Name: Useless Coordinates
Brand: Drahla

Bonus disc

Bonus disc: No

Catalogue number

CT296lp-C1

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Colour

black

Colour details

Limited Exotic Grey Vinyl

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Discogs ID

Discs

Download code

Download code: Yes

Rough Trade Exclusive

Rough Trade Exclusive: Yes

Extended format

Extended format: Yes

Format detail

Rough Trade Exclusive Exotic Grey Vinyl

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Format Music US

Limited edition

Release date

2019-05-10

Signed copies

Signed copies: Yes

Supplier US

Secre­tly

Tax rate US

Sales:8.875

UPC / Barcode

817949017965

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1 / Extended format: Yes / LP / Rough Trade Exclusive: Yes / Signed copies: Yes / black

CT2964

{"blocks": [{"data": {"text": "CT2964"}, "type": "paragraph"}]}

Download code: No

Rough Trade Exclusive: No

Extended format: No

Tape

2019-05-31

Signed copies: No

Captu­red T­racks

1 / Extended format: No / Rough Trade Exclusive: No / Signed copies: No / Tape

Artist

Drahla 

Genre US

Rock-Pop

Label US

Captured Tracks

<a href="https://roughtrade.com/us/music/viagra-boys-street-worms-extended">Viagra Boys - Street Worms (Extended) </a><a></a>Albums of the Month

Rough Trade Exclusive clear vinyl plus download and bonus CD with an inner sleeve signed and numbered by the band.

Street Worms, originally released in September 2018, saw the Stockholm-formed sextet Viagra Boys explode on to the scene with feverish energy and caustic irony. Their initial nine-track debut album has been expanded with five brand new songs carrying the same infectious 'ugly gonzo post-punk' spirit.

Fronted by the distinctively tattooed Sebastian 'Sebbe' Murphy (himself a tattoo artist), he delivers a devastating vocal showerstorm over the churning overdriven guitars and relentlessly driving rhythms. Singing as if he's having an existential breakdown, the lyrics tackle the absurdness of existence - as if being anything at all is some kind of joke on humanity - 'It was all a dream, but it was so nice/I had a nice house and such a lovely wife.'

Another theme the album tackles is, as their name intends to pun, man's failed role in society - and will we ever get that agenda on Sports out of our heads? 'Baseball/Basketball/Weiner dog/Short shorts/Cigarette'. They snarl at everyday behaviours such as exaggerated virility and classism, but manage to conjure some humour out of the serious issues. And despite the anger and anxiety towards masculine insufficiency, there's a sensitivity and a humanism running through the album too - 'You'll turn into dirt someday/Same dirt as me/Like one becomes a two and two becomes a three/The same worms that eat me will someday eat you too'.

All in all, Street Worms is a powerfully captivating blend of theatrics, rock’n’roll, post-punk and passion from Sweden’s answer to Idles and Sleaford Mods.

2. Fontaines D.C. - <a href="https://www.roughtrade.com/us/music/fontaines-d-c-dogrel">Dogrel</a>

3. Barrie - <a href="https://www.roughtrade.com/us/music/barrie-happy-to-be-here">Happy To Be Here</a>

4. Aldous Harding - <a href="https://www.roughtrade.com/us/music/aldous-harding-designer">Designer</a>

5. Big Thief - <a href="https://www.roughtrade.com/us/music/big-thief-u-f-o-f">U.F.O.F.</a>

6. Heather Woods Brotherick - <a href="https://www.roughtrade.com/us/music/heather-woods-broderick-invitation">Invitation</a>

7. Drahla - <a href="https://www.roughtrade.com/us/music/drahla-useless-coordinates">Useless Coordinates</a>

8. Josefin Ohrn &amp; The Liberation - <a href="https://www.roughtrade.com/us/music/josefin-ohrn-and-the-liberation-sacred-dreams">Sacred Dreams</a>

9. Jesse Mac Cormack - <a href="https://www.roughtrade.com/us/music/jesse-mac-cormack-now">Now</a>

10. Patience - <a href="https://www.roughtrade.com/us/music/patience-dizzy-spells">Dizzy Spells</a>

Albums of The Month - May 2019

Albums of the Year 2019 Top 100

Leeds-formed Drahla have defined their own vital subset of art-rock with Useless Coordinates, a debut album that’s as fearless as it is enthralling.

The set’s sharp angles, stark tones and claustrophobic textures are reflected in the album’s artwork. Designed by Brown and Riggs - as per all previous record sleeves and promotional videos - the minimalist, mixed media creation takes inspiration from Talking Heads and Gang Of Four album art, the work of American artist Cy Twombly, and the economical, regimented aesthetic of the Bauhaus movement. 

Whatever the medium, Brown’s interests lie in looking beyond the immediate to the abstract and indefinable. Her lyrics are developed from observations, notes and poems, and the fragmented imagery is spliced together to disorientating effect. On Gilded Cloud elegant snapshots from the golden age of Hollywood are juxtaposed with abrasive guitar textures, Pyramid Estate draws parallels between Ancient Egypt and the present day, and Serenity evokes the violent energy of a Francis Bacon painting. Beneath the abstraction are a diverse array of themes, including gender fluidity (Invisible Sex), city living (Primitive Rhythm) and artistic expression (Unwound). The result is an uncompromising but deeply rewarding debut where the internal and external, cerebral and visceral coalesce to quite startling effect. For fans of Blast First era Sonic Youth, Unwound and Gang of Four.