Sault - What's the story?

This sounds great, thanks for the heads up.
allmusic has the following bio information: "A rhythm-forward heavy rock ensemble formed by members of American power metallers Kamelot and groove metal outfit Arcanium." LOL, that seems highy unlikely

It’s actually true! There’s another band called Sault who play metal. one of them might need to change their name eventually.

Never heard of them before this thread. Listened to a couple tracks so far - I like it but the ESG influence is PROMINENT. Also hearing Tom Tom Club as filtered though, I don’t know, something from the era of late 90s electronica’s-the-next-big-thing.

The song is the second single from Sault, a trio that features London-based musician Dean “Inflo” Josiah Cover (writer of DanDigs.com audio mainstays “Black Man in a White World” by Michael Kiwanuka, “House in LA” by Jungle, “Offence” by Little Simz, and many, many more). It’s released via Forever Living Originals, an independent label that counts Melisa Young among its cohort, better known as Chicago rapper Kid Sister (whose Kanye-featuring “Pro Nails” was a bonafide smash upon its release in 2011, as was the track’s magnificently massive Rusko remix).

https://www.google.com/amp/s/dandigs.com/2019/04/06/diggin-this-sault-dont-waste-my-time-forever-living-originals-dean-inflo-josiah-cover-melisa-young-kid-sister-we-are-the-sun-london-chicago-pro-nails-kanye-dan-digs-jungle-michael-kiwanuka-black-man-i/amp/

Oh nevermind I see you already figured this much out.

I listened to and enjoyed the album but also thought that almost every song seemed geared for placement on a modern Southern Gothic HBO-type show. (N.B.: I am watching Sharp Objects at the moment which may have influenced this conclusion).

new album already?

that should probably be 'new album already!'

7? Have I missed 6?

Haha I half wonder if they're just releasing individual discs from a huge boxset-sized debut album

7 is the one, I think (so far)--5 is pretty great debut for a 'sound' band--foregrounding those influences that seemingly nobody will ever tire of--but some of those songs on 7 really hit me deep in the soul

Both albums are amazingly consistent, hard to really choose one over the other. Huge low-end throughout. I feel wrong saying it, but this is what I wish ESG sounded like.

My copy of the 2nd one should arrive tomorrow. I'm perfectly happy with how ESG sound already and wouldn't change anything about their sound, but if their more recent recordings had sounded more like this I'd probably play them more.

"why, why why" is an earworm and a half even on a first listen.

Damn totally missed the second release!

It's really good too, although I feel ever slightly more favorably toward 5.

They're both pretty fucking amazing. Love the trend of bands popping out 2 albums this year

Really enjoy the slight layer of polish distinguishing the second album from the first. Even more, I enjoy trying to figure out if it’s the songs as a whole or the brilliance of the rhythm section that’s the force of what’s captivating me.

For me it’s the brilliance of the rhythm section. They are amazing. Apparently there’s a tour planned next year so I guess we’ll finally meet the people behind it.

yes, all about the rhythm section for me. is anybody else's copy of the second album warped?

Gradually, I'm growing to feel like this is ace songwriting, both wishing I could articulate why and knowing that I like it because I can't pin it down. It's Sly & Robbie, but it's also Sly and Robbie and Black Uhuru.

The grooves carry them on tracks that are less fleshed out, but there's definitely some standout songwriting too. "Why Why Why Why Why", "Masterpiece", and "Friends" leap to mind as A+ writing.

Yes, the grooves are what drew me in to begin with but the songwriting is what elevates it into something very special. it will be very interesting to see how it works live.

I missed the previous discussion on this but gave it a listen after seeing it listed as Bandcamp’s second best album of the year. Rhythm section really shines.

Jesus Christ these records are so utterly, completely everything I want/need in new music. Even things I love wholeheartedly, it's incredibly rare to hear something where just every decision feels so exactly right.

This has to be related to Little Simz, no?

The only connection I really hear to ESG (whom I adore) is that it's so perfectly minimalist--there's never more than like three or four sound sources. I hear some Library tendencies, some high sophistication a la Adrian Younge/Midnight Hour or Michael Kiwanaku but with so much more restraint. If there's an Afrobeat component it feels more like Lijadu Sisters than Fela... I mean, they definitely get the "who does this call back to" synapses firing, but ultimately I really don't care too much because it's just so perfectly timeless--never retro or overtly futurist, just. . . what it needs to be to do what it's trying to do.

If this is Danger Mouse related, it's by far the best thing he's ever been involved with. The restraint would seem uncharacteristic. . .

If you're not hearing this group, you're missing something pretty damned wonderful:

https://saultglobal.bandcamp.com/

^ you piqued my interest with those previous posts, so thanks! 7 is especially good, I quickly decided.

i wish the "dancing in the rover" (?) voice from "up all night" would reappear elsewhere. that little refrain is my favorite part of 5 !

we're all voting for "up all night" as the song to represent sault at the 77 best tracks ILM 2019. i said it first that means you have to do it

Kind of wish "Don't Waste My Time" was nominated, but don't want to further dilute the choices.

i love don’t waste my time! still haven’t heard the new album.

