PRE-ORDER: This item will be shipped with the aim to deliver on release day.
Format Details:
Release Date: 14 February 2025
Label: Expert Work (code 7)
Packaging Type: Slip Sleeve (CD or Vinyl)
No of Units: 1
Barcode: 8944513677866
Description
Drill For Absentee's Circle Music + 4 is a limited edition 12" vinyl compilation of the band's previously released music from the 1990s, unreleased studio material, and a new song with old roots.
The compilation includes:
The original tracks from DFA's debut 7", released in 1997.
The Circle Music EP recorded by Geoff Turner and released in 1998.
"Drown In Words," a track from the "Infinity Session" that produced the songs for the 7" and
"The Sea Is Watching," a new track featuring 21st century DFA drummer Ken Kuniyoshi and a bass line recorded in the band's rehearsal space in 1999.
Drill For Absentee reformed in 2021 after a 20-year hiatus.
All of the tracks were mastered by Bob Weston at Chicago Mastering Services.
The nineties were undoubtedly one of math rock's most infinitely giving eras, with so many twists and turns that kids today are finding out about bands like Drill for Absentee for the first time, despite the band dropping some serious heat just before the turn of the century.
And who can judge those poor kids, you know? It's not like they had easy access to obscure vinyl growing up, and at the time of release for a lot of these records, math rock tapes and CD's weren't exactly in high-demand. The demand was there, of course, just not in ways that translated into something obvious to the grubs in charge. But that was then, and this is now.
Whether you're an old head or a new Drill for Absentee fan, it's time to rejoice, as the band just announced that all of their nineties output has been remastered by Bob Weston (Shellac, Polvo, Archers of Loaf, Rodan, June of 44, etc.), and sounds incredible.
The collection is called Circle Music + 4, which does make sense - Circle Music was their 1999 EP, the last record they'd release until 2022 saw their reintroduction with Strand of a Lake, Vol. 1. It contains two new-ish tracks as well, with one being an unreleased song from their live sets and the other being a re-imagining of something sketched out around the time they went on hiatus, featuring their 21st century drummer Ken Kuniyoshi. Both, we can tell you, are bangers.
It makes sense that "Drown in Words" would be used as an opener in their sets, as it's one of Drill for Absentee's most energetic compositions. But "The Sea is Watching" bridges what you would think of as a particularly wide gap, being the one that exists between nineties math rock and the strange, otherworldly futurism of bands like Paranoid Void.
FFO/RIYL: Slint, Rodan, Shipping News, June of 44, Hoover, and The Crownhate Ruin
Tracklisting
Tintoretto
Street Stains
Drill For Absentee
Cougars
Bald Eagle
Tintoretto
Drill For Absentee
Bald Eagle
Solventis
Nonconnah
Repetita Iuvant
Dirty Three
Catherine Graindorge
