Best Albums of September 2024
Endlessness
NALA SINEPHRO
Released 6 September 2024
Warp Records
*****
‘Endlessness’ is a remarkable record, a project that borrows from dozens of voices while communicating in only one. Somehow eclipsing the magic inherent in her debut, ‘Endlessness’ finds Nala Sinephro operating in a creative universe of her own.
For those who embraced it, Nala Sinephro’s 2021 debut album ‘Space 1.8’ offers a glimpse of the divine. Unshackled from expectations, it founds the composer – and her trusty harp – moving into the unknown, easing the listener into unfathomable spaces.
As a follow-up, ‘Endlessness’ comes with no small degree of pressure. Remarkably, it ups the ante still further, an ode to life, beauty, and the joy found in the mundane, an audio diary that could only come from one voice, at one time.
The format is remarkably simple, allowing vast swathes of sound to be tethered to a definitive framework. Clocking in at 45 minutes, it features 10 tracks, with one continuous arpeggio running through the record, shape-shifting along the way. The cast is utterly glowing, containing a literal who’s who of British freedom music – (now ex) black midi drummer Morgan Simpson for example; Mercury nominated saxophonist Nubya Garcia; the wonderful Sheila Maurice-Grey, and many more.
Read more ... Clash
Indsigt/Udsigt
(Insight/Outlook)
UDSYN
Released 6 September 2024
*****
Udsyn navigates smoothly within the jazz genre, avidly borrowing elements from classical, electronic, and alternative styles, which together constitute a cinematic soundscape inspired by minimalism and Nordic tonality.
Udsyn, the 5-piece Copenhagen ensemble features upright bass, drums/percussion, piano, electric guitar, synthesizer and draws upon a wide range of influences on this debut release.
Surprisingly (and disappointingly, we imagine, for the band) the album seems to have attracted almost no critical attention from the usual on-line suspects, the sole exception being a review by UK publication Marlbank.
This is a pity, because Udsyn has produced a sophisticated and engaging set of nine original compositions that are brimming full of musical ideas that flow from their clearly wide-ranging interests - neatly encapsulated by their brief Bandcamp bio (copied in italics above).
The track titles cover a correspondingly wide range of subjects: "Råbjerg Mile" (a migrating coastal dune in Denmark), "Calypso", "The best car ever", "Weight of today", "Kinoautomat" (a 1967 Czech black comedy), "Interlude", "It doesn't last", "Next departure" and title track "Insight/Outlook".
Although all five members of the band share Production, Composition and Songwriting credits and each has his own featured moments throughout the album, Ole Røndal Kjeldsen's piano and Marco Ceglarek's drumming provide the lead voices on most tracks and its defining character.
Read more ... Bandcamp
Rituals
ISHMAEL ENSEMBLE
Released 6 September 2024
Severn Songs
*****
Whereas ‘Visions of Light’ was born of the lockdown era; intimate, patient and brooding, ‘Rituals’ is the antithesis – celebrating the rush and energy of life back in the real world. The record sees Cunningham and his bandmates at their most free and adventurous.
Ishmael Ensemble’s third longplayer ‘Rituals’, marks a significant leap for the Bristolian musicians. With their live-instrumentation-meets-electronic merging of styles, the group were always broader than the ‘new UK jazz’ tag which they were often given, but here their scope and boundary-pushing ambition is more evident than ever before.
Still maintaining a blend of spiritual jazz, dub, experimental and electronic soundscapes, here those elements are vigorously whipped-up into huge cyclones of sound, more song-based and accessible
than before, but also almost psychedelic in its euphonic blend of colours, textures, facets and moods.
Formed in 2017 by producer and saxophonist Pete Cunningham, their debut LP ‘A State Of Flow’ was Contemporary Album Of The Month in The Guardian and gained radio plays from UK tastemakers Gilles Peterson, Tom Ravenscroft and Mary Anne Hobbs. However it was their 2021 album ‘Visions of Light’ hat saw the group reach wider acclaim – receiving glowing reviews in The Observer and Mojo, and the
accolade of Huey Morgan’s Album Of The Year on BBC 6 Music. This was followed by a solid 3 year run of international touring including shows in Mexico and the US, as well as multiple sold-out tours in the UK and EU.
Read more ... This Is Gorilla
A Sound Heart
JAUBI
Released 6 September 2024
Jaubi Music - Riaz Records
*****
Sometimes, when you want to take a step forward, you have to look back and reckon with and learn from the past. That’s what Jaubi has done and the effects are enchanting.
