Sault - What's the story?

Could poll the tracks off the 3 albums and see which ones float to the top

Wildfires, Free, I Just Want To Dance, Little Boy

Wildfires is one of my top 10 songs of the year. I’d definitely pick that one. Dog latin’s pick seem to be the general favorites.

For Cleo Sol my personal favorite is “Rose in the Dark” but I think the most popular one is “why don’t you” - also an amazing song tbh.

So the newest one is completely sold out in all physical formats already? Awesome. Gotta say I love this new system of having to check bandcamp on just exactly the right days in order to buy a new album.

Have they been reupping stuff now and then? Or is that it?

Gotta say I love this new system of having to check bandcamp on just exactly the right days in order to buy a new album.

if you follow an artist you'll get notified.

Yeah, I do follow some. I just haven't checked Sault out yet, but all the year-end buzz got me curious. Liked what I heard and wanted to support them by ordering the CD, but that's gone already. Seems like not great timing with the EOY hype they're getting.

Would vote for Rose in the Dark but When I'm in Your Arms probably my fave xps

Ah, i see. i reckon they will repress.

i've got to know what's in that third panel, it's killing me. couldn't someone at least describe it?

ah, wrong thread.

lol, maybe they will sneak out a third album this year, but i doubt it

Hard Life is my choice, personally.

"strong", "i just want to dance" and "fearless" are my favs from them this year

"Fearless" is really special

"Fearless" is the track going in my end-of-year mix...

i have to go Wildfire for fav track this year

yup

Yeah I'd be kidding myself if it wasn't the one I'd vote for

that's my favourite from black is for sure

Rise is the better album but Wildfire is the highlight imho. That said I pretty much love all of the songs mentioned so far so I don’t think I would mind whatever song(s) places in the EOY poll.

All about "Son Shine" and "Her Light" here, though I won't insist on it

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/

― Get Me Bodied (Extended Mix)

both amused and amazed by the coincidence of you bringing up Keiyaa's record - which is brilliant, it's high on my eoy list, but no better than (black is), imo- and just finishing reading an interview with her, where she makes kind of similar points to that thread of yours from a hundred years ago, about the marginalization of black music and black audiences in the US

Yeah that album’s great!!

Love the Keiyaa album too, but can’t really compare them to Sault. Would play them for different moods.

You guys want to throw Keiyaa into the EOY tracks poll? I’m definitely voting for it in the albums poll... can’t really think of a song to represent it... Rectifiya, maybe?

I have a stupid self-imposed rule of only voting one song per album so, for Sault I’m voting Wildfires from Black Is... still undecided on which one for Rise... Strong, Fearless, Just Want to Dance, Free, Little Boy seem to be the ones mentiones the most in this thread and I can’t pick one out of those, they’re all great. Strong has that batucada shift halfway through which I love so much, Fearless has that dramatic disco vocal + strings, I Just Want to Dance and Free are so fun and Little Boy is different in energy, much simpler but one of their most effective moments.

For Cleo Sol I’m going for When I’m In Your Arms. Groovypanda is right... that’s probably the best one from the album.

I suggested "Hvnli" in the lobbying thread

That’s a good one. I also see sanpaku repping Negus Poem... that’s a good one too

Just got around to this ...project? this week and love it (haven't listened to 5 or 7 yet, only the first two). Glad to read this thread and come up with some idea of who the people are behind it, because as I said on Twitter I'd be really pissed to like it this much and then have it turn out to be, like, Primal Scream under a pseudonym. For me right now (Black Is) > (Rise) but that's because I hate dancing and fun.

only the first two

Only the latter two, I mean.

i love dancing and fun. (Black Is) > (Rise) is correct

I also much prefer Black Is. I actually think Rise is the least-good of the four. But that seems to be a minority opinion in this thread.

I really want to love this band but I find the production a bit... thin or something? I'm going to keep persevering.

Just got around to this ...project? this week and love it (haven't listened to 5 or 7 yet, only the latter two). Glad to read this thread and come up with some idea of who the people are behind it, because as I said on Twitter I'd be really pissed to like it this much and then have it turn out to be, like, Primal Scream under a pseudonym. For me right now (Black Is) > (Rise) but that's because I hate dancing and fun.

