Oh my! April 2020 might feel like we're starting under a cloud, but the first new release Friday is AMAZING...
Hello, Friends.
Seeing as this week is RAMMED with new new, and also seeing as you all have a bit more time on your hands than on an average Thursday, we are going to get you involved and try and achieve a first here. This week's Record of the Week will be announced on Saturday... as a result of your votes! Have a read, have a listen, check out our playlist and reply with your ONE pick for the Record of the Week.
With editions pressed on 'Drained Of Blood' and 'Blood and Guts' vinyl, it is quickly evident that Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs are in ferocious form with Viscerals, their grandest statement yet. HEAVY stuff, gnarly riffs, big wails, it really is a monster. We're hooked, utterly. When the kids aren't about, check out the video for Rubbernecker, it's a work of high art!
Co produced with Flying Lotus, Thundercat drops the nonchalantly titled It Is What It Is, another exceptional album. It features musical contributions from Ty Dolla $ign, Childish Gambino, Lil B, Kamasi Washington, Steve Lacy, Steve Arrington, BADBADNOTGOOD, Louis Cole, Pedro Martins and Zack Fox. We also have a ton of different editions on coloured wax and even a picture disc. Slow grooves through to full on funk thrillers, it is nothing short of a joy this one. It's also exciting to try and count the number of times you loose your breathe at how damn fast his fingers are. He is no mere mortal. Brainfeeder4life.
Yves Tumor returns to Warp with his quite remarkable new LP Heaven To A Tortured Mind. Sonically it pulls inspiration from all over the place, it's wildly hypnotic but with a forward propulsion throughout that really locks you in. Although it sounds like collages and quite dreamlike in it's construction, the pacing is masterful. It's such a trip.
+ Indie Edition LP is on Silver vinyl in printed inner in gatefold outer sleeve (more landing shortly, we got rushed online this week and WAY under ordered).
Friday Forever is the second album from multi-artist project Everything Is Recorded, helmed by producer and artist Richard Russell. Thematically the album takes on a multi-lensed perspective of a classic night out, followed closely by the sobering reflections of the next morning. There is a real sense of motion to this one. It's exciting, it's confusing and the different voices provide a hugely engaging dynamic. In a week of brilliantly produced albums, this is a brilliantly produced album. Highly recommended.
Warm Digits make a very welcome return this week with the superb new Flight of Ideas album, an album we were hyped to Dink! Brilliant production with loads of drive and head space, superbly measured guest appearances too from Emma Pollock, The Lovely Eggs, The Orielles, Paul Smith and Rozi Plain. We're just counting the final stock numbers and will make some more Dinked editions available in a minute...
Dinked Edition Number 41
+ Exclusive mirror-board sleeve
+ Exclusive 7” featuring two brand new non-album tracks
+ Orange vinyl
+ Signed postcard
+ Limited to 300 copies
Aside from guesting with Warm Digits, The Lovely Eggs drop the new I Am Moron LP this week on their own EGG label. It's horribly funny, full of macabre assessments on the world we find ourselves in. They are not wrong!
Absolutely LOVE this one for a number of reasons. Guitarist and composer Wilma Archer releases his debut LP A Western Circular on Domino's Weird World imprint. Firstly, it's beautiful constructed. Secondly, the guests are incredible with Samuel T. Herring (Future Islands), Sudan Archives, and Laura Groves all contributing vocals to his rich, dexterous compositions... oh, and MF FLIPPIN DOOM!! Lastly, the album draws inspiration from American novelist John Fante, who in our humble opinion is where it all started. So very highly recommended this one, make sure to check it out.
+ Indie shop-only, limited edition album bundle including album pressed on clear vinyl and a white label, black vinyl 12” of the 'Last Sniff' track, featuring MF Doom.
Anna Burch returns on Heavenly with the beautifully intimate If You’re Dreaming. Her voice is as clear as a bell, it's lush. This first press is on purple wax.
Ren Harvie releases her long-awaited new album Revel In The Drama on Bella Union. This first pressing is pressed on clear vinyl.
Born Again is the dreamy full debut on Fat Possum from Ellis.
If you have even a passing interest in MBV or Stereolab, you're gonna trip on this one. Peel Dream Magazine release the motorik and dreamy a.f. Agitprop Alterna on Tough Love. This first edition is on transparent vinyl. DO NOT MISS OUT.
The self titled Loose Fit 12" on Fat Cat. Full of lush alt-pop-post-punk. Indie shop version pressed on neon yellow vinyl.
Juice is the excellent sixth LP from Born Ruffians. Introspective, euphoric and really addictive. Love these guys. Yellow vinyl pressing if you're quick.
Stockholm's Viagra Boys return out of nowhere with Common Sense. Always stunned that these guys aren't huge... Jazz kids playing post punk... it's glorious!
M Ward returns with his tenth album Migration Stories, and a beautifully delivered one it is too. Mellow gold, he sounds fantastic.
Haley Fohr (otherwise known as Circuit Des Yeux) returns to her Jackie Lynn alter ego for the gloriously trippy Jacqueline. From the Lynchian dive-bar ballads to the pulsing electro pop, it's weird and casts a beautiful spell. Excellent stuff this.
Just in, Smoke Fairies drop a super limited Elevator 7" picture disc. We only have a few!
Some pretty essential stuff right here, Warp reissue a special 25th anniversary edition of Nightmares On Wax's Smokers Delight. Some of the finest post-club jazz, dub, soul and hip-hop recorded, it's a beautiful haze. Lush edition this, one disc is red, one disc is green and it is housed in printed inners with a mirri-board gatefold sleeve.
Special double CD and double LP editions this week of Zero 7 's third album The Garden. Features guest spots from Jose Gonzalez and Sia.
First recorded in 1982, not long after Nina Simone moved to Paris, and originally recorded for a small French label, Fodder On My Wings has only been sporadically available since its initial release. This 2020 edition has been expanded with three bonus tracks from the recording sessions from a rare French reissue released in 1988. 'I Just Sing To Know That I'm Alive' is a cheeky joy!
Never forget... Trunk always deliver... And how! Three unheard 1960s and 1970s reels from the unreal and unreleased Basil Kirchin Tape Archive. Everyday Madness is full of sublime pastoral jazz, autistic children screaming, spooky vocals, experimental tape manipulation and more from the master of such thing.
Our mates at the best imprint around - Rough Trade Books - this week dropped another batch of pamphlets. We'll be receiving new words shortly from Max Porter, Richard Phoenix, Briony Bax and David Shillinglaw. Lots to browse here. Keeping things literary, we'll also have stock of Country Music, the full debut collection of poems from Will Burns. He promised to sign them... HE PROMISED TO SIGN THEM. Really excited about all of these, you know how mad we go for RTB.
Do keep an eye on the website and on our socials, as we have quite a few bits due to land. Including the brilliant fingers of James Elkington, the pounding atmospherics of Nathan Fake, the thrilling bleakness of Flat Worms and the irresistible pops of Purity Ring.
Read this once, read this twice, hit the Drift blog for that weekly playlist and make sure you're soundtracking lockdown right, okay?
- Drift