I'll go with that just to get them seen/heard--but I don't think I could pick fewer than 10 favorites across the two albums.

I'm pretty firmly sold on '7' as the better of the two albums, though both are top-5 of the year for me...

7 has grown on me but 5 is thee one i reckon. hard to choose between "don't waste my time" and "up all night".

I need to try 7 again, definitely dismissed it too quickly.

I can't figure getting one and not the other? They're hardly miles apart--tracks could be interchanged freely, other than '7' having a slightly more serious tone overall perhaps?

you're probably right tbh.

okay, there are songs on 5 that it sounds like had existed for many years but which I had only just heard (where has this been all my life?) whereas this one sounds more current and more like a straight RnB record at times (albeit a very good one). I was singing along with Up All Night, Why Why Why... and others after one listen (this is not always a good thing but is in this instance) but I struggle, so far, to have that connection on 7. 5 also sounds like a weird compilation of unheard tracks from various groups whereas 7 sounds like a record by a group (MAYBE) and that is not a negative, it just doesn't seem uncanny in the way 7 does.

I also want to add how much I love Sault as a band/project name.

Definitely voting both albums in the eoy poll and I’ll probably vote for all tracks nominated just to be sure.

I was assuming the “dancing in the rover” was a sample? I have both albums on vinyl and credits on it are practically non-existent. if there’s sampling going on in any of the albums it’s as mysterious as the people involved.

I always sing "Dancing in ye really wap" which is definitely 100% wrong and stupid but I'm also 100% sure it's not "dancing in the rover” either.

always sounds like vulva to me!

Lol, same

will vote 7 (although i prefer 5) if y’all rally behind “up all night”

Team Sault must remain united

xp lol this is what i hear:

dancing, dancing in the rover
racing, racing in the vulva

They're both going on my ballot, but 5 is going higher

https://cdn1-autoexpress-co-uk.cdn.ampproject.org/ii/w820/s/cdn1.autoexpress.co.uk/sites/autoexpressuk/files/styles/amp_metadata_content_image_min_696px_wide/public/5/55/dsc_1314_0_0_0.jpg

sounding good in the trailer for HBO's new Skate Kitchen spin-off series Betty
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tQu2P5n4Bc

does Pink Sands from Sault 5

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJ9NM62YodU

sample the choral interlude part of Kat Bush's Hello earth?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0S0zNFzK_ns

3:12 onward on the KB track.

oh Kate sampled it herself!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvrBWCtylyI

Omg clips of this show look amazing!

Bets on it being a performance similar to Gorillaz? shadows behind screens

looks like there was a bit of this but also they all had their faces covered?

doesn't seem like they played new material but it appears to have been a real production, wow

i hope someone recorded the whole thing

https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpreview.redd.it%2Fk15f1xglic6c1.png%3Fwidth%3D3007%26format%3Dpng%26auto%3Dwebp%26s%3D28251532747f32eca6494c161b91a7bcc958f193

seems like they played an orchestral set, then the new album acts of faith, and then a set covering their entire career, wow. "fear no man" might be the little simz song i guess? no idea what "ever so lonely" or the africa section are.

the song they previewed here: https://www.instagram.com/saultglobal/reel/C0WHnqxtTaL/ seems to be "act 6 - lessons"

Ok wasn’t expecting this setup for the concert. I’m so jealous for those who went it looks like a great setlist and a really cool vibe

https://x.com/fakeHARTHUR/status/1735382279923306670?s=20

the whole thing seems to be ridiculously ambitious

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C02OilBI0Yz/%0A%0AHow%20are%20they%20not%20losing%20money?%20For%20the%20amount%20of%20audience%20%C2%A3100%20per%20person%20doesn%E2%80%99t%20seem%20to%20cover%20the%20insanity%20of%20the%20set%20+%20crew,%20orchestra,%20choreographed%20performers%E2%80%A6.

Wtf my text got inside the link…

Anyways

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C02OilBI0Yz/

This looks insane. Idk how they are not losing money with this? The set, crew, amount of performers and planning seems like it wouldn’t get covered by the audience volume and £100 sounds like a bargain for what they did here.

yeah just completely absurd. i hope that they're going to release an official video of this or something

Whaaaaaaaaat

the fuck

Bizarre. Like a deconstructed version of Kendall Roy's 40th.

you can probably guess what i think of this lmao

who would have thought a band that is all boutique gimmicks would go down the punchdrunk theatre/secret cinema route eh

no one would care about the gimmicks if the music wasn't genearlly pretty good-to-great

That live setup is more than a gimmick. That’s bonkers.

yeah, i don't care about all the release gimmicks & secrecy but this is a genuinely impressive wild spectacle

So this is what you can do with some Adele royalties and a vision? How does a mid-level act pull the resources for all this together?

