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‘I’d take a mediocre album rather than nothing!’: the new music readers want to hear in 2024

Guardian readers are longing for returns by artists from Ariana Grande to Archie Shepp –and even possibly Kate Bush?

I had the pleasure of hearing Archie Shepp and Jason Moran at the Charlie Parker jazz festival in Tompkins Square Park in Manhattan two years ago. Alongside his recent string of exceptional live performances, Fender’s two previous albums have built his status as one of music’s most exciting prospects with a particularly powerful ability to connect with his listener. From rousing anthems such as Seventeen Going Under, which touches on the shared disillusionment of youth to the raw explorations of difficult subjects seen in songs such as Dead Boys, Fender’s emotive songwriting is refreshingly meaningful, and as such it will be exciting to see how album three compares.

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