Album: Natural Brown Prom Queen
Artist: Sudan Archives
Release Date: September 9, 2022
Label: Stones Throw Records
Favorite Tracks:
- Home Maker
- Selfish Soul
- ChevyS10
- Yellow Brick Road
Thoughts: I’m naturally inclined to review anything by an artist with “archives” in their name (there are a surprising number of them). Sudan Archives is actually the stage name for Los Angeles-based American violinist, singer, and songwriter Brittney Denise Parks. Incorporating dance music loops, R&B, hip hop, and Western African rhythms among other things, this album is full of energetic and creative tracks. Parks revealed her goals for the album to The Guardian: ““My stage name is kind of academic and on Athena, I created this thoughtful persona centred on divine Black femininity. Now I want to show my looseness, too. I’m a deep, insightful person, but I’m also fucking silly.” I think she succeeds.
Rating: ***1/2
Album of the Week: 2022
January
- Olivia Rodrigo – Sour
- Billie Eilish – Happier Than Ever
- Adele –30
- Tran Uy Duc – Came
- Yard Act – The Overload
- Aoife O’Donovan – Age of Apathy
February
- Tanya Taqaq – Tongues
- Various Artists – Summer of Soul soundtrack
- Mitski – Laurel Hell
- Shamir – Hetrosexuality
March
- Lady Pills – What I Want
- Stromae – Multitude
- Jenny Hval – Classic Objects
- Yumi Zouma – Present Tense
April
- Ibibio Sound Machine – Electricity
- Soul Glo – Diaspora Problems
- The Linda Lindas – Growing Up
- Deer Scout – Woodpecker
- Sault – Air
May
- Congotronics International – Where’s the One?
- Oumou Sangaré – Timbuktu
- Various Artists – Daptone Mood
- Wet Leg – Wet Leg
July
- Editrix – Editrix Goes To Hell
- Medicine Singers – Medicine Singers
- Mourning [A] BLKstar – Celestial Bodies
- Lizzo – Special
- The Ballroom Thieves – Clouds
August
- Petrol Girls – Baby
- Beyoncé – Renaissance
- Peter Mulvey and SistaStrings – Love is the Only Thing
September
- Courtney Swain – Silver Lining
- Russian Circles – Gnosis
Panorama of the Mountains 