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SAULT: Acts of Faith
New album: Released as usual without fanfare, and on Christmas Day, the London collective of by producer and musician Inflo return with an 11th LP – silky smooth, classy soul, funk and gospel, fronted by the voice of Cleo Sol
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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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Izumi 'Mimi' Kobayashi: Choice Cuts 1978-1983
Album review: Out of many compilations released in 2024, this Time Capsule collection is a highlight, picking some of the fabulously fun, inventive, hybrid jazz-funk-Latin-reggae-electronica pop of the innovative Japanese composer and pianist
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White Denim: 12
New album: Austin, Texas’s brilliantly inventive proggy experimentalists James Petralli and co return with an appropriately named 12th LP, one which, created in the lockdown restrictions of 2020-21, needed a different, more DIY approach, but weaves a fabulous mix of rootsy swing, jazz and influences from Scritti Politti to Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, Nick Lowe to Jonathan Richman.
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Orchestre Tout Puissant Marcel Duchamp: Ventre Unique
New album: Wonderfully energetic, rhythmic stylish, inventive and witty sixth album by the 12-piece experimental Geneva collective who sing politically in French and English, their music decorated with oodles of of clever brass, violins, double-bass, marimbas, percussion and more
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Fievel Is Glauque: Rong Weicknes
New album: A beautifully quirky, unique cross-genre, melodic, meandering experimental release of surreal lyricism of jazz-folk-pop by the Belgian-US duo of Zach Phillips and Ma Clément joined by an ensemble of six other musicians
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Marysia Osu: Harp, Beats and Dreams
New album: Truly gorgeous experimental work by London’s Trinity Laban-graduate harpist of Polish parentage, who as well as conventionally rippling the strings of instrument, creatively uses it with other effects, adds sea other nature sounds with electronica, with magical sprinkles of guest vocals, cello, woodwind and percussion
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Geordie Greep: The New Sound
New album: The former Black Midi frontman’s debut LP is a brilliant swirl of guitar rock, jazz, prog, funk, pop and a big dash of Latin, channelling Frank Zappa, a dramatic Scott Walker delivery, Broadway musicals, cello, a punchy horn section, his distinctive voice, clever, humorous, soliloquy-style lyrics
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Ezra Collective
New album: The 2022 Mercury Prize-winning London Afrobeat-jazz ensemble fronted by Femi Koleoso return with a wonderfully infectious, warm and engaging LP inspired the idea of unself-conscious movement and a themed around narrative set across a night in the city
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Nubya Garcia: Odyssey
New album: The acclaimed British tenor saxophonist, bandleader, composer and a star in the bright constellation of the London jazz scene returns with a cosmic creation of complex, beautiful blends and orchestral arrangements with added sparkles of R&B, jazz and dub with a stellar cast of players
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Joan As Police Woman: Lemons, Limes and Orchids
New album: New York’s Joan Wasser returns with fabulously classy, intelligent, stylishly stripped-back LP, her first set of new songs since 2018’s Damned Devotion, and all centred on love and loss
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Paul Molloy: The Madmen of Apocalypso
New album: Fabulously perky, catchy, snappy, witty, doomsday gallows humour songs in this second solo release by The Coral guitarist, drawing on styles from ragtime, New Orleans dixieland jazz, vaudeville, Kinks-style 60s baroque pop and more
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Nala Sinephro: Endlessness
New album: Mesmeric, experimental new work and the follow-up to 2021’s meditative Space 1.8 LP by the Brussels-born, London-based pedal harpist who mixes jazz and electronica and with extraordinary and unconventional results
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Thandii: Dream With You
New album: Two albums and 20 songs released together in an outstanding combination of upbeat, clever, innovative, eclectic, refreshing electro-pop and dream-pop, funk, jazz and soul by the Margate duo of Graham Godfrey and Jessica Berry
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Susanna: Meditations on Love
New album: The experimental Norwegian singer and composer Susanna Wallumrød’s LP is a releases a striking, eccentric, beautifully bewitching collection about relationships, concentrating not on the giddy joy of falling in love, nor breakups, but the oddness in between
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Milton Nascimento and Esperanza Spalding: Milton + Esperanza
New album: An inspired collaboration between the veteran 81-year-old Brazilian singer and the American jazz bassist, singer and arranger, 39, their low and high voices blending beautifully and bringing new life to the former’s old catalogue, plus covers and guests including Paul Simon and Lianne La Havas.
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Meshell Ndegeocello: No More Water - The Gospel of James Baldwin
New album: A remarkable, substantial, powerful and emotional release by the US singer-songwriter, poet, and bassist, channelling the words of the influential African-American writer, and tackling race and gender issues, with guests including Jamaica-born poet Staceyann Chin and soul singer Justin Hicks
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Cassandra Jenkins: My Light, My Destroyer
New album: A strong, sensual, astronomy-themed third experimental album by the New York singer-songwriter, mixing gentle indie, dream pop, jazz and field recordings in this alluring contemplation on the heartbreaks and highs, the quarks and quasars that make up her universe
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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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