Recommended Records
The Knife in collaboration with Mt Sims and Planningtorock - Tomorrow, in a Year
Tomorrow, in a Year is a coldly overwhelming record built on algorithms Dreijer spent two years tinkering with, modelled on both field recordings made on a trip to the Amazon, and Darwin’s own scientific data. Save for a few sparks at the end, Tomorrow, in a Year doesn’t romanticize or even demonstrate affection for its subject, and nor should it. In dispassionately reflecting just a fraction of nature’s pitiless immensity, it must stand as one of the most extraordinary records of our times.»
Frightened Rabbit - The Winter of Mixed Drinks
If anything, this record should be remembered as a tribute to the way individuals can pull through even the greatest heartache. »
Efterklang - Magic Chairs
For this record is one which plays with the timbres of the orchestra: violins, cellos, trombones, flutes, anything, and does so successfully, utilising the sounds to make something that draws on music hundreds of years old, and music years old, to create something else. And for that, we can forgive it its minor, sporadic flaws. »
Gil-Scott Heron - I'm New Here
Whether these 15 tracks have helped him lay some demons to rest is impossible to say, what’s beyond all doubt however, is that I’m New Here is a seriously good record.»
Pantha Du Prince - Black Noise
If you let it Black Noise might just change the way you listen to the world.»
Midlake - The Courage of Others
That Midlake seem poised to break out with a record as dark, strange and bewilderingly out of step as The Courage of Others is a real victory.»
Jaga Jazzist - One Armed Bandit
It’s unlikely to be coincidence that Jaga Jazzist’s third album ends with the noise of helicopters. This is, after all, a reco»
Nils Frahm - The Bells
Born from an exchange of tapes between Nils Frahm and composer Peter Broderick, The Bells is a record of astonishing beauty. Recor»
Lindstrøm and Christabelle - Real Life is No Cool
Hans-Peter Lindstrøm, who we can henceforth refer to by his surname, is one of the most universally fêted dance producers operating out there. Why, this very reviewer stopped just short of calling him a genius [in a DiS review last year] (http://drownedinsound.com/releases/14642/reviews/4137969). Chances are you won’t see many negative reviews of Real Life Is No Cool, the first album collaboration (they issued a couple of 12-inches some years back) between Lindstrøm and vocalist Christabelle, both resident in Norway. The only thing likely to generate dissent is the potentially stultifying consensus – like Merriweather Post Pavilion in 2009, anyone not feeling this has to live with it almost all year – but in the here and now, I feel like I’m on the side of truth, brother.»
Four Tet - There is Love in You
Good news, list fans; when the age-old 'Best album opening trio' debate rears its inevitable head once more, we now have a new contender to add to its hallowed ranks: There is Love in You begins with an absolute stormer of a triple whammy. »
Eels - End Times
End Times is a break-up album that lashes relationship breakdown onto societal collapse, and rarely has Everett sounded so plaintive, so utterly broken down. Even Electro-Shock Blues, which dealt with the deaths of his mother and sister, had musically upbeat moments like ‘Cancer for the Cure’ and ‘Last Stop: This Town’. Blinking Lights and Other Revelations was full of them. On End Times they are fewer and farther between and even when Everett does harness that life-affirming energy, as on ‘Gone Man’, he can’t help but flip the classic Rolling Stones refrain “I used to love her, but it’s all over now” to the rather more lugubrious “She used to love me, but it’s over now”. »
These New Puritans - Hidden
At some point in the planning stages, These New Puritans front man Jack Barnett must have said: 'Okay, we can either stick to our guns, make another pretty-decent record, or we can go for broke'. I mean, how else does writing a collection of songs around a bassoon come about? »
Nick Cave and Warren Ellis - The Road
Two inspired musicians, equally sensitive to each other and the demands and possibilities of storytelling through soundtracks.»
DiS joins the Music Alliance Pact + May 2013's global MAP compilation
Drowned in Bristol #12
DiS Does Singles 13.05.13: Swim Deep, These New Puritans, The National
Darkstar, Ed Harcourt, Halls, Wall +more for 3 DiS-curated nights at Great Escape 2013
Interview: Frank Turner on The Olympics, The Backlash, Thatcher and Black Flag
Drowned in Nottingham #14
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