Reviews (page 3 of 8)
Really enjoyed this one, the sounds and grooves were super cool. One of the rare albums on this list i would listen to again
Feel like I’m gonna be alone in our group here but I loved this.
As a disclaimer, I am not black, and I'm not from the United Kingdom, so I'm not part of the target audience. With that being said, I can appreciate music that isn't geared towards me, and after scrolling through the reviews, I see some white fragility. Look, this entire album was recorded at the beginning of the COVID-19 Pandemic, particularly after the disturbing murder of George Floyd. You don't have to like the album, but at least "get it"; people were in an arbitrary lockdown, and watched a police officer commit racially charged murder. Can you blame black artists for recording this album? What the hell else was there to do, and better yet, why not discuss the issues we've been sweeping under the rug? This is essentially the British version of Public Enemy, except less angry. For what it was, I thoroughly enjoyed it, and it reminded me of a 2000s hip-hop album. Favorite Track: "Pray Up Stay Up".
Quite good.
I listened to this thrice. Rating higher because of unique sound.
Senza infamia e senza lode.
This is a brilliant and timely project that I was lucky enough to get turned onto in the year it came out - 2020, the year of the George Floyd uprisings in the U.S. This album is a gorgeous exploration of what it is to be Black, the culture, the history, the artistry, the struggles and self-perceptions. It’s empowering. It’s close to a 5 but is brought down by a lack of editing - at nearly an hour, so much was thrown in to this record that there are some dud periods that sadly detract from the many gems. Very high 4
Uff nice
Gear: Hifiman HE6se v2 SE Artwork: ✊🏿⬛🖤 Production (2014 Remaster): 🗣📢‼️ Music: 💬👏😐 Rating: ✊🏿✊🏿✊🏿/5
Strong themed and very urban, without coming across aggressively. Was not familiar with this artist.
Very bland and forgettable album, no clue why it's on this list
This album is definitely from its time. One of the issues I have discovered with some of these newer albums included on the list is the albums don't have time to breathe. What makes a lot of these older albums so important to hear is the influence the music had on artists in the future and that 20-30 years later people are still listening to the album. I probably would include any albums that aren't 10+ years old in this book, simply because an album that seemed wonderful and something we had to hear at one time may not in fact hold up over a longer span of time. There is a reason most of the albums that have been kicked out of this book are more recent albums. I am not saying this is one of those albums, but I think if we dropped this album into the year 2065 then it would not have the impact of a "must hear" album. The music is current and not in any way bad. There is nothing being done here that I see as holding up over a long period of time to justify inclusion. Recency bias tends to take over and it doesn't make sense to me that an album that has not had a chance to permeate the culture over a decade or more would be considered a "must-hear." In 1982 would anyone have said Minor Threat's album included in this book should be included? I would argue not, because there is no perspective over a period of time that helps frame the importance of the album. Basically, I can only judge this album based on whether I liked the music or not. I don't think that's the point of this book. Favorite tracks: Hard Life Don't Shoot Guns Down Wildfires Why We Cry Why We Die Eternal Life Monsters Pray Up Stay Up
It's produced very well and touches on very sensitive cultural topics specifically in regards to being a black man or woman in modern times. All the reviews make this very apparent. The beats, the vocals, the instrument variety, it all works so well together. It touches on historical musical traditions in a fresh way. I very much enjoyed this album and I have traditionally avoided soul/R&B since it never really did anything for me. It's creative, catchy, and unafraid to say the things that are normally whispered in close circles. It's artistic music done correctly. Politically, it's a call to empathy. To see one another as equals. To end violence and prejudice based on physical human characteristics none of us can control. It's asking you to be a loving caring person, which is a language everyone should understand, but unfortunately don't. 7/10
I am not saying it's bad, I'm saying it doesn't belong on this list.
1 decent song and didn’t listen much to the rest of it.
Ei
There is a cool vibe to this album, but that’s about it. It’s kind of bland, just sort of there. Not much too it, to be honest. Underwhelming. Would rather go to a Destiny’s Child, Salt N Pepa, or SWV album. 2-stars.
It seems they made a good R&B/Soul album, but decided to release only the discarded and poorly made songs.
Perfectly cromulent.
love the theming and struggle woven throughout but it all feels so inconsistent. tracks range from seemingly intentionally bad post-punk worldbeat minimalist to toned down early Kanye era beats. actively cringed a few times from some spoken word. feels like the background for a killer dance showcase- but it's barren enough to make me wish for more.
chronologically, this is the second of five albums from the 2020s to appear in 1001 Albums, with its most recent update having been in 2021. (I'm wondering what the over/under is on 3D Country making the next round of selections.) the memory of the previous year's national protests against the murder of George Floyd was still quite strong at the time, and the inclusion of this SAULT album—a pro-Black, anti-police brutality statement released on Juneteenth 2020—seems to be Dimery & Co.'s way of acknowledging that moment in time. it was a brief era of uncanny optimism in the face of strife that now feels like a huge missed opportunity in retrospect, considering how quickly everyone went home after a Democrat got elected. the police were never even de-funded! but, hey, let's view this for what it is, not what it was. SAULT is a somewhat anonymous collective of musicians spearheaded by English producer, multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Inflo and lead singer Cleo Sol, names I first came across from their excellent work on multiple Little Simz projects that came out around the same time as SAULT's first four albums. whereas your average Simz song is packed tight with musical and lyrical info, Untitled (Black Is) often utilizes a minimal approach in both of those respects. most of these songs are led by a tight drum pocket, a bassline, and maybe some keys or a guitar. beyond that, it's all vocal layering. there's a smoothness to the group's approach that helps make the harrowing themes of racial injustice go down easy. if anything, it might be a little too easy, especially across 20 tracks and 56 minutes. decent 6/10.
Powerful lyrical narrative that is still very relevant. Music is great too
Really solid soul/trip hop stuff here
251/1001 Sault - Untitled (Black Is) Heard before? ✅ Revisit? ✅ I specifically remember listening to this when it came out in June 2020 during the fallout from the George Floyd murder and having such an impact. Almost six years on, it still is a powerful album both celebrating Black lives, but criticising the police. Much like Marvin Gaye's What's Going On, Sault's music is a soulful reflection of the state of the world at the time. There's plenty of interesting additions that keep this such an engaging listen.