Three years after recording their breakthrough debut, 2021’s Nafs at Peace, Pakistani jazz trio Jaubi flew to London (with a short stopover in Poland resulting in In Search of a Better Tomorrow, a collaborative record with Polish jazz band EABS) to record its follow-up.
Accompanied by producer and multi-instrumentalist Tenderlonious, Polish keyboard and synth player Latarnik, and a slew of London jazz scene members - most notably bass guitarist Horatio Luna, drummer Tim Carnegie, and trumpeter Nick Walters - Jaubi (led by guitarist Ali Riaz Baqar) turned to modal and spiritual jazz and blended it with South Asian classical music.
A Sound Heart continues the story Jaubi began on Nafs at Peace.
Jaubi divided the record into two distinct sides: Dynamic, fast “Desire” and mellower “Devotion,” evoking late night jam sessions in New York clubs. On the latter, Latarnik turns into a piano crooner, leaving his signature synths aside. The title track, dedicated both to Bill Evans and Riaz Baqar’s father, offers a near-perfect blend of classic jazz and classic South Asian music. Sarangi mingles with piano; Tenderlonious’s flute sounds more like bansuri. Some tracks lean more into the South Asian elements - “Raga Bhairavi Todi” or “Forgive Me (Raga Parameshwari)” - and in those moments Jaubi feel at their strongest, most focused, and reflective.
Read more ... Bandcamp
The Making of Silk
ALLYSHA JOY
Released 13 September 2024
First World Records
*****
Riding on the waves of rich string arrangements, layers of vocal harmony and the raw poeticism she is known for, Allysha Joy's next album is embodying love.
Known for her solo work and as the frontwoman of 30/70, Allysha Joy's husky, soulful voice and exceptional Fender Rhodes skills make her a standout in the jazz-soul scene. She hails from Melbourne and is a singer, songwriter, producer, and keys player who has had big props from key figures.
Entirely self-produced and affectionately poured over, 'The Making of Silk' out on First Word Records, is about a new understanding of the meaning of love.
Joy says, "it's the kind of love that bell hooks writes about, that lives in the poetry of Mary Oliver, Hafiz and the passionate dreaming of a Koryusai painting. It's about a love that is compassionate, that lives in open conversation, deep listening, the front lines of social movement and would never seek to stifle the light in you. It's about accepting our aloneness, the impermanence of all things and still forever wanting to prove it wrong, to say that I understand that all things change, all things end, hurt exists, but I will love regardless."
Read more ... WorldwideFM
Odyssey
NUBYA GARCIA
Released 20 September 2024
Concord Jazz
*****
The orchestra is a big, powerful force; only the most thoughtful and mature musicians in any genre can use it so judiciously. That’s the true ambition of Odyssey, and Garcia nails it.
“With strings” albums are all but a rite of passage for jazz artists. Every player with any degree of ambition eventually gets the jones to hear their own sound buttressed by orchestral arrangements; that sonic sweep is just too much to resist. Most, though, haven’t gotten that audacious by their third full-length. But then, the notion of audacity doesn’t even seem to occur to Nubya Garcia. Once the saxophonist and composer gets an idea (or many ideas at once, in her case), she does what she has to in order to execute it, scope or practicality notwithstanding. The mix of youth -Garcia is 33 years old - and ambition often leads to clutter, to overload; not here.
But sometimes, even in Garcia’s idiosyncratic world, the medium is still the message. If the strings don’t needlessly interfere with the rest of her palette, the opposite is also true. Hence there’s no sax or rhythm section on “Water’s Path.” The strings carry their own weight, from the stirring drama of the cello-viola melody down to the pizzicato violins and contrabass that give the piece its percussive thrust.
Read more ... Bandcamp
Dance, No One's Watching
EZRA COLLECTIVE
Released 27 September 2024
Partisan Records
*****
Written during a blistering 2023 which saw Ezra Collective tour the world, and become the first jazz act to win the Mercury Prize, Dance, No One's Watching is a documentation of the many dance floors they encountered.
From London to Chicago, Lagos to Sydney, dance and rhythm connect us. These songs are a testament to that spirit.
'Dance, No One's Watching' is an ode to the sacred, yet joyous act of dancing, an album that musically guides you through a night out in the city, from the opening of possibilities as a new evening spans out ahead, to dawn’s final hours as the night comes to a close.
The album was recorded at Abbey Road studios, where the band was surprised by a group of close friends and family, turning the sessions into a live communal celebration of love, music, and dancing.
'Dance, No One's Watching' is a record that speaks to the unifying power of dance. It is a powerful and distinctive addition to a catalogue that continues to blaze a bold new trail in contemporary British music.
