Back in stock: Broken Beat/Nu Jazz/Nu Soul

Review: ***B-STOCK: Sleeve damaged but otherwise in excellent condition***


Sons of Kemet had already made themselves into stars before they released their debut album. They did so with electrifying live shows all around the UK with each member of the supergroup which is led by clarinetist, saxophonist and composer Shabaka Hutchings with Oren Marshall on tuba and Tom Skinner and Seb Rochford on drums, all coming together to create fresh jazz fusions. When Burn landed a decade ago it took things up a notch. It has addictive melodies that work for both heart and mind and now gets a special anniversary reissue.

Review: ***B-STOCK: Slight surface marks ***


This album is one of the greatest r&b records ever. That's just a fact. Jill Scott herself has never even managed to surpass what she lay down on this stone-cold classic all the way back in 2002. The production is stylish and warm, seductive and sensual throughout, with jazz, neo soul, funk, r&b and hip hop all carefully infusing each track. The lyrics are empowering as they celebrate blackness and female strength, but also at times witty and playful. It's a go-to date night album for people all over the world and how it missed out on a Grammy for Best Album or Best Vocal Performance when it was first nominated we will never know.

Review: Deep house producer Shuya Okino shows his class once more on another tasteful outing, this time via the Extra Freedom/Village Again labels out of Japan. For this one he revisits his 2011 album Destiny which was made with help from the Japanese funk, boogie and jazz-funk outfit Root Soul and replays and remakes the tunes. The originals become more disco-leaning and horn lead jams here with Okino's warm, rubbery basslines, P-funk synths, loose live beats and cute keys. The result is an album that sounds like Earth, Wind & Fire making modern soul and it will improve your life no end.

Review: The late legendary Japanese beatmaker Nujabes was a musical genius, this we know to be true. His constant resurgence on social media throughout the years affirms this, with 'Modal Soul', his second full-length album in 2005, blowing up time and time again online. It comes as no surprise, his meticulous devotion to hip-hop-jazz was unlike any before him, or since. 'Other Side of Phase' is a 12" three track record, with its title track being the instrumental for the famous anime 'Samurai Champloo', originally featuring one of Japan's most prolific MCs to ever hold the mic. A standout is 'Rainyway Back Home', a fly song combining the keys from an old Jeru the Damaga cut and the drums from a Power of Zeus track. Nujabes will never - ever - go out of style.

Review: Downtempo maestro Mudd is back with a new album In The Garden Of Mindfulness on the faultless Claremont 56 label. Coming after years of him working with Benjamin Smith, amongst others, it's his first solo album since 2006. His magical touch has not left him here as he explores dubbed out disco, Balearic, cosmic chill out and layers of alluring instrumentation, some of which is provided by Michele Chiavarini. These are widescreen sounds to get fully immersed in as you gaze on at sun soaked jazz guitars, low-lit synths, gently cascading synths hints of psychedelia, funk and soul. Another timeless and sparkling work from the great producer.

Review: Moor Mother (Camae Ayewa) delivers her latest album of import, The Great Bailout, using ironic economic terminology to satirise the British slave trade and its subsequent elision by the history books. A collaborative project that expands her original experimental hip-hop horizon, the likes of 'GUILTY' and 'ALL THE MONEY' hear new instrumental contributions from both canonical jazz artists and fresher faces, be they Lonnie Holley in the former camp and Mary Lattimore and Alya Al-Sultana in the latter. Moor Mother's revision is critical, calling out hidden ballasts such as the V&A Museum as purveyors of historical violence, while indulging a well-thought-out palette: no sound or texture is used here without careful thought as to its signification, whether wateriness to evoke the sense of drowning, or muted cacophony to recall the storms endured by victims of the trade in ships' hulls.

Review: Larry Manteca's Zombie Mandingo album arrived back in 2013 and in the danced plus has only ever been available digitally. Now it makes its debut on wax and remains a bold listen that was devised as a soundtrack to a non-existent exploitation film. It fuses funk, jazz, and Afrobeat influences with plenty of niche cinematic references such as the zombies in Lucio Fulci's horrors and Umberto Lenzi's cannibalistic adventures. The resulting mash up is beguiling to say the least with horror-tinged exotica next to Fela Kuti rhythms and elements of Italian Library music and colourful psychedelia. A boundary pushing work to say the least.

Review: E. Live returns to Star Creature HQ with his third full-length release, 'Soft Approach,' and it's a jazz-funk-infused and boogie-powered blast-off. Following the success of 2020's Boogie For Life and Cloud Vibes from 2022, this new long player marks a triumphant evolution in his solo journey. With a nu-school disco flair and jazzier undertones, E. Live expertly balances accessibility and sophistication to make for a well-crafted trip overall. Drawing inspiration from musical luminaries like Roy Ayers and Patrice Rushen, these tunes promise to captivate fans of danceable rhythms and refined musicality alike. This release solidifies E. Live's reputation as a trailblazer in the contemporary Boogie scene and confirms he is destined for seismic waves in 2024.

Review: Axis of Time is the stunning debut album from Philadelphia mallet percussionist and poet Angelo Outlaw. Featuring Eraserhood Sound's signature synth & soul production, the LP is a dazzling blend of jazz, rare groove, funk, soul and r&b. Outlaw's statement of intent is to transport the listener to a dissociated, dream-like state; a retreat into a fantasy from which one may not wish to return. That of a sonic holiday is indeed the vibe of this vibraphonic virtuosum, with landscapes of flute, wah-pedalled guitars and, of course, bell-like harmonies played by Outlaw himself, all evoke the sense of riding on the back of a paradisiacal bird, and into the anaesthetic distance.