I had heard of this group before but not heard any of the music. The fact that they don't play live, do media interviews and have such a vast catalogue already makes it difficult to know where to start. It felt to me a bit like a Gorillas project without the ego or big name guests. I thought it was a great listen but that was a few days ago, and none of it really stuck with me so I'm going a strong 3.
i rly roll my eyes when white ppl respond to art about black life and black politics with a self-shielding abdication of responsibility to form an opinion on it (the classic "its not for me but its an Important Message", with more or less sympathetic variants), but in the case of this record i kind of get it because it goes out of its way at several points to make it clear that it is Not made with a white audience in mind, and is intended to be a positive and healing record specifically for black people in a world of antiblackness. as such, my articulation ab how i feel ab this record does make me a little self-conscious...theres a lot of prosaic Directness across this record that i cant help but feel like dilutes the experience a little, and im not rly gonna try to speculate whether that effect would be more or less tolerable were i not white. i will just say that given that this is unambiguously for a black audience, i feel like the parts that verge on black politics 101 (some of the spoken word affirmation parts are nice, others feel rote), or that overly clarify something that should be immediately understood (the track Don't Shoot Guns Down loses a lot of its haunting effect the moment they say Racist Policeman out loud), are pretty weird. when you sacrifice subtlety , you should be getting some kind of visceral power in return, and some of the anthemic attempts here mishandle that imo. still, the music itself is absolutely stellar...some Theres A Riot Going On murky colors realized with a palate of sounds and vocal effects and arrangement ideas that are cohesive but so expressive that the record can vividly transform before your eyes track to track...far from sly stone's coked-out numbness, its such a lush and rich and uplifting sound, and the tracklist that seems bloated from a distance becomes a really engrossing suite. i probably need to seek out more albums by sault just to see where else their musical ideas go. and despite my objections, its still a very emotive and soulful record...its ability to create material of such Inherent power only makes its over-disambiguations more disappointing. but far from ruinous either. (some of these reviews are fucking awful dude. white people will step over as many black corpses as they need just to stop feeling mildly uncomfortable)
The less words the better.
El disco me ha acabado pareciendo más interesante que cuando empecé a escucharlo y rescato alguna que otra canción. Vocalmente es una maravilla y tiene sonidos que me suelen gustar por lo general
I enjoyed this one. Sat and listened to it twice. 4 stars
After reading some of the public reviews of this record, I really wanted to like it, but I couldn’t. It just isn’t that good.
This one may very well grow on me. Most of the aspects of contemporary R&B that bug me are dialed back, and I find the dirtier grooves and soundscapes of tracks like “Stop Dem”, “Sorry Ain’t Enough”, “Bow”, and “Black” lend nicely to the record’s thematic content. High 3.5 for now, but I’m excited to keep revisiting. 3.5/5
Don get da hype
I'm not sure exactly where to go with this. Good message, questionable execution (at least for me, but I don't think I'm in the target audience). 4-5 tracks in, I was thinking that the beats are pretty good and the lyrics repetitive. 5 tracks later and the beats are also repetitive and the repetitive lyrics are getting a little annoying. 20?! tracks that are mostly the same, 4 or 5 that I like, 4 or 5 that I don't. I guess that makes it a 3.
The album cover pulled me in. Every other aspect pushed me away.
I wish I had enough integrity to finish this. Maybe later, but I can't right now
Haven't heard of this artist before. No doubt it talks about important issues but when it comes to music itself it isn't that interesting. It still had some nice tracks though 2/5
Bubbling with ideas and emotive lyrics. Problem being with this album is that there are good bits but as a cohesive strand it doesn't hold together. Sorry aint enough is a magnificent song however and the album is worth checking out for that alone
This album definitely shouldn’t be on this list - not because it’s bad, but I think it was added in 2020 because it was written in response to Black Lives Matter protests INSTEAD of being added for musical significance. I can appreciate that this album is an emotional response to the condition of the world, but that doesn’t excuse that this album went nowhere pretty quickly. Musically this really droned on for me, the message quickly faded into songs that established a cool beat and then did nothing with it. Seems better suited to be background music at an art installation rather than something to actively listen to again, in my opinion. 4/10.
Album 1069 of 1089 Untitled (Black Is) - SAULT (2020) Rating : 3 / 5 This is clearly an album centered on the Black experience and the emotions, frustrations, pride, and reflections that come with it. That’s the core of what’s being presented here. While the subject matter isn’t something that directly reflects my own personal life experience, that doesn’t mean the message can’t be heard or appreciated. I haven’t been hiding under a rock all my life. I understand the themes being addressed, and I can respect where the album is coming from. Musically, there’s a nice mix of styles supporting those messages - soul, funk, gospel touches, and some modern production that keeps things moving. The band clearly knows what they’re doing. At times the grooves really settle in nicely, and the performances carry a lot of feeling behind them. For me, the album worked best when the music and message balanced each other. The songs that leaned into that groove and musicality stood out the most. Even when the themes weren’t personally relatable, the musical foundation made it an engaging listen. Overall, it was a solid album and an interesting one to spend time with.
Pretty good.
2 - message was great but the actual music didn’t resonate
although i am also of a person of colour (asian), my life is too fucking safe for me to understand this. when it comes to protest songs i still prefer those that are intense or uses more metaphors just like songs on tpab. 3/5
Best wel cringe. Alleen wildfires is lekker
Vamos começar pela superfície. A capa já se mostra pomposa ao extremo, o título um dos mais pretensiosos que já vi (que escrotidão chamar um disco de Untitled e dar a ele um título mesmo assim), e claro, a arma fumegante, a data de lançamento: 2020, um ano recheado de inúmeras psicoses coletivas. De fato tudo estava apontando para um destino terrível a este disco. Dito e feito. Batidas rudimentares, vocais básicos e produção quase que amadora. Tudo isso como veículo de uma mensagem vazia, que já foi entregue de maneira infinitamente mais eficaz por verdadeiros artistas que realmente tinham algo a dizer. Falta alma. Falta garra. Falta emoção. Falta trabalho e atenção aos detalhes. Estou criticando o fato que este disco exalta o negro? Obviamente não. Estou criticando o fato que este disco é ruim, entediante, vazio e impotente. Uma grande perda de 56 minutos. 0.5
Pretty good
I found it a bit boring ngl. I did like some songs like Wildfires tho, but the album did not feel as a whole.
Continuing a long line of civil right protest music into the 2020s and the BLM movement. Start A Universal Love Trend!
I liked this album. Wildfires is a stand out track. Good background music, play through quality. It has some musical variety and no real low points. 3.6
I didn't dislike this album and actually found myself enjoying some of the songs, but the virtue signalling lyrics started to grate after a while. While I enjoyed it, this record isn't for me, it's for 22yo girls from North London with rich parents who describe themselves as "spiritual", take gap years to work with NGOs in South America, and do Capoeira on the weekends.
Interesting concept but musically not for me at all.
A bit different, had some promise, didn't quite get there.
Wildfires is a great song. Not much from the rest of the album really hit me. Kind of a surprising choice from the 2020s.
I once again do not have a lot to say about an album I loved. Zero skips.
The morning I listened to this album was the lost creatively inspired I've felt in weeks. I spent this album thinking of stories and projects I wanted to write. I had heard much praise for the somewhat anonymous music collective known as SAULT, but had little experience with their music. Having finally taken a listen, I wish I had jumped on this bandwagon so much sooner, because this project is right up my alley. The blend of smooth, beautiful R&B vocals and rhythms with house and dance beats reminds me of some of my favorite electronic music projects growing up, mixed in with traditional African musical elements and steel drums. It is very fitting to see this album come directly after Paul Simon's Graceland on my list; where that album saw a prominent white artist of the time utilizing African music and bringing it to a new audience, Untitled (Black Is) sees a group of black musicians prominently showing off and celebrating that culture themselves. The music by committee approach to SAULT's music allows this album to sound like collectivism and community in sonic form, a celebration of black excellence and culture through powerful spoken word and fist-pumping electronic beats that I could listen to forever. Highlights: Out The Lies, Stop Dem, Hard Life, Wildfires, X, Sorry Ain't Enough, Black Is, Bow, This Generation, Why We Cry Why We Die, Black, Us, Eternal Life, Only Synth In Church, Monsters, June Child, Miracles, Hold Me, Pray up Stay Up
I was in the groove with this one.
