(House Music, New Grooves) 12-inch, Vinyl record

A fantastic blend of spiritual jazz styles and electronic elements – served up here by the trio of drummer Betamax, keyboardist Danalogue, and saxophonist King Shabaka – the last of whom you might recognize as Shabaka Hutchings from a host of other hip projects on the contemporary London scene! Shabaka's work on tenor and bass clarinet really gives the record an earthy, organic core – which seems to let the keyboards really soar off into space, often with the sort of vibe that you'd guess from the group's name and the cover image on the record – in a wide flurry of live and amplified performance elements! At some level, the trio is almost London's answer to some of the jazz-meets-studio work from Chicago's International Anthem label – and like some of the groups who record for that imprint, these guys are all strong jazz musicians at the core – but performing at a level that's very beyond the ordinary. Titles include "Birth Of Creation", "Summon The Fire", "Blood Of The Past", "Astral Flying", "Super Zodiac", "The Universe Wakes Up", and "Timewave Zero". (Jazz, New Grooves) LP, Vinyl record album

A fantastic blend of spiritual jazz styles and electronic elements – served up here by the trio of drummer Betamax, keyboardist Danalogue, and saxophonist King Shabaka – the last of whom you might recognize as Shabaka Hutchings from a host of other hip projects on the contemporary London scene! Shabaka's work on tenor and bass clarinet really gives the record an earthy, organic core – which seems to let the keyboards really soar off into space, often with the sort of vibe that you'd guess from the group's name and the cover image on the record – in a wide flurry of live and amplified performance elements! At some level, the trio is almost London's answer to some of the jazz-meets-studio work from Chicago's International Anthem label – and like some of the groups who record for that imprint, these guys are all strong jazz musicians at the core – but performing at a level that's very beyond the ordinary. Titles include "Birth Of Creation", "Summon The Fire", "Blood Of The Past", "Astral Flying", "Super Zodiac", "The Universe Wakes Up", and "Timewave Zero". (Jazz, New Grooves) LP, Vinyl record album

(Soul, New Grooves) 12-inch, Vinyl record

Reese Sunderson's moving into slightly uplifting territory here, with nice soulful vocals over this house-y number that only really qualifies as techno from it's pedigree. (Soul, New Grooves) 12-inch, Vinyl record

(Rock, New Grooves) 12-inch, Vinyl record

(Rock, New Grooves) 12-inch, Vinyl record

A pretty incredible set from sax player Masato Nakamura, aka Masa – late of the trailblazing Japanese jazzy explorers Sleep Walker – here leading a new combo and some fellow Sleep Walker alum on a set of cover tunes selected by some of his (and some of our) favorite modern groove figures! The group brings fresh jazzy life a batch of all great tunes by Yusef Lateef, Julius Hemphill, Mary Parks (and Albert Ayler), Milton Nascimento and others. Beautiful stuff with timeless soul jazz inspiration – here's hoping Deep Cover isn't simply a one off project and we'll hear much more from Masa Sextet! Song selectors include Kyoto Jazz Massive, Patrick Forge (who also produces the album), Yoshihiro Okino of Kyoto Jazz Massive, Dilip Harris of Two Banks Of Four, Jurgen V Knoblauch of Jazzanova, Shuya Okino of Kyoto Jazz Massive and Gilles Peterson. Many of the numbers skew to the long side, with 7 great tracks the run a total of 55 minutes. Includes "Waiting For Marvin", "Look Into Tomorrow" and "Healing Is The Healing Force Of The Universe" (both with vocals by Bembe Segue), "Winds Of Change", "The Hard Blues", "Nem Premisou Mais Um Sol", and "Before Dawn". CD

(Rock, New Grooves) 12-inch, Vinyl record

(Rock, New Grooves) 12-inch, Vinyl record

Includes music by Demon Ritchie, Twin Pink, Laid, Alistair Colling, Freaks, Felka, and Nor Elle. CD

Includes tracks by Ten City, Men From The Nile feat Peven Everett, Alexander Hope, Kerri Chandler, Blaze, and Black Beatnicks. CD

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Maybe the most ambitious album from Myele Manzanza to date – a set that's exploding with contributions from a great range of guests – singers who include Omar, Rosie Frater Taylor, China Moses, and Wallace – next to a great array of keyboard work from Lewis Moody! Myele handles drums and percussion, plus a bit of keys – but the sound of the record is more soul than before, and definitely in the post-jazz mode of other recent work on the London scene – co-produced and mixed by Moody, with tracks that include "Gone Up In Flames", "Silencing The Sun", "wasted Time", "Unfold", "Crisis & Opportunity", and "Falling Fast". (Jazz, New Grooves) LP, Vinyl record album

Jazzy magic from the current Japanese underground – a hip group bubbling under, but with the same magic energy Jazztronik! Like Jazztronik, J's Bee blends together solid jazz roots and modern production – searching out some richly organic grooves that start slowly, build with spare keyboards and rhythms, and then take off to the skies with a really righteous sound. There's a bit of vocals on the set, but like Jazztronik, the group's equally well suited to working in an instrumental mode too. Tracks include "Eclipse", "Glow", "Naked", "Floating", "DB (Deep Blue)", and "Desert Skyline (Version 2)". CD