Great work from our favorite Japanese soul star – a nice batch of remixes, filled with guest appearances by the likes of Incognito, Basement Jaxx, Shinichi Osawa, Soul Society, Byron Wallen, Rob Playford, and others – all packaged in an extremely captivating cover with great graphics! Titles include "You Make Me (Shin Shin's Mix)", "Yellow Bird (Incognito Capoeira Mix)", "Cruel 2 Be Kind (Basement Jaxx Nite Dub)", "Change Of Scenery", "Double Image (Live At Manic One Remix)", "Love Flow (Mango Margarita Mix)", and "Freed Or Bound (Reconsideration Mix)". Very nice stuff, with more focus on the dancefloor side of Monday's work, than the pop-hook sort of side. A mixture of jazzy bits, drum and bass bits, and lots more! LP, Vinyl record album

A collection of hard-to-find work by Monday Michiru – featuring mixes and covers that have been issued as singles in the past, and which fit together surprisingly well as a full LP! If you know Monday's work, you know that her singles often feature versions of tracks that are quite different than the LP versions – recrafted with the help of some of the best NuSoul producers and remixers, like Joe Claussell, Masters At Work, Shinchi Osaway, and Bluey, all of whom contribute work to this set. The package is great – and with a total of 11 tracks in all, it will save you a lot of time (and money) tracking down those expensive import 12" singles! The set's mixed together – but not strongly, so that all the songs are very much intact – and titles include "I Wanna Be Where You Are", "Lovin You (acoustic live version)", "Double Image (live at Manic One rmx)", "Chasing After The Sun (Banda Black Lero mix)", "Yellow Bird (Incognito Capoeira mix)", "Tomorrow's Sunrise (Murphy meets Titomaxx)", "Love Flow (Mango margarita mix)", "Mysteries Of Life (Ananda Project Black Tail dub)", and "Higher (higher dub)". CD

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

A sublime blend of Caribbean roots and contemporary soul – and a set that's even more fantastic than the previous album from David Walters! Walters is one of those globe-trotting talents who manages to pick up all sorts of great inspirations along the way, then forge them into something that's all his own – music that would certainly live up to the heritage of his roots in the West Indies, but with a global current that really fits the best spirit of the Heavenly Sweetness label and their excellent legacy of crossing boundaries with effortless ease! If the world were a better place, this album would be huge – showing up in all sorts of scenes and charts – yet we don't mean that in any sort of commercial way at all, as Walters has a way of being a really unique superstar without any sort of pretense or ego. Titles include "Soul Tropical", "Don't U", "Light", "Toxic Tropic", "Vanse Carnival", "An Lot Soley", "La Vi A Bel", "Gimme Love", and "No One (Captain Planet disco edit)". (Global Grooves, Neo Soul) CD

A sublime blend of Caribbean roots and contemporary soul – and a set that's even more fantastic than the previous album from David Walters! Walters is one of those globe-trotting talents who manages to pick up all sorts of great inspirations along the way, then forge them into something that's all his own – music that would certainly live up to the heritage of his roots in the West Indies, but with a global current that really fits the best spirit of the Heavenly Sweetness label and their excellent legacy of crossing boundaries with effortless ease! If the world were a better place, this album would be huge – showing up in all sorts of scenes and charts – yet we don't mean that in any sort of commercial way at all, as Walters has a way of being a really unique superstar without any sort of pretense or ego. Titles include "Soul Tropical", "Don't U", "Light", "Toxic Tropic", "Vanse Carnival", "An Lot Soley", "La Vi A Bel", "Gimme Love", and "No One (Captain Planet disco edit)". (Global Grooves, Neo Soul) LP, Vinyl record album