Dope
I am pretty skeptical of modern albums deemed ‘you need to hear before you die’ but I was pleasantly surprised by this one. Had never heard of Sault before but I’ll be looking into their other stuff.
Interesting and some lovely beats, but not my style 3-4
Yea it’s pretty good. Very politically charged which I like. Theres also little bits of poetry throughout the album which i found interesting. 7.2/10
A weirdly eclectic album. One of the voices was fantastic. Could have done without the spoken word songs.
not my jam
3,5 eigenlijk
Wow I did not expect this album to sound like this AT ALL. Based off the cover art I thought it’d be like a haunting and artsy fartsy work of art like most of Lingua Ignota’s work, where you can see the work and craftsmanship that went into the album buts it is so naturally depressing to listen to both in tone and subject matter. But I was very very pleasantly surprised that while it is serious and mature in its subject matter, it has sort of funk to it that keeps it from being too dry. Seriously the song “wildfires” might be an all time classic, it’s so smooth and amazing! Not to mention all the other songs I loved like “Stop Dem”, “Hard Life”, “sorry ain’t enough”, “black”, and “monsters”. That being said I do have to admit that of the 20 songs I only really loved those 6 songs I mentioned, while the other songs were pretty forgettable filler, they weren’t offensively out of place or bad. They were just kinda there to fill out the album. But I don’t think you should look at an album and be like “well I only saved 6 of 20 songs, must mean I don’t really care for it” because those 6 songs are not just good songs, they are EXCELLENT songs. Strong enough individually to hold up their own albums, I really mean it. The things on this album that don’t work get completely overshadowed (in a good way) by the things that do work cause they basically carry the whole album for me. (Also small side note, I didn’t mention it cause I forgot about it when I was writing this review but I re-listened to the album real quick before posting my review to make sure I didn’t miss anything and I just want to add that miracles is also an amazing song and it’s actually really comforting, like next time I’m having negative intrusive thoughts, I’m gunna listen to that song, it nicely puts things in perspective for me).
How many mixed feelings can one person have at the outset of listening to an album? I have all my typical concerns with including any albums that are inside of a ten year window (too difficult to get critical distance on the music), I'm understandably cautious about the time (close to an hour for new music can wear a listener down and sand down the highs), finally, given the name manages to throw an extra "u" in there I'm afraid it's going to be another British editor biased head scratcher. And, of course, I can read the dates and the vibe and as the opening spoken element hits, I now have mixed feelings about maybe dunking too hard on an album of resistance openly declaring a positive vision of Blackness. And then that track Stop Dem comes on with a heavy soul beat that feels promising, so there's hope... ultimately, the issue is that most of the tracks are so smooth you forget them — only a few have a hook strong enough to call me back for a return listen.
It started out poorly, but definitely got better as it went on. It felt like it was trying a bit too hard. That's not to dismiss the many messages the artist(s) were trying to get across, but it all felt a bit too contrived. I'm not explaining myself very well. Anyway, it was nice without being exceptional.
Very Black Power 2020. This is angry, hopeful, fun, artistic, challenging in a way that really captures the summer of 2020. Unfortunately the reaction to that summer really sucks and Trump and his ICE goons can gag on some cocks.
really good
I wonder who listens this. What are their lives like? What do they for a living? What do they do on Sunday afternoons? I think know that would be more interesting then this music
V much enjoyed this, it’s cool, the message is strong and the music is slick, well produced and just great. Never listened to SAULT before, but definitely will be doing so again. 4.3/5.0 Best Song: Bow
A nice listen, I had never heard it before but thoroughly enjoyed it. Very chilled music but obviously an important album and message. Best Track: Bow
Every once in a while, I enjoy getting an album that I don’t know what I’m listening to, but really enjoy. That was this album. It was a touch R&B, I touch African jazz, a touch New Age, a touch electronic there was smooth feel, but an engaging sound that made me want to keep listening rather passively hearing it. Key song was Why We Cry Why We Die, mostly because the book vibe and vocal layering. Black is Beautiful!
Random thoughts: * I had actually listened to Sault before because of the buzz a few years ago. I actually really like this even more on this listen. * It has all the cool of Black Pumas and other similar groups but is also clearly lined with Black pride. * This album should be played more often by me. I need to add this to my rotation to listen more frequently. * I ended up listening to this one back-to-back twice straight through. * More thoughts on this one after I let it soak in a few more times.
This is a cool album - socially conscious but not overwhelmingly aggressive. Very easy to listen to with some novel, catchy hooks. V nice
Magically and important
I’m over 700 albums into this project and I would like to nominate this album for “worst opening track” award. Awful, made me expect a one star album to come. To my surprise there are some lovely moments in this album. It’s a bit scattered stylistically, but overall is a message of uplift for black people. It varies an important message. Some of the R&B and sort of near gospel style tracks are beautiful. I personally didn’t enjoy the ones with the repetitive chorus yelling, and thought those took away from it. However, I freely acknowledge that I, an older white woman, am not the target audience. In the end I’m glad to know about this group of musicians and I think they have much to offer.
This album was interesting. I have never heard of SAULT before but I liked it.
Started out liking what I was hearing, but each song got very repetitive very quick. A lot of good ideas, musically, but I lost interest about half way through. Would be a 2 1/2 if we could do halves.
I felt like the first track had promise, but then I got bored pretty quickly. Same message over and over, and musically not that great!
Forward with its messaging and spirit, this album allows the musicians the space to explore and develop their message, using inspirations from other genres and sounds familiar but ever relevant.
Pass.
The lyrical content is great, however I found the instrumentals lacking, especially in the first half. They livened up considerably in the second and I found myself enjoying it a lot more.
Bit funky, bit preachy, much boring.
Groupe inconnu. Aucun intérêt, beaucoup trop long, répétitif et ennuyeux. Arrêt en cours de route. =>1/5
Enjoyed this.
I was pleasant surprised by this album.. the have quite a string message but at the same time are nice to listen to 4/5
I love music that has a meaning, but this is a bit much. I did not enjoy listening to it. I want to feel good when listening to music, but this just made me feel meh.
Hell of a good record, weaving in and out of genres while keeping a through-line of blackness and black music. It maintains intimacy and sparseness throughout, a real feat for an aBlum like this. Its real downside is the length; it just outweighs its welcome a little too long. But this is a vibes-based concept album with a lot to love and pulled me in fully on this really cool collective.
Not for me, this. The music and beats are good but the lyrics are weakly, fluffily preachy and sanctimonious. A shame because they clearly have talent and theres a great album in there somewhere.
Stand-out tracks: Hard Life, Wildfires, Why We Cry Why We Die, Black, Monsters I like how musically diverse and at times experimental this album, a contrast between harsh sounds and mellow vocals. Certain tracks were nice to listen to or could at least be appreciated for their creativity, while others were just kind of added as in-betweens that I don't feel add much to the album apart from increased listening time. My biggest problem is how on the nose the lyrics are and the message of the album is very clear, but maybe even too clear. There is beauty in subtleness and sometimes too much directness can harm a piece of music or leave you with a bitter taste in your mouth which was the case with this record for me.
