Sault - What's the story?

ah

i think it might just be kid sister on both of those but i'm far from certain

Really enjoying the strings on "Bitter Streets".

guess there's nowhere online to buy the LP without incurring exorbitant international shipping charges, so this one may be dl only for me

Unless I love it as much as three of their previous four, in which case I'll likely cave

It's a bit less expensive (if you're in the western hemisphere anyway) on Bandcamp than directly on Sault's website--think it was like £12 shipping versus £18 to me in New England...

Thanks! Yeah, Bandcamp is where I was looking. Can't justify spending almost $50 for a single LP right now unless this turns out to be The Greatest Album Ever

Really like the second half of this. Is it Nine or 9 ?
I may be completely crazy but now I'm trying to hear the Cardigans in Bitter Streets, which is lovely btw.

it's NINE

London Gangs is an instant classic. What an opener. What a bassline. Other standouts after my two back to back listens this morning are Fear and the title track, but I don’t think anything that follows London Gangs quite measures up to that track, which is, again, just explosive.

Bitter Streets is beautiful. I hear the Cardigans, too. But I find the lyrics on this one and Alcohol pretty inane, and I’ve never felt that way about Sault’s lyrics before. Little Simz track completely unnecessary and that sample is obnoxious as hell

Overall, though, a good album I’ll probably end up buying in a moment of weakness I may later regret

Just got to the sample on “You from London”. IRL LOL.

Ok maybe it should be obvious, but what's the sample?

As uneven as the rest of their albums. When it's hot ("London Gangs"), it's untouchable.

After one listen last night, yeah, "London Gangs" is fantastic, "Alcohol" is not great, "You From London" is actively annoying, and none of the rest really stuck except for the second interlude monologue.

i just bought the entire discography on cd from bandcamp. haven't listened to the new one yet.

had a dream a few nights back that they covered the family stand's "ghetto heaven" and it was a worldwide smash hit.

this album leans more into just having a bunch of cool sounds they're playing around with rather than having great songs too like the last one

quick listen to this and it did disappoint on first listen, expectations were/are high, retro chemical brothers / big beat vibes from a few productions, agree that the songwriting didn't feel as special as previous work, fully hope this grows on me more

Loving everything on this so far apart from Fear and especially You From London

I'd love to hear them cover Ghetto Heaven

i'm not the exact opposite of the consensus here, but i don't think i'm hearing this as the slight that most of you are. it's much shorter than the last two, sure, but the material is just as strong as anything else they've done. i think in "light's in your hands" and especially "bitter streets" it would rank as maybe the prettiest material they've done. super solid, but what's new.

after just a couple listens to nine, i'd rank their catalogue so far as:

1. rise
2. black is
3. 7
4. nine
5. 5

5. 5

Absolutely nuts.

Their albums are uneven, and this one's no different.

the title track is completely gorgeous

5. 5

Absolutely nuts.

― Heavy Messages (jed_), Sunday, June 27, 2021 3:09 PM

it should also be said that i wouldn't rate any of their albums thus far lower than four stars. consistency is the name of the game.

'Bitter Streets' is really nice too (those strings!)

If we're doing this

1. 7
2. 5
3. Rise
4. Black Is
5. Nine

#4 and #5 could switch as I get to know the new one a little better

7 and 5 get the most plays and are to me the most consistent

If we're doing this

1. 7
2. 5
3. Rise
4. Black Is
5. Nine

I'd probably go the same--though agree, 'Nine' could switch with 'Black Is'. That said, I love them all. I feel like I don't need every record they do to be as great as '7' or '5,' I'm just happy to see where they go, so glad they're going there.

am i the only one who thinks that (rise) is head and shoulders above their other, still very good albums?

I think at the moment mine is

1. 5
2. Rise
3. 7
4. Black Is
5. Nine

I need to give Nine some more time, I don't hate it, but it seems a bit slight compared to the rest.

1. 5
2. 7
3. Rise
4 TIE: Black Is / Nine

5 was my introduction to them and as evidenced in this thread, they blew my mind pretty early. It’s also the most consistently great imho. 7 and Rise continue the streak of what we could call their “celebratory” albums. Black Is has some great moments - including “Wildfires” which might be their best song yet - but I think both that one and NINE have a more politically aggressive, protest atmosphere which I also love but I see myself listening to the “celebratory” side of them more often.

That said I agree with Austin that I wouldn’t rate any album of them lower than 4 stars.

At least that’s how they register to me in intention. But we have no idea what’s the artist intent. We still don’t know what does the S.A.U.L.T. acronym even stands for. Is NINE also an acronym? What’s the meaning behind the numeration in the albums?

moka, i've also wondered quite a bit about that myself. i find it interesting that all of the number albums thus far have been odds* and the others, despite having parenthetical titles, are officially "untitled." does it have something to do with how/where they were recorded maybe? the two untitled albums definitely have a "bigger", more fleshed-out sound (generally speaking) than the number albums. idk. music jams, whatever the case may be, so i'm happy.

*(initially i thought maybe they were going for prime numbers only, but that's obviously not the case now that NINE exists.)

i don't really have an order of favourites but would probably be very similar to ✖✖✖ (Moka).

so far really love 50% of Nine, the other 50% not so much. may change my mind over time.

