The solo debut of Eric Boss – a singer you might know as part of the duo of Myron & E – who gave us some great harmony soul records on Stones Throw and Timmion! Here, Eric is a much straighter soul singer overall – working with a sharp funky punch in the backings, with plenty of Mighty Mocambo help that you'd guess from the record's placement on their label! Tunes move nicely between 60s and 70s funky soul modes, but often with a more complex, contemporary vibe on the rhythms – and although the set features guest work from Gizelle Smith and Gift Of Gab, Eric hardly needs any help to make a strong statement on his own. Titles include "Bad Luck", "Closer To The Spirit", "I Wanna Ride", "Spiders", "Get Next To You", "Forward", "Merry Jane", and "Your Life Is Up To You". CD features the bonus track "The Turning Point" – with Ishtar. CD

Badbadnotgood have always been pretty damn great, actually – and never better than on album IV – a remarkable step forward for the group! As ever, they take inspiration from some of the best prog, jazz, funk (and proggy jazz funk...they blend) of the 70s and beyond, but weave it into fairly distinctive and genuinely fun modern sound. It's built to last, too –we're sure be able to come back to their work in a couple decades and it'll still work! IV finds them with the confidence to trade in some fairly subtle, smoothed out moments between to more boisterous ones, and they're more dexterous in the instrumentation – especially in the horns, keys and percussion – but some great vibes, strings, flute and more when the mood calls. Includes the great vocal track "Time Moves Slow" with Sam Herring of Future Islands, "And That, Too", "Lavender", "IV", "Chompy's Paradise", "Structure No. 3", "Cashmere", "Hyssops Of Love" and more. (New Grooves, Deep Funk) LP, Vinyl record album

Galactic get some heavy production from Dan The Automator – really chunking up their groove with lots of bass on the bottom and plenty of low-end sounds! The approach isn't really hip hop, but it does give the group's homegrown funk approach a sound that fits more closely next to modern sample records in the crates – but the real appeal of the record is the way it manages to do this while still holding a lot of appeal for fans of instrumental funk. Titles include "The Moil", "Bongo Joe", "Bittersweet", "Doomed", "The Beast", "Kid Kenner", and "Uptown Odyssey". CD