Highlights: Stop Dem, Hard Life, Sorry Ain't Enough, Bow, Eternal Life Mid modern RnB record. Don't know why it's on this list, there are far better modern records that could have taken its place. I guess the author of the list has a stick up his ass so he had to pick the most obscure shit he could have found. Musically it sounds as inoffensive as a 2020 record of this genre could, so of course I liked the sound. There's a gazillion other "smooth" records that sound exactly the same and I don't see what is so special with this one. Can't say that I liked the lyrics. It felt like a shallow take on the whole race and individuality thing and I didn't find it particularly tasteful. Two tracks that really left a bad taste in my mouth are Miracles and Black. I am all for racial equality, but this felt cheap and braindead. It especially comes off as sleazy and performative because of the context it was released in (2020 BLM protests). Overall the highlights are musically interesting enough to remain in rotation on some genre specific playlist, but the record left a bad taste in my mouth and I don't see myself revisiting it as a whole. I feel like if the sound from the first half continued on the second half the rating would be better. It did get a bit monotonous by the end.
Fantastic. Listened to it and only it all day.
favs: stop dem wildfires sorry aint enough miracles rating 2/5
Going in completely blind to this, no idea what to expect. Overall, I quite liked it. It's certainly a political statement. This is more like a soundscape art installation than an album. Out the Lies is an immediate reference to Understand What Black Is by The Last Poets, and is the album title also a reference?
Not my usual taste, but a really strong album overall. Some great songs and lots of powerful messaging.
Really dope album! Exactly the kind of album I needed for inspiration
Not something I would put on usually but there were some fine tracks.
Smooth soul idk just annoyed
Plays more like a series of artistic vingettes, rather than a traditional album. Still a solid listen, focused on tracks over lyrics. Favorite track was Bow
Men NEVER get afraid! That's what I learned from the track "X" from SAULT's 2020 release "Untitled (Black Is)." Considering the date of release on this bad boy and the general political climate in 2020, I can see why this was added. Probably for the first track. Honestly, the second track is where it's at. That thing rules. Everything else? This is paint-by-numbers activism that seems to me would appeal mostly to people with white saviour complex. That's not to say there is nothing of value here. Activism is important, even if it isn't saying anything new, but musically, this record is so bland outside of the first couple tracks. Too smooth, minimal rage. I guess rage is often turned against marginalized groups in order to further paint them as objectionable. Man, society sucks. Unfortunately, this album did nothing to distract me from that or shine a light on any of the major issues in an interesting way. Another snoozefest that takes a spot away from seminal extreme music throughout history. It's ok, it's not like humans have emotions besides sad/happy! So smile and/or frown and turn the page, we have some more 2000's brit rock to listen to. I should "Sault" (as in Sault Ste. Marie. Get it? huh???) 1.5-2 HIGHLIGHTS: Stop Dem
Tør ikke å gi laveste rating grunnet budskapet :)
OK.
Tengo que volver a escucharlo, pero me ha encantado. Una mezcla entre Can, Portishhead y Lauren Hill. Me he guardado "Hard Life" (Cover, Michael Kiwanuka, and Nikolic), "Don't Shoot Guns Down" (Cover and Nikolic), Sorry Ain't Enough" (Cover and Nikolic) y "Bow" (Cover and Kiwanuka), pero supongo que cuando lo vuelva a oír añadiré más. Todo un descubrimiento.
What a landmine of an album. There are pieces of art that if you don't like it some people consider you racist, and then at the same time there ARE people who don't like it because they're racist! So here goes. Most of the music on this album is really good - strong grooves; fun, unexpected sounds; excellent vocal performances. But then you have the laughably bad spoken word poetry: "Black is God. Black is excellence. Black is beautiful." This is fine from a middle schooler. But serious musicians/lyricists/artists would never write lines like this. And this isn't a single throwaway interlude track, this happens a number of times throughout the record. The nadir of this trend is the track "Black," on which we are treated to: "Black I'm black!" And now we've veered into parody. There are two ways to view this - either Sault is hopelessly naive and artless, or unbearably cynical. They string together Black empowerment throw-pillow slogans and expect to be taken seriously. I find this whole approach insulting. There is zero nuance, or depth, or complexity to the theme of race. Unfortunate. TWO STARS
Alright, so like, I know this a newer addition to the list and, like, obviously the dude put this in there because he felt he needed an album that spoke to the 2020 Black Lives Matter moment, and while this isn’t BAD, I think, with 5 years time, it’s not particularly actually representative or remembered music of that time period. Like, I enjoyed quite a few songs, but it’s truly a band (collective?) I have never heard of before nor seems to have a big cultural impact (although, in the dude who made this list fashion, features some artists who have solo entries on this list lol he can’t help himself but like the same 10 musicians over and over)
The racist reviews here are wild. This is a cool album. Amazing production that feels a little like Kanye without the fascism.
Very interesting. I didn't get into the music after several songs, but I ended regretting that it was over. I like much more somber songs than others, but the ones I liked are great.
Overall vibe and sound is pleasant to my ears. Wildfire is nice cool song. But after it I was constantly checking how many songs are still by there. And nothing was there to keep me interested.
This was surprisingly good. Absolutely loved "Wildfires" and overall mood of the album.
Cool, but I’ve been listening to Chapter 1 a lot lately and I reckon that one’s better. On its on this one is good.
Felt like I was in a bar too cool for me.
A fine album. Honestly, I had never heard of Sault until now. They may warrant further listening. But... the real masterwork that was also released in June of 2020 and captured the Black experience of that tumultuous spring very well was "RTJ4" by Run The Jewels. It is essential listening and more than deserves to be on this list. Pretty sure I've mentioned it before.
Nemam velika očekivanja čim vidim frišku godinu i čujem da kreće sa vokalnim samplovima ali je ovo bilo baš prijatno od početka do kraja. Opuštajuće a dovoljno zanimljivo da drži pažnju.
I was bored listening to this. Even the lyrics, that should be it’s shining beacon, are much to be desired.
Going into this album I thought
1:5
This was an album of two styles: House/ Disco which I loved, and R&B/ Gospel which was just awful. I liked a few tracks and would have enjoyed an entire album that was along those lines. Monsters and Bow fell into this category. However, most of the album wasn't in this style and was just plain bad. Two stars.
Some absolutely wretched reviews of this have clearly had a lot of upvotes. The actual album is pretty decent, not mind blowing, but I naturally want to score it higher so I'm not associated with those people.
Very mellow r&b with a relevant mesage and ode to black culture. Well produced, varied enough in its execution and appropriate for those who want to chill and those who want to get inspired by social commentary alike.
I had a phase last year when i couldnt stop listening to a few songs by sault, im not sure ive ever listened to this album through fully so im glad to be reminded
The album was released in 2020 in the time of the protests for George Floyd's killing and others. It captures the zeitgeist of the moment. Interesting that it comes from a British group. I like the sound/groove of the album - parts of it remind me of the soulful side of Lauryn Hill. This is a strong 3.
