiroquai, Yaz and some choice dialogue. Double Electric Liger Blue Vinyl... Lucky!
Two weeks today, all roads lead to Sea Change. Very limited weekend tickets left with us. Full artist and day splits online... Come and get involved.
- Drift