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Hard to believe its been over a decade since we first started digging the music of Rad -- but the groove here is stronger than ever, and filled with the kind of classic soul and funk touches that first made Rad stand out many years back! The instrumentation is incredibly tight -- great keyboards ...

Bold, funky work from Rad -- one of those singers that we've always thought should have gotten bigger fame over the past decade or so -- given that her style is almost as badass as some of our favorite funky females from the 70s! The album's got a lean groove that's plenty classic -- lots of right ...

Rad live in Japan -- laying down a wonderful version of the funky soul we've always loved on her studio albums! There's a leanness to the record that's almost more classic-styled than some of her previous work -- a really tight little groove that falls beautifully in a Bay Area legacy of jazz-style ...

Soulful music from Soulpersona -- a warm and just smooth enough ride on the Soulacoaster! Soulpersona is the producer, arranger and instrumentalist behind the curtain -- a genuine talent who has attracted an impressive roster of singers and collaborators for this set -- including Sibel Thrasher ...

Great work from a series we've really learned to trust for the hippest in underground soul -- a rich assortment of work from some of the best acts in the underground, most of whom you probably don't already have in your CD collection! The cut selection here is fantastic -- really the best of the ...

Georgia Anne Muldrow's cosmic funky soul keeps rolling on -- bring even more depth to her evolving, unstoppable creative energy with Umsindo! The album is a dedicated Afrocentric social awareness, but she steers clear of strident righteousness in favor of a funky, soulful elemental vibe -- mixing ...

A great step forward for the Soul Unsigned series -- a full album of never-issued tracks, and a collection that really shows the label's talents for unearthing great music! As you'd guess by the name, none of these artists have contracts with other labels -- so the set's about as fresh as you can ...

Sweet modern soul from Melba Moore & Phil Perry -- upbeat and uptempo modern soul and some smoothed out mellow moments, too! The production crisp, leaning and grooving -- taking cues of from the late 70s and 80s schools of inspirational soul and r&b -- with the duo in excellent shape ...

Modern soul prince Calvin Richardson takes on the Bobby Womack songbook -- and pulls it very well -- with takes that are faithful to the classic groove with a timeless sense of soul! Richardson has always done his thing with a genuine love of 60s & 70s soul, so it's a pretty natural fit for ...

Split single, not a collaboration. ...

With Redman & Method Man. ...

The stepper's mid 90's retro-classic that helped establish this "new classic soul" movement, served up here in 5 mixes, including the super-chilled "Mellosmoothe". One of the best tracks off the Urban Hang Suite LP -- spare funky soul, with lots of warm classic touches, a funky ...

An excellent remake of Bill Withers' classic! Me'Shell does a great job with the track -- keeping the solid 70s groove, but adding in some nice contemporary inflection to spice the track up! ...

Smooth niceness from Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite -- served up here on a pic sleeve single with a bunch of nice mixes! ...

The early recordings of Georgia Anne Muldrow -- and they're stunning -- showing Georgia's depth of soul and boundless creativity was in full force even in her late teens! As a whole, the tunes on Early are a bit leaner and less trippy than some of her more recent recording, but her spirit is as ...

Plenty of drums here -- both played and programmed by Tony Royster Jr, the standout star of this set! The groove's a bit funkier than other Unwrapped volumes -- still in the smoother soul territory of the Hidden Beach style, but giving the drummer more space to get down as well -- which sounds ...

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 ...

A wonderful bit of jazzy soul -- kind of in the mode of Monday Michiru, but with a bit of a bay area twist. Female vocalist Rad sings and plays keyboards on the record -- giving the tracks a nice mellow soul feel with some work on Fender Rhodes, mini moog, and other keyboards -- and she's backed ...

A pair of classic funky soul styled numbers from Ann Arbor, MI's Mayer Hawthorne -- whose earlier 10-inch EP for Stones Throw came out of nowhere and kind of blew us away, and this follow up 12-inch is just as great, and even more indebted to 70s soul sounds! "Maybe So, Maybe No" starts ...

Two Swedish cats with a great ear for slinky soul -- a duo whose sounds evoke some of our favorite mellow moments of the 70s, with a few hip 80s touches as well! For an indie set, the record's got a beautiful production sound -- a rich array of keyboards, rhythms, and jazzy horns -- wrapped around ...

Spacey soul from Coultrain -- an up-and-coming singer from the St Louis scene, and one with a really unique sort of sound! The album's a wonderful debut effort -- far more mature and complex than you might expect, with a really cosmic feel that's somewhere between 70s spacey soul and some of the ...

Ok so she's got a Grammy -- but that makes us love her even more! Jill Scott is one of the greatest soul artists to emerge in the past decade -- and this second album avoids the usual "sophomore slump" by showing a whole new side of her talents! Disc one is a great live set -- showing ...

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The massive second album from Adriana Evans -- head and shoulders above her debut! The sound here is a lot more complicated than on the first LP -- with a righteous vibe that mixes together elements we never would have expected in her previous work! Adriana's working here with longtime ...

A beautifully bright second set from Steve Wallace -- an artist who really caught our ears a few years back with his debut, and who's still sounding equally fresh here! Wallace has a great sense of flow in his music -- a way of singing with the grooves that almost seems schooled in hip hop, but ...

The mighty Tom Moulton takes on the Brand New Heavies -- and the results are completely sublime! We totally loved the BNH album Get Used To It -- as it was a real return to the best funky soul of their roots -- but this Tom Moulton version sounds even better, with an even heavier, more hard-hitting ...

A motherlode of rare tracks from The Brand New Heavies -- a 2CD collection of their club and house remixes over the years, most of which were originally only issued on 12" singles! Although the Heavies' core groove has always been great enough to make their best albums instant classics, the ...

