Oh my word, dozens of new things for you. Sending off August with a bang, it is sounding lush over here.
Hello, Friends.
Last week of August and musical riches in all the directions. Record of the Week this week is Whitney's return on Secretly Canadian with Forever Turned Around. Taking cues from 1960's guitar pop-rock, the duo give their songs a beautifully modern light, avoiding any aping or appropriation. They still have that carefree breeze, but whereas their debut felt like summer, there are plenty of autumnal hues to their second LP.
+ Limited Indie Shop only LP version is pressed on forest brown coloured vinyl.
Bonnie "Prince" Billy, the National’s Bryce Dessner, and the contemporary classical outfit Eighth Blackbird have joined creative forces for a new album called When We Are Inhuman. Broadly speaking it is new arrangements of Will Oldham songs (also a live performance of Julius Eastman's "Stay on It") with movements from Bryce Dessner’s Murder Ballades, but they really have created a glorious vibe here. We're massive Will Oldham fans admittedly (as you well know), but hearing such clever and pretty re-workings of his songs is really something.
Find Sound is the debut record from Shards, the London based vocal group led by singer, composer and producer Kieran Brunt. Amongst the walls of human voices, they bring in flashes of synth and percussion to beautiful effect. Lots of subtlety in this one amongst the big dramatics, loads to re-visit.
Big one this week with Bon Iver's i,i released on CD and LP. It's a product of a lot of time and thought and feels like there have been no wasted gestures. Guests include Moses Sumney, Bruce Hornsby, Wye Oak's Jenn Wasner and the Brooklyn Youth Chorus. Maximal stuff with plenty of heart.
+ The next few orders will receive a really lush pin badge... We took a picture of one on our instagramthis week.
Joan Shelley releases her beautiful new album - Like The River Loves The Sea - this week on No Quarter. It was recorded in Iceland and there is a glacial sort of elegance to it all, Bonnie “Prince” Billy pops up with some really lovely harmonies too.
NEON BROWN is the debut LP from Velvet Negroni. A really fascinating release this one, influences in pop, synthpop and chopped up electronica... But it's where he goes that is so thrilling. Moves around just enough not to feel like a pick 'n' mix, but is constantly surprising. Very very good.
Lana Del Ray's highly anticipated (and brilliantly titled) Norman Fucking Rockwell! drops this week. Production sounds like a million dollars and she definitely goes off into some pretty weird territory on this one... Which we approve of!
+ Indies edition LP on Translucent blue vinyl
The Silence return on Drag City, conjuring potent spirits from the classic rock era. Metaphysical Feedback is full of heavy riffs and some really solid all-analog vibes.
Ezra Furman returns with his eight studio album, Twelve Nudes. Punky af, it's got the biggest riffs, the angriest sentiments and the gnarliest vibes. It's a protest album that is provoking rather than boring and keeps you thinking long after the snappy pop gems have stopped.
+ First pressing on yellow vinyl
Another eight album return, with !!! dropping Wallop. "chk chk chk" (as they are known) have delivered an album of addictive and really quite weird left-field dance music. Got some great beats to lock into and some lush tones, highly recommended.
+ Indies exclusive - Green and pink 2LP (solid colour on each disc)
The Futureheads release Powers, fast, angular mathsy guitar rock that harks back to their earliest releases. They have harnessed plenty of drive.
+ Indie edition is pressed on limited Magenta coloured vinyl.
Last new one this week is (all too predictably) an absolute peach. Triumvirate is the combined power of a group of three in creative collaboration. Carter Tutti Void (Chris Carter, Cosey Fanni Tutti and Nik Void) release their third and final studio album containing all new studio recordings. Triumvirate brings the industrial supergroup to a conclusion, an album of warm pulses and fuzz... We really love this.
A couple of most excellent Cabaret Voltaire editions on Mute this week, with 1974-76, a selection of material recorded by the band during the earlier and formative years of their existence and Chance Versus Causality, a previously unreleased soundtrack to 16mm Film For Two Projectors by Babeth Mondini from 1979. Both are a nice weight and on colour vinyl.
Snail Mail's excellent breakthrough Habit EP gets its first ever physical edition after it's digital debut a few years back. New artwork on CD and 12".
Couple of real classics back in print, with Camera Obscura's most luscious Desire Lines on 4AD, and Guided by Voices' Half Smiles Of The Decomposed on Matador. Everyone should own both really...
Tool return this week with Fear Inoculum. It was released as a mighty impressive looking deluxe CD (with in built screens!)... but they sold out hard and fast. Pretty sure there will be a full physical release at some point.
We have a limited double silver vinyl pressing of Oasis' Definitely Maybe. Really nice production on this one. It's actually pretty limited so don't hang about too long on this one.
Last one this week is a reissue we've really gone a bit head over heels for. Mikey Young – who is best known as a member of beloved Australian DIY groups like Total Control and Eddy Current Suppression Ring – recorded, mixed, mastered and performed everything on You Feelin' Me?, and this week it gets a full release on the mighty Castle Face. Intimate and lo-fi, it's got some of the most hypnotising tape hiss and synth whirs we've heard in ages. A beautifully delivered album of ambient shapes, can't wait to walk this one around on the headphones.
Loads of delicious preorders up on the Drift site (including Floating Points, John Coltrane, Cigarettes After Sex and the ever so mighty Sunn O)))...), so do have a browse.
- Drift