I discovered both Sault and Michael Kiwanuka in basically the same week, and they opened up a new batch of hip-hop inflected r&b and soul, right when I was getting bored with the indie rock I'd been wallowing in for the last 10ish years. Maybe just a strong 4, but rounding up to counter balance all the reviews where it's apparent this album punched them right in their white fragility. ("Ugh, why do albums like this have to spend so much time talking about blackness being good and strong?! Can we go back to the unending stream of 1960s rock bands detailing the resilience of the white South?")
Perhaps not their strongest outing but found lots of gems I hadn't heard before (Hard Life, Monsters, Miracles.) The interludes were a bit much but otherwise solid r&b/gospel/message music.
A very slow, mellow R&B album that nearly put me to sleep. Most of the songs have similar generic beats and talk about being black.
i i didn’t expect to be so impressed by this album 8/10
geschreeuw
Pretty cool. Instrumentals were exciting and the lyrics were powerful.
Wow, I was really impressed. Never heard of the band or album, but will look out for more. The clarity of the drums was something I loved. But mostly this was a hit for me in its eclectic range, musicality, humanity, political awareness. But upbeat and authentic. While it all worked together and rewarded listening not absolutely every track stood out but some really did.
Häftig atmosfär, sparsmakade men effektiva beats.
Riktigt spännande upptäckt och exempel på vad det här projektet kan ge.
Underbart som att lyssna genom hela albumnet
Delar låter jättebra, men långt ifrån allt. Sticker ut, iaf.
Sorry, inte rasist
Not my thing
Caught me offguard, what a masterpiece!
First off, I am not an r & b person. It's not that I dislike it, it is never bad, but usually it is only good at best. And this album is good at best. The things I liked: the balatro synth, the afro beat and more African centric music, the political messaging. The things I disliked: the number of interludes, the more meandering songs, this album kinda just became background music really quickly especially the more "generic" r & b songs. Why we cry, why we die was probably made in under an hour. Mid 3.
Not my favourite SAULT album
Heck yeah!
This is a far better album than my rating implies. It is a real work of art: I am extremely happy it exists on this list and glad Ilistened to it but... it's not one I'm going to keep coming back to.
Good album! Appreciate the spoken parts. Sault is great but not my fav of theirs.
Great r&b album and more will definitely check out more by them.
The Apple Music description says it is more of a DJ set...I agree. I like this one. It moves through the territory with a strong vibe, telling a story.
We get it.
Another interesting album that I nerve would have heard without this project. I really enjoy and appreciate the fluidity of musical genres here. It is a bit atmospheric for my overall taste - it sometimes blended into the background. But there’s a lot of beauty to the music and it served the subtle but powerful messages. Also anyone who claims race wasn’t a topic 15 years ago and we were on some verge of a post racial society was living with blinders on - intentionally or otherwise.
toller sound, R&B wie es sein soll.
Nichts was bleibt
Enjoyed it immensely.
Favorite track: Stop Dem
some of you on this website are really racist huh
a little too repetitive for me, but really nice sound
There’s an album in here somewhere. For every good song there is 2 really bad interludes or a bad intro to a good song. I get that this record is a protest piece and I’m all for it. But I think what they’ve done on the album (the interludes) don’t have a lot of weight on the subject matter. Parts of this could have been left to liner notes in the LP. It kind of threw me off while listening to the record. But the actual songs are well done. I wish they would’ve put more energy into song writing than social commentary. And for that… my score is my score.
very very good
My last album was a slog about an extraterrestrial time travelling murderous gynecologist. I feel SAULT have somehow made something even less subtle here. Loving the nod to songhoy blues. There's some love put into this craftwork. I wonder if this album fixed racism. *checks the news* Ah. Christ.
Many interesting things going on here as for the sound and atmosphere is concerned. No catchy songs though, it more a movie soundtrack kind of thing, which g’ets a kittel boring
It was fine. It had some good grooves, but I got a little bored
I liked the message and vibe of this album. I was excited to see that Michael Kiwanuka is an artist on it and some of the songs definitely had a similar flavor to his other work I've heard. Although this was an R&B album, which is historically a genre that doesn't resonate with me, I thought this was a great modern take on it with really interesting rhythms. For a while I was thinking this could be a 4/5, but the albums length really got to me in the end (an hour) and the songs started feeling similar to one another, which meant that ultimately I don't see myself listening to this one much.
Never heard of the album or artist- I will be looking for more
It was fine I guess. Not really my style of music. But it seemed good for the style it is? Appreciate the social message and recognize I’m not the target demographic.
wildfires is soo good why we cry why we die monsters
Im sorry but this is kind of ass.
New to me but a lot to like here. Too much interstitial bullshit cost them an entire star but to the extent this was produced after George Floyd's killing I will chalk it up to trying times where everyone felt compelled to express themselves but no one knew how. But overall, the sounds and songs land well. Massive Attack for the kids of today? "Wildfires" sounds a helluva lot like a mashup of (1970s krautrock gods) Can's "Vitamen C" and (American contemporary soul band) Black Pumas' "Colors." Like, go listen to those three songs in a row as I just did and you will LOL. I'm looking forward to checking these guys out more but fair warning if they persist with all the non signs/music bullshit they will lose me fast. Fingers crossed!
I always get unreasonably excited when we get an album that's from fewer than 15 years ago, so getting this 5-year-old album definitely qualifies for irrational exuberance. And I feel like Sault succeeded in not completely disappointing, although I do wish it could have had a little/a lot more musicality to it. It's interesting to place this and their subsequent album "Untitled (Rise)" in the midst of the Black Lives Matter upwelling after George Floyd's murder in the US in 2020, and this album definitely speaks to this experience (despite the largely British composition of the band). The highlights for me were the combo "Hard life" and "Don't shoot guns down", plus the Afrobeat-inspired "Bow" (especially since it features Michael Kiwanuka) and "Monsters". Not as great as I'd hoped for, and pretty light on musical variety, but still nice to see an album from 2020 represented here.
Great album though didn't care for Don't Shoot Guns Down too much. Related to the line "there's still meat on that bone, little girl!"
This was a really solid pick. It's old school Motown R&B sounds with contemporary production and sensibilities. I'm 100% not the audience for this album. From the first listen it can feel a bit heavy handed in it's lyrical content without really driving home its point. Lyrics, though, have never been a priority in my musical tastes. So I'm not as bothered as some reviewers. But I really enjoyed it. It won't go into my normal rotation, but I'll definitely want to give it another listen or three. I feel it's one of those albums that gets better after successive listens. 4 star
Not far off from some trip-hop/downtempo stuff I've listened to. Not too bad, I can dig it. Has its moments ("Wildfires", "Eternal Life") but the length of the album and overly repetitive nature of many of the songs ("Stop Dem", "Don't Shoot Guns Down") might knock a star off.
Decent
Most of this album consists of loosely-structured tracks where the vocals are repetitive melodies/lyrics or spoken word bits, neither of which make for compelling listening. Very few of these numbers coalesce into actual songs, though the ones that do are effective, like "Monsters".
