Léve Léve: São Tomé & Principe Sounds 70s-80s
Though it isn’t chronological, you can hear the progression from the tentative initial popularizations of island and Portuguese rhythms to guitar-driven pan-African rumba-soukous, with the only reason to kvetch being that África Negra are in a class of their own (“Aninha”, “Mado”, “Nga ba compensadora”)
Sun-El Musician: To the World & Beyond
Two-and-a-half hours of basically the same thing over and over—genial syncopated Afro-house shuffles, piano tinkles, songs as affirmations in multiple languages—but you don’t have to listen to the whole thing at once, you know (“Love Is Blind”, “Ubomi Abumanga”, “Proud of You”)
Loretta Lynn: Still Woman Enough
Only the title track startles, yet it’s nice to have “I Saw the Light” reclaimed for the theists and it’s amusing that she cedes the best lines on “One's on the Way” to Margo Price and still handily retains ownership (“Still Woman Enough”, “I Saw the Light”, “I Don’t Feel at Home Anymore”)
Twice: Eyes Wide Open
Korea’s best-selling girl group gets the finest artisanal tunes and drum sounds while writing a decent chunk of the lyrics themselves; if it falls short of the exceptional hook density of their 2019 EP Feel Special, candy is candy (“Queen”, “Hell in Heaven”, “I Can’t Stop Me”)
Light-voiced Gladys Samba can run through word strings like she’s Twista or slow-talk each syllable for all its worth; French producer RRobin doesn’t bring anything unprecendented, though the trap one is amusing (“Sans Pagne”, “Ngaminke”, “Meki”)
Paris: Safe Space Invader
Title’s a touch ironic because he’s operating in the same Bay Area funk comfort zone (Golden Age-style stentorian rhythm and rhyme, can fit in "proletariat" mid-line) he’s inhabited for decades, but us middle-aged selective radicals who can’t get our screenplays optioned have to conserve our energy (“Why Reconcile?”, “Walk Like a Panther”, “Baby Man Hands”)
Todd Snider: First Agnostic Church of Hope and Wonder
The songs that aren’t about dead friends are often underbaked and have to hey-hey their way to a finish; unfortunately, there are a lot of songs about dead friends (“Handsome John”, “Sail On, My Friend”)
SG Lewis: Times
English dance-pop’s great heterosexual hope shows attention to detail, with whooshes and Nile Rodgers swooping in to the rescue when things threaten to get stale; the limiting factor is the vocals, such that when Robyn shows up she’s basically Pavarotti (“Impact”, “Feed the Fire”)
Christine Salem: Mersi
Réunionese singer goes Frenchy-moody (with hand drums) with vocal power and quality even down around a contralto’s low C, pairing nicely with the plentiful violin (“Yala”, “Laye Layé”)
BoA: Better
Twentyisheth album from the 34-year-old K-via-J pop icon breaks no new ground, but there’s just enough R&B to be interesting and hints of a life with more sweat and tears (perhaps not blood) than a literal translation of the lyrics might suggest (“Cut Me Off”, “Better”)
Motorpsycho: Kingdom of Oblivion
Trondheim’s finest fiftysomething psych-proggers get doomy in form and content (“Earth’s homeostasis/We're losing races”)—perhaps there’s too much going on for my taste, but that’s like complaining a cosmoctopus has too many tentacles (“At Empire’s End”, “The Waning (Pt. 1 & 2)”)
Jazmine Sullivan: Heaux Tales
Six years for fourteen tracks minus the minute monologues, the intro that goes nowhere, and the wasted guest spots leaves a one hot song every 1.5 year average, which, to be clear, isn’t zero (“The Other Side”, “Pick Up Your Feelings”)