Little Simz and SZA are fed up
“Fuck the rules and all that’s traditional,” demands London rapper Little Simz on “Angel,” the first track on her latest album, No Thank You. It came as a surprise release just eight months after his previous work, Sometimes I Might Be Introvert, took home the prestigious Mercury Prize, perhaps the only music award based solely on music that, miraculously, still cares. Three days earlier, American SZA had released her second album SOS, the follow-up to her acclaimed debut CTRL. Delayed forever, it finally saw the light, accompanied by a cover showing the one from Missouri recreating a photograph taken by a paparazi of Diana from Wales on Dodi al Fayed’s yacht a week before her death, and the announcement that SZA unable to continue this business: this will be his last album. Two great albums born of emotional imbalance and boredom with the industry, released, perhaps with mischievous intent, just as all the year’s leaderboards had closed.
Little Simz just separated his music career from that of his manager. The album is a hasty settlement of scores before the song spirals into a sphere and its output could be worse than a very good album. He’s lucky to have Inflo as producer, shop steward and confessor, the brains behind Sault, an unseen project used to screwing up the rules and everything traditional that released five albums in one day in 2022. Mark E. Smith would be proud. Inflo turns Little Simz’s rush into nervousness, the rush into excitement, and the run-over into amphetamine. Balancing almost 50% of the producer’s work (organic bases, funk, horns, that London soul somewhere between sophisticated and street-ready) and Little Simz’s verses, the LP features discursive gems like “Angel”, danceable like “Gorilla” and sticking like “not”. Grace’. It may seem like a small job, but we must never forget that small things work better.
SZA’s disappointment doesn’t seem to stem from a fact as concrete as in the English case. He’s pretty fed up with the accumulation. And well, he’s had five years to accumulate. He started presenting pre-tracks of this album in 2020. The tortuous path, working with everyone he’s met in an elevator, and the time spent making mistakes and fixing them, has resulted in an album that’s not very cohesive, but plagued by notable subjects. SZA is the whitest of the black divas. At times, like on “Special”, it almost sounds like Radiohead. In “F2F” he takes that to the extreme and becomes an R’n’B transcription of Avril Lavigne or Blink-182. The result is a confirmation that you don’t have to have good taste to make good music. Along the way, a duet with Phoebe Bridgers (“Ghost in the Machine”) that brings some fang and vinegar to some one-dimensional lyrics. But in songs like “Gone Girl”, “Notice Me”, “Shirt” or “Kill Bill” SZA shines with more light and expands the sound of their debut with 2000 ballads and 90s R’n’B pop. . The same would have worked better with half a dozen fewer songs and a true experimental vocation when she tries to experiment because it shows she’s more interested in doing something she hasn’t done before and less interested in trying to do something no one has done before. Anyway, who cares. Fuck the rules and the traditional. XAVI SANCHO
Little Simz
‘No thank you’
Forever Living Originals / Popstock!
Ryuichi Sakamoto, an early requiem
“From now on, until my body gives out, I’ll probably continue to keep this kind of ‘diary.’ This is how Ryuichi Sakamoto concluded a text about 12, his new album. With the elegance he has shown throughout his career, the 72-year-old Japanese musician therefore faced the fact that the colon cancer for which he underwent surgery in 2021 will take him to the grave and that this could be his last job. It’s not the first time he’s been confronted with a tumor. He was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2014, which drew him away from direct shows. It came out of this one, but this one is different. This is the most advanced in stage IV and could only be recovered by a miracle. But as long as he can, he will keep making music. So this album is a diary of his state of mind. They are, he says, instrumental “sketches” he chose from among those he began to improvise at home when he had the strength and titled them with the date of recording, some 2021, others 2022.
The beginning is really dark: long songs with requiem airs, rough ambient, minimal atmospheres with few arrangements that are presented with piano and synthesizers. It’s true that they look like sketches at times, which reinforces the fact that Sakamoto’s own breathing can occasionally be heard. It has been compared to later albums such as David Bowie’s Blackstar; You Want It Darker by Leonard Cohen or even the Skeleton Tree that Nick Cave published after the death of a son and they have certain similarities. The seriousness weighs heavily during the first eight songs that are difficult to hear. You wouldn’t need to know any of this to know something was wrong. But the last four tracks are different: short, lighter. Even in the darkest of times there are moments of hope. IÑIGO LOPEZ PALACIOS
Ryuichi Sakamoto
’12’
Milan
The intact ‘souvenir’ from Iggy Pop
There was a time when what we did was full of rage and could sound like “Frenzy,” the first shot from his snappy new album, the incorruptible iguana seems to be telling of the affluent musical present. Iggy Pop, the emissary of punk with the most stripes on his still muscular, bare chest, revives a powerful and extremely free rock in Every Loser, which at times becomes velvety (‘Stroung Out Johnny’), flirting with a resulting post-glam (‘Comments’) or becomes a sly, tongue-in-cheek crooner camera piece (“The News for Andy”). And in doing so, he delivers a curious and energetic reminder of a past that has miraculously remained intact within him. LAURA FERNANDEZ
Iggy Pop
“Every Loser”
Atlantic/Warner
Sam Smith, Homage to Pop Divas
Brit Sam Smith says his fourth album is a tribute to pop divas. And that’s it decided. The euphoric “Lose You” is reminiscent of ’90s Cher, “Love Me More” contains funk passages a la Chaka Khan and “No God” references Toni Braxton’s vocal harmonies. These 12 songs leave the listener with the pleasant remnant of something they already know, moving between electro pop and the most conservative rhythm and blues. Atmosphere-wise, it’s a celebration of love without labels: Heartbreaking ballads like “Writing’s on the Wall,” for which Smith won an Oscar in 2016, take a backseat. The best happens in Unholy, alongside Kim Petras, bold and dark with an epic opening and slick production. BEATRIZ G.ARANDA
SamSmith
‘Fame’
Capitol/Universal
Tide: The death of rock is not here
Ignore the postmodern spokesmen who herald the death of rock. They’ve been like this for years and the genre endures. Marea will begin a tour of Spain in May that will gather an average of 10,000 people per night. This band from Navarre, which turns 25 with their eighth album, is something serious. Kutxi Romero once again shows an intricate script that twists the sentences and complicates the task of understanding. His lyrics are about death, heartbreak, pride and struggle. And if you don’t know what the hell he’s talking about, he always translates: because of that tinny voice and because he handles words like they’re swords. The music is thick and guitar-like, and the production is polished and even elegant. Born under the protection of Rosendo, Extremoduro or Barricada, Marea has been a band with an overwhelming personality for years. Ask your followers. CARLOS MARCOS
tide
“The Foals of Time”
dromedary
Ron Carter got the right grades
The soundtrack to the documentary of the same name, which focuses on the legendary double bass player’s career, is not a compilation or anthology, nor is it intended to illustrate Carter’s career over the years. It’s more of a scrapbook and moments from the last few years that act as a sampler, in which we can find some of his last bands (Golden Striker, Foursight) or special concerts like the one that put him in front of the WDR Big Band in 2014. But the most memorable are the songs that document unprecedented encounters with musicians like Stanley Clarke, Bill Frisell, Christian McBride or Jon Batiste. They’re not round, but they’re unique, with beautiful blemishes and the real pulse of jazz played without a net. YAHVE M. OF LA CAVADA
Ron Carter
‘Find the right notes’
IN+OUT / Distrijazz
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