Lol. Stopped listening after Don’t Shoot Guns Down. Almost a comical exaggeration a of everything farcial about American racial politics, amounting to something akin to nationalistic propaganda. Victomhood doesn't equate to interest or innocence or anything close to perfection, and this album (everything from that cover to the name to the title of every track) is nothing more than a laughably superficial collection of tepid political comments (though some of the early music is certainly not bad).
I really like their sound and concept of the album and I want to give it more time to digest for what it is. Also didn’t know that the lead singer was Cleo Sol so it was really cool to see her release music in a different name with a producer to create this sound.
Never heard of them but enjoyed this album.
Apparently this group is as secretive as the band Ghost although quite different musically.
Not my type of music.
Their third album. Soul / Funk. Race is not something I am.bothered about, either way. What's it mean to be black ? What's is mean to ne white ? I don't care. I'll judge those I meet on how they are as a person, it's that simple for me. As for the music, it meanders along and was uneventful on the whole.
#805. The white devil is the source of all my problems, not my own actions. Nah, couldn't be. I don't want accountability or self reflection, I just want someone to blame for all my shortcomings. 1/5: miss me with this shit
Pretty good album.
Weird
There's some cool songs on here, and some dreck. Perfect example of a 3.
This is another album that demonstrates the British slant of the list. I liked it, especially on my second pass, but I would need more listens to go to more than 3 stars. While squarely R&B, there is some spoken word, gospel, Afro beat, hip hop, dance components that make it rich for re-listening. The timing of the holidays is making it hard for me to dive deeper.
2020 seems late for the theme to be considered what makes this sensitive. Sometimes-interesting collage of styles that I mostly don’t like. Stop Dem was good.
Spoken word style vocals aren't my cup of tea, but the production was great and it tied together nicely on tracks like "Wildfire" with more traditional vocals. If more songs were in that style I would've enjoyed this more.
Rhythm that is otherworldly, lyrics that shine a light on your heart and spicy instrumentation that connects you to a depth in the music
It's really nice to discover music like this through the project! Artists still crafting excellent albums instead of throwing together a loose collection of singles is a beautiful thing.
Loved the closing number. But the rest of it was too sedate for me.
Favorite Track: Wildfires
This was unexpectedly cool. I’m not usually big on R&B but this wasn’t your typical R&B. I’m talking like Usher, Ne-Yo, you know like sexy pop music. This was closer to instrumental hip hop and I dig it. For me it’s a very high three but it’s close enough that I’m giving it a four.
This album takes emotive topics such as police racism and the Monsters 'among us', allied to the pride and beauty of being black, and mixes it all with hints of contemporary R&B, gospel and downtempo trip-hop. It's a bit Nightmare on Wax-ish and not bad at all. And telling people to put their guns down in such a calm, matter-of-fact way gives it more impact. High points for me were found in Hard Life, Eternal Life and Monsters. The music's not all to my taste, but the fact that we need songs like this is a poor reflection on society as a whole. I'd not heard of SAULT yesterday, but now I'm interested in checking out their back catalogue. Thank you 1001. A high 3☆.
Extra points needed here. I enjoyed it. 4.4.
I enjoyed it, but it seemed to drag a bit at the end. Adding a star on my rating to counteract some of the ridiculousness here. Personal enjoyment: 3/5 Relevance to this list: 4/5
Great meaning but the majority of songs are just too empty and not interesting. Too many songs about god and empowerment that falls flat. Some songs are great but not enough 2.5/5
While generally enjoyable, there was nothing particularly stand out
Nice grooves and beats.
Uneven but pretty low lows
Цей альбом раніше слухав, пам'ятаю, що багато про нього говорили. Мені він не подобався й на момент виходу. Тоді як раз активізувався BLM після вбивства Флойда і альбом отримав ще додаткову актуальність. На мою думку, blackness та black excelence тут розкрито максимально поверхнево та нецікаво. Вокалістка з дефолтним вокалом наспівує супер дефолтні тексти. Музично в декількох піснях є прикольні груві моменти. В цілому це досить стерильна музика в якій є непогані моменти.
Не шарив цей проєкт, але альбом сподобався. 3.5
Pivotal album, with some gorgeous music and important messages.
Straight up cheeks. Goofy ass title
I see why it’s in here because it was politically relevant or significant for the time but this album was pretty boring for me. Also, I don’t get why it’s called untitled with its title in parenthesis
There are some really beautiful pieces in here, but overall a lot of bad music. I love the message, but the music was generally not for me.
An album of peaks and valleys. It was almost frustrating cause whenever there was a run of 2-3 tracks that were pretty good and I thought the album was picking up, there would be something just really dull. Overall quite disappointing, was really starting to drag by the end. Top Track - Bow, love me some Kiwanuka
Man, the state of some of the reviews here... Loved this album at the time, but haven't listened to the whole thing through for a while. It's such a good vibe, with some standout tracks (not least Wildfires). 4.5*
kawanuki won’t appear on the bad album 4.5
Feels like I got in the wrong room, I am not supposed to be here.
Play something a little simple about all the positive sound on here. I’d rather hear something more complex. The cut and paste music sections are interesting to me but overall not really something I will go back and listen to again.
2.5
3.5
3.5
I really enjoyed this one quite a bit and I think a lot of it is that even though it is modern R&B it does rely heavily on some '70s Funk beats and '90s R&B stylizations. I even for the most part like the blend of electronica ideas throughout the album, but there were points of it where some of the repetitiveness did get anoying, but that really only happened to me on a couple of tracks . For the most part I thoroughly enjoyed this album if it were a bit shorter I might even have it on the verge of a four and a half but I think it is a solid four (8.45) ★★★★
Cool contemporary R&B, with good singing. 4 srars
I thought this SAULT album was pretty good. It's an interesting blend of electronic music and neo-soul/alternative R&B. The messaging is really good too. I think what holds it back for me is there's quite a number of sort of interlude style tracks that are either spoken word or just kind of a not quite baked electronica song. There is some great stuff here though -- I really liked "Hard Life", "Wildfires", "Bows", and "Monsters". Cleo Sol sounds great, and Inflo's production is pretty cool. 3.5 stars.
I enjoyed this album. When I say enjoyed I mean I tolerated it. When I say tolerated it I mean I’d rather paint myself with tar, spend a counterfeit $20 bill in Minnesota innocently by mistake and then get a bunch of angry policemen stand on my neck for two hours than listen to the rest of this thin runny nonsense.
Nothing burger of music with a good message
This album was not made for me, and that’s ok. But i also didn’t really enjoy it, and that should be ok too.
Honestly a very good album that strays outside of convention, takes risks, and is still a very enjoyable listen
Not in my edition of the book! 2020. 3 stars. Pretty contemptible to see so many bigoted dipshit upvotes, though not, I suppose, surprising. This album caught a certain category of listener right in their black supremacy complex, didn't it? Decent drum machine and synth soul with great vocals. Points deducted for trying too hard with its "black is beautiful" message - imagine the reaction if a white band had put out an album with similar sentiments.
