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Two cool tributes to Cleopatra – each of them different, and each of them mighty nice! Jamie Coe comes across with a finger-snapping sort of jazzy groove – upbeat and swinging, and a perfect setting for his echoey vocals – which almost have a Bobby Darin sort of vibe as he grooves along the tune! The Precisions' tune is much more soulful – exotic-styled harmonies given a sweet organ undercurrent – with almost Salah Ragab-like lines that hold up the ancient Egypt theme!

Don Costa arrangements – and titles that include "Who Am I", "What The World Needs Now", "What Now My Love", and "Goin Out Of My Head".

A treasure trove of lesser-known work by the Hernandez Brothers – shorter stories that were mostly one-offs from Love & Rockets – and which feature different themes and characters than the long-running Locas and Palomar epics! The book features lots of wonderful stuff from the early years which we'd totally forgotten about – some cute, some creepy, all of it handled with that amazing maturity that the Hernadez pair brought to their comics right from the start. There's some especially great material from Gilbert – done with the depth of some of his Palomar characters, but more pointed – and some of the Jamie stories showcase his earlier love of sci-fi, which dropped out a bit as the years went on. 283 pages, black and white, and packed with greatness!

Produced and mixed by James Murphy. Includes Soulwax remix + dub version by Pulp.

Great stuff – and possibly the best album ever by this classic harmony soul group! The style is wonderful – with Brenda's sweet voice in the lead, and backing by the all-male Tabulations. The overall approach was used by Gladys Knight & The Pips for years, but we've always liked Brenda's stuff better – because it's got a deeper soul approach, and much richer harmonies. This CD features all the tracks from the group's rare 1971 album, plus a number of singles that weren't on the record. Titles include "Right On The Tip Of My Tongue", "Don't Make Me Over", "The Touch Of You", "California Soul", "A Part Of You", "And My Heart Sang", "Lies Lies Lies", and "A Child No One Wanted".

Cooler than ice – and cooler than just about any other label collection we've ever seen – a massive collection of work from the legendary Artic label, home to some of the best Philly grooves in the late 60s and early 70s! The package not only includes 6CDs, but also features 6 funky 45s as well – each of which features an unissued gem from the label – all wrapped up in a really well-done cover that comes with a 48 page booklet, and lots of vintage photos! There's never been a label overview like this one before – and the CDs feature every single issued by the company, both a and b-sides – a project that took the folks at Jamie many years to produce, but which has been well worth the wait. The music is wonderful throughout – great female soul, some soaring group tracks, and even a few funky nuggets too – way more than we ever knew that Arctic ever recorded. In addition to early efforts from later stars like Barbara Mason or Kenny Gamble, the set also features music by Honey & The Bees, The Ambassadors, The Combo Kings, The Rotations, Teddy & The Fingerpoppers, Three Strangers, Billy Floyd, Jack & Jill, The Temptones, Kenny Hamber, Herb Johnson, Winfield Parker, Lane Relations, Volcanos, Della Humphrey, Royal Five, and many others. The set's six 7" singles are amazing too – a dozen tracks that have never been heard before – including "He's Got To Love Me" and "Catch Him Love" by Barbara Mason, "I'm At My Best When I'm Down" and "The Rock" by The Combo Kings, "It Takes Two" and "Fat Daddy" by Kenny Gamble, "No Doubt About It" and "Lover Boy" by The Tiffanys, "Doctor Love" and "I Only Have Eyes For You" by The Ambassadors, and "I Love You Just The Same" and "Fallin Star" by Winfield Parker.

A killer album of funk and soul! The group's got a nice warm sound, with lots of Fender Rhodes and mellow basslines – and they move between sweet ballad soul and sinister funky instrumentals! Best of all, though, they've got a great organ player who keeps putting in these nicely produced licks that get all flanged-out in a very groovy way. The whole album's the kind of lost funky classic we'd love to find on wax – but you'll have to settle for this CD reissue, because we almost never see the vinyl! Tracks include "Funky Junky", "Witch Doctor's Brew", "Evolution", "Natural Juices", and "It's The Music That Makes Us Do It".

