Neo Soul — All Formats  

Great stuff from Eryka Badu – sweet, mellow, soulful, and with a very righteous vibe! The record's got some impeccable production – and the best cuts have a stripped-down groove that mixes keyboards and vocals in a way that's similar to recent work by D'Angelo and Jill Scott. Eryka's all her own woman, though – and she keeps things very real with her own unique vocal style and phrasing on the lyrics. Loads of great tracks – and titles include "Kiss Me On My Neck", "Didn't Cha Know", "My Life", "AD 2000", "Bag Lady", "In Love With You", and "Booty".

A great little tune from Erykah Badu – smooth, mellow, with a nice downtempo vibe, but still a warm finish that works perfectly with her voice! This is the kind of tune that made us all fall in love with her right away – and which still sounds great years later!

Erykah and The Roots, what else do you need to know?

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".

A 12 X 7" box set version of Mayer Hawthorne's breakout How Do You Do – with each track from the album paired with its own previously unreleased instrumental version – in individual photo sleeves that lay out as a full mosaic! The Mayer Hawthorne story was a strange one from the start – white producer/DJ crafting real-deal, moody, sultry throwback soul under a pseudonym that gets him signed to Stones Throw. The best news, really, is that he's still doing what we loved on the Stones Throw record and singles. Skirting both throwback Motown AND indie soul conventions, but winking ever so slyly at them, making strings sound scratchy, warm and well-worn, subtle horns to sooth and stir, his own vocals layered for a group-like effect. Bonus points for his use of the superstar cameo – he brings Snoop Dogg in to SING, not to serve as an obligatory rhyme cameo. Well played, Mayer Hawthorne! Includes "Get To Know You", "A Long Time", "Can't Stop" with Snoop, "Finally Falling", "Hooked", "You Called Me", "No Strings", "Dreaming", "The Walk" and more. Comes in a heavy duty box – which also includes a custom display sheet that can hold all 12 singles. Beautiful!

Mayer Hawthorne moves to the majors on How Do You Do – bringing that fun, neo classic bedroom soul sound he did so well on Stones Throw with him – pretty much picking up right where Strange Arrangement left off! The Mayer Hawthorne story was a strange one from the start – white producer/DJ crafting real-deal, moody, sultry throwback soul under a pseudonym that gets him signed to Stones Throw. The best news, really, is that he's still doing what we loved on the Stones Throw LP and singles. Skirting throwback Motown and indie soul conventions, but winking ever so slyly at them, making strings sound scratchy, warm and well-worn, subtle horns to sooth and stir, his own vocals layered for a group-like effect. Bonus points for his use of the superstar cameo – he brings Snoop Dogg in to SING, not to serve as an obligatory rhyme cameo. Well played, Mayer Hawthorne! Includes "Get To Know You", "A Long Time", "Can't Stop" with Snoop, "Finally Falling", "Hooked", "You Called Me", "No Strings", "Dreaming", "The Walk" and more.

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".

An incredible album from Amy Winehouse – even way better than her fantastic debut! Although a contemporary soul album, this one's steeped in tradition – soul styles that run the gamut from Detroit down to Kingston, and which are carried off here with a rougher, sharper-edged sound than before! The instrumentation on here is really mindblowing – almost at a Motown level, with isolated instruments really crackling out from the fuller backings – all set to rhythms that snap and bounce, and are almost a bit funky at times. Credit is definitely due to producers Mark Ronson and Salaam Remi – but Amy's vocals are really tremendous too – classic, but really personal and fresh! Titles include "Rehab", "Just Friends", "Back To Black", "Love Is A Losing Game", "He Can Only Hold Her", "Some Unholy War", and "Me & Mr Jones".

A (sadly) posthumous release from Amy Winehouse – a voice we loved for a couple good years before knowing how troubled she was in real life and now lament the loss of – and this set, largely put together by producer Salaam Remi turned out surprisingly well! It'd be pretty easy to bow to cynicism, but for our money, there's more than enough strong stuff here. It features production by Remi, plus Mark Ronson on a couple tracks, and it's a mix of styles that ably demonstrate Amy's depth as an interpreter. There's some great, kinda late night jazzy soul numbers, classic level 60s R&B and thoroughly modern hip hop soul – all with strong vocal performances from Amy. Includes "Our Day Will Come", "Between The Cheats", "Tears Dry (Original Version)", "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow (2011)", "Like Smoke" feat Nas (and some eerily timely lyricism, as of this album's release date), "Valerie ('68 Version)", "Half Time", "The Girl From Ipanema", "Half Time", "Body & Soul" with Tony Bennett, "A Song For You" and more.

