Julian Cope - Cope’s Notes #2: Droolian (2021)

Rejoice rejoice, for it is time to celebrate a grand reissue from the crossroads of the Archdrude’s long careering show-business. Droolian. Unavailable for several years now, this bizarre 1990 homespun monsterpiece is here unleashed in a special edition and Cope’s long-threatened 22-minute sequel Droolian’s Mother.

Stew in the music’s ambient lo-fi as you peruse “The Droolian Story”, Cope’s fascinating 4000-word account of the revitalised, re-energised new trajectory on which Cope found himself at the turn of the 90s. Written as a continuation of his Repossessed memoir, “The Droolian Story” opens several key doors to the many unlikely artistic routes that he would subsequently travel. Herein, we note his appropriation of New Age values through the tragic death of Echo & the Bunnymen’s Pete de Freitas, his embrace of rave culture’s bedroom recording methods, and his rise into political protest due to Margaret Thatcher’s infamous Poll Tax.