Maybe its because a few albums before this I got Disposable heroes of Hiphoprisy but these songs all felt like almost a pandering lip service to the issues in comparison and then the beats underneath are pretty run of the mill. I really am confused by this relatively modern addition. Maybe the motivation is that any wordsmithing that conveys a depth of information about the issues is just wasted when slogan-like hooks are more effective? Like some kind of distillation? Or maybe it veers more into a celebration vs just justifiable outrage? Full disclosure I'm not really a qualified demographic to really assess any of this, I'd like to hear a more informed take. I think as far as more contemporary music in this vein I better see L'Rain's 'I Killed Your Dog' on this list.
Pretty great. THe couple notes about this on WIkipedia made me think it was going to be like angry hardcore or Gil Scot Heron. Much more down to earth, think a modern day, more electronic Sly and the Family Stone with African vibes. And I continue to be angry that nothing ever changes, BLM didn't seem to do anything. The Police are even more heavily funded than ever. Seems like we went backwards. It's 2025 and we were promised Fully Automated Luxury Communism, but all we got was the same racist police state. Somehow (maybe because of the 2020 protests) that racist power elite got even more scared than they were before, and entrenched themselves even further in their hateful, crude, and violent ways. I really don't want this to end in a violent revolution. No one wants that. I love that this album really celebrated blackness and black people without being dicks about it. The positivity and love might be the thing to set us all free. It's a lovely thought anyway.
Perfect album.
I love an album that feels like listening to a film. So much heart and soul and feeling
Not my usual listen but very good. A very thought provoking album. Racism, discrimination, and violence towards people of color unfortunately is still here. This is an album of hope, rising up, and overcoming.
obvi
israeli
musically this is complete garbage in my eyes. repeating lyrics over and over again on multiple songs, boring production, race asmr between songs. theres a lot to be said about the message of this album. this to me feels like tiktok activism more than something thats actually trying to spark any real change in the world. i feel like theres so many other albums you could listen to that get a similar meaningful message across while also being interesting to listen to.
delicately balanced crisp afro funk and spoken word mixed with a little jazz and 90's hip hop beats.
Только из уважения ко всему ЧЕРНОМУ
Unusual and interesting
Good
This Generation needs to listen to this. It will start the Wildfires of revolution.
I'd heard of Cleo Sol, but I hadn't heard of Sault or this album. Unlike some reviewers(!) I have no problem with the fact that they chose to release this, in this style, at that moment. I mean, how dare musical artists express how they feel about a horrific, symptomatic event in a manner of their own choosing 🙄 I thought it was compelling, powerful and cool. And, seriously funky in places. It definitely deserves to be heard; in fact, the only thing that made me cross was that I hadn't heard of it.
Loved this. Not sure how I missed it when it came out but there was a LOT going on
Fairly interesting production, a lot of interludey stuff that has no purpose though but I liked a lot of the normal songs
7/10
Nice R&B
Would have been a great 35 minute album if they had left off all the filler. Favorite song: monsters
Album #976 Some of the music here is OK. I really like the drum sounds. The lyrics are infantilizing. Black people are God-like magical creatures who built the world. Yeah.
Super high instrumental skill, smooth, groovy, insane production. Big sweeping survey of the different aspects of being black with both optimism and real darkness. This slaps. The vocals from cleo sol are disarming, both vulnerable.childlike but have this huge gospel quality. Big fusion of different communities from London shows up here
Musically beautiful and interesting, but lyrically repetitive.
6/10 Favourite: Why We Cry Why We Die Least Favourite: Don't Shoot Guns Down
(4) some of the interludes were a bit naff but i liked it the proper songs!
Loved this. Totally different from anything I've heard from the generator so far. Mysterious. Sexy. Political. Amorphous. Grounded in the Black experience yet also feels like it could have been written by space aliens. I had encountered songs from the group on playlists before but didn't get what they were really about until listening through a whole album. Looking forward to further exploration of their mysteries.
This does not need to be here! The people who made this list make me so angry sometimes. We get it, you’re super progressive or whatever.
Interesting but didn’t really hang together for me as an album.
I find the music to be soulless, it does have some good basslines. The lyrics are cheesy and it drags on, way too long. I find it to be pretty boring until the end where there are a couple songs with a bit of a Thievery Corp sound that are interesting.
Pretty good. Kind of chill. Strong message. It did stumble at times but did enough to keep me interested.
5 years removed from 2020 and the staying power musically speaking is stale
Ważne: nie oceniam ze względu na przekaz. Nie oceniam też ze względu na pochodzenie/rasę/orientację artystów. To po prostu nie moja muzyka. Trochę monotonna, trochę zbyt rytmiczna a za mało melodyjna. Za dużo mówionych wstawek. Nie byłam w stanie się zakochać w żadnym z kawałków i chociaż bardzo szanuję + uważam że takie albumy są potrzebne to nie jestem w stanie dać więcej niż 5.5/10
i was at 4 stars before kiwanuka came on
Probably won't come back to it too often, but a really creative and well produced album.
I love this album. I’m not sure how this group wound up on my radar, but it happened at exactly the right time, just about the time it was released. It spoke to the moment profoundly, but I also continue to listen to it regularly still. It’s hard to find much data about them, which I think adds to their appeal. Overall and excellent listen and probably the best contemporary addition to this list so far.
Thought this was great. 👍
Some of this was a good listen but too many fairly bland sounding tracks. That’s not to detract from the message but I would have preferred more songs with some oomph.
Glad that this list dips into more modern stuff, but it does need more. A completely new artist to me and pleasantly surprised at how good it was. The songs flow effortlessly and it is never in your face unlike other artists of the genre. I think it went on too long and towards the end was repetitive.
Nice little surprise this one. It just feels so refreshingly different from the prevalent rock vibe on this list. It flows really well as an album and just has a really dreamlike and warm quality to it that draws you in. Personally I preferred the more Afro-beat/electoronica/hip hop tracks over the R&B/soul stuff. Stop Dem and Monsters the highlights. Will have to check more, albeit slightly confused they seem to have released 6 albums in 2022! Back to Elvis Costello it is tomorrow then [sighs].
ehh it's just ok Will I listen to again: 5%
I absolutely love the meaning behind this album, and find it pretty empowering on it's surface. Sonically, I can't say it is particularly well-sequenced, nor do many of the tracks (especially later in the album) add much to the experience. However the beauty of some of the tracks in tandem with the overall meaning elevate it a bit. 3.5/5 - 4/5
BLMslop in the thousandty-eighty-nine albums... How sordid. It's been a while since I rolled what I assume to be a hip-hop album. I was getting absolutely inundated with these things a month or so ago, so I guess I'm rejuventated enough to run the gauntlet once again. Here goes. Okay, a funky soul R&B thing. Not quite what I was expecting. These Sault guys have been going absolutely bonkers with the album releases. Twelve albums in six years is crazy. Anyways, this album is pretty dull. Soul, R&B and funk are genres which already have a limited appeal to me, but something about this album just felt off. Many of these songs lack a clear focus, and some of the instrumentation comes off as tacky to me - especially the very contemporary percussive sounds. All of the empty platitude interlude sections also kinda bugged me. No clue why these kinds of albums insist on having those sections. "Sorry Ain't Enough" is solid enough. The vocals are decent, and the subdued instrumentation is solid - particularly in the bass department. The interlude sections on "Black" are solid. The rest of the album is fine for the most part, though nothing else really stuck out to me. The last three tracks kinda sucked though and I'm also not a fan of the constant interludes I, tragically, do not have a 2021 edition of the book, so I can't consult the entry for this album. Wikipedia fortunately comes in semi-clutch. Charity album. Well-received by critics. I mean, let's rip off the band-aid here. The inclusion of this album was obviously made on political grounds, similar to how virtually every contemporary pick on this list comes from some kind of minority group. The 2020 BLM protests were counterintuitive, misdirected and accomplished absolutely nothing, so I think I'm content with snubbing this one. In place of this album, I humbly submit "The Terror" by The Flaming Lips for inclusion on the list.