A strange title for a first record – but quite fitting, given the impact that Erykah Badu has had on soul music! The record defines a whole new style of expression – "Baduizm", if you will – one in which Erykah sings with a depth that stretches back through a century's worth of jazz, soul, and gospel influences – but works a groove in a stripped-down and forward-thinking mode that sets the pace for countless Neo Soul singers to come! Titles include "Certainly (Flipped It)", "Next Lifetime (radio)", "On & On", "Appletree", "No Love", "4 Leaf Clover", and "Sometimes (mix #9)".

An amazing departure in sound for Meshell Ndegeocello – a record that firmly delivers on the earlier promise of her Article 3 EP! As with that one, the sound here is quite different than the funky soul of Meshell's earliest work back in the 90s – an almost-experimental blend of fuzz, funk, fusion, dub, and soul – served up with lots of darker undertones, and a range of rhythms that are sometimes pretty intense! There's almost an early 80s arty sort of feel going on – a mode that takes us back to that great time in the post-punk, post-disco years when barriers between styles had broken down a bit – allowing artists to express themselves in really unique new ways. And in a world where so many Neo Soul artists seem in danger of a high convergence of modes and cliches, Meshell's found some tremendous new territory for herself – and has reminded us that she's still got some much sharper edges than her contemporaries. A host of great guests really help Meshell find her groove here – including Sy Smith on vocals, Oliver Lake on saxophone, James Newton on flute, Robert Glasper on piano, and Graham Haynes on cornet. Titles include "Haditha", "Evolution", "Virgo", "Lovely Lady", "The Sloganeer Paradise", "Elliptical", "Shirk", "Article 3", "Headline", "Michell Johnson", and "Solomon".

A tough title to live up to – but Raphael makes it happen! The album's as wonderful as you might think – all the deeply soulful styles Saadiq worked out with Tony Toni Tone, taken back through a historical range of soul music – firmly planted in a legacy that begins with Stevie Wonder, runs through Maxwell and D'Angelo, and which points the way towards the future of urban soul. Backings are very much in the beats-n-keyboards mode, but Raphael works out such a wide range of moods and modes that the album avoids any of the shortcomings of other albums in such a style. Includes guest performances by Angie Stone, Leslie Wilson, T-Boz, Calvin Richardson, and D'Angelo – and titles that include "Doing What I Can", "Be Here", "Still Pay", "You're The One That I Like", "Excuse Me", "Tick Tock", "People", "Faithful", "Make My Day", "Blind Man", "Different Times", "What's Life Like", and "Skyy, Can You Feel Me".

Do these guys ever lose their touch? We think not – as this album, the group's umpteenth, is pretty darn great! Jean-Paul "Bluey" Maunick pulled out all the stops on this set – working with a range of vocalists that includes Joy Rose, Kelli Sae, Tony Momrelle, Joy Malcolm, and Brazilian soul legend Ed Motta! The range of voices on the set really gives it a lot of depth – moving past the easy jazz funk moments of earlier sets, and going for an all-solid, all-soulful approach that really blows our mind! Great stuff all the way through – maybe their best album in years – and a record you'll be playing into the next decade. Titles include "Morning Sun", "Who Needs Love", "Stone Cold Heart", "Where Love Shines", "Blue", "Fly", "If You Want My Love", and "Cada Dia".

A beautiful second record from Abiah – warmly wonderful material that's as sensitive as a singer/songwriter set, yet also has a deep sense of soul as well! Vocals and piano are wonderfully intertwined – in a mode that has the depth of jazz, yet the focus of soul music as well – often handled at a gentle pace, but with a flow that really holds us rapt throughout – with an acoustic vibe that's somewhere in a space between Bill Withers and Joan Armatrading. Abiah is an artist who previously recorded for Universal under his first name, Jeremiah – but he sounds even more wonderful here, and the shift to using his last name is definitely a good choice for this next chapter in his music. Titles include "This Time", "Goodbye", "Foolish Heart", "September", "Turn The Light On", and "Life As A Ballad".