The soulful sound of Bukky Leo takes off in all sorts of directions here – served up in a sweet soup of remixes by some great overseas talents! The work has the same Afro Funk vibe as some of Bukky's classic records – complete with his searing tenor work and strong lead vocals – set up in core instrumentation that includes plenty of percussion, keyboards, and super-tight horns – elements that are reworked and expanded here through the different mixes in the set! Tony Allen plays drums on some tracks – and titles include "Scelleton (Gilles Peterson mix)", "Annarkey (Dennis Bovell mix)", "Genre Jam (Leslie Laurence mix)", "Obedun (Orlandon Voorn mix)", "Summer Sax Breeze (Leslie Laurence mix)", and "Unisex Dilemma (Laurie Laurence mix)". (Global Grooves, New Grooves) LP, Vinyl record album

The first-ever full length set we've seen from Daniel Maunick – an artist who you might know from his remix work as Venom, or for his ties to the Incognito universe – given that Jean-Paul "Bluey" Maunick is his father! Yet the sound here is definitely Daniel's own – rootsier than some of his remix work, but with the feature future-sounding elements of those tracks too – almost a globe's worth of sonic elements, fused with more contemporary keyboards and beats – providing a great bridge between some of the 12" releases of the Far Out label, and directions they might take in the future. The percussion on some tracks is especially nice – and maybe ties Daniel's music to some of the global house currents at the start of this century – on titles that include "Sombra Do Dragao", "Until The End", "A Vicious Circle", "One Nite Stand", "Red Doves", "Orbitus", "As Light Fades", and "Amnesia Haze". CD

An Arkestra performance, but one that's headed up by Mark De Clive-Lowe – who wrote all the material, and produced the record too – as a great extension of some of the more spiritual directions he's been taking in his own music in recent years! The group have a sound that definitely lives up to the spiritual jazz reference you might expect from their name – building nicely on waves of piano and keyboards from Mark, with excellent work from other ensemble members on tenor, flute, alto, trumpet, and guitar – all soaring to the skies in a great 21st Century take on 70s spiritual jazz modes! There's a number of drummers on the record, and there's no rhythm programs listed – save for "fx" and "live electronics" in the credits – but it feels as if there might be a slight current of beats amidst the live instrumentation from time to time. Not that any of that gets in the way of the sound – which is tightly focused and soaring to the skies, on tracks that include "Fallen Angel", "Tempestuous Temperaments", "Cosmic Collisions", "Lullabies Of The Lost", "Elegy Of Entrapment", and "The Art Of Altercation". (Jazz, New Grooves) CD