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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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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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Ursa Major Moving Group
New album: A stellar, innovative and absorbing debut LP project by London multi-instrumentalist, composer and writer Ursula Russell fusing folk, chamber pop and gentle post-punk
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WITCH are back with Zango, their first album since 1984
New album: After a whopping 38 years’ absence, Zambia’s pioneers of zamrock (their name an acronym We Intend To Cause Havoc) return with their heady and wonderful mix of psychedelic rock, reggae, Afrobeat and funk
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Alfa Mist’s fifth album, Variables
New album: A brilliantly inventive mix of dynamic, textured, vibrant jazz, funk, prog, African, and hip hop, from big band swing, boom-bap rhythms smooth, soulful vocals, all in a fifth LP the London keyboardist and producer
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Liv.e: Girl In The Half Pearl
New album: A dizzyingly indefinable and innovative debut by the Dallas-born singer-songwriter Olivia Williams, mixing experimental R&B, gospel, neo-soul, spoken word, electronica, cosmic jazz, and pop
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And the band plays on … Ezra Collective: Where I'm Meant To Be
New album: Energetic, infectiously positive new album by the outstanding five London jazz musicians, infusing also funk and African influences, and including guests rappers Kojey Radical and Sampa the Great, and singers Emeli Sandé and Nao
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Horse Lords: Comradely Objects
New album: Mesmeric fifth album by the Baltimore-formed quartet of polyrhythmic avant-garde rock, jazz, prog, also drawing on Appalachian, bluegrass, krautrock, African, post-punk and alternative tuning systems that pull you into their brilliant and beguiling world
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Perfectly situated: Melby’s new album, Looks Like A Map
New album: Serene, textured, mellow and beautifully moody LP by the four-piece from Stockholm, whose eclectic indie, at the surface, runs deep with elements of prog, jazz, electronica and dreamy pop, lightly dusted with shivery soul, folk, sadness and sugar
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Nick Hakm returns with COMETA
New album: Another sublime, soft, tender soul-funk-jazz fusion by the New York musician who has an unparalleled ability to create new, gentle musical textures decorated with his dreamy falsetto vocals
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Goats and glory: TSHA’s debut album Capricorn Sun
Debut album: After a series of strong singles and her EP, Dawn, a cleverly crafted, and at times elegant dance music debut by the Tottenham-based DJ and producer Teisha Matthews, fusing 80s and 90s era styles with soul, steel band, orchestral and much more
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The Orielles’ fourth LP, Tableau
New album: This fourth, sprawling, ambitious, cinematic, genre-spanning double LP by the Halifax trio of singer/bassist Esmé Hand-Halford and co is an enthralling, constantly morphing mix of psychedelia, prog, jazz, funk, R&B, indie, space pop, electronica, house and disco
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Lambchop’s 16th studio album, The Bible
New album: Tender, strange, eclectic, Kurt Wagner returns with a 16th album a long way from those earlier heady day releases of of Americana and alt-country, but one filled with fascinating oddities, reflections on mortality, with fusions of jazz, electronica, soul, classical and modulated sounds and voices
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The Mars Volta return with their first LP in a decade
New album: After a decade of omertà and schism, the eclectic Texanprog-rock experimental duo of Cedric Bixler-Zavala and Omar Rodriguez-Lopez and band finally reunite with a mesmerically unique blend of funk, rock, psychedelia, Cuban and Afro-Cuban drumming and English and Spanish lyrics
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Kokoroko: Could We Be More
New album: Variously mesmeric, chilled, smooth, staccato, slow then pacy, after many gigs and smaller releases the eight-piece London jazz and Afrobeat band finally have an LP of stirring (mostly) instrumentals that mix a variety of influences from Lagos to London
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Lil Silva: Yesterday Is Heavy
Debut album: Strikingly innovative electronic and funk full debut by Bedford’s Tyrone Jermaine "TJ" Carter, who has been releasing singles and EPs for over a decade, but here includes guests including Sampha, Little Dragon, Ghetts, Serpentwithfeet, BADBADNOTGOOD, and Charlotte Day Wilson
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Black Midi’s Hellfire
New album: With heatwaves and wildfires ablaze globally, there could hardly be a more prescient title or dystopian theme by the London prog-rock-jazz experimentalist, whose third LP is strangely among their most accessible among its lightning riffs and stop-start energy of King Crimson or even Buckethead proportions
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Moor Mother’s Jazz Codes
New album: A mesmeric new album that began as poetry book by the American artist Camae Ayewa mixing jazz, blues, soul, hip-hop and spoken word in her own form of Black Quantum Futurism group, her multi-artform fusion of black history ontology
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Electrifying: Ibibio Sound Machine’s latest LP
New album: Superbly energised fourth LP by the afro-funk London band fronted by vocalist Eno Williams, who utilises her Nigerian heritage and the Ibibio language, fused with guitars, electronica, Brazilian rhythms and influences from Fela Kuti to Kraftwerk and Giorgio Moroder
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