This is his first release, but this musician, born of a Belgian father and a Hong Kong mother, is no complete unknown. He worked with Charlotte Adigéry on the album Topical Dancer. When his mother died in 2008, he felt the need to reconnect with her culture, and this emotional odyssey was to be seminal for this record. Capturing sounds and ideas from the streets of Hong Kong, it’s somewhere between dance and ambient. Neither minimalist nor pop, it’s a bit as if Kraftwerk, instead of taking the motorway, were inviting us to wander around in an automated underground train. There’s a very urban feel to it, and at the same time a certain robotic coldness reminiscent of Autechre. You can tell that the artist has enjoyed playing with the possibilities offered by the studio, as electronic music lends itself to experimentation. The sounds picked up in the streets with a mobile phone are perfectly integrated into the compositions, without the ‘do-it-yourself’ aspect making itself felt too much. Depending on the track, the sounds will expand the soundstage to a greater or lesser extent.
This Saharan singer was born and spent her early years in a refugee camp on the Algerian border. The ups and downs of geopolitics prevented her from meeting her father. At a young age she discovered music as a form of entertainment, but also as a means of expression and communication. After gaining recognition, she toured Europe and then settled in Spain. The granddaughter of a well-known poet, she uses her voice to convey messages, although a more universal dimension has given way to the militancy of the early days. Musically, even if a cross-fertilisation can be detected on close listening, this is the traditional African music that has contributed so much to the blues, with a tinge of the Arabo-Andalusian corpus of Mediterranean music. The mix highlights the voice and the guitars, alternately acoustic and electric. The latter are reminiscent of the music of Tinariwen. The result is clear, with a focus on the top end of the spectrum and the modulation of the voice.
The productions of Brazilian pianist Amaro Freitas have been quickly acclaimed by the critics. Like his country, built on the mixing and blending of people and cultures, his music is steeped in multiple influences and genres, taking on a flavour that’s both distinctive and, let’s face it, addictive. While he admits to admiring Art Tatum and Thelonious Monk, he goes far beyond the codes of these jazz icons, mixing in many styles of Brazilian and South American folklore. He even goes so far as to approach the contemporary music of John Cage, while retaining the warmth and feeling of Latin music – a tour de force. Marked by his stay in the Amazon basin, the sound on this album is luxuriant, moving like a river or dense like a storm, recalling the ambience of Gato Barbieri’s ‘Third World’. The rather unacademic piano, sometimes prepared, is played percussively, striking clusters of notes in the middle of an Afro-Latin-inspired rhythm section. 2024 has only just begun, but surrounded by musicians who transcend his compositions and his inspiration, the pianist delivers an album that can already be counted among the year’s great records.
This American band was formed in 2006 after its members had played in a number of student bands. They released their first album in 2008. It wasn’t until 2014, with the release of Seasons from their fourth album, Singles, that they found success with their synthesiser-based pop and relentless dance beats. Each album release has been accompanied by a tour of fervent performances, adding to their popularity. Despite its title, their latest album doesn’t particularly call for contemplation, with lively songs bursting with melody and above all driven by the voice of Samuel T. Herring, whose distinctive vocals do much to seduce the group. He has now reached a greater level of maturity and expressiveness, bringing the band closer to a kind of supercharged Tindersticks or Lambchop, who have abandoned melancholy to bring you back into the light with their infectious lyricism.
Real name Roberto Carlos Lange, born in South Florida of Ecuadorian parents. He released his first album under the name Helado Negro in 2009 on Asthmatic Kitty, Sufjan Stevens’ label. Although he has picked up a few awards, his popularity is hardly commensurate with his artistic talent. On the other hand, it has to be said that his music is not designed to electrify crowds; on the contrary, it has a diaphanous, intimate beauty. For his ninth studio album, he has not changed the recipe, using synthesizers and loops to dress up a structure often composed on acoustic guitar or keyboard. His sophisticated folk seems to owe as much to psychedelia as to tropicalism. His influences are wide-ranging, blending together to produce a kind of musical UFO that is all too rare in the world’s output. It’s almost like a hidden treasure from the 70s, and at times reminiscent of something Robert Wyatt might have recorded. A record that deserves several listens to appreciate all its twists and turns.