An odd little soundtrack of 50s-sounding tunes! The film, in case you don't know it, was an early low budget JD film – set in Brooklyn at the end of the 50s, with Sylvester Stallone in the lead. The budget appears to have been so low that they couldn't afford to pay for using the big hits of the day, so the director had Joe Brooks come up with a bunch of oldies-sounding tunes with kind of a Sha-Na-Na sound to them. Artists performing the music include Jamie Carr, Bill Dean, George Marge, and Charles Brown – and titles include "The Chase", "The Wedding Song", "Gypsy Woman", "A Very Fine Day", "You & Me", and "Rock & Roll Music".

Wonderful sounds from the great John Carpenter – one of those records that reminds us that his music is often just as important as the images he puts on the screen! Carpenter's music for The Fog follows nicely in his work for other films – particularly Halloween – in that it's got this slow-building style that often makes great use of keyboards – often used sparely, with a really spooky sort of energy – and even more space, and at slower speed than his other horror soundtracks! The style really fits the "fog" theme of the film – and this 2CD version features the 2000 remix of the soundtrack album, plus 1980 score cues – and a bonus interview with Jamie Lee Curtis too. Titles include "Matthew Ghost Story", "Tommy Tells Of Ghost Ships", "Reel 9", "Blake In The Sanctuary", "Number 6", "Walk To Lighthouse", "Dane", "Andy's In Trouble", and "The Fog Enters Town".

Slidding on the Southside – a party featuring Vernita & The Velvet Dancers at The Cell – before the White Sox took on the Baltimore Orioles! The Sox are one of the best teams in the league for providing space and opportunity for the people of the Chicago to celebrate and show the suburbanites how it's done – and on this day there was a stage for Vernita & The Velvet Dancers! Slides include the Double D, Wobble, Jamie Foxx, Chuck Baby, Freaky In The Club, Stepper's Slide, Chicago El Stop, Turbo Slide, Twist Slide, and more.

Life! Liberty! Vengeance! A wild and very cool soundtrack for Tarantino's dual Blacksploitation/Spaghetti Western homage Django Unchained – featuring bits from some of our favorite Italian western composers mixed up with classic and contemporary funky soul and hip hop! It's the kind of soundtrack that could only happen for Quentin Tarantino – with rare and hard-to-find compositions by Luis Bacalov, Ennio Morricone, Riz Ortolani and Jerry Goldsmith on one hand – along with a few seemingly antithetical new compositions on the other – including a track penned by star Jamie Foxx for Rick Ross, a James Brown "Payback" remix with a vocal from the 2Pac archive, plus ones by Anthony Hamilton, John Legend and others! Last but not least, it's got some great bits of film dialogue by Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Samuel L. Jackson and Leonardo DiCaprio. Titles include "Django" by Luis Bacalov, "The Braying Mule" by Ennio Morricone, "Nicaragua" by Jerry Goldsmith with Pat Metheny, "Day Of Anger" by Riz Ortolani, "Unchained (The Payback/Untouchable)" by James Brown with 2Pac, "Who Did That To You?" by John Legend, "100 Black Coffins" by Rick Ross, "Trinity (Titoli)" by Annibale E I Cantori Moderni and many more.

Buzzingly melodic psychedelic gems from the Brit scene of the mid 60s to early 70s – a pretty large assortment of aromatic obscurities – creeping dangerously close to 100 songs on 5CDs, with a glossy booklet of notes, too! The groups throughout this set weren't afraid to heap a little bit of heft to the vibe, particularly in the fuzzed out guitars dept, but they do so pretty a sweet sense of melody. Pretty great stuff, not out of the realm of better known groups like The Creation. 82 tracks on 5CDs: "Try A Little Sunshine" by Factory, "Floatin'" by Vamp, "Reputation" by Shy Limbs, "Magic Potion" by Open Mind, "No Home Today" by Kult, "Baby Don't You Doi It" by poets, "Red Sky At Night" by Accent, "Take Her Any Time" by Longboatmen, "Hold On" by Rupert's People, "Dinosaur" by Joint, "Leg" by Arzachel, "Jamie's Song" by Deviants, "Feelin Free" by Pacific Drift", "Mr Sunshine" by Dogfeet, "Extensive Corrosion" by Bram Stoker.

