A blistering batch of soulful house tracks from Japan's Yukihiro Fukutomi – one of the best records of its type we've heard in years, and an instant classic in our book! The album features guest vocals by Liane Carroll, Carolyn Harding, and Josh Milan from Blaze – but the strongest talent on the set is Fukutomi – whose talent for blending soulful rhythms, acoustic percussion, and warm keyboards blows away most other work of the type we've heard! Tracks are all uptempo, but they've got a deeply beating heart that takes them way past house music, and into the realm of 21st Century Soul! Titles include "Just A Dream", "Missing", "Expressions", "In Time", "The Spinning Wheel", "Play Back", and the anthemic "Love Each Other". CD

Warmly collaborative work from Grey October Sounds – a set that features guest contributors, but all fitting nicely into the laidback groove that we've come to love from this Lo-Fi series of releases! As with the others, there's a nicely crispy vibe that really keeps things interesting – definitely living up to the spirit of the "lo fi" mode – as if some analog production elements were used to mix up the beats, samples, and other instrumentation! Guests include Michael Jvmes, NHF, Coco, and Samurai Yas – and titles include "Wonderlust", "Reverie", "Slow Down", "Eye To Eye", "Tokyo Salute", "Walking Alone At 2am", and "Home Banter". (Japanese, New Grooves) LP, Vinyl record album

(Japanese, New Grooves) LP, Vinyl record album

Adam Rudolph works here with a whole host of instruments of his own, then opens the door for a huge amount of guests – all of whom help the proceedings come across with an organic, earthy blend of both acoustic and electric instrumental elements! Rudolph himself handles kalimba, keyboards, and a global mix of reeds and percussion instruments – and the set features guitar from Eivin Aarset, Fender Rhodes and organ from Alexis Marcelo, and drums from Hamid Drake – plus more contributions on sitar, tablas, wood flute, and other instruments that really echo the post-jazz, pan-global approach that Rudolph has brought to his work, both as Hu Vibrational and in other settings too. Titles include "Psychic", "Hittin", "Space", "Timeless", "Honey Honey", and "Proto Zoa Gogo". LP, Vinyl record album

An incredible full length debut from vocalist Mario Biondi – a jazz singer we'd rank right up there with the legendary Mark Murphy – supported here with great backings from the High Five Quintet! The grooves here are in a soaring, tightly-stepping style – very much the best club jazz mode of the contemporary European scene – with all-acoustic instrumentation, and rhythms that move along at a really great dancefloor pace! Mario's vocals are really unique too – with a little rasp that catches slightly, and really brings a timeless quality to his voice – mixing personal feeling into the lively numbers on the album, with an unexpected depth that really makes the album stand out from similar sessions of this type! There's echoes of hip vocal jazz work from years past by artists like The Peddlers, Bobby Cole, or Mark Murphy – and titles include "A Child Runs Free", "No Mercy For Me", "This Is What You Are", "I Can't Keep From Cryin Sometimes", "Rio De Janeiro Blue", "Handful Of Soul", "On A Clear Day", "Never Die", "No Trouble On The Mountain", "Slow Hot Wind", and "Gig". LP, Vinyl record album

Excellent funky stuff from Kid Loco & Yellow Productions team. As the notes say: "Produced and mixed with incomparable taste and perception by the still handsome but real stoned Kid Loco," and as proof, the record's sot some timeless heavy beats, some vocals, some funky rumbling bass, all nicely messed up! A modern classic – with titles including "The Bootleggers", "Calling Adventura King", "Relaxin With Cherry", and "Alone Again So", "Cosmic Supernatural" and more. This is the French version, with 2 CDs and some extra mixes, too! CD

A Round Two KO from Timo Lassey – modern jazzy sounds with classic resonance from the Finnish saxophonist and his killer combo – featuring a couple of standout vocal numbers featuring Jose James and with sharp production by Teddy Rok! The group delivers timeless jazz with passion and verve – no mere revivalists here, this is a group that drives deeply grooving swing, bop, Latin jazz and other classic influences with contemporary swagger. Jose James is one of our favorite contemporary vocalists and he always exudes a jazz depth, but to hear him in a setting where can go all in with it is wonderful – but those numbers don't steal any fire from the instrumental grooves that are the heart & soul of the set. Tenor & baritone sax man Timo Lassey is backed alto Ari Jokelainen, the always excellent Jukka Eskola oin trumpet, Mikko Mustonen on trombone,Georgios Kontrafouris on keys, Antti Kotjonen on bass, Teppo Makynen on drums and Abdissa Assefa on percussion. Includes "The More I Look At You", "Shifting Winds", "Ya Dig", "Some Love", "Deeper Into", "Fooling Rosetta", "Backyard Puma" and "Buzz Beater Stomp". CD

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

Miguel Migs has often skewed more towards the soulful side of the house and otherwise club groove sound, and he does so on an even deeper level with Outside The Skylike! This one features a diverse roster of guests – and an impressive one, too – Meshell Ndegeocello, Bebel Gilberto, Capleton, Lisa Shaw, Evelyn Champagne King, Aya, Lisa Shaw and more! Really impressive work from Miguel, with timeless club soul influences going into inventive club grooves of his own unique inspiration. Includes "Tonight" and "Close Your Eyes" feat Meshell Ndegeocello, "Breakdown" and "Lose Control" with Lisa Shaw, "The Distance and "Don't Stop" feat Aya, "Life" feat Half Pint, "Changin'"f eat Sonny J Jameson, "The System" feat Capleton, "Getaway" with Georg Levin, "Zuzu" with Bebel Gilberto and more. CD

Alice Russell's neo classic funk soul style gets the remix treatment – a sprawling 2CD set with remixes by DJ Vadim, Mr Scruff, Kid Gusto, Clonious, J-Boogie, Shawn Lee, Ohmega Watts, Ticklah, The Heavy, DJ Day & Clutchy Hopkins, Yellowtail and others! Alice Russell is a surprising choice for this kind of remix project, given the depth of reverent soul in her voice, and the general old school modeled songs, but she's in the hands of producers who know how to craft a timeless club groove without sacrificing the soul – keeping the original integrity of the tunes in place while putting their personal stamp on the groove. 22 tracks on 2CDs: "Let us Be Loving" (Kidkanevil rmix), "Got The Hunger?" (DJ Vadim rmx), "All Alone" (Mocean Worker rmx), "Lights Went Out" (LJM rmx), "Two Steps" (Shawn Lee's 7 Inches Of Soul rmx), "All Alone" (DJ Day Meets Clutchy Hopkins remx., "Universe" (GRC's Quiet Carnival mix) and more. (Neo Soul, New Grooves) CD

Warm soul and jazz-funk steeped grooves from Glenn Underground – a Chicago house mainstay who's really crafted an excellent set here – one that pays tribute to some of the best dancefloor soul and club funk of past decades, with a timeless groove of its own! Glenn keeps the bass and the beats danceable, underneath 70s soul jazz inspired keys, Afro funk rhythms, and spacey club grooves galore. Very nice work! 8 tracks, mostly running to around the 9 minute mark, stretching out the groove nicely! Titles include "Negro Muzic", "Abstract", "Shake It", "Prelude", "Seven Minutes Of Funk", "What Glenn Thinks", "Blazed" and "Thought Of Groove". CD

The third entry in The Jazz Influence series compiled by Kevin Yost – a sweet set of electronic fusion grooves with a fairly timeless mix of warm keys and beat flavored numbers. Includes tracks by Euphonic 7, Adagio, Guy Monk, Sonny Jones, Luke Hampton, Love J, Three B, and Dream System. CD