Sault - What's the story?

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

https://youtu.be/AvrBWCtylyI

It's actually Popol Vuh.

i should have spotted that.

is there any place in the usa to buy these records? the only thing i can find is https://www.vinyl-digital.com/en/Black-Grooves/Sault-7-09544353.html?cur=1&listtype=search&searchparam=Sault
which isn’t very clear whether it’s actually in stock or not.
i bought the digital version on bandcamp cause the lp was so pricey but every time i listen to it, i want the record.

New untitled album coming up. Snippets on their instagram page. Haven’t listened to it yet but it’s presented as a protest album against police brutality and systemic racism.

Only heard Wildfires and it’s so good.

If they created this 18 track album in the past couple of weeks as a protest stemming from the George Floyd case it’s seriously impressive. Again, I’ve only heard one song from it so far but it’s very promising.

by these previews it sounds incredible

https://www.instagram.com/saultglobal/?hl=en

I had a look earlier and pitchfork have never mentioned Sault once.

idk what i was looking at, but this popped up in some "similar releases" on a discogs page and i was surprised at how different it sounded to what i was looking at (it was maybe on a fela or marvin gaye release? i honestly don't remember. i'm not completely sold on everything just yet, but there's definitely a weird and intriguing mishmash of stuff going on. like it's mildly putumayo-ish in spots, but without the sheen, and then the vocals are definitely soul-inspired. and yeah, definitely has a bit of esg vibes in spots. it's hard to place.

i like, not love, what i've heard so far. some of the melodies aren't that unique and the grainy / distorted vocals wear a bit thin after a while, but i'm definitely interested in seeing what happens.

Gilles Peterson played the whole LP on BBC6 today--so brilliant and beautiful. Said it would be out "early next week". Probably streamable in the archive for today...

Incredible album cover (If there's going to be a vinyl). The fact it has no title seems very loaded, profound, even.

this is such great news, I had been getting the feeling that they were due for something new

Xxxpost: wtf it’s true, I hadn’t noticed before that pitchfork hasn’t reviewed or even mentioned them at all.

Michael Kiwanuka has a guest spot on this new one which sort or confirms my suspicion that Danger Mouse is involved or at least acquainted with the people behind the project.

I think it’s Inflo that’s in Sault, who has co-produced (?) the last couple of Kiwanuka records with Dangermouse.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000k1lx

full album starts at 38:20

Sounding so good. I wonder if this will be their breakout album? It's long, around 55 minutes so hope all the tracks make it on to vinyl.

Also, Gilles Peterson repeatedly mentions it being Inflo and Cleo.

This sounds a bit more like a mixtape to me, with less structured songs, flowing into each other. Much more moody, which suits the subject matter, but ends up being less exuberant than the other 2.

I wonder if Peterson went off-piste by repeatedly mentioning who was involved? Or didn't think it through. There's nothing in the social media presence to suggest that they were ready to change tack at this point.

I mean at this point it was pretty much confirmed Inflo and Cleo Sol were involved. There's several articles linked upthread which shared this same info. One article upthread describes them as a trio which includes Kid Sister as well. Inflo plays bass, drums and piano on Cleo Sol's albums so he might as well be behind the whole instrumentation.

They might not confirm it themselves in social media but their affiliation (and Inflo's ownership) of the label Forever Living Originals is a sort of confirmation in itself.

I've had the impression they're not trying to necessary be truly anonymous, but more that they wanted the focus to be on the music than the personalities? But yes, it's hardly difficult to connect the dots at this point...

Hadn’t heard of Cleo Sol prior to the last few posts, listening to her album now and it’s splendid so thanks ilx

They might not confirm it themselves in social media but their affiliation (and Inflo's ownership) of the label Forever Living Originals is a sort of confirmation in itself.

― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Tuesday, June 16, 2020 1:33 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

the LPs say PRODUCED BY INFLO on the back

Are there two singers (besides Inflo popping in) in Sault?

Listening to Cleo Sol's new album now, and this was certainly produced by Inflo, right?

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