Sault - What's the story?

They’re doing ok on spotify for an act with virtually no media exposure. Most of their top songs are almost on the 2M plays.

fuck, i've been listening on bandcamp like the plebe-y purist scum that i am. i will

also, like the cheesy cornball doofus i am, i have to say that 'eternal life' is my fav track on the new one. just something so pure bout it. f`kin rad.

*i will start listening on spotify

Hahaha it doesn’t matter where you listen to them, I doubt they get any real benefit out of their Spotify plays. I was just pointing out that there’s a real fanbase developing in there.

bandcamp doesn't pay artists for streams, whereas plays on spotify *do* generate (very little) residuals. and spotify does have "charts" of sorts that help get the word out. and i like the music a lot anyway, so may as well listen on the platform that generates something for them.

Yeah 500k Spotify listeners a month is a shitload and way more than bands “in the machine” with publicists desperately trying to get Stereogum to premiere their blog single or whatever.

I think their attitude is obviously punk and pretty admirable and part of the draw. No information about the band. No press. No label. Nothing.

and yes, because of all that, i kind feel obligated to listen on the platform that contributes, as i don't have the money to buy the physical media at this point.

sorry spamming this thread this afternoon, BUT—

their discogs (confusingly) specifies only one person under group members: kid sister —— what!?

From what I read somewhere (Allmusic?) Kid Sister isn't even on 7, or not much. Cover and Cleo Sol cowrote everything on Cleo's album, so that album sort of IS a Sault album I guess? Hard to say. It's clearly all of a piece or on a continuum.

I finally heard my first Sault song in the wild, I suppose: a pool party that one of the guests was DJing. Hope this trend continues!

The albums are *very* affordable on Bandcamp digitally--something like £7, £7, name your price, very very worth it... Very spendy on vinyl/CD, but even there I copped, as these albums have more continuously and consistently brought be joy than basically anything since I got into Arthur Russell 20 years ago.

Also, the new one appears to have sold 5k+ copies on Bandcamp, which seems pretty remarkable for an almost-zero-promotion "mystery" band.

“don’t waste my time” was on an episode of YOU last season

if i had a staff slot somewhere i would have written about 5, 7, and this one upon release... as it is i included 5 and 7 in my top 10 last year. cutting staff jobs and farming new music discovery out to freelancers has had a pretty terrible effect on what gets covered!

the radio station I just got hired for has the album in heavy rotation fwiw. I need to go back and check their first two releases tho

both this and the Keiyaa album feel very post-When I Get Home to me

I still like the first 2 better, but have been listening to all 3 plus Cleo Sol a whole lot the past few days.

Paste wrote something extensive. It's categorized as a feature, not a review (and thus doesn't come up as part of their "review" section). But it says "review" in the URL.

It is by a staffer, not a freelancer:

https://www.pastemagazine.com/music/sault/sault-untitled-black-is-review/

Not vouching for the piece (haven't read it), just documenting some American press.

that's great!

fwiw the link showed up dead for me so I had to google it and googled link, which workd, shows exactly the same url you posted. Very strange.

The final slash seems to not be a part of the link in the url posted here, and appears to make all the difference.

my bad, hopefully this works:

https://www.pastemagazine.com/music/sault/sault-untitled-black-is-review

dammit!

this album is so so so great. i'm hearing parallels with D'Angelo's Black Messiah in some ways, not just because of the subject matter but in the way it's loose, formless, but also extremely confident, like an expert collage.

damn I just realized my post is the only measure of Keiyaa on ILM. This is in a similar vain as the new Sault but better imo: https://keiyaa.bandcamp.com/

It's so good!

andy k did an amg review: https://www.allmusic.com/album/untitled-black-is-mw0003397217

This band tick so many of my boxes that it's shocking I haven't really dived too deep into their three albums. I've decided I need to buy one of them on vinyl. Which should I get?

Start with '5' and '7' then also 'Untitled'.

Seriously though, it's all amazing. '7' is my personal fave.

OK, had not listened to Kiwanuka until I knew of the link, but it's lovely.

I haven't listened to 'Untitled' yet but '7' is all-time imo

It has to have been said, but in addition to Sault x2 + Kiwanuka, Inflo's magic is deep in Kittle Simz 'Grey Area'. Dude made 4 of my 5 top 5 records in 2019...

I should listen to Little Simz album then!

This Little Simz album is great.

I pretty much endorse any project that Inflo has been attached to. He’s a brilliant musician and producer.

And yes that includes a Kooks album!

FWIW, on the latest Sound Opinions episode, Jim DeRogatis and Greg Kot call the new album a "masterpiece" and "album of the year."

With DeRo on our side, how can we go wrong?

https://www.instagram.com/saultglobal.chat

send request. report back results pls.

Hello,how are you doing?
I’m taking my time to check out on my fans during this pandemic period of covid19.
Please stay safe out there and remember I care ❤️❤️

This is the message I get via SAULT chat. Anything you want me to ask them?

i believe it is a bot, as i received the same exact message.

the plot thickens.

Have you replied to the message?

yes!

i said thank you for making awesome music and the response was, "how long have you been a fan?"

At this point, I think I prefer the Cleo Sol album over the new SAULT.

why would you say something so controversial, yet so brave?

It's my year of living dangerously

Well, yeah the Cleo Sol album is one of the best of the year. I think I'd agree with it being stronger than the Sault album, but it feels like an extension of the same sort of sound.

Absolutely does