Neo Soul — All Formats  

A wonderful record from Khari of Jiva – a set that's as warmly beautiful as you'd expect from the cover! Khari's got all the sweet, soulful touches we love in his music with Jiva – and the set's also got the Brazilian jazz elements that you'd expect from the Antonio Carlos Jobim homage on the cover – particularly the CTI-era Jobim, as there's some wonderful production to the set – and a vibe that's jazzier overall, and more sophisticated than even the great grooves of Jiva! Khari's got plenty of great guests, too – including India Arie, Russell Gunn, Monday Michiru, Sabrina Malheiros, and Incognito – all a perfect choice for the warm, sunny groove of the set! The whole thing's wonderful – maybe even the best thing so far from Khari – and titles include "Clementine Sun", "Coolamon Waltz", "Never In Your Sun", "Belle Of Byron Bay", "The Dove", "Ninos", "How Can We Go Wrong", and "Major Bossa".

Amalia's future soul full length debut for Tokyo Dawn! On Art Slave, Amalia does a pretty amazing job of showing off a broad range of inspiration, but delivering a record that's fresh and uniquely her own. She's one of more expressive contemporary soul vocalists on the international scene – with a voice that can deliver catchy soul hooks and spacey funk wierdness with equal brilliance – and her range is incredible, too! The production on this set is pretty heavy with spacey electro funk – and titles include "Art Slave", "Welcome To Me", "4 U", "All The Funk I Need", "Bonafide", "Psychoanalyze", "Stop Please", "Zebra Butt-A-Fly", "Luxurious (Ad Bourke Remix)", "Freeze That!", "I'm The Woman" and more.

A great second album from India Arie – sweet, smooth, soulful, and one we like even better than the first! The style is wonderful – a mix of warm vocals, spare production, and acoustic guitar – which gives the set a folksy quality that really offsets the smooth backings nicely. Songs are very well written, and linked together with a sensuous musical approach that makes the whole album drift nicely along – beating with the heart of underground soul set, but handled with a high level of class! Titles include "Beautiful Surprise", "Little Things", "Growth", "Talk To Her", "Headed In The Right Direction", "Good Man", "Complicated Melody", and "The One". Limited CD features the bonus track "Interested".

A long-overdue debut from Onita Boone – a singer who's worked in the background with many others, but who finally gets her time in the limelight! Onita's got a great way with a lyric – and most of the tunes on the set feature original words by the lady herself – deep and mature, and served up with this strong sense of flow that really sends the tunes home. Production is relatively stripped-down, too – although has a few classic elements percolating amidst more contemporary modes – maybe a bit more on the album's few well-chosen covers. Onita hails from the US, but gets a big push here from Universal Germany – which means that this one might oddly fall under the radar for audiences back home. Titles include "Who's Crying Now", "I Know", "I'll Carry You", "Ain't Nobody", "Joined", "I Don't Wanna", "Let The Funk Come Out", "25 To Life", and "Pay".

Brand New Heavies back in action – and sounding every bit as great as always! The group still has that sublime mix of soul, jazz, and funk that's made them so great right from the start – a mode that's steeped in classic influences from the 60s and 70s, yet finds a way to come out sounding really fresh and unique on every track! Instrumentation is razor-sharp, and mostly live – and vocals are by N'Dea Davenport, Jan Kincaid, Dawn Joseph, and Simon Bartholomew – creating a nice mix of personalities that make the record feel even more joyously collaborative than ever – almost as if the group's borrowed a page from the Incognito book – and the great way that combo has of coming together. The sound is warm and flowing throughout – never stiff or commercial – and titles include "Heaven", "Turn The Music Up", "Do You Remember", "On The One", "Sunlight", "Forward", "Addicted", and "A Little Funk In Your Pocket".

Strongly emotional and slowly simmering craft from Ty Causey – a veteran of the midwestern smooth, jazzy soul scene – and his efforts are as strong as ever here! There's an easygoing confidence in Ty's approach that he's carried for a while – and that continues in full effect here. His songs speak to straight forward, soulful truth, with a relaxed style and emotional and spiritual depth. The production is just as sweet – with a smooth soul pace, and subtly dexterous musicianship. Some guitar, a bit of flute or sax come into play with nice keys and percolating percussion. Includes "Must Be Magic", "Too Much Baggage", "Tap Into This Chemistry", "I'll Wait For You", "I'll Wait For You", "You'll Never Be Lonely", "False Faces", "Love Call", "A Reason Why", "Hot 2 Night", "The Limit of Love", "Bold And Beautiful".

Ten years since his underground Headphone Masterpiece and Cody Chesnutt is finally back with a proper follow up – one that has a more fully-fleshed out production – and it’s pretty damn great! There's some striking differences in approach, but thankfully, the idiosyncratic creative bent remains! Where Headphones Masterpiece was a mind-bogglingly ambitious low fi bedroom production, this one was at least partially recorded at Willie Mitchell's legendary Royal Studios in Memphis, with a great group of studio musicians. This one is also more focused – and features a tight batch of 12 songs – as opposed to the sprawling double album debut. Cody's ear for classic southern soul craft informs this one – but his raw lyricism and great voice are still the focus, and that ultimately makes it another near-classic! We hope it won't take 10 years to make another record, but we're sure glad we finally got this one! Includes "'Til I Met Thee", "I've Been Life", "That's Still Mama", "Don't Follow Me", "Everybody's Brother", "Love Is More Than A Wedding Day", "Under The Spell Of The Handout", "Don't Wanna Go The Other Way", "Where Is All The Money Going", "Scroll Call" and more.

Ten years since his underground Headphone Masterpiece and Cody Chesnutt is finally back with a proper follow up – one that has a more fully-fleshed out production – and it's pretty damn great! There's some striking differences in approach, but thankfully, the idiosyncratic creative bent remains! Where Headphones Masterpiece was a mind-bogglingly ambitious low fi bedroom production, this one was at least partially recorded at Willie Mitchell's legendary Royal Studios in Memphis, with a great group of studio musicians. This one is also more focused – and features a tight batch of 12 songs – as opposed to the sprawling double album debut. Cody's ear for classic southern soul craft informs this one – but his raw lyricism and great voice are still the focus, and that ultimately makes it another near-classic! We hope it won't take 10 years to make another record, but we're sure glad we finally got this one! Includes "'Til I Met Thee", "I've Been Life", "That's Still Mama", "Don't Follow Me", "Everybody's Brother", "Love Is More Than A Wedding Day", "Under The Spell Of The Handout", "Don't Wanna Go The Other Way", "Where Is All The Money Going", "Scroll Call" and more.