I'd call them more a groove band than a jam band, but he's not wrong about that part — it's part of what I like about them, they build songs around grooves. But the idea that this is all mostly improvised is bizarre.
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Thursday, 3 November 2022 19:05 (one year ago) link
discussed a lil bit here - OK, is this the worst piece of music writing ever?
― Fash Gordon (Neanderthal), Thursday, 3 November 2022 19:05 (one year ago) link
Terrible take. Also it’s sort of taking issue with statements not made by the band? The band themselves are not explicit about their intentions with each release, we don’t know if they’re commenting about the perception of scarcity or democratization of art or the disposability and/or fleetingness of the medium or whatever this reviewer is taking from it.
The anonymity amplifies the music, which should be the focus imho
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Thursday, 3 November 2022 19:06 (one year ago) link
between assuming that most of the music is improvised and that the band is a cooperative of hundreds of pro session musicians "donating bits of spare stuff"(?), he seems to be completely naïve about the basics of how bands operate and how albums are recorded. its very strange, especially considering his bio identifies him as a former "Professor of Music Industry Innovation"
― nobody like my rap (One Eye Open), Thursday, 3 November 2022 19:24 (one year ago) link
also funny that this guy whose expertise is new media/"innovation" seems to take it for granted that AIIR must have been created with a massive live orchestra and not with VST/synth stuff
― nobody like my rap (One Eye Open), Thursday, 3 November 2022 19:32 (one year ago) link
is that piece going viral or something? I've never heard of this guy
― rob, Thursday, 3 November 2022 19:35 (one year ago) link
It’s a dumb piece
AIR does sound like a hybrid of session orchestra and VSTs… what impresses me most about it is the plucked string writing— dual harps (which at times sounds like, and might be, a kora) and pipa, it’s produced/recorded/written extremely well— less so but still the case on AIIR
― flamboyant goon tie included, Thursday, 3 November 2022 19:42 (one year ago) link
Side effects of that article - it is giving me nostalgia flashbacks to circa 2007-08 when everyone (including me) had a music blog and felt like they needed to express their opinions in 500-word daily dispatches on every item of music news. That tone of self-inflicted resentment, "Why must I be obliged to engage with this??"
― sctttnnnt (pgwp), Thursday, 3 November 2022 22:13 (one year ago) link
I listened to 11 today and every song immediately set the mood but lost my interest by the end
― flamboyant goon tie included, Thursday, 3 November 2022 23:15 (one year ago) link
that's how i felt too, nice vibes but not much more
― ufo, Friday, 4 November 2022 00:16 (one year ago) link
The piece linked above is indeed terrible but I have to concede this one point:
Making everything free might help audiences at a time of fiscal crisis, but it does absolutely nothing for the cause of independent musicians desperately trying to assert the economic value of their work.
― Paul Ponzi, Friday, 4 November 2022 00:24 (one year ago) link
TBF, they were saying that when Radiohead did the In Rainbows experiment so it's not like this is even a new complaint on his part.
― Ned Raggett, Friday, 4 November 2022 00:43 (one year ago) link
it's very silly to be hung up on albums being given away freely in the age of streaming, when that's an actual problem for "independent artists desperately trying to assert the value of their work"
― ufo, Friday, 4 November 2022 00:50 (one year ago) link
― calstars, Friday, 4 November 2022 01:03 (one year ago) link
Every cult artist has their Sandinista where they flood the audience with so much material they're not sure how to engage with it.
― bendy, Friday, 4 November 2022 13:02 (one year ago) link
How long is each album btw?
― Mark G, Friday, 4 November 2022 14:43 (one year ago) link
aiir is 25 minutes, untitled (god) is 73 minutes, the others are around 40 minutes
― ufo, Friday, 4 November 2022 14:52 (one year ago) link
I intuit that this is a really bad argument, but I don't have the verbal skills to explain why rn
I was struck today while attempting a listen-through of Untitled (God) that the inclusion of so many essentially-unfinished tracks and field recordings was depreciating the value of my time spent as a listener
― flamboyant goon tie included, Friday, 4 November 2022 16:29 (one year ago) link
I think that argument would make more sense for an independent artist that operates far less cryptically and maybe only releases one album every 2-3 years. I think most people familiar with Sault realize by now they're doing their own singular thing and keeping people guessing.
