The start of a great legacy for Foreign Exchange – a duo made up of equal parts MC Phonte of Little Brother and Dutch production wiz Nicolay! The record was a pretty fitting departure for Phonte – whose crew re-ignited the southern hip hop underground for cats without the pimp crunk sound, and provided a pretty amazing launching pad for 9th Wonder. Phonte brings much of the same flow and style, but the beats by Nicolay are firmly of the soaring, spacey keys and echoey thumping beats school – the kind that would sound as great behind Amp Fiddler as it does behind a laidback rhymer. The tasty mix of thoughtful lyrics (largely recorded by 9th Wonder) and lackadaisical delivery adapts as well to Nicolay's space soul production aesthetic. It's a deep, chiming listen all the way through – with appearances by Yahzarah, Critically Acclaimed, fellow Little Brother MC Big Pooh and others. Tracks include "Von Sees", "Raw Life", "Let's Move", "Nic's Groove", "Sincere", "Brave New World", "The Answer", "Come Around", "Happiness", "All That You Are" and more. LP, Vinyl record album

Gizelle Smith got caught in the rain on the cover – but you'd hardly know that, given the sunny, upbeat vibe of the album! Smith's a singer who's been bubbling under for years, and this sweet little set may be the one that breaks her out to the big time – as the album has her going past the role of just being a female singer with a funk group – into territory that feels much more able to take on the world of mainstream soul! Not that the album's not funky – because it is – but there's a cohesion here between Smith's self-penned lyrics and the contributions of the musicians that's really wonderful – almost at the level of an old school soul production, but at that refreshed level that the London scene gave us many years back. As with some of the greats from those years – like N'Dea Davenport or Carleen Anderson – Smith seems ready to take the world on with her pride and power – on titles that include "Hero", "Scared Of Something", "Love Song", "Ruthless Day", "Twelve", "Hey Romeo", and "Dust". (Deep Funk, Neo Soul) LP, Vinyl record album