DRIFT Series 1 - New album, Nov 1, 2019

[Dino3D]

The tracklisting is perfect to me, both the album, and and the EPs. I'm glad Very silent way is removed from EP1 so I won't have to skip it.
But sadly the ugly cover art remained.

[saintrik]

Originally Posted by funkboy3

Does anyone know if the "boxset" edition will be available digitally at all? I pre-ordered the physical version of the sampler, but I just can't swing 60gbp (plus shipping to the states) for the physical boxset.
iTunes already shows a pre-order for the digital version of the sampler, but that's it.

Also ordering from the US - the shipping charges from Amazon UK are far more reasonable and the box-set price is actually reduced further once the VAT is removed. I pre-ordered on Amazon UK and the price with shipping was £46.36. LINK (Your mileage may vary.)

I'm also monitoring the Amazon US store for this as well - it looks like it might be available from the US directly. LINK

Of course, these won't be signed editions - but I really can't be bothered with autographs.

[negative1]

Originally Posted by purlieu

A sampler?

that's still a type of album.

if the 7 disc set is the full 'album', that's a little more unwieldy.

later
-1

[WhiteNoise]

From a marketing perspective it's very weird to call it a "sampler" instead of an album proper, especially after announcing it as one.

The spirit is still there! But the general public, music critics, etc, may miss this release with the focus being put on the boxset. The 90% may balk at a 7CD package yet won't take something called a sampler seriously. A regular length album that points to the larger Drift series / boxset made total sense to me. Weird they've inverted that idea and made the sampler the lower key release.

This aside. Great tracklist. A serious set of songs. Excited to hear the final episodes too with the new material.

[darmok]

I'll let Rick and Karl worry about commercial success and the general public's reaction. Personally I can't wait for the box set and I'm looking forward to series 2...

[holden]

So I made the Album(sampler) playlist and gave it a listen in that order. Granted, the lengths/versions may change, and I did have to pause to flip over to YouTube for "Mile Bush Pride", but... It actually sounds very strong and flows nicely, better than I expected. Not necessarily the compilation I most prefer, but also not weak by any means (STAR and Imagine a Box are growing on me, and those were my biggest reservations). The front 6 tracks up to BYTWB are great examples of both the banging and introspective, BYTWB provides a breather and functions as the more experimental, then STAR kicks it home. Custard Speed Talk is a lovely closer for me.

Anyway, great fun previewing the compilation albeit from the previous versions.

Imagine the fun we'll have compiling playlists and alt versions from the full series! More so than already, with new tracks and edits!

[ultradave]

Originally Posted by saintrik

I'm also monitoring the Amazon US store for this as well - it looks like it might be available from the US directly. LINK

Checking Amazon US shows as unavailable. No pre-order link is given. Hoping a digital outlet will have this release in lossless format. I’m beginning to run out of space for all these boxsets! 😉

[potatobroth]

the sheer number of tracks is blowing my mind.

[potatobroth]

Originally Posted by WhiteNoise

From a marketing perspective it's very weird to call it a "sampler" instead of an album proper, especially after announcing it as one.

The spirit is still there! But the general public, music critics, etc, may miss this release with the focus being put on the boxset. The 90% may balk at a 7CD package yet won't take something called a sampler seriously. A regular length album that points to the larger Drift series / boxset made total sense to me. Weird they've inverted that idea and made the sampler the lower key release.

This aside. Great tracklist. A serious set of songs. Excited to hear the final episodes too with the new material.

eh, i dont care about that. if they buy the Sampler, they can do more research and find that there are more tracks. or they can be happy with their sampler.

i love this process. its been such a great year to be a huge UW fan

[purlieu]

Originally Posted by negative1

that's still a type of album.

if the 7 disc set is the full 'album', that's a little more unwieldy.

later
-1

Generally, samplers tend to contain three or four tracks from the full album (or sometimes just edited snippets of tracks)*, so the industry use of the term is very much not an album - which is why it intrigued me that they've changed the wording. It seems like a very specific change, i.e. before they were saying "there's going to be an album at the end of it, plus a boxset of the whole series", whereas now they seem to be shying away from the idea of it being an album at all. In a recent interview Karl said they regretted the album announcement as it made it look like "ah, so this is what they were leading up to then". Instead, calling it "series 1" and "series 1 sampler" seems to put the emphasis on it just being an ongoing project that's very much outside of the standard album release format.

I'm sure more casual listeners and purchasers won't think too much about it, but calling it a sampler certainly doesn't encourage people to consider it a standalone work. I'll be very curious to see how it performs commercially.

*Beaucoup Fish's is a good example, while AHDO's is actually quite baffling.