Read more ... Bandcamp
Cascade
FLOATING POINTS
Released 13 September 2024
Ninja Tune
****-
It's an album of unapologetic bangers, boasting some of the most enjoyable music Shepherd's ever released. But it also sacrifices some of what makes his best work so singular.
The dance floor's unbridled joy is the essence of Cascade, Sam Shepherd's latest LP as Floating Points. Since he released his early boogie-house singles in 2009, which were made firmly with DJs in mind, Shepherd has drifted into increasingly ambient territory across his career. First, with the jazzy, expansive soundscapes of his 2015 debut album Elaenia, and later with his collaboration with Pharaoh Sanders, 2021's Promises. At times, it seemed he might leave the club behind altogether.
But he never quite made the jump. In between those LPs there was 2019's Crush, which contained some of Shepherd's meanest club productions to date. He'd been planning to road test them across the world's dance floors but the pandemic had other ideas. Cascade seeks to remedy this by placing Shepherd in the rave once more.
Cascade's tracks were composed while Shepherd was scoring a ballet in California, meaning he had to forsake his studio full of arcane analogue gear for a simple laptop and headphones. These limitations result in some of the most straightforward club tracks he's ever made. Their DJ-friendly runtimes regularly top seven minutes, allowing Shepherd to settle deep into his grooves and pace the elements out gradually.
Read more ... Resident Adviser
symbiont
JAKE BLOUNT, MALI OBOMSAWIN
Released 27 September 2024
Smithsonian Folkways Records
*****
Amid rumbling synthesizer drones, the thrum of banjo, and the thwack of drum machines, a whisper of truth can be heard: this crisis has been unfolding for centuries.
Jake Blount is an award-winning interpreter of Black folk music who has charted an unprecedented course through sound archives. In defiance of genre categories, revisionist histories, & linear time, Blount uses the banjo, fiddle, electric guitar & synthesizer to fashion an “Afrofuturist folklore” that disintegrates the boundaries between acoustic & electric, artist & medium, & ancestor & progeny.
From the first notes of symbiont, the radical new collaborative album and document of Black and Indigenous futurism from Jake Blount and Mali Obomsawin, the listener is met with rising tidewaters, massive droughts, and the appearance of an iconoclastic uprising amidst the world’s indifference. Questions of future or present tense swirl around the music as the duo unspools the intertwined threads of racial and climate justice.
Read more ... Bandcamp
Slang Spirituals
Lady Blackbird
Released 13 September 2024
Foundation Music / BMG
*****
Collaborating once again with her 2021 breakout album Black Acid Soul producer Chris Seefried, the pair produce a second album that not only embodies the freewheeling, emotive Lady Blackbird sound, but that also taps into deeply vulnerable lyrics that recount the singer’s challenging ascent to musical stardom.
Growing up in the small town of Farmington, New Mexico, Lady Blackbird was raised in a religious Christian household and began singing as soon as she could walk. “Once I entered my teenage years, I started to realise that religion was something that was put on me and it never felt right,” she says. “As I also began to develop my own identity as a queer woman, I felt judged as an outcast and labelled as a sinner. It was burying who I really was and I needed to find a way out.”
In taking charge of her own life and her own sound, Lady Blackbird walks a new path, making each note on Slang Spirituals a step in a radically different direction. Across 11 tracks Lady Blackbird puts her sweeping, cinematic vocal power to use on everything from the soulful orchestral fanfares of ‘Let Not (Your Heart Be Troubled)’ to the finger-picking folk storytelling of ‘Man On A Boat’, euphoric gospel empowerment of ‘Like A Woman’ and the seven-minute psychedelic soul instrumental of ‘When The Game Is Played On You’.
“This is my journey of becoming,” she concludes. “It’s me rewriting the book to show the world who I truly am. From being labelled a sinner to finding my acceptance.”
Read more ... MBC
My Ideal
CATHERINE RUSSELL
Released 23 August 2024
Dot Time Records
****-
This collaboration represents a unique convergence of experience and youthful virtuosity, offering a fresh yet timeless sound.
“Singing with the great pianist Sean Mason allows for the freedom to have fun and be in the moment. We understand each other”
This modern classic marks a significant milestone in both artists’ careers, capturing a powerful and intimate musical dialogue. My Ideal is a very special project even in the very rarified strata where Catherine works; this is not only her first complete set of voice-and-piano duets, but her partner on this project is a remarkable piano prodigy whose technical skill is only rivaled by his soulfulness.Since her debut solo album in 2006, Catherine Russell has captivated audiences with her rich, soulful voice and exceptional interpretative skills. Her eight previous solo albums have garnered critical acclaim, with Send For Me (2022) marking her first collaboration with Sean Mason. My Ideal elevates their partnership to new heights, featuring a complete set of voice-and-piano duets that hark back to classic jazz traditions. Sean Mason, a remarkable talent, 25 years old at the time of this recording, complements Russell’s vocal artistry with his sophisticated and nuanced piano playing. Despite his youth, Mason’s deep understanding of jazz’s history and techniques allows him to support and enhance Russell’s performances brilliantly.