― Chris L, Friday, 4 November 2022 20:25 (one year ago) link
BTW, I'm listening to "Air" for the first time this year. It didn't sound like it would be my thing but it kinda is. It sounds the score of an uplifting film from an alternate 50s/early 60s Hollywood that had greater equality.
― Chris L, Friday, 4 November 2022 20:29 (one year ago) link
Finally got to listen to one of these, with full attention--randomly chose '11'. It is very low-key, but personally I love that from Sault--super stripped-down, like I loved from '5' and '7' but mellower. A perfect sound space for what was a beautiful autumn afternoon.
(I still can't really get into the quasi-motivational spoken word parts, as with the previous 'Untitled' albums, but as a jaded non-religious anti-self-help realist, I'm probably as far from the target audience of those parts as possible.)
I feel like I'm going to love 'Today & Tomorrow,' as a big fan of Ngozi Family and Chrissy Zebby Tembo, and Zamrock generally, few bits I heard on preview really reminded me of.
― Soundslike, Friday, 4 November 2022 23:50 (one year ago) link
Insofar as “a consumer listening to recorded music”, the recorded music has been without-value-to-the-creator for over two decades— for those of us who did use Napster, creators who did encourage people to buy what they could afford and steal what they couldn’t, for those of us who groaned at Lars Ulrich etc.
The obscenity that creators face at present is that third parties have stepped in to profit off the consumer-artist association without fairly compensating the creator. Personally I’d prefer that consumers steal music than listen to it via Spotify et al, and I think this is a common feeling, so long as DSPs continue to be big-business thieves
Claiming that a creator is depreciating the value of recorded music in this specific usage of it— consumers listening in private— by making the music free, is incorrect. Within this context I posit that recorded music has long been effectively valueless; the evil profiteers within the industry are DSPs, not creators who make their music available for free
Thanks for indulging me as a type about a difficult thing to type about
― flamboyant goon tie included, Saturday, 5 November 2022 01:37 (one year ago) link
Booming post
― Fash Gordon (Neanderthal), Saturday, 5 November 2022 02:18 (one year ago) link
'Today & Tomorrow' just had me grinning ear to ear from about 3 minutes into the opener all the way through. Scuzzy proto-metal/Zamrocky fuzz guitar, bouncy and loose drums, and "lead vocals" mostly by what sounds like a dozen kids--just an absolute joy.
Released on its own, I think some people would've lashed out against 'Today & Tomorrow' for its simplicity and (intentional) low-polish approach (just as some might simultaneously dislike 'Aiir' for being too polished). Hopefully as part of this mega-batch-release, people can roll with it as a valid facet of Sault's many paths of expression.
― Soundslike, Saturday, 5 November 2022 14:28 (one year ago) link
I can see why people might hear it as slight or half baked but I love the ramshackle energy, reminds me of that elusive ESG feel at times
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Saturday, 5 November 2022 16:18 (one year ago) link
What are we going to do when Kanye inevitably gets his hands on Inflo?
― Ibadan, Sunday, 6 November 2022 00:22 (one year ago) link
lol there's no way that happens at this stage
― ufo, Sunday, 6 November 2022 00:34 (one year ago) link
I like AIIR significantly more than AIR. (I refreshed my memory of the earlier release in the meantime.) These tracks sound a little more like satellites of the last Little Simz record, perhaps. And, though I probably can't reliably tell the difference, I'm less often distracted by thoughts about which elements might be synthetic vs live ensemble lol.
― Nag! Nag! Nag!, Sunday, 6 November 2022 02:04 (one year ago) link
I really hope these come out on CD... But I guess I'd doubt it.
― Soundslike, Sunday, 6 November 2022 07:18 (one year ago) link
These are on Spotify now
― TWELVE Michelob stars?!? (seandalai), Friday, 11 November 2022 00:06 (one year ago) link
Also available as digital (incl lossless), CD and vinyl via Bandcamp. Digital albums are £7 each.
― The Ghost Club, Friday, 11 November 2022 00:09 (one year ago) link
ooh thanks for that Bandcamp tip
― sleeve, Friday, 11 November 2022 00:11 (one year ago) link
oic I guess I thought "Available for free download for 5 days" meant "...and then will disappear like the last album" rather than "...and then will be available for non-free download"
― TWELVE Michelob stars?!? (seandalai), Friday, 11 November 2022 00:25 (one year ago) link
i thought the same.
that's a lot of vinyl at once!
