New album: This posthumous and final album by the extraordinary, innovative, experimental electro-pop and trans artist Sophie Xeon, who tragically died in 2021, is here finished by co-producer Benny Long and with a huge cast of guest vocalists, but also leaves the question of how much more there could have been
Read moreYannis & The Yaw: Lagos Paris London
New album: An EP rather than LP, this project by the Foals frontman Yannis Philippakis is still a high five of top-quality Afrobeat, crossover funk and rock rhythms and riffs, drawing from sessions with the late great drummer Tony Allen
Read moreKOKOKO!: 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
Read moreMarika Hackman: Big Sigh
New album: This visceral, hypersensitive, alternative folk-pop fourth album by the Hampshire-born singer-songwriter digs deep and dark into the psyche through personal crisis and relationship trauma as one of her best to date
Read moreFavourite albums of 2023 Part 1: Anna B Savage to Young Fathers
Welcome once again to the annual tradition of Song Bar’s favourite album releases of 2023. This is Part 1, and Part 2 is also out here. There’s no such thing as a chart rundown or ‘best of’ here, and these come in no particular order. This is all about quality and innovation …
Read moreBeverly Glenn-Copeland: The Ones Ahead
New album: Wonderfully tender, beautiful uplifting first album for 20 years by the golden-voiced 78-year-old American veteran transgender male singer in a stirring release of African rhythms, soul, gospel, gentle piano pop and cinematic classical
Read moreArlo Parks: My Soft Machine
New album: After the acclaimed Mercury Prize-winning 2021 debut Collapsed in Sunbeams, the much anticipated follow-up by the now LA-based British artist is filled with poetic self-reflection, intimate, intelligent, gentle pop-soul, but at times falls short of that debut’s initial impact, edge and melodic power
Read moreDave Okumu & The 7 Generations: I Came From Love
New album: A rich, complex and brilliant release about black history, identity, and channelling the idea of ancestry by British singer, songwriter, producer and guitarist joined by a stellar cast of fellow artists, including Wesley Joseph, Tom Skinner, ESKA and Grace Jones
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