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An incredible record! Suga Hill is the debut album from Kim Hill – a soul singer that will soon be huge – trust us! Kim spent some crucial years in funky Philly during the mid 90s – where she honed her talents with the city's hip underground vibe – then she moved west to LA, where she's soaked up some sunny warmth that makes her music really stand out from the rest. This home-made, self-produced album is a massive massive gem, and it's one of the freshest new soul records you'll buy in years! Every track's a winner, and the album's got an honest, open approach that really blows us away. Titles include "Basically", "Sunny Blue", "Lost My Mind", "Mars", "Taxi Cab", "Feel Me", and "Summertime In Aspen".

An incredible debut from Okada Taxi – the kind of future soul classic we'll be digging for years! Okada handles the keyboards and programming on the set – next to an assortment of great instrumentation on trumpet, Wurlitzer, and acoustic bass – plus key guest work by artists that include Kim Hill, Mark De Clive-Lowe, Rich Medina, Abdul Shyllon, and Monique Bingham! The set's got a genre-crossing sensibility that reminds us of the freshness of the Japanese work we first started discovering in the early 90s – but it's also got a future-thinking sound that pushes past any cliché, into a spacious sound that's all its own! Titles include "Come & Live With me", "Tell Her", "Blank In A Term", "The Age Of Aquarius", "Like A Dolphin", "Sunshine", and "Season 2 Season".

"Organic" is the word here – as the music on the set is the real deal – the best of the best of current underground American soul, a rich hotbed of creativity that's at its highest level in years! Call it NuSoul, Neo Soul, or whatever you like – the American underground scene has returned soul music back to the place it was when we first started loving it years ago – springing from the roots with a fresh creativity that cuts through all the BS that's been layered on R&B over the years. Most of the tracks on the set were self-produced and self-released by the artists involved – and although a number of the tunes on here are available on the full length sets by those artists, the package is a great chance to sample a wide range of this music in one place – with a focus on the best tunes of the scene! Titles include "Just One Of Those Days", "Neva Give Up On Love", and "What The Hell Fo" by Latanya Lockett; "Sunny Blue" by Kim Hill; "That Ring", "Bad On You", and "Waiting Contemplating" by Sy Smith; "I Gotta Go" and "When I See Love" by Lizz Fields; "Rufus" by Yewande; "The War Inside", "Time", and "Paradise" by Big Brooklyn Red; and "Who Do You Love" and "Love Philosophy" by Jazzhole.

Hard to believe how important this soundtrack was, back in the day. One of the first good hip hop soundtracks, and a motherlode of great cuts like "Paid In Full (7 minute Cold Cut remix)" by Eric B & Rakim, "Butcher Shop" by Kool G Rap, "Colors" by Ice T, "Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Waste" by M.C. Shan, and "Go On Girl" by Roxanne Shante. More by Salt N Pepa, Big Daddy Kane, 7A3, and Rick James. Marley Marl produced the motherlode of these cuts, and this was the early days of the Cold Chillin/Warner alliance.

Don't be put off by the "lust" in the title or the slightly erotic cover of this one – because the set is all-solid, all the way through – thanks to a mighty selection of tunes by the great Louie Vega! The collection is way better than any sort of sex/chill sets on the market – and instead, is a batch of soulful tracks both current and classic – brought together by Louie with a quality that's often erotic, but never too cheesy. Disc 1 features recent club cuts and soulful house, and disc 2 features classics from the disco era, some in edits by Danny Krivit. 27 tracks in all – with titles that include "Stay Together (funky piano mix)" by Barbara Tucker, "Hear The Sound (Roots mix)" by Victor Davies, "Can't Do Without" by Peven Everett, "Seedy Films" by Soft Cell, "Lust" by Seven Deadly Sins, "My Sexy Way" by Anane, "Dirty Talk (USA Connection mix)" by Klein & MBO, "Nice & Nasty" by Salsoul Orchestra, "It Makes A Difference (DK edit)" by Kim English, "Mister Love" by Dr Buzzard's Original Savannah Band, "Behind The Groove" by Teena Marie, "You Stepped Into My Life" by Melba Moore, "Give Me Your Love" by Curtis Mayfield, "Evolution (DK edit)" by Giorgio Moroder, "Dancing In My Sleep" by Little Louis, "Souffles H (King St club mix)" by Mondo Grosso, and "Aquilas Coisas Todas (Roots mix)" by Luisito Quintero.

