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Jessie Ware - Superbloom
New album: Following 2020’s What’s Your Pleasure? and 2023’s That! Feels Good!, as well as the successful food podcast Table Manners she hosts alongside her mother, the British pop singer continues to ride the 70s disco ball train, catering to the clever, kitsch and catchy with an ironic wink, adding also a luxuriant garden metaphor
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Picture Parlour: The Parlour
New album: Following last year’s EP Face in the Picture, a fabulously stylish, smart, swaggering glam-rock-pop debut LP by the Manchester-formed, London-based band fronted by the impressively raspy, gritty, vibratro delivery of Liverpudlian vocalist and guitarist Katherine Parlour and distinctive riffs from North Yorkshire-born guitar Ella Risi
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Paul Kelly: Seventy not out, with his 30th studio album
New album: The acclaimed, prolific Australian singer-songwriter (and perennial Song Bar playlist favourite) returns with his distinctive, Dylan-esque folk-rock-country with a landmark of age and his 30th studio album, with profound ballad, poetic detail and reflections on age, regrets, lust, love and death
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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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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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Jessie Ware:’s aptly titled new album: That! Feels Good!
New album: Classy and indeed classic disco, pop, soul and funk by the London-born soaring-voiced singer, who with this fifth album of 10 glitterball bangers is really at the very top of her game
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Loyle Carner’s third album, Hugo
New album: The British rapper returns with one of his best LPs yet, a candid exploration of his own identity, from seeking out his estranged biological father, how that reflects back onto his own son, ADHD, being mixed race and fearing inner-city violence
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Jessie Buckley and Bernard Butler: For All Our Days That Tear The Heart
New album: An outstanding collaboration between the Irish actress and singer and the former Suede guitarist with this beautiful album of passionate, dramatic, folk music of various international styles, with all the added depth, subtlety, dynamism of emotional power of both Jeff Buckley and Joni Mitchell
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Peace or Love is KoC’s first album for 12 years
New album: The Norwegian duo of Eirik Glambek Bøe and Erlend Øye return with their first LP since 2009, and fourth in 20 years with a collection of beautiful indie acoustic guitar-based folk, perfectly blended voices and barely drumbeat to be heard
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Greta Van Fleet
Album review: This second LP by the quartet from Michigan will again raise Led Zeppelin comparisons, but the derivative 70s rock influence on the Kiszka brothers and drummer Danny Wagner also has vocal echoes of Rush, and especially Slade
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High time for some the days of disco … SG Lewis
Album review: Aiming to capture a full-on mainstream club and disco feel, the British producer’s new LP mixes light funk and soul flavours that very much borrow from the Daft Punk and Chic cookbook
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Cornershop’s new album, England Is A Garden
The latest roundup includes A sian perspectives on Britain in different forms by Cornershop and Riz Ahmed, plus clever collage pop from U.S. Girls, Caroline Rose and punchy indie from Disq
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Pet Shop Boys
The second of this week’s roundups includes the return of the Pet Shop Boys, raw emotion from Sarah Mary Chadwick, eccentric pop from OKay Kaya and laid back electronica from Jim Noir
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Aldous Harding wins the prize for most unusual moves for her song, The Barrel
The first part of our selection of the pick of albums from 2019 by Song Bar readers and the Landlord editor, in alphabetical order by title, not a ‘best of’ or countdown. The second part is here.
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Marika Hackman
The American indie folk band return with their newly alternative fourth, the British singer-songwriter has a direct and earthy breakup, the ex-Jurassic 5 rapper joins forces, plus other wonders including an album inspired by Vietnamese monsoons
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Janelle Monáe
Funk, pop and rap from the Prince-influence Janelle Monae, Brian Eno’s art installation ambient work, plus an electric selection of British and American indie, rock and pop make up our latest selection
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