Folk, spoken word, jazz: Give the old mix a shuffle, says Sanjoy Narayan

In an era of soulless algorithms and streaming giants curating our playlists, true musical gems often lie hidden in the shadows. So, this week, I’m straying from the beaten track, by listing seven voices that deserve a spot in your headphones.

From the raw intimacy of folk to the electric pulse of rock, the improvisational spirit of jazz to the soulful depths of R&B, these are singers whose sound can seem both familiar and revolutionary. So plug in, tune in, and turn up the volume.
Start with Not Rick by Anna Erhard. The Swiss-born, Berlin-based indie pop singer’s lyrics are often mundane but always enjoyable. In the title track of this new album, for instance, the 30-something Erhard sings about her life after a Mexican woman read her cards and told her “I’d arrived at my last life”.
It’s self-deprecating, witty and great fun. “All right then, I’m headed straight for enlightenment,” goes the central refrain, as she proceeds to poke fun at soothsayers and wise men. (The title is a cheeky reference to the music producer Rick Rubin, known for his pithy aphorisms.)
In Spa, from the same album, she sings about going to the hammam with her ma, forgetting to take a swimsuit and being censured for wearing a bra. Her upbeat, irreverent tunes can become infectious quickly.
By contrast, Irish singer Lisa O’Neill’s Old Note is a deep song that refers to the Akashic records, a mystical theosophical concept of a compendium of all human events, thoughts, words, emotions and intent ever to occur, in the past, present and future.
Brought up in rural Ireland, O’Neill, now in her early 40s, speaks and sings in a broad Irish brogue. Her brand of folk music is raw; sometimes sad and sometimes wild, but always deeply meditative. The album to check out: All of This Is Chance (2023).
Billy Nomates (birth name: Tor Maries) is a British singer who blends post-punk with indie rock and the avant garde genre labelled no wave. She mixes singing and spoken word in a style often called sprechgesang. On her song, Hippy Elite, the 34-year-old pokes fun at fashionable activists (“Hug a tree for me, hug a tree for me / If I could only quit my job / I’d join the hippy elite”), tackling social issues, as she usually does, with biting wit. The album to check out: Billy Nomates (2020).
On Manto, named after the renowned Partition-era Punjabi writer, the American rapper Heems (birth name: Himanshu Kumar Suri) delves into themes of generational trauma and the immigrant experience. The song features the jazz pianist Vijay Iyer and combines Heems’s introspective lyrics with a compelling beat. Heems, 39, gained prominence as part of the hip-hop group Das Racist. He is back after an eight-year hiatus from music. The album to check out: Veena (2024).
Many Indian listeners may be familiar with the Saudi Arabia-born, Pakistani-American singer-composer Arooj Aftab, who is known to move effortlessly and quite uniquely between jazz, folk, Hindustani and Western classical music. She is fearless too and has attempted her own take on the revered jazz standard, Autumn Leaves. Originally a 1945 French composition, it has been sung by Nat King Cole and by Frank Sinatra. There are an estimated 270 jazz versions, including ones by Miles Davis and Stan Getz. Yet, on her version, featuring the jazz keyboardist James Francies, Aftab, 39, gives that melancholic composition a haunting new hue. It is on her new album, Night Reign.
British rapper Hak Baker’s Nameless, meanwhile, is a powerful and raw track that digs into the themes of identity and heritage. The song addresses the struggle of living with a “slave name”. Baker, 33, makes music that is a soulful blend of reggae, rap, and folk, often with themes of protest. The album to check out: Nostalgia Death Act 1 (2024).
On Tastes Just Like It Costs, MJ Lenderman sings wittily and conversationally about the values we place on things. Lenderman, 25, is from North Carolina, and The New York Times has called him southern rock’s tragicomic poet. One can hear the influences of older greats such as Neil Young, Bill Callahan and even Bob Dylan in his songs.
“Birds against a heavy wind that wins in the end / One of these days, with shorts full of sand / One of these days, you’ll kill a man / For asking a question you don’t understand,” he sings, in Manning Fireworks. His music is inflected with a laid-back, fuzzed-out casualness that can be quite appealing. The album to check out: Manning Fireworks (2024).
That’s it, then. Seven albums that might mark the beginning of a new obsession. Enjoy!
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