It's our annual 'proximity to Valentines edition'... so we've gone all doe-eyed 💕
Hello, Loves.
Record of the Week is The Slow Rush, the return after a five-year absence from Kevin Parker's Tame Impala. It has been meticulously produced, you only need to take a few minutes to listen deep into the dense and swirling production to get a feel for how much thought has gone into its vivid production. It's another bold step away from their earliest psych-rock incarnation with a pretty sparse use of guitars, The Slow Rush is instead crafted with woozing synths that chug and glimmer to pretty glorious effect. Pop songs full of hooks and super smart production, just wait for the sun to come out this year and people will be playing this to death.
+ Limited Indie shop version double LP pressed on heavyweight red and light blue coloured vinyl.
+ Limited version double LP pressed on heavyweight dark forest green coloured vinyl.
Dinked Edition No.36 lands today, Dark Matter, the new solo LP from jazz auteur Moses Boyd. The young drummer and arranger will be known to you already (as half of Binker and Moses, producing Zara McFarlane's Arise LP or numerous other live and studio collaborations) but Dark Matter is a hugely ambitious piece and a leap in his esteemed, young career. With feet in jazz, grime, Afrobeat and garage it explores the point where electronic music and jazz converge, utilising all the beats and tones to find it's own distinct space. Brilliant stuff.
The last few editions have been loaded to the site now. The edition includes;
+ Double 140g exclusive Grey Vinyl
+ Custom 90cm x 90cm Flag Wrap sleeve
+ Silver Foil Inners
+ Numbered Edition
Nathaniel Rateliff goes solo with new LP And It’s Still Alright. Vocally he sounds amazing, a rich and warm baritone full of honesty, never stretching. Great set of songs and the production really is deluxe.
+ The Standard LP is coke bottle green vinyl, single sleeve 180 gram.
+ Indies exclusive LP is ocean green clear vinyl, single sleeve 180 gram.
3D Routine is the debut LP from Leeds quartet Mush. A jangling and frenetic take on post punk, the energy is really infectious stuff, we're well into this.
+ Indies only edition on Orange vinyl.
Aux Pieds de la Nuit is the debut LP from Nyx Nótt, the new guise of Aidan Moffat. A terrible sleeper, the distinctly nocturnal album is entirely instrumental, introduced only by Moffat in the style of a particularly sultry late night DJ. Cinematic and strangely comforting, not a million miles away from The Caretaker... just based in a different hotel.
Dipped In Gold release the chugging self-titled debut LP from Grotbags. Succinct pop bangers that would be a lot more funny if we weren't all going to hell in a handbag!
NYC-via-Georgia trio Bambara release the excellent Stray on the also excellent Wharf Cat label. Loads of rattling reverb, this is pretty dark stuff aside from the pounding drums. Been playing this a lot, it's pretty intoxicating stuff.
+ Available on Indie shop clear vinyl.
Tennis return with Swimmer. We've always liked these guys (it's hard not to), but slightly wrote them off as style over substance. On Swimmer there is still loads of analogue pop styling, but something has really clicked (with us anyway) and the sophisticated pop draws you in whilst the emotional urgency of it all keeps you listening. Really, really good stuff, make sure to check this one out.
+ Indie edition LP on transparent blue vinyl.
More glimmering pop with Canadian solo artist Boniface releasing his self-titled debut on Transgressive. Some lush little tones and some epic great moments, great stuff this.
+ First pressing of the LP is on Red vinyl.
+ We will have a few copies of a special bonus CD for this album, while stocks last.
Believe the hype on this one. Mute release the physical edition of HAAi (Australian-born producer Teneil Throssell) EP Systems Up, Windows Down. She's an excellent big beat maker, but the detail in every second of this is HUGE. Adore it, been pounding this in the dark Winter mornings.
Latest in the David Bowie 7" picture disc series with the fortieth anniversary of Alabama Song. Originally released in the UK on 15th February 1980, Alabama Song was initially written as a poem by Bertolt Brecht in 1925 and was put to music by Kurt Weill for the 1927 play 'Little Mahogany'. David Bowie was a longstanding Brecht fan and included the song in the setlist for his 1978 Isolar II tour. We sold out, but we've added the last few to the site... now!
David Gray's multi-platinum-selling album, White Ladder is released for the first time on vinyl in celebration of its 20th anniversary. Available on White double 140 gram vinyl housed in Gatefold Sleeve with Printed Inners.
Last one this week and we're right into it. Kollington Ayinla's celebrated 1978 album Blessing, a rare lost classic of Nigerian Fuji music. The release is the first in Soul Jazz Records’ new series of one-off pressings of limited-edition (1000 copies, vinyl-only) releases of Afro-funk/Afro-beat exact-replica, super-rare albums that were previously only ever released in Nigeria. Forward-thinking and heavily danceable.
Thanks for all the nice things you've emailed us about our (seventh) nomination in the Music Week Awards. If you are someone who votes in them... pick us! It's humiliating having to go and smile through drunk teeth each year... We really want that damn trophy.
- Drift