I very much wish my first thought upon seeing photos of this wasn't "who funded this" but these are cynical times

Insane spectacles with mysterious funding? Progression to a religious cult is nearly complete.

https://www.facebook.com/gillespeterson/posts/pfbid0LQMWW4CQbmFGhda24oMBuWCRJZBRxDjdb2ZmHpXcGqMjqKKPG58st3qFv4w3obuZl

Yeah got to agree in the end the music is what makes it all work and judging by the videos of the performance they sound amazing live. Cleo Sol in particular is a great vocalist.

anyone familiar with their music knows they take their craft seriously, all the stage production and extra stuff is fun imo

I'd like to see whoever just decided to chill back in the room with the dude and the TV.

from the Giles Peterson FB post: This hasn’t ever been done on such grand scale from the private sector.
Any talk of ripping off the fans couldn’t be further from the truth - the cost of putting on this happening wasn’t about cash it was about Myth…

It's such a throwback to a different time and economy where a performer can leverage the success of their musical vision to do all this extra stuff. With the extra stuff being weird.

https://www.facebook.com/gillespeterson/posts/pfbid0LQMWW4CQbmFGhda24oMBuWCRJZBRxDjdb2ZmHpXcGqMjqKKPG58st3qFv4w3obuZl

Yeah got to agree in the end

is there anything in the post besides bendy's quote?

Oh sorry I was xposting ufo

Regarding how the gimmicks wouldn’t work if the music and performance itself wasn’t good which it is. I wasn’t commenting on Gilles’ review.

I'm curious anyway!

Oh you mean the review? Here it is

Reviews will be everywhere but here’s my take…
@saultglobal the phenomenon.
First and most important - the music - faultless - from the opening playlist - Fela …. Ebo Taylor… A grand orchestral score with huge choir , 2 harps and every instrument under the sun - musicians spread across 5 stages pretty much encircling the 2500 audience - imagine Jools ‘ show on a grander scale… the sound was all round with not a single feedback all night… it was almost 3 hours of music - George Clinton would have been proud - a Mothership Connection London style!
walking into the venue immersive and in line via a fridge and mirrored cactus hall… taking in art, fashion - choreography, lighting and film - this could have graced any world leading museum or gallery - there were guests a plenty - Simz - Chronnix- Kiwanuka - Kid Sister - Ganayva- and of course the force that is Cleo Sol…
I tend to avoid the Arena type mega events where Beyoncé, Adele and the like produce their shows - but this was as ambitious but as a ‘One Off’ … unheard of - economically impossible to justify if you were to try and convince any suits in the accounts department - I saw no sign of commerciality - Inflo would have invested at least 10 x more than he got back from ticket sales.
This hasn’t ever been done on such grand scale from the private sector.
Any talk of ripping off the fans couldn’t be further from the truth - the cost of putting on this happening wasn’t about cash it was about Myth… ps thank you @pomontenegro for somehow obtaining a written set list !!!!

sweet!

There's physically no way their next shows (outside of London) will be the insane total-experience of this show, surely.

But I'm going to be more tortured now than I was already, that there's no way my health will allow going to the NY show (which will focus on my second favorite album of theirs, '5').

Makes me sad that, of all the obvious things to be negative and cynical about in this era, people would approach Sault that way. "Gimmicks," "funding," etc. For some people, Sault/Inflo would be damned either way. They keep the focus on the music, totally indeoendent, on celebrating Black art in multitudinous form, even giving away the music, instead of focusing on celebrity, and the music creating genuine word-of-mouth excitement over several years--it's "trying to create mystery," "gimmicks," "a cult," etc. But they get any taste of success, mainstream praise, etc., it's try-hard, hype, etc. Weird stuff, to me. I for one wish there were far more acts approaching things like Sault, and far fewer megacorporations in pop musician form.

I mean I agree with you, but I don't think most acts could afford to pull off such a thing, given that most acts these days are probably going into personal debt just going on short tours across the midwest

So let’s be thankful there’s someone still willing to do this.

apparently they're never releasing the new material they played live so that's the sort of gimmick that is bullshit

Not sure how/why that's bullshit. They don't owe us anything in particular, if they want to create a one-off experience it seems like that's their call. It's not like Sault in general has been stingy with their fans!

they can do what they want and i can think ultra-exclusive stuff like that is dumb and obnoxious. i think the same about the wu-tang album they auctioned off for instance

i don't have an issue with the live show being a crazy one-off production, there was obviously a ridiculous expense there and live shows are inherently ephemeral

I guess it wouldn't feel quite as exclusive if they actually toured this new stuff through secondary and even tertiary cities, which of course they won't do (no judgment - I sure as hell wouldn't do that either). Still, the idea of some poor Sault fan in Kansas having to make do with crappy YT videos and IG reels if they want to hear new Sault music does seem a little unfair

they are not exactly known for being stingy with releasing music - theyve released what, a dozen albums over the last 4 years? Many of which were free? I feel like that kid in kansas is getting a pretty fair deal