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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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Four Tet: Three
New album: British musician Kieran Hebden returns, with his first album since 2020’s Parallel, with a new syncopated electronica beats, twinkling, rippling textures and rumbling ambience to invigorate the spring season
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New album: After 2022’s acclaimed Topical Dancer with Charlotte Adigéry, the Belgian musician returns with a charming, quirky electronica LP dedicated to his Hong Kong-born Chinese mother, Yu Wei Wun, and a celebration of that territory’s culture
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Yard Act: Where's My Utopia?
New album: With continuing appeal, the experimental post-punk Leeds quartet return with their second LP, with highly entertaining, broadened musical scope, frontman James Smith’s agile, candid, conversational wit musing on the ironies of success, the music business, resultant guilt, climate change, and titular worries about the future
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Talk Show: Effigy
New album: A dark, arresting, gnarly, frenzied fusion of dance-funk post-punk by the south London quartet with an LP that feels like a gripping journey through a fictional night-club underworld, with echoes of the Prodigy and Baxter Dury-style vocalisations
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Brittany Howard: What Now
New album: The Alabama Shakes singer and guitarist returns with her second solo album after 2019’s superb debut, Jaimie, with an equally brilliant but wider scope of styles, from soul to funk, jazz, but also dancefloor energy, and more than a dash of Prince
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Kali Uchis: Orquídeas
New album: With agile, crisp clarity of voice, and a diversity of beats and styles, this is another clever hybrid LP of passionate, romantic cheeky, sassy Spanish-language, clubby pop by the Colombian-American singer, joined by high-profile Latin American guests
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Black Grape: Orange Head
New album: Salford’s Shaun Ryder and Manchester’s Paul ‘Kermit’ Leveridge return with their first LP since 2017’s Pop Voodoo, and their fourth overall together, with an especially funk-filled laced with their classic banter, wit and talent for cleverly daft, surreal and addictive lyrics
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Favourite LPs of 2023, Part 2.
Welcome once again to the annual tradition of Song Bar’s favourite album releases of 2023. This is Part 2, and Part 1 was yesterday. There’s no such thing as a chart rundown or ‘best of’ here, and these come in no particular order …
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Part 1 selection of 2023 favourite albums
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 …
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Haiku Hands: Pleasure Beast
New album: A gloriously anarchic, energetic fusion of hip-hop, post-punk, vogue pop, electronica, bouncy 90s dance music and interwoven skits by the vibrant Australian trio of sisters Claire and Mie Nakazawa and Beatrice Lewis
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Quantic: Dancing While Falling
New album: Inexorably catchy, lavishly orchestrated 70-era disco, funk, gospel, soul and pop from the British New York-based musician and DJ Will Holland in his Quantic moniker, joined by great guest vocalists and collaborators, particularly Andreya Triana
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Lol Tolhurst x Budgie x Jacknife Lee: Los Angeles
New album: The ex-Cure drummer and the acclaimed percussionist of Siouxsie, Creatures and other bands team up with the Irish producer for a wonderfully rhythmic, sharply witty, krautrock-style/synth pop-punk fusion with guest vocalists including LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy
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Sofia Kourtesis: Madres
New album: A joyous, life-affirming new LP of richly layered alternative dancefloor with twinkling synths, voices and beats by the Berlin-based Peruvian artist, in an LP dedicated to her mother and neurosurgeon Peter Vajkoczy who saved her life
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Nitin Sawhney: Identity
New album: The acclaimed British-Asian musician returns with a powerful LP themed very much as titled, and spurred by burning issues over how immigrants are portrayed, presents 17 tracks on different sides of heritage, sense of self, belonging and multiculturalism, with an impressive set of guest singers and rappers
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Flamingods: Head of Pomegranate
New album: The eclectic London band of abundant upbringings and influences from Bahrain to Dubai, Albania, Italy and Saudi Arabia return with a heady, upbeat mix of Afro-electro synth pop, krautrock, funk, disco and alt-rock psychedelia
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Meatraffle: Base and Superstructure
New album: Biting class social satire from the silly to searing and hilarious are all delivered in this catchy, fun third album of electro-pop with added trumpet by the south London band, packed with toe-tapping melodies and caustic, killer lines
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Say She She: Silver
New album: A wonderful double LP by the Anglo-American female-led trio of Piya Malik, Sabrina Mileo Cunningham and Nya Gazelle Brown in a joyous early 80s-style mix of disco, pop and soul
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WaqWaq Kingdom: Hot Pot Totto
New album: Quirky, itchily inventive and eccentric, a wondrous fusion of electronica, African tribal rhythms, Jamaican dancehall, other genres and traditional instruments by the Japanese “minyo footwork” duo of Shigeru Ishihara (DJ Scotch Egg / Seefeel) and Kiki Hitomi in an LP of frenetic fun and ecological anxiety
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The Chemical Brothers: For That Beautiful Feeling
New album: Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons return with their 10th LP in nearly three decades, one with that brings together sci-fi-themed, almost psychedelic apocalypse and upbeat, laser-light dance floor bangers
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