Neo Soul — All Formats  

A limited edition slice of goodness from Mayer Hawthorne – a live performance recorded for the Morning Becomes Eclectic program on KCRW in LA! The material's a nice addition to the studio Hawthorne we already love – and shows a new sort of warmth that comes through not just in the performance, but in some of the interview bits too. The band is a small combo, and titles include "No Strings", "Love In Motion", "Dreaming", "The Walk", "Shiny & New", and "I Wish It Would Rain".

The full length debut of Mayer Hawthorne for Stones Throw – with both classic Motown and 60s & 70s Detroit indie soul influences, done the right way, and all of it wonderful and true to his heroes – after some promising early singles, we can now say emphatically that Mayer Hawthorne is indeed the real thing! On some of this material, Hawthorne is a one man soul band, with the tunes stripped to a gritty, raw soul essence – and on other tunes he gets some assistance on brass, strings and keys – pulling off a number of modes with equally excellent results. He evokes Curtis Mayfield when he gets the falsetto going, but other touchstone influences are apparent – a couple of the more uptempo tunes sound like they could be late 60s Temptations b-sides. Mayer may look like Dwight Schrute on the cover, but don't be fooled – his love for soul music is true and unironic, and he has the chops to pull it off! Titles include "A Strange Arrangement", "Just Ain't Gonna Work Out", "Maybe So, Maybe No", "Your Easy Lovin' Ain't Pleasin' Nothin'", "I Wish It Would Rain", "Make Her Mine", "One Track Mind", "The Ills", "Shiny & New", "Let Me Know" and "Green Eyed Love".

Timeless soul from Maysa – who here lends her sweet molasses vocals to numbers made famous by Stevie Wonder, Teddy Pendergrass, The Isley Brothers, Chaka Khan, The Stylistics, Roberta Flack and others! Maysa fully employs the sophisticated mellow soul approach on this set – befitting the material quite grandly with her sultry vocals, and tight band providing laidback keys, snapping drums & percussion, and some jazzy smooth horns and flute in spots. The most mature outing yet from the gifted vocalist whose roots helped plant Incognito! Tracks include "Wishing On A Star", "Don't Say Goodnight", "All I Do", "Love Won't Let Me Wait", "Come Go With Me", "Betcha By Golly Wow", "Playing Your Game, Baby", "Love Comes Easy", "Any Love" and "The First Time (I Ever Saw Your Face)".

Modern blue-eyed soul from Kendra Morris on Wax Poetics Records – and it delivers in full on the promising couple of Wax Po singles leading up to this solid full length! If the title Banshee brings to mind a shrill spooky cry, fear not – because Kendra is a natural, truly soulful singer! There's a nice live band feel to the record, too – with core backing of guitar, drums bass and spacey keys – plus occasional violin and other additional instrumentation. A win! Titles include "Waiting", "The Plunge", "Old Photos", "Right Now", "Today", "How You Want It", "If You Didn't Go", "Concrete Waves", "Here", "Banshee" and more.

Modern blue-eyed soul from Kendra Morris on Wax Poetics Records – and it delivers in full on the promising couple of Wax Po singles leading up to this solid full length! If the title Banshee brings to mind a shrill spooky cry, fear not – because Kendra is a natural, truly soulful singer! There's a nice live band feel to the record, too – with core backing of guitar, drums bass and spacey keys – plus occasional violin and other additional instrumentation. A win! Titles include "Waiting", "The Plunge", "Old Photos", "Right Now", "Today", "How You Want It", "If You Didn't Go", "Concrete Waves", "Here", "Banshee" and more.