Solid, soulful work from Vincent Herring – blowing here wonderfully on alto and soprano sax, with a sense of feeling and creative energy that really makes him one of the key players of his generation! The proceedings are relatively straight, but they're also totally great – open, honest expression that's a nice update of 70s indie jazz modes – held together tightly by a rhythm section that includes Mulgrew Miller on piano, Ira Coleman on bass, and Billy Drummond on drums on most of the records – or Keven Hays, Dwayne Burno, and Carl Allen on a few remaining selections. Wallace Roney plays trumpet on the first set of tracks – Scott Wendholt on the others – and the whole album has a sharp-edged quintet format with an occasional bite, often rolling out in the kind of upbeat lines that usually make Herring sound best. Titles include "Sound Check", "August Afternoon", "Dawnbird", "Dr Jamie", "Toku Do", and "The Dark Side Of Dewey".

One of the more contemporary videos we've seen from the Chicago steppers scene – and one that definitely shows a real evolution in dance styles, especially with the Wobble slide! Gone are the classic moves from the soul oldies years, and gone are even the very mellow, very slow steps from the 90s – and in their place are some more upbeat, full body-styled moves – showing a definite influence from the hip hop generation. DVD starts with just a bit of vintage footage, then moves quickly into some instructional shots – with slides that include Turbo Hustle, Chicago El Stop, Jamie Foxx, Wobble, and the Woody Pop.

A great issue of Oxford American – truly "The Southern Magazine Of Good Writing" – with thoughtful and personal Points South pieces on Kris Kristofferson, Alan Lomax's Ballads, Blues & Bluegrass documentary, Tenessee Williams and the art of screaming, "Stella!" – plus great features on the what prison life does to a man, what remains of past hopes for a black utopia on Warren County, North Carolina, hunting "Hogzilla", some beautiful Texas Gulf Coast photographs by J Henry Fair, an short story by Jamie Quatro and more.

An unusual global session for Atlantic Records – an album that has John Lewis presenting work by three other musicians that he feels are ripe for wider discovery! The set's got some killer work from Rene Utreger – a key Parisian player in the postwar years, working here with dexterity that's almost at a Bud Powell level! Dick Katz is also featured on the set – with some nice colors and tones in the mix, similar to some of the work he'd go onto do for Atlantic and other labels. And perhaps the least known here is the British player Derek Smith – stepping out with a lyrical style that's captured surprisingly well here – and which makes the record a key addition to Smith's catalog. Titles include "Monsieur D", "Fontaineblow", "36 Days", "Jeff & Jamie", and "Chelsea Bridge".

Life! Liberty! Vengeance! A wild and very cool soundtrack for Tarantino's dual Blacksploitation/Spaghetti Western homage Django Unchained – featuring bits from some of our favorite Italian western composers mixed up with classic and contemporary funky soul and hip hop! It's the kind of soundtrack that could only happen for Quentin Tarantino – with rare and hard-to-find compositions by Luis Bacalov, Ennio Morricone, Riz Ortolani and Jerry Goldsmith on one hand – along with a few seemingly antithetical new compositions on the other – including a track penned by star Jamie Foxx for Rick Ross, a James Brown "Payback" remix with a vocal from the 2Pac archive, plus ones by Anthony Hamilton, John Legend and others! Last but not least, it's got some great bits of film dialogue by Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Samuel L. Jackson and Leonardo DiCaprio. Titles include "Django" by Luis Bacalov, "The Braying Mule" by Ennio Morricone, "Nicaragua" by Jerry Goldsmith with Pat Metheny, "Unchained (The Payback/Untouchable)" by James Brown with 2Pac, "Who Did That To You?" by John Legend, "100 Black Coffins" by Rick Ross, "Trinity (Titoli)" by Annibale E I Cantori Moderni and more.

Gone are the classic moves from the soul oldies years, and gone are even the very mellow, very slow steps from the 90s – and in their place are some more upbeat, full body-styled moves – showing a definite influence from the hip hop generation. Slides include the Turbo, Jamie Foxx, Wobble, El Stop, Wobble, Twist, James Brown, Cupid, Steppers, AKA Gangster, and the Woody Pop

TI returns with King – featuring production by Just Blaze, Mannie Fresh, Toomp, Keith Mack, Neptunes and others. Tracks include "King Back", "Front Back" feat UGK, "That You Know", "Live In The Sky" feat Jamie Foxx, "Ride Wit Me", "Why You Wanna", "Top Back", "I'm Straight" feat BG & Young Jeezy, "Undertaker" feat Young Buck & Young Dro, "You Know Who", "Goodlife" feat Pharrell & Common, "Told You So" and more.