GOSTEI Demais
Strong - Wildfires is an excellent song. Would come back for a handful of songs, but not for the album.
I tried, didn't get the hype really. "I'm tired of incessant racial propaganda" - exclusively likes white artists. Shot man.
The way to get on this list is clearly to be wildly eclectic and a little batshit
electr. drums + git + Chor/Sprache , R&B, 2020 -> 2
Fisting
Very interesting listen today, made even more interesting by the fact that I just listened to Massive Attack yesterday! I knew the spoken word stuff would be lost on a lot of people, and the reviews on this site did not disappoint. There's a lot of interesting stuff being done throughout this album. Handing the narrative back and forth between spoken word poetry and musical motifs. I know essentially nothing about SAULT as I'm writing this review, so take what I say with a grain of salt. I could see how this album would rub a lot of people the wrong day. It's very un-apoligetically black, it goes against what every suburban white gen x through gen z was taught. It's impolite to talk about race! It really makes me wonder about the backgrounds of the musicians involved. This could totally come off as vapid if some industry plant millionaire kid was the one making it. Moving on to the lyricism, it's not even being subtle in the messaging here. Wild that people are upset about how point blank and on the nose these lyrics are, when an entire songs lyrics are saying "you didn't listen when we tried to tell you before." As far as the music goes, I preferred the tracks like Monsters and Us, with a pretty sweet synth going. That said, there is a surprising diversity of sound on this album. To those of you that disagree, consider a cheesemonger. They could tell you the difference in regions and varietals of 15 types of cheddar. The subtle taste differences. What goes into making it, how the cows diet effects it, etc. But to some of you, its all just cheese. If your scope is limited, your understanding will be limited as well.
Ignore the naysayers. This is a great album. I enjoy the minimalism and interesting touches.
Pretty extraordinary. Part trip hop, part spoken-word poetry, entirely beautiful. This almost leaves the realm of music and feels more like an art installation -- it isn't so much necessary listening for music's sake as it is for culture's sake. A touching and thought provoking contribution to the BLM movement in 2020. Really beautiful.
Mehhh.
It seemed like it really wanted to sound inspired.
i bet some people really hated this for flimsy reasons lol
Some nice grooves and patronising, remedial "My First Protest Song" lyrics would like to meet decent songs to hold listeners' attention for the duration of yet another overlong album. It's pleasant background music and nothing more.
Pretty unforgettable.
Wow, an album from the 2020s, that's a first! Overall, pretty great album. With slam poetry mixed with other songs, I feel calm. I will say at the beginning with Out the Lies, the quality at the beginning made me think instead of them shouting "Out the Lies", I heard "Ultra Lord" and I haven't been exposed to Jimmy Newtron in a long time 😂
A sonic visual pursuit into the soul.
So refreshing compared to the majority of Dad Rock on this list!
Cool experimental triphoppy r&b with some beautiful melodic passages.
I didn’t know this album or band, but the music is pretty darn exquisite. I respect the message, of course. And I appreciate how cohesive the album is. 3.5?
This was a really decent, modern entry to this list. For me it falls somewhere between a 3 and a 4 but I think the album is a bit bloated and a few tracks could be cut. For that reason I'll give this a 3.
This was a great surprise! Did not know what to expect, but really special. Also, Spotify generated playlist after the album was great.
Never heard of this artist. Interested to see what they sound like. Reading they are R&B. really hate to say this but sounds like something Kanye West would sample. Pretty cool stuff. I dig these first couple tracks
Soulful protest songs will have to look up the main singer really good voice
A higher 4 than the Violent Femmes album
This album grew on me during my second listen, but it’s not the kind of music I’d probably gravitate to for everyday listening.
Tossing up between a 3 and 4 but probably just a 4 from me. Some cool sounds and tunes and I like the singer's voice a lot. Some filler too.
powerful, dani does not like but david galea loves
ok but i wouldnt listen agian
It's a powerful album that is raw, creative, and relevant. I think it's a great example of spoken poetry turned into a musical form with great production behind it.
Just a beautiful album
Banger. Really liked this one, great grooves and tight interludes
it was dull and monotonous. pretty crap.
I don't do whispering, this isn't good music, and the message a little too on the nose - albeit important and relevant in 2020. I appreciate why it's considered for the list given the context, but, musically, it's crap. Too many references to goddy stuff too. Racism and god-bothering. In 2020. What a strange, backwards world we live in. I thought Wildfires was something of a song, and Bow had a more interesting sound, but nah, this doesn't do it at all.
Albums like this are why I started doing this list. I've never heard of this group and had no idea what to expect, you always hope it's going to be good and... it turns out this is some really great music. Smooth laid back grooves and vocals that flow into each other. There is just a fantastic vibe about the whole thing. Fantastic album.
I like the concept and messaging of this album. I like some of the songs. It's more interesting than it is great. 6/10
Not really my thing - hard to say whether it's technically good or not! Made it through though.
Muy agradable muy guay
Best album so far. Good vibes, perfect for the cafe
Didn’t expect the album to be as good as it was. Favorite track: wildfires other picks: hard life, don’t shoot guns down, sorry ain’t enough, monsters
Very well performed and well produced creative record. I love when artists have a unified idea for a record and make it cohesive. My only issue is it too long so some of the originality gets lost since some of it sounds similar to other parts. Cut 5 or 6 tracks and this is 5 stars.
Doing my laundry on Saturday instead of Sunday and nothing seems right. This album feels like folding clothes.
Different, deep and made you think. It was techno and electronic yet seemed real and raw. Some songs drug a little but seemed to vary enough that it kept my interest. All together or was a for feel that was different and gave me feels
Holy shit, this is good! This is precisely the thrill I expect to receive from this project. Here is an album I’ve never heard of, it feels like it’s trying to push music into a thrilling new experience, I had no idea what to expect, and it gives insight into the black experience which I’d like to understand fully. Gloriously, I hear no autotune. These are actual songs sung by people with actual talent compared to the populist whitewashed music crammed down our collective throats through social media. SAULT will likely sit alongside Sons of Kemet, another set of thrilling English musicians, as a band that I find to be extremely important in this modern musical world.
This was an appropriate album to get on a No Kings day. Felt very inspiring. This came out during another flash point in our recent history and is a great example of resilience and persistence in the black community. The fight for equality is never over, and this is such a beautiful testament to it all. Very powerful and moving. BLACK LIVES MATTER.
love, love, LOVE
This is pretty good. I enjoyed the singers voice and message. The musicianship is really great in particular the drumming.