― stirmonster, Friday, 11 November 2022 00:33 (one year ago) link
is it just me, or does the streaming audio on these sound better than the MP3s?
― sleeve, Friday, 11 November 2022 01:21 (one year ago) link
Doubtful on Bandcamp (streams at 128 if you haven't purchased) but could be better on Spotify (full res depending on settings etc.)
― The Ghost Club, Friday, 11 November 2022 02:47 (one year ago) link
For some reason Untitled (God) not on Spotify but the other 4 are.
― Tsar Bombadil (James Morrison), Friday, 11 November 2022 05:32 (one year ago) link
Oh wow, did not think they'd come out on CD! Instant buy, comes out to like $22/album w/ international shipping, and I'm good with that.
― Soundslike, Friday, 11 November 2022 07:39 (one year ago) link
Didn't realise Aiir was also on there as it's listed as a single rather than album xp
― groovypanda, Friday, 11 November 2022 07:47 (one year ago) link
Are the credits for the recent batch of releases available anywhere? It would be interested to know the delineation of writing, producing, arranging on these records. From some digging I did on social media it looks like some new people were involved. It would be good to get a complete picture.
― Ibadan, Sunday, 27 November 2022 07:25 (one year ago) link
all that's available for some of their previous albums is writing credits from publishing databases, but there's nothing about any of this year's releases on those.
on previous albums, writing credits were generally inflo/cleo sol or inflo/kid sister, depending on who's doing lead vocals - occasionally both. kadeem clarke (a session guy who's a regular inflo collaborator) is credited occasionally. instrumentals are often credited just to inflo. occasionally others are credited, like simz and kiwanuka on the tracks they're featured on, and josh lloyd-watson from jungle and jack penante have made appearances before.
producing is pretty clearly all inflo though, it's his project.
there do seem to be some new vocalists appearing on this most recent set of releases but i haven't made any effort to identify them.
― ufo, Sunday, 27 November 2022 08:24 (one year ago) link
Little Simz is on Free.
Jack Peñate, Cleo Sol and Chronixx are also in there.
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Sunday, 27 November 2022 13:22 (one year ago) link
Very ltd. quantities available for pre-order: LPs & CDs ov five recent releases:https://soundsoftheuniverse.com/product/11_2
― dow, Saturday, 28 January 2023 01:30 (one year ago) link
I think they're all readily available (for pre-order) on Bandcamp, too:
https://saultglobal.bandcamp.com/merch
― Soundslike, Saturday, 28 January 2023 02:59 (one year ago) link
Anybody (esp. in the States) received their CDs/LPs from the five albums that released last November?
Getting slightly worried mine were lost in the mail, but then again international parcel shipping seems totally haywire currently...
― Soundslike, Saturday, 29 April 2023 01:47 (one year ago) link
They've only just started coming out in the last week in the UK.
I'd waited until I got LPs before listening on Streaming. Today & Tomorrow is a real surprise. I'd love to know who is singing on this.
― kraudive, Friday, 19 May 2023 20:03 (one year ago) link
Yeah--I wrote to Forever Living Originals via Bandcamp basically just to make sure they hadn't been sent and lost in the post. Got this response:
"We currently have an issue we are clearing with our couriers before the last of our orders can be shipped."
Which at least means they're still planning to ship. I've bought every album they've issued on CD and a few on LP, but that didn't keep me from being among the last orders heh
― Soundslike, Saturday, 20 May 2023 03:55 (one year ago) link
Woo! Finally got the CDs for the five new ones. An incredible body of work for an entire career, much less a few years (plus Cleo Sol, Little Simz, and Michael Kiwanuka albums).
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FzquLwmXsAEJmdE?format=jpg&name=large
― Soundslike, Wednesday, 28 June 2023 00:24 (eleven months ago) link
I saw that Deep Discount has the last five on CD, in stock, for the not-too-terrible price of $17.99 each (and they have "AIR" on CD and vinyl, too). On their Bandcamp, right now the only thing NOT sold out (except digital downloads of course) is "AIR" on CD.
― ernestp, Saturday, 29 July 2023 20:56 (ten months ago) link
i sort of got tired of all the marketing and had tuned out, but heard "fear no one" on the radio today, not knowing who it was, and got sucked back in.
― budo jeru, Saturday, 29 July 2023 23:31 (ten months ago) link