Back catalogue: Funk Soul & Jazz

Review: The master of instrumental downtempo funk and soul returns with four more sides of gloriously laid back grooves as the label reissues his Before album. Fukagawa Kiyotaka was in top form here with supremely sunny sax motifs and deep, lush drums sinking you in right from the off. He then leans on his cultural heritage with Eastern melodies drifting over starry-eyed chords, layers in plenty of serene strings and even gets jazzy on the fantastic 'Feel It.' A downtempo and Balearic masterpiece for sure.

Review: Catching Flies' debut album "Silver Linings" was a gently eclectic and hard-to-pigeonhole affair - think soulful fusions of hip-hop, house, jazz and electronica - so it makes perfect sonic sense that this remixed version should include revisions by an impressively diverse array of artists. There are naturally a clutch of more dancefloor-centric reworks - see Andhim's hypnotic, tech-tinged deep house take on "Opals", Ron Basejam's deep jazz-house version of "New Gods", a bustling breakbeat pass of "Satisfied" by Soundbwoy Killah and DJ Seinfeld's deliciously saucer-eyed, rave-friendly re-imagining of "Silver Linings" - as well as a clutch of more downtempo-minded tweaks. Highlights in the latter category include a bluesy "Ambient Reprise" of "Satisfied" and Freddie Joachim's delightfully dusty, slow-motion version of "Kite Hill Theme".

Review: Given the rise in popularity in new school jazz in recent years, it seems a fitting time to welcome back Ninja Tune stalwarts The Cinematic Orchestra. "To Believe" is not only their first album in some seven years, but also one of their strongest releases to date. Opening with the poignant neo-classical/soul fusion "To Believe", the set sees Jason Swinscoe and company attractively saunter between jazz-electronica fusion (Roots Manuva collaboration ("A Caged Bird/Imitations Of Life"), pastoral jazz epics (the sunset ready epic that is "Lessons"), gentle downtempo songs ("Wait For Now/Leave The World"), ambient jazz ("The Workers Of Art") and slowly unfurling dancefloor workouts (killer closing cut "A Promise"). In a word: stunning.

Review: Maxwell Hallett, better known as Betamax from The Comet Is Coming, and Speaker's Corner Quartet man Pete Bennie have formed a new collaborative project Coma World and this is their most exhilarating debut album. It is a tense and dense world of experimental sound designs and 'rhythmadelic' drum rapture that twists frequencies, skews bass and layers up ramshackle percussive sounds in a loose limbed and DIY fashion which sounds ink it all might collapse at any moment, but that is part of the beauty of it. The album is inspired by a friend's memories of being in a coma and frankly is exactly what you might expect given the brief.

Review: Of all the seas in the world, the Indian Ocean is up there with those that invoke the greatest sense of mystery. Filling the rather big bit between East Africa, South East Asia, Australia and Oceana, it's a vast expanse of water known for deceptively dangerous paradise islands, political uncertainty, incredible natural beauty and a somewhat wild west (or east?) seafaring culture. It's a place that feels far less familiar to us here in Britain even than the Pacific, and as such a record that looks to interpret cultures and scenes from this watery region is always going to be intriguing. This is the second thematic volume in the Aquapelagos series, split LPs that focus on societies surrounded by waves, and the communities therein. Mike Cooper and Pierre Bastien's interpretation of the Indian Ocean is mesmerising, and often sounds isolated, hypnotic noises ebbing and flowing, distant calls, percussive details, 'atmos' of bird sounds, oscillations, high pitched feedback. A place that is serene and yet disturbed, often by distinctly human elements.

Review: After the breakout success of his 2019 debut album Fyah, Theon Cross is back with his hotly anticipated follow-up. The British tubist and trombonist is right at the vanguard of young, modern jazz, playing an integral role in scene-leading bands Sons of Kemet and Moses Boyd Exodus, and his second album reaffirms his vision in dazzling style. The contemporary sound of British jazz is all about embracing new modes alongside the core skills and traditions of the culture, and Cross demonstrates this across every inch of Intra-I. The tuba never sounded so futuristic, and Cross' virtuoso playing folds into slick electronic processes with a fluidity that comes from within. Cross embodies this hybridised music like only he can, making a vital creative statement in the process.

Review: CS + Kreem have a hard job on their hands to follow up the magnificent Snoopy but they do it admirably with Orange. This is another intriguing album on The Trilogy Tapes that pairs suspenseful emptiness with fresh instrumental interjections, creepy spoken words with atmospheric found sounds to make for an album that is part sound collage, part experimental rhythms and part ambient storytelling. Acoustic guitars, nervy cellos, tentative xylophones, woozy flutes and lazy drum sounds all colour the airwaves in this most deep, compelling and pensive of records.