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Lady Gaga: MAYHEM
New album: Something of return to form and fun for the superstar singer and actress? Certainly this revisits something of her late 2000s Poker Face- and Bad Romance-era flamboyant, bombastic pop sound where excess and outsider oddness made her name
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Antony Szmierek: Service Station At The End Of The Universe
New album: Named after Douglas Adams’ satirical sci-fi Restaurant novel, the likeable Manchester spoken word poet’s debut LP is an entertaining, playful, richly observational mix of Streetsy stream-of-consciousness stories inspired by his home city through the classic sounds of 90s dance music and indie
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Hifi Sean and David McAlmont: TWILIGHT
New album: Twinned with last summer’s LP DAYLIGHT, the duo of Scottish musician and the English soul singer return with the darkside – an absorbing adventure from dusk to dawn, with evocative, cinematic, experimental, old-school synths and electronica and McAlmont’s extraordinary, wide-ranging voice
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DECIUS: Decius Vol. II (Splendour & Obedience)
New album: After 2022’s Part 1, a second outing of eclectic, mesmerically inventive reworking of deep Chicago acid house/ electronica by the shapeshifting Lias Saoudi of Fat White Family with brothers Liam and Luke May (founders of Trashmouth Records) and Quinn Whalley from Warmduscher
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The second part of our favourite albums of 2024
Favourite albums of 2024: Welcome to The Song Bar’s favourite albums of 2024 Part 2. Part 1 can be found here. There’s no such thing as ‘best of’ and everything is subjective, but please dig into this rich seam of originality and quality, and even suggest more of your own
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This year’s selections include some returning veterans at the top of their game as well as some fabulous newcomers
Favourite albums of 2024: Welcome to The Song Bar’s favourite albums of 2024 Part 1. There’s no such thing as ‘best of’ and everything is subjective, but rich seams of originality and quality are certainly here to be enjoyed. Peruse away …
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Lauren Mayberry: Vicious Creature
New album: The debut solo LP by the Glasgwegian LA-based Chvrches lead vocalist is strong, shimmering mainstream pop, and feels very much like nod to mainstream pop heroines of her teenage years, particularly All Saints and Avril Lavigne
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Sofie Royer: Young-Girl Forever
New album: The California-born, Vienna-based Iranian-Austrian multidisciplinary artist’s newest LP is a very catchy mix of eclectic, political and mainstream, electro-pop, disco and new wave, centred on the contradictions of being a female artist today with all of its freedoms and capitalist trappings
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Lou Hayter: Unfamiliar Skin
New album: Sleek, smooth, shimmering synth-pop and and funky disco, very much with an 80s retro sound by the London-based musician, DJ, singer, producer and former New Young Pony Club member, comes with echoes of artists such as Bananarama to Axel F and Harold Faltermeyer
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Primal Scream: Come Ahead
New album: Looking cool in shades, a 1960 photograph the father of frontman Bobby Gillespie decorates the band’s 12th LP, and their first for 8 years, serving very much as a inspiration with a Glaswegian phrase, but musically filled with 70s Philly soul and funk, and with the input of Belfast producer David Holmes, it’s one of PS’s most stylish for years
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Magdalena Bay: Imaginal Disk
New album: Flamboyant, dynamic, cinematic, this sparkling sophomore LP is summons up striking 70s and spacey effervescent pop and disco from the Los Angeles-based electro-pop duo of Mica Tenenbaum and multi-instrumentalist and producer Matthew Lewin
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Hifi Sean and David McAlmont: Daylight
New album: After last year’s Happy Ending album, the seasoned British duo return with a sparkling selection of electro-pop, disco and rave bangers, often with tender lyrics, all decorated with the silky beauty of McAlmont’s high resplendently soaring voice
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Empire of the Sun: Ask That God
New album: Eight years since their last LP, Australian duo Luke “Emperor” Steele and Nick “Lord” Littlemore return with an eye- and ear-catching set of synthy nostalgic 80s pop of colourful capes and astral fantasy
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Brijean: Macro
New album: A magical, serene, dreamily sophisticated and witty psych-pop, lounge and dancefloor new creation by the LA duo of percussionist/singer-songwriter Brijean Murphy (Mitski, Poolside, and Toro y Moi) and multi-instrumentalist/producer Doug Stuart
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KOKOKO!: BUTU
New album: The brilliant band from Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of the Congo return with an LP inspired by the vibrant nightlife of that city, the titled translated as ‘the night’ in Lingala language, featuring rawer, more electronic sounds and the commanding lead of vocalist Makara Bianko
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Walt Disco: The Warping
New album: After 2022’s Unlearning debut LP, the Glasgow band return with another fabulously stylish fusion of glam-pop and art-rock, channelling Scary Monsters-era Bowie and The Associates in a theatrical, energised album of glittering panache
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John Grant: The Art Of The Lie
New album: The Iceland-based American returns with his seventh LP, a mixture of catchy funk and disco with slow-burn, simmering, contemplative electronica where dark humour stirs along with candid emotions and a sorrowful look at rising fascism in the US
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Dua Lipa: Radical Optimism
New album: Undeniably mainstream, but ahead of her Glastonbury headline slot, the north London British-Albanian megastar’s third LP is cleverly crafted, classy, catchy synth-pop, channelling funk, disco and Latin grooves about an up-and-down love life
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Pet Shop Boys: Nonetheless
New album: Mixing simplicity and lavish orchestration and a classic 80s synth-pop that made them so successful, Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe return with their first LP for fours and one of their best for some time, with yet another traditional single-word title
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Lynks’ debut LP: Abomination
New album: After a series of entertaining singles, the flamboyant, often masked south London artist Elliot Brett’s debut LP is full of bounce and thrust – a humorous, witty, catchy collection of stylish synth-electro-pop mainly about gay sexual adventures in the city
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