― but also fuck you (unperson), Thursday, December 10, 2020 3:00 PM

As much as I love the two 'Untitled' records (especially 'Rise'), '5' and especially '7' are just... magical beyond compare, to me. So I envy you getting to hear them for the first time!

IMO, Rise starts stronger but from Wildfires on, Black Is goes on a tear

Re: thin production - I think this is a bit of a strength and I hate stuff that has reedy sounds. Helps that their first releases were styled a little too more towards 80s new wave and art pop, and it sounds modeled towards that. Rise has more of a sampledelic 90s vibe, which also makes the mid range sound like it's been taken from other sources

I think it's part of the appeal, is that none of it rests on crazy production, or hides behind it. The drum sounds are super dry and attainable if you've done any kind of home recording. But it sounds like people playing instruments in an unadorned and refreshing way (like I'm sure it's all stacked overdubs, but not a lot of loops or programming). It lives & dies on the writing & performances, which are foregrounded by the straightforward production. And it consistently does the deceptively simple trick of making great songs out of the fewest possible number of elements.

I love the production on these, sounds to me like they’re trying to sound like a late 70’s band from the post-punk, punk funk, punk dance or whatever it’s called era.

It’s a very conscious decision too, as evidenced by Inflo’s work with other artists.... You can try the Cleo Sol album if you want a lusher, fuller sound by the same people.

But yeah I haven’t tried playing one after another but I think you can play SAULT songs in between ESG, Liquid Liquid, A Certain Ratio, et al and it wouldn’t sound out of place.

yeah that's what makes them so distinct to me, the way they combine that 70s dance-punk/post-punk sound with neo-soul etc.

really enjoying this

maybe a less hip reference than ESG etc and i'm sure it's probably unintentional and just a coincidence

but sometimes the songs are pretty skeletal, with just a drum loop and those great, dead sounding bass guitar loops remind me a little bit of sleaford mods

haha waited too long for payday and the physical versions are sold out again. oops. would love to see someone help them get some better distribution going.

i love rise so much

both amused and amazed by the coincidence of you bringing up Keiyaa's record - which is brilliant, it's high on my eoy list, but no better than (black is), imo- and just finishing reading an interview with her, where she makes kind of similar points to that thread of yours from a hundred years ago, about the marginalization of black music and black audiences in the US

― where do all these unsold amps go? (gaudio), Saturday, December 5, 2020 5:29 PM (two weeks ago) bookmarkflaglink

fwiw I like (rise) significantly more than (black is) which I find kind of lacking in songs, with a few notable exceptions

I tend to find that (black is) has more individual songs that jump out at me but (rise) flows better for me as an album & I tend to listen to it right the way through more often. Having said that, Strong is probably my overall favourite song from the two albums.

This is another thread where I don't have much to add but Sault have definitely been one of my biggest listens over the last few months. I hadn't heard anything by them prior to around October, so hearing all four of the albums plus going through the Sault-associated stuff like Cleo Sol solo, Little Simz & Michael Kiwanuka has been a lot of fun and has probably helped open me up to new music generally after going through a phase of mostly listening to older things.

I would say that so far nothing that I've heard involving Inflo or other Sault people outside of Sault has grabbed me quite as much as what they've done as a group, but there's still plenty that's excellent, and the Inflo arrangement/production style with the bass & drum grooves foregrounded is definitely very recognisable across the different projects (and kind of addictive to me). Thanks to everyone on thread for drawing out the links. Still need to give Kid Sister's solo output a shot at some point.

Enjoying the Keiyaa album a lot btw, thanks for the recommendation.

KEXP 2020 Top 10 - (Rise) #6, (Black Is) #7.

pfork doubling down with bnm-ing neither really nailing the lid on its tastemaker coffin.

Look forward to spending more time with Sault over my xmas break. When I've played them a bit so far, it just makes me put on the Simz album, which i love. I was curious what pitchfork did with that and it's weirdly right between today's two Sault scores at 8.1, also no BNM. yeesh lol