Bright pop soul from The Weeknd! This one's bookended by great couple of collaborations with Daft Punk – and yeah, the gentle sounding, yet plenty soulful and sometimes moody Weeknd vocals are as perfectly paired with the neon electro sheen of Daft Punk as you'd imagine – and this one also features appearences by Future, Kendrick Lamar and Lana Del Rey, a diverse roster for sure, and it's a testament to The Weeknd's depth and far-reaching taste that they all fit right into the overall vibe. Titles include "Starboy", "I Feel It Coming", "Reminder", "Party Monster", "Attention", "Sidewalks", "Love To Lay", "A Lonely Night", "Die For You" and more. LP, Vinyl record album

A set with maybe the most striking cover image that Monday Michiru's given us in years – and a record that really delivers on that promise, too – filled with really captivating tunes that represent a new high level in Monday's already-high career! There's a depth and maturity to the record that we never would have guessed when we first fell in love with her music – and we thought she was already pretty darn deep way back then – as Monday delivers hers vocals alongside musical complexity that takes strong advantage of the many great guest jazz musicians in the lineup – players who include Misha Tsiganov and David Kikoski on Fender Rhodes, Gil Goldstein on piano, Lew Tabackin on flute, and Steve Wilson on soprano sax. But at the center of it all is Monday – far more a jazz singer in recent years than the soul artist of her start – but balancing the spirit of both worlds beautifully, and with command of her vocal instrument that's completely stunning! Where most singers seem to get a bit more casual about their craft over the years, Michiru's just continued to master her natural instrument with a fantastic range and wonderfully expressive quality. Titles include "Ombre Of Time", "Pivot", "Cycles", "The Sound", "Ringo Oiwake", "Hope Pretend To Sleep", "Rise Above", "Life", and "Gossamer's Touch" – plus "Untethered", which features some great guest work from Ursula Rucker! LP, Vinyl record album

Joe Armon Jones sings and plays lots of cool Wurlitzer electric piano on this gem of an album – but the whole thing is maybe even more of a tribute to the warmly collaborative spirit of the contemporary London scene, as it is to the talents of the man himself! There's a nicely fluid sense of stardom here – as differing artists get their time to shine in the spotlight while others recede a bit from track to track – but not in the kind of "leader with guests" version of older soundsystem albums – and instead maybe more as a cosmic vision for the future. Other singers include Asheber, Big Sharer, Ego Ella May, and Oscar Jerome – and musicians include Dylan Jones on trumpet, Moses Boyd on drums, and Nubya Garcia and James Mollison on tenor. Titles include "Starting Today", "Almost Went Too Far", "London's Face", "Ragify", "Outro", and "Mollison Dub". (Jazz, Neo Soul) LP, Vinyl record album

Macy's best album since The Id, the slept on second album that we must be all alone in thinking is far better than her smash hit debut – coming here with hooky, fun and anthemic pop soul framing Macy's distinctively gritty lead vocals and memorable hooks! Macy Gray has always mixed it up stylistically in a way you could call "taking risks", still with ultra catchy and commercial gloss, but we just think she's creatively restless and up for anything. Here she flirts with 70s bubblegum glam rock on "Kissed It", but for the most part the album layers pop and R&B influences from the past couple decades and we'll call it an appealing win for Ms Gray....even with the Auto-Tune, dammit. Includes "The Sellout", "The Comeback", "Lately", "Still Hurts" feat Romika, "Stalker", "Real Love" (with Bobby Brown!!!), "On & On" and more. CD

An insanely wonderful set from Sean Khan – maybe the greatest music he's done since his early classics with the SK Radicals! This album really takes us back to a time when music from London was completely fresh and exciting, and cosmically soulful, too – and Sean's got help from some great singers on the record who also date from that era – including the mighty Omar, plus Sabrina Malheiros, and vocalist Heidi Vogel of Cinematic Orchestra! All three of these artists really flesh out the sound of the record – and make it every bit as much of a soul record as a set that's awash in all the great reed touches and jazzy bits we'd expect from Sean. Andy Noble's also on the record, playing some wonderfully warm piano lines – and the overall instrumentation has more acoustic elements than before, which makes for a very righteous vibe throughout! Titles include "Dance For Little Emily", "Muriel", "Samba Para Florence", "Sister Soul", "What Has Jazz Become", "Trane's Shadow", "Don't Let The Sun Go Down", and "Fire Within" – plus bonus remix tracks "Don't Let The Sun Go Down (4Hero rmx)", "Samba Para Florence (Henry Wu rmx)", and "Things To Say (Ben Hauke rmx)". (New Grooves, Neo Soul) CD

Maybe the coolest album so far in the Red Hot series – even amidst the unique Sun Ra subgroup – as the album's the brainchild of Meshell Ndegeocello, and comes together with all the complex soulfulness of her own recent albums! Back in the 90s, Meshell was a great but more mainstream soul artist – and over the years, she's developed into a really fascinating talent – one able to reach out with a complex blend of jazz, funk, and soul elements – woven into patterns that are always very much her own – a musical legacy that the great Sun Ra might have appreciated! Ndegeocello leads a very diverse lineup here – playing bass and keyboards, and singing a bit – next to other players who include longtime Arkestra giant Marshall Allen on alto and EWI, plus Immanuel Wilkins on alto, Christopher Bruce on guitar, Darius Jones on saxes, Daniel Mintseris on keyboards, and Justin Hicks, Pink Siifu, Kenita Miller, Nio Levon, and Hanna Benn on vocals. The album channels Ra's spirit through territory that's very much Meshell's own – and titles include "Yet Differently Not Mars Hall", "El Soul The Companion Traveler", "The World Of Shadow", "Reproductive Manatees/Sunny Said Up", "Bedlam Blues", "#9 Venus The Living Myth", and "Departure Guide Of The 7 Sisters". (Jazz, Neo Soul) LP, Vinyl record album

A set that furthers Takuya Kuroda's experiments in pushing farther past the jazz of his roots – still graced with plenty of strong trumpet work and bold solo lines – but amidst rhythms that have a nice complexity, and which really push the envelope at times – mostly played live, but with a richness that evokes both the initial broken beat experiments in London, and some of that city's more contemporary modes. There's a few straighter jazz cuts that balance things out – a mellow moment or two that Freddie Hubbard might have added to a CTI session – and titles include "Dead End Dance", "Old Picture", "Time Coil", "Midnight Crisp", "Choy Soda", and "Fade". (Jazz, Neo Soul) LP, Vinyl record album

Ed Motta knocks it out of the park with this one – taking things in an even more soulfully classic direction than on his killer AOR album – and giving us key proof that he's one of the most important soul singers of the 21st Century so far! Ed's got a way of opening doors wherever he goes – as part of a huge global legacy he's left in the past decade or soul – and this time around, he's opening the doors to a classic style of studio production from the LA scene – the kind of warm soul that works perfect for Motta's incredible voice, and which makes the album one of the best he's ever given us! Ed plays Fender Rhodes in the small combo backing here – and is working with a key group of jazz musicians that includes Patrice Rushen and Greg Phillingaines on keyboards, Hubert Laws on flute, Rickey Woodard and Charles Owens on tenor, and Marvin Smitty Smith on drums – a stunning lineup that makes for amazing sounds throughout. All lyrics are in English, and Ed effortlessly blends jazz and soul on original titles that include "Captain's Refusal", "Forgotten Nickname", "The Owner", "A Town In Flames", "Good Intentions", "Hypochondriac's Fun", "Heritage Deja Vu", "Overblown Overweight", and "Reader's Choice". CD