The Qobuz Guide to September 2024

Rap/Hip-Hop

With 1 of 1, one of rap’s greatest treasures, MC Lyte, continues to bless us with beautifully-delivered stories of triumph and tragedy, now earmarked by the grace and wisdom of age. Alaska teams up with Brooklyn’s steel-tipped dove for Reverberations of a Dead Man’s Ego, a jaded, distempered, yet altogether realistic look at aging with a creative mind. Listeners may concentrate on LL Cool J’s age but the real focus of The Force should be on LL’s spry lyricism and Q-Tip’s lush (executive) production. As folks really begin to absorb Carrot Season from Phiik & Lungs, they’ll understand the wealth of incredible information coming at them at such a fast pace. Fat Tony & Fatboi Sharif, a pairing of Houston and New Jersey’s finest, collide on Brain Candy—perhaps the most far-out rap recorded in 2024. The elite beatmaker Alchemist revives his long-lost rap career on The Genuine Articulate, a record that will sneak up on you.

Rock

South London trio Honeyglaze mix rock, punk and pop to create a perfect soundscape for thoughtful, deadpan lyrics and important questions on their Qobuzissime-awarded second album, Real Deal. Backed by his Luchador mask-wearing, surf-rocking pals Los Straitjackets, Nick Lowe delivers Indoor Safari, his first new album in a decade. The ever-soigne Englishman continues to age with charisma and understanding. Being Dead are a couple of goofballs from Austin, Texas, who can’t suppress their innate ability of crafting hooks on EELS, no matter how many left turns or U-eys they take. Bob Dylan and the Band reunited eight years after first going electric, and their two-month-long 1974 tour (dreamt up by David Geffen, no less) is documented in this massive, 27-disc set. Streamers can get a taste with a 20-song sampler, but you’ll need to purchase the downloads to hear all 400-plus unreleased tracks. Though Galaxie 500 was short-lived, the New York-by-way-of Cambridge, Massachusetts, trio created a dreamy, deliberately slow-paced sound that continues to gratify and influence. Uncollected Noise New York ‘88-’90 is an excellent companion to their three full-lengths, and the first of their music to be released in Hi-Res.

Jazz

Past Qobuzissime honoree Nubya Garcia’s second full-length as bandleader, Odyssey, is exactly as titled: a journey into the heart of several genres led by an all-star cast of players. Nala Sinephro’s Endlessness goes further into the sound she cemented on her debut: a dazzling mix of ambient, jazz and peaceful reflection. It doesn’t even feel like a proper year in jazz without the inclusion of Bremer/McCoy, whose Kosmos is packed with incredible, ever-soothing moments. As Yai, John Thayer and David Lacker, surprise with Sky Time’s ambient soundscapes—filled mostly with woodwinds and some nature sounds—then take you into their void, with no intention of bringing you back. Wendy Eisenberg’s textural harmonies on Viewfinder—spanning post rock, bebop and free jazz among other sounds—are interesting enough to merit a rewind but also flow so beautifully that you never want the song to cease progressing. The Cry!, a newly remastered bebop/free jazz hybrid from Prince Lasha Quintet featuring Sonny Simmons asks an important question: Can an album recorded in 1962 be the jazz record of the year in 2024?

Pop

Allegra Krieger’s brush with death is documented on Art of the Unseen Infinity Machine—what could be her best album yet—and enhances an already jam-packed catalog of reflective folk and rock songs. 10,000 Maniacs’ contribution to MTV’s Unplugged series gets an expanded release. Lead singer Natalie Merchant would leave the group to pursue a solo career soon after the taping, and this newly remastered in Hi-Res collection is a perfect coda to that chapter of the band. British singer Nilüfer Yanya confidentally navigates a range of styles on her third album, My Method Actor, with her cool and alluring vocals leading the way. Hataałii’s deep-voiced crooning appealingly contrasts with the breezy, easygoing music on his one-man-band album, Waiting For A Sign. Tindersticks’ mastery of setting a mood is evident on their fourteenth album, Soft Tissue, full of luscious, soul-kissed, sophisticated pop songs.

Electronic

Under the careful direction of her brother, we are gifted with SOPHIE, a posthumous second album from Sophie, the boundary-pushing electro-pop producer who died tragically at age 34 in 2021. Windswept, Photay’s beautiful tribute to the various ways wind affects our lives—and vice-versa—proves that he is truly on top of the experimental ambient genre. The collaboration between Rrose and Polygonia to create Dermatology, an experimental dance record, is fortunate enough on its own, but that it exceed expectations makes us listeners an incredibly lucky bunch. TSHA’s Sad Girl is a misnomer, as these poppy, upbeat DJ cuts are an invitation to get out of our heads and into her flashy grooves. San Francisco LGBTQ hero Sylvester was honored during his live set at the War Memorial Opera House in 1979 and now the performance—and the gay disco icon’s receipt of the key to the city—is available in its entirety and in Hi-Res.

Classical

Magdalena Hoffmann’s Fantasia explores the theme of imagination with an all-baroque program on her sophomore album. Erland Cooper’s major-label debut, Carve the Runes Then Be Content With Silence, emerges beautifully from its burial in his native Orkney Islands, where nature played its part before the music was unearthed three years later. With Nightfall, Voces8 presents a diverse collection of contemporary choral arrangements, spanning multiple genres, centered around the theme of sleep. Baroque violinist (and Qobuzissime-awardee) Sophie de Bardonnèche honors historical female composers on her debut album Destinées. Turkish pianist Fazil Say offers a solo recital of works by Couperin, Debussy, and Ravel on Oiseaux tristes. Couperin, Debussy & Ravel, and Max Richter’s In a Landscape revisits themes from his iconic 2004 sophomore release, The Blue Notebooks, continuing his melancholic and minimalistic sounds.

More Favorites

MJ Lenderman levels up his pensive, realistic songwriting with well-produced ramshackle country-folk songs on Manning Fireworks, resulting in another crowning achievement. Brooklyn-by-way-of-Botswana Afro-futuristic artist Lollise bounces around genres while making sure to never stray from African rhythms on I Hit the Water. Australian percussionist Laurence Pike continues his streak of incredible ambient jazz solo projects with The Undreamt-of Centre. Patrick Shiroishi’s Glass House offers a little of everything, including some of the saxophone he is most known for, while spinning instrumental narratives. HYPER GAL’s exuberance—evident in After Image’s repetitive synths and drums and over-the-top vocals—may not impress everyone, but the complete and utter joy that permeates should.

Written by Nitha Viraporn, Sujan Hong, Jeff Laughlin/Qobuz USA