Uhhh... We have some great new records, otherwise it all feels like a bit of a weird old day doesn't it?
Hello, Friends.
Record of the Week is the self-titled debut LP from Melbourne’s U-Bahn, an album of bonkers synth-wave that affirms them as one of the most buzzy new bands around. A vivid collage of glam-pop and new wave, they chop up the energy of the B-52s, Dead Kennedys and most directly Devo, whilst sounding arrestingly new and really exciting. A wild stage show live, they’ve captured that snarly energy on record, and it’s rare these days you can delight in a new band that’re so genuinely original.
As we mentioned earlier in the week, the Australian garage powerhouses Eddy Current Suppression Ring make a surprise return this week with a scorching new LP - our December Record of the Month - on Castle Face. The massive new All In Good Time (yeah, they've been away for nearly a decade so that is a joke...) has got such a great pace to it, it's full of garage rock nuggets and a brilliant loose vibe. Love this band, love Castle Face, love this LP!
Broadmead is the soundtrack to ‘Broadmead: The Movie’, a film by Stanley Donwood (who amongst many other things makes all of the Radiohead artwork) and Mat Consume. Named after a run-down shopping precinct in Bristol, it mournfully recalls a time when the government of the United Kingdom was building a National Health Service, new universities, nationalising the railways and creating a Welfare State. Spoken word against Jay Auborn and John Matthias' beautiful and minimal music. A lush package and super super super limited edition, we have just a handful. Exclusive to Drift and just a handful of other indie shops.
Heavy Is The Head is the highly-anticipated second album from Stormzy. Features a contractually-obliged appearance from Ed Sheeran. Gets a physical release tomorrow on CD, there will be an LP in 2020 but we don't have a date yet.
Another huge pop smasher just in time for Christmas, with former Take That member Harry Style releasing Fine Line. We have a limited and exclusive black and white coloured vinyl pressing.
The CD and regular LP editions of Sufjan Stevens & Timo Andres The Decalogue are released this week. Managed to cop a last few copies of the deluxe edition too (that includes the monotype print by Charlotte de Mezamat).
Throbbing Gristle and Mute release the next phase - and last for 2019 - of their reissues series with the release of Part Two: The Endless Not, TG Now and A Souvenir of Camber Sands, out on CD and Limited Edition vinyl. The Camber Sands release was an ATP Nightmare Before Christmas performance in December 2004 and is utterly ferocious!
Iowa Dream presents nineteen tracks of Arthur Russell’s most personal work. More than forty years after Russell recorded several nearly finished songs, Peter Broderick worked diligently with the Audika label to complete them with a stacked roster of downtown New York musicians. They really have captured his spirit.
One of the very finest records of our lifetime gets a repress today, with Parquet Courts' furious Light Up Gold on What's Your Rupture. The subsequent four albums have seen them ever changing and successfully bridging post punk, power punk and disco with great aplomb, but there is something magic about the unrelenting energy of this album.
Daniel Lopatin (Oneohtrix Point Never) returns with his latest score, this time for the A24/The Safdie Brothers' film Uncut Gems that - like this fine soundtrack - is released tomorrow.
Also in soundtrack world, Heavenly Recordings have done a brilliant job to bring both Killing Eve seasons out this week, with both one and two on splatter vinyl. Die-cut gatefold vinyl sleeves in a really delicious looking matt finish with spot gloss detailing. Full of killer vibes.
Lastly this week is Analog Africa's first deep dive into the Somalian capital Mogadishu's musical legacy. Mogadisco goes deep into the dusty Radio Mogadishu archives of ‘strange music’ circa 1972 - 1991, with funk, soul and disco cuts in long warping loops. Got a feeling we'll be leaning more towards Mogadisco than the mistletoe this festive period, some killer cuts.
Okay. Be well, do all you can and let's not be beat, okay.
- Drift