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Tracks from Fischerspooner, Console, Zoot Woman, Tiga & Zyntherius, Soviet, Circ, Green Velvet, Waldorf, Tomcraft, Swayzak, and more. CD

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Black Nile are certainly rooted in jazz, but maybe just in terms of inspiration – as the music brings together all sