Kansas Smitty’s: Things Happened Here (Ever Records)
The seven musicians from Kansas Smitty’s have a bar in East London where they act as a house band. So drinks and jobs are guaranteed (if not Corona). This relaxed attitude obviously leads to great sovereignty. Almost the entire jazz story can be heard in the highly concentrated tracks, which have no genre boundaries. Call it what you want: in the end there is simply great music. Andreas Müller, moderator
L. A. Salami: The Cause of Doubt and a Reason to Have Faith (Sunday Best)
The London musician’s third album is also a wild ride through all philosophical questions of life. It confidently overlooks all trends and simply does its thing. Impenetrable are blues-rock or folk guitar riffs, a country piano, a jazz ass, a transcendent organ noise and gentle break beats that carry you through the stories. It leaves question marks. It’s good. Claudia Gerth, radio one
Arca: KiCk i (XL Recordings)
The Gesamtkunstwerk Arca strikes again: a dozen tracks that leave you stumped when you listen to them for the first time, which penetrate your head and stomach a little better with every new run. Arca could be charlatan or genius. Where the hype stops and the substance of the sometimes brutal, sometimes soulful music begins remains unclear. In any case, she shines like hardly anyone else in the role of the post-gender artist. Martin Böttcher, Music Journalist
Zara McFarlane: Songs Of An Unknown Tongue (Brownswood)
British singer Zara McFarlane traveled to Jamaica – the land of her ancestors – to study traditional folk rhythms and rites. Back in London, she combined these influences with electronic sounds and her jazz-trained voice to create a hypnotic trip. Exciting. Nadine Lange, Tagesspiegel
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