I suspected it was a sort of numeration for Inflo’s Forever Living Originals label. Maybe Little Simz, Kid Sister and Cleo Sol’s albums and eps were 01, 02, 03, 04 then Sault 5 is 05, Cleo Sol is 06, Sault 7 is 07, the Untitled Sault counts as a single 08 release and Nine is 09 but it’s a stretch and doesn’t quite square up…

I need to account for the first 4 releases: Little Simz - grey, Kid Sister - long way back, Cleo sol - winter songs EP were all released before 5 iirc and could be 1, 2 and 3 but I’m missing another one. There’s an Inflo single from 2018 that could be the one…

So maybe the meaning behind the numbers is really just a catalogue #

But we would need to count both untitled as a single project and it doesn’t work since they weren’t released as a double album.

Maybe it’s the numeration for recording sessions, if both Untitled were recorded in the same sessions then that’s it. But again this is just a theory.

am i the only one who thinks that (rise) is head and shoulders above their other, still very good albums?

― the mai tai quinn (voodoo chili), Monday, June 28, 2021 11:59 AM (one hour ago)

I agree with this but with caveat that I'm much less of a fan than most others posting here.
Frankly, this new one coming out made me realize I haven't given them much of a thought in 2021

yeah i am a fan of these guys but probably don't have the same rapturous reaction to most of their stuff as many in this thread. maybe there's something to that? is (rise) the least sault-like sault record?

The “you from london” almost ruins the song which is pretty good.

I've listened to this once but my immediate reactions are "this is uniformly good throughout the whole thing" and "lmao at the pearl-clutching over 'You From London'"

Yeah, I don't get what's so annoying about it. Extended spoken part works well set to music!

I also like everything here, incl. "Alcohol" and esp. "Fear," though I often like this band most when they're repeating a lyric to the point of abstraction and/or inescapable truth.

am i the only one who thinks that (rise) is head and shoulders above their other, still very good albums?

― the mai tai quinn (voodoo chili), Monday, June 28, 2021 11:59 AM (one hour ago)

I agree with this but with caveat that I'm much less of a fan than most others posting here.
Frankly, this new one coming out made me realize I haven't given them much of a thought in 2021

― trap door to hell opens underneath (rob)

This is the same for me. Rise is the only album of theirs I've connected with for some reason. I like bits from their others, but as Alfred says, they're very uneven.

even rise is a little uneven with some of the interludes & instrumentals feeling a bit unnecessary but it doesn't really get in the way of itself too much, it's certainly their strongest

lmao at the pearl-clutching over 'You From London'"

― an eco-conscious Music Box (DJP), Monday, June 28, 2021 1:24 PM

are folks really pearl-clutching? like, really???? must have struck a nerve i guess.

i thought it was one of the standouts on the album and seriously dope to hear them do essentially a straight up hiphop track.

It’s one of my favorite tracks in here too. And it’s not even the “you from london?” sample which I found grating it’s the last minute with the full clip, it’s just unnecessary I keep skipping it.

yeah it's fine except for the outro lol

Didn't know what ppl were not liking on that track but now realized it's cause I skipped the outro every time. It's prob the only track in the album I'll feel a need to hear again. Liked parts of other tracks but they all were ruined by one thing or another (truly personal preference. Think the se tracks are good at what they were going for, just not my cup of tea)

Listening to it today again while stuck in traffic I think I ended up liking it even better. I don't think there's a single track in here I dislike except the spoken word bits and interludes - but I tend no to rate them when judging an album.

Curiously noone has mentioned 'Trap Life' yet and it might be one of my favorite ones in here, love that groove.

Ranking them I'd probably say:
Trap Life > Bitter Streets > You from London > 9 > London Gangs > Light's in Your Hands > Fear > Alcohol

Wait actually put Bitter Streets

Ranking them I'd probably say:
Trap Life > You from London > 9 > London Gangs > Bitter Streets > Fear > Light's in Your Hands > Alcohol

ugh copied and pasted all wrong there lol... anyway the second ranking is the correct one.

The fact that one could make an absolutely killer "greatest hits" double LP for Sault after only 2.25 years is pretty impressive to me.

That they're consistently the #1 seller on Bandcamp when they drop a new release despite the fsct that they've put the last three albums up to download ob their wevsite for free; that Pitchfork now has to pretend like they've been covering them all along; all based on zero promotion and sparse critical coverage, essentially from pure word-of-mouth, despite virtually no direct social media and despite their participants being nearly anonymous--it's just down to that people really respond to their music.

I've played them for many friends and acquaintances, including a lot of musiicans and producers, and all have become fans and most proselytes themselves.

A pretty remarkable phenomenon. Add in that Inflo has simultaneously produced two Little Simz albums (one of which was my favorite album of its year until I heard Sault's '7'), Cleo Sol, and Michael Kiwanuka--dude has been involved in a huge share of my favorite music these last years.

"You From London" coda is annoying because it feels like a joke that's already well played out and having to sit through it every time I listen to this (otherwise excellent) album is a frustrating prospect