A mighty heady Trip from the mighty Tom Middleton – and a set that's every bit as great as his first entry in the series! The overall feel here is a bit more contemporary than Tom's first Trip collection – but the mix of modes, styles, and sounds is equally diverse – with tunes next to tunes next to tunes in ways that we never would have expected – all unfolding with a creative sense of joy and delight in music that's really amazing! As with other volumes, this package is overflowing with songs – 46 in all, over the 2CDs – and mixed together in ways that are relatively subtle, and which still leave most of the core tune intact. Titles include "This Is Your Life" by Laurie Johnson, "Batacuda Dub" by Skeewiff, "The Galactica Suite" by Simon Grey, "Finally" by Novika, "Bucovina" by Shantel, "We Can Fly" by Nicolay, "Left Bank Two" by Wayne Hill, "Barbatuques" by Barbappapa's Groove, "That's What Love Does" by Vince Montana, "Follow The Leader" by Eric B & Rakim, "The Wisp" by Simian, "Elle Et Moi" by Cicada, "Taking Me Over" by Schmoov, "Hairy Trees" by Goldfrapp, "Transmit Fantastic" by Danny Breaks, "Here's What's Left" by RJD2, "SIP" by Boozoo Bajou, "The Martian Chronicles" by Stanley Myers, and "The Other World" by Jakatta.

What a difference a few years make! It wasn't so long ago that Americans thought they had learned a hard lesson about "irrational exuberance." But on the party went. Expensive military adventures abroad, a Ponzi economy at home, the largest asset bubble in human history . . . all topped off with a massive transfer of national wealth to you-know-who. We're going to have fun paying for this. In this issue, Thomas Frank explains how the mushy tenets of "bipartisanship" add up to rule by a class of people whose only clear interests are their own. Tom Geoghegan surveys the wasteland that American jurisprudence has become. Kim Phillips-Fein examines poker mania, and unearths clues to lumpen America's dashed aspirations. Steve Evans reveals why American poetry is now run by Midwestern ad men dreaming of corncribs and the big Nebraska sky. Andrew O’Hagan remembers the last days of an American literary giant. Catherine Liu tells you why the debt-driven, service-oriented urbanity of your funky downtown isn’t such a good thing for you. All that and more is found between the fetchingly illustrated covers of the long-awaited Baffler 17!

The stories behind a triple dozen of the most legendary albums of hip hop's golden age – told to Brian Coleman by the MCs, producers and DJs themselves – a perfectly realized follow up to his superb Rakim Told Me that's bigger and better in nearly every way! Coleman, a longtime columnist and freelance scribe on the hip hop beat for XXL, Wax Poetics, and many more pubs really works some magic with this book – getting the firsthand stories of some of the most phenomenal hip hop albums ever – with commentary on each track. Check The Technique revisits of the some of best chapters from Rakim Told Me and adds lots more – collecting the stories behind De La's 3 Feet High And Rising, Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), Pete & CL's Mecca And The Soul Brother, PE's It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back, Do You Want More ?!!!??! by The Roots, Tribe Called Quest's Low End Theory, Resurrection by Common (Sense), Lyte As A Rock by MC Lyte, The Infamous Mobb Deep, Brand Nubian's One For All, Run-DMC's Raising Hell, The Great Adventures Of Slick Rick and much more – including a preface by Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson and photos by Brian Cross, aka B+ of Mochilla! Trade paperback, 528 pages.