Ian Watson wrote about the madness of compiling 'Best of Year' lists in November (or even earlier) for the Guardian. My own advent series was a shifting landscape right up until the point that I started writing it, and the threat of some thrilling new album emerging in December was of course ever present. As it was, there was one album that should certainly have snuck in to the list and Ian makes reference to it in his article. In light of that then, here is a special Boxing Day supplement for The Drink. Take it away:
No, I didn’t know about the rarer than rare things that were the self-released EPs One through Three that were collected on the ‘Company’ set until, well, I decided to take a punt and grab the aforementioned LP at the start of December. A few moments of ‘Microsleep’ were all I needed to be convinced, and really in all honesty it could be the only song you need to play. Put it on repeat. Lift the needle back to the beginning and start, start again again. Dance in your pyjamas. Dance in your daydreams. But dance.
The Drink will in all likelihood make many fine records in the years ahead, but they will need to go some to better this blueprint for magnificence. For ‘Microsleep’ is Je Suis Animal humming about Marie Roget whilst Life Without Buildings dart and scratch in the background. ‘Microsleep’ is Steeleye Span having a seizure; is demonic, medieval mythology cloaked in the finest cocoa rich chocolate. ‘Microsleep’ is The Popinjays of their eponymous first EP colliding with Throwing Muses and collapsing in an exhausted, twitching heap on the floor.
I believe in magic.
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