A great album gets even better -- as The Brand New Heavies' excellent Get Used To It set is re-invigorated here by the talents of a host of great remixers! The album's presented almost like one of those classic Delicious Vinyl double-12" singles from years back -- with multiple remixes of ...

A new version of one of our favorite slow funk tunes ever! The Platinum Pied Pipers remake "Ridin High" with a groove that's even slower than the original -- spacing out in a great way in these Bling 47 remixes, which make the song sound even more stoned than before! "Open Your ...

A long-awaited full length set from Yolanda Johnson -- an artist who first grabbed our ears with her Violet Flower EP a few years back! Yolanda's really grown a lot in the space since that first record -- moving her groove into some fresh territory that almost has a bit of an 80s soul vibe at ...

Killer work from Ledisi -- one of the best underground soul singers alive! This album has Ledisi opening up her bag a lot from her Soulsinger debut -- moving into some more jazz-based material, sung with a sweet mellow vibe that still retains all the soulfulness of earlier work, yet which also has ...

An excellent bit of modern soul -- very much in the vein of Jill Scott, Laurnea, N'Dambi, or some of the other current underground divas from the US indie soul scene! Ledisi's got a heck of a voice -- very rich and mellow, in a style that reminds us a bit of classic work by jazzy soul singers like ...

Meshell Ndegeocello has been delivering one masterful set of astral soul, funk and avant groove gems after another since her commercial peak in the 90s -- and Devil's Halo is as excellent, if not better than all of the others! If there's one thing we absolutely love more than any other fascinating ...

The long-awaited first full length set by Rebirth -- and a record that more than lives up to all the brilliant promise the group has displayed on their first few singles! Rebirth are an amazing combo -- a fully-formed funky soul ensemble with a vision that's incredibly deep -- and a sense of power ...

The Brand New Heavies, Live In London, and very much at the top of their game! Ever since the group reformed with singer N'Dea Davenport, they've really sounded great -- returned strongly to their tight funky roots, without any of the mis-steps of the middle period -- as you'll hear in this great ...

The amazing debut of Ledisi -- presented here in the original mix and with the original cover! Ledisi's got a heck of a voice -- very rich and mellow, in a style that reminds us a bit of classic work by jazzy soul singers like Jean Carn or Dee Dee Bridgewater, but with more of a bite, and more of ...

Joy Jones is an artist with a name that definitely fits her music -- as we feel plenty of joy when we hear her sing! This full length set is a wonderful treat -- the first extended batch of music we've ever heard from Joy, produced with help from Kaidi Tatham, Leroy Brown, Ty, and others -- and ...

Sublime soul from Peven Everett -- a beautifully-crafted album that moves well beyond some of his homemade productions of recent years! This set's got all the silky soul that first made us love Peven's music -- that open, flowing groove that's almost organic, and which makes you feel like Everett's ...

Tremendous work from N'Dambi -- a set that really moves her career forward strongly, while still holding onto the best soulful sound of her roots! The album's N'Dambi's first for a big label -- the newly-reformed Stax -- but it's got a perfectly balanced sound that's sure to please any past fans ...

Sweet, laidback modern soul from Gianna -- warm, sophisticated, and with some jazzy touches -- produced by Kendall Duffie of Kloud 9, and with a sound that's floats nicely in that kind of easygoing mode! Gianna hails from Texas, but she has a universal style, with a casual, elegant sound -- with ...

James Poyser's genre skirting Rebel Yell -- shaking off any preconceived notions and laying out a mix of electro soul, thumping hip hop, cosmic r&b and more -- a wildly eclectic set of catchy hooks and sprawling atmosphere! James is the ringleader of a group featuring vocalist SupaStar, plus ...

Brilliant work from Jose James -- one of the most compelling vocalists we've heard in recent years! "Park Bench" is a laidback, mellow groover with plenty of keyboards in the rhythms -- and a cut that almost hits the best 70s territory of Gil Scott-Heron or Terry Callier, especially ...

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! ...

Killer early work from Casey Benjamin and Nicole Guiland, aka Heavy -- featuring unreleased material, rare vinyl only gems, and otherwise hard to come by grooves -- it may be the First Sessions, but it sounds like the future of tripped out soul to us! The stuff here pre-dates the underrated Jazz ...

It's been four years since Lewis Taylor's stunning debut album -- but it's been worth the wait! Few recent singers have grabbed our attention so much -- and we'd put Lewis into an "instant classic" soul category that would include the elite group of Omar, Monday Michiru, Jamiroquai, and ...

A massive return to form for Maxwell -- his first album in many years, but definitely well worth the wait! The set's supposedly the start of a trilogy -- but hell, we're more than happy to have it all on its own -- a wonderful reminder of the deeply soulful sound that first made us fall in love ...

The only album ever from Groove Theory -- but the set that introduced the world to Amel Larrieux -- whose vocal talents alone are worth the price of admission! The feel here is a bit more mainstream soul than some of Amel's later work -- but given the mid 90s date of release, the sound is still ...

Tripped-out headphone soul from the mighty Musiq -- sounding better than ever on this album, and well earning the title of Soulstar! Musiq's really got his groove in place here -- a warm, mellow, bubbling approach that recalls the style of D'Angelo, but which has more "umph" in the ...

Mindblowing work from the Soul Unsigned series -- only three volumes old, but already one of the best sources we know for tapping into the Neo Soul underground! As with the previous two sets, the quality level here is very high -- music of the sort that really keeps us digging for hip soul sets ...

Sweet sweet work from Teodross Avery -- a musician who's way more than the smooth jazz player you might expect! Teodross steps out here as a mini-maestro in soul -- writing and producing the whole album with a well-rounded, soul-based approach that has Teo in the lead on saxes -- but also makes ...