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Gwenno: Utopia
New album: After three LPs looking back at her childhood upbringing, now 44, the Welsh singer-songwriter Gwenno Saunders’ polished, candid experimental fourth pop album recalls a period of young adulthood, from dancer in Las Vegas to a pub cleaner and also singer in The Pipettes in London, having adventures, experimenting and struggling with self-determination
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Isaiah Hull: POCOMANIA
New album: The Manchester-born performance poet, rapper and self-defined “stand-up tragedian” releases a striking, distinctively styled experimental hip-hop debut with a title inspired by his heritage – meaning the Jamaican folk religion combining revivalism with ancestor worship and spirit possession
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Benefits: Constant Noise
New album: Super-sharp, angry and articulate, this is striking, vivid, social and political spoken word and hip-hop on a backdrop of cinematic electronica, dance and punk by the Middlesbrough duo of Kingsley Hall and Robbie Major – a scything sonic and verbal attack on western ills at home and abroad
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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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Thurston Moore: Flow Critical Lucidity
New album: The prolific Sonic Youth guitarist, singer and songwriter returns another solo album, an entrancing, meditational lo-fi experimental release of fascinating string textures and poetic lines, with guests including Laetitia Sadler, and lyrics by the London-based writer Radieux Radio
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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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Fat White Family: Forgiveness Is Yours
New album: Lias Saoudi and co return with their first since 2019’s Serfs Up, one with that despite the troubled departure of founding member Saul Adamczewski during its creation, is an entertainingly sharp, ironic, aesthetic, literary release packed with stylish reference points, soundscapes and tunes
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Moor Mother: The Great Bailout
New album: The American poet and musician Camae Ayewa returns with with a pointed, powerful release aimed at Britain’s murky, slavery-profiting colonial past, with a vivid, profound, visceral, declamatory narrative and soundscape that charts many injustices about wealth and compensation
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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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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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Ren Gill
New album: An outstanding new LP by the remarkably talented Welsh, Brighton singer-songwriter rapper and guitarist Ren Gill, influenced by years of bed-ridden mental and physical illness, expressing caustic, self-torn schizophrenia, his songs are packed with wordplay, wit, catchy tunes, gut-wrenching emotion and invention
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Yussef Dayes: Black Classical Music
New album: Taking a title cue from Miles Davis, a brilliant, landmark 19-track debut LP by the supremely gifted British jazz drummer variously exploring and re-interpreting many sides of 70s funk, reggae and afrobeat, joined by a stellar group of musicians and vocalists
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Kofi Flexxx: Flowers In The Dark - featuring Shabaka Hutchings and a stellar jazz and rapping lineup
New album: Another vibrant new project by the illustriously creative tenor saxophonist Shabaka Hutchings of Sons of Kemet, The Comet Is Coming and Shabaka and the Ancestors, with a potent mix of jazz, spoken word and hip-hop and a stellar lineup
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Noname’s second album, Sundial
New album: Super-slick, intelligent, angry but beautiful rap and and soul by the Chicago poet Fatimah Nyeema Warner in this second album after 2018’s debut, Room 25, building on her uncompromising perspectives on Black culture, racism, relationships and celebrity double-standards
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LYR: The Ultraviolet Age
New album: A beautiful, profound, utterly absorbing second LP by the trio of current British poet laureate, Simon Armitage, singer-songwriter Richard Walters and multi-instrumentalist and producer Patrick J Pearson
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Baxter Dury: I Thought I Was Better Than You
New album: Droll, dark, crisply phrased, downbeat, self-deprecating, sleazy and funky? It can only be the West London artist, in a candid, unflinching sixth solo album that draws on his strange childhood as son of famous Ian, echoing his brilliantly funny and painful 2022 memoir Chaise Longue
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Dave 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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Turning of the seasons: Complete Mountain Almanac
New album: A uniquely beautiful, complex, layered project of 12 monthly releases created by Stockholm-based singer/songwriter Rebekka Karijord and the poet, artist and dancer Jessica Dessner, who also brings her younger brothers Aaron and Bryce of The National
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Christine and the Queens: Redcar Les Adorables Étoiles (prologue)
New album: Grand and theatrical, with oodles of 80s synth sounds and a big dash of Grace Jones and David Bowie-sytyle glamour, Héloïse Letissier returns with his (recently confirmed as a trans man) flamboyant, poetic third LP
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