Read more ... Dot Time Records
Live In Stockholm and Tallinn
MISHA PANFILOV
Released 6 September 2024
Funk Night Records
****-
There's no processing, no studio effects – just open, honest expression by the group – led by Panfilov, a musician who just seems to mature more and more with the passing of each year.
A prolific multi-instrumentalist based in Estonia, Panfilov has been attracting increasing attention in various nooks and crannies of the indie world. For the past few years, he has been recording and releasing groove-laden titles under his own name and with outfits such as Penza Penza, Centre El Muusa, and more, mostly via Detroit’s Funk Night Records.
Panfilov is best known from a flurry of funky 45s and full length albums but sounds maybe even more amazing here in a concert performance with his combo!
"Live in Stockholm and Tallinn" is soulful and often has more of a jazz current than some of Misha's other work – a really beautiful sense of timing and flow, served up with a group that features tenor, trumpet, flute, and piano – next to Misha's guitar, alongside drums and bass, plus percussion from a number of different members of the group!
Read more ... Indie Rock Cafe, Dusty Groove
In A Landscape
MAX RICHTER
Released 6 September 2024
Decca Records
****-
Max Richter’s ninth studio album ‘In a landscape’ marks a significant evolution in Richter’s musical journey, as he delves deeper into the themes of optimism and human emotion accompanied by an innovative exploration of electronic sounds and field recordings.
It is a record about reconciling polarities, bringing together the electronic and the acoustic, the human and the natural world, the big questions of life and the quiet pleasures of living – a fleeting self-portrait of a musician in constant motion.
He says: “the music on the record is about connecting or reconciling polarities. The electronics with the acoustic instruments, the natural world with the human world, and the big ideas of life with the personal and intimate”.
Read more ... Decca Records
Cellophane Memories
CHRYSTABELL, DAVID LYNCH
Released 2 August 2024
Sacred Bones Records / David Lynch Music
****-
As with much of Chrystabell and David’s work from the past, Cellophane Memories returns us to a central question: what is a mystery? Alas, the riddle remains unanswered. But all mystery contains slivers of those conceits and feelings described above: the departing and the coming-back, the landscape, atmosphere and breath, the topsy turvy mechanisms of time, memories of the bygone, a distant light radiating from darkness, music within silence, love.
The origin of Chrystabell and David Lynch’s album Cellophane Memories comes from a vision that David experienced during a nighttime walk through a forest of tall trees, over the tops of which he saw a bright light. As he recalls it, the light became the lilt of Chrystabell’s voice and revealed a secret to him. It is from these mysterious convergences of light and sound, day and night, starry sky and black forest that Chrystabell and David’s collaboration has continued to blossom.For Cellophane Memories, the two have traveled through different portals. Fittingly, many of the songs are set in fairytale forests, mountain peaks, swimming holes, crepus-cular highways and darkened bedrooms. These are the abodes of both loneliness and romance, the sorts of sublime landscapes where people often travel alone in search of a wayward lover. But they are also shapeless atmospheres—of color, weather and breath: blue and white skies, red roses, darkening thunderheads, swirling winds and summer perfumes, which quickly immerse the traveler in the supernatural sensations of other worlds.
Read more ... Sacred Bones Music
the skies: rarities.jpg
ROGER ENO
Released 27 September 2024
Deutsche Grammophon
****-
“When I come to record what will become an album I usually have an excess of ideas,” says Roger Eno. “This allows me, at the end of the process, to make a definitive ‘collection’ with a deeply considered running order. The latter is of great importance to me. Thus I often find myself in the luxurious position of having not one but two albums’ worth of material I’m happy with – rarities is that second album.”
Composer and pianist Roger Eno's new 8-track mini-album features unreleased material from the recording sessions for his second DG solo album the skies, they shift like chords. That album traced an evocative and thought-provoking path through sound and silence. Its melancholy tone, echoes of which can be heard on rarities, had much to do with the threat posed to the environment by intensive farming and climate change.
As well as solo piano pieces, rarities includes one track for choir and electronics (Patterned Ground), and one for strin