Back in stock: Hip Hop/R&B

Review: A decade after making his major label with Doris, all all-star affair featuring contributions from the RZA, Frank Ocean and Tyler The Creator, Los Angeles MC Earl Sweatshirt delivers album number six - a two-way hoedown with acclaimed beat-maker, Cypress Hill affiliate and fellow LA resident The Alchemist. It's a musical marriage with great potential, all told, as Earl Sweatshirt delivers distinctively enigmatic lyrical flows in his distinctive timbre over impeccable beats that draw on an impressively diverse range of samples. Compare and contrast, for example, the sparse, bluesy brilliance of 'Vin Skully' and the West Coast synth-funk influenced smoothness of 'Heat Check', or gospel-influenced Vince Staples hook-up 'Mancula' and the slow-motion drowsiness and aural beauty of 'Sirius Blac'.

Review: Cleo Sol has emerged on Forever Living Originals alongside the avant-gospel sensation of Sault, and in an understated way she's quickly positioned herself as one of the most compelling, original voices in UK soul. Hot on the heels of Heaven comes her third LP Gold, and it's another masterclass in low-key but wholly intentional production framing some of the most arresting singing and songwriting you're likely to hear all the way through 2024. On Gold especially there's a tendency towards a cosy, in-the-room sound from the live kit and warm keys to the subtle undercurrent of soundsystem mixing attitude, and it makes for an album you'll want to live in for days on end.

Review: Listen up and pay attention all serious soul heads - Cleo Sol is back with an album which confirms her position at the forefront of UK soul. Sol has a career which reaches back to the late 00s guesting for the likes of Tinie Tempah, but it's within the wider Sault orbit she's forged a renewed presence in recent years. Locked into a productive run of albums which kicked off with Rose In The Dark back in 2020, her latest long player might just be her best as she gracefully glides from piano ballads to pastoral funk, low-slung neo soul bump and beyond. Everything is bound together by her flawless voice and a persistently warm, mellow production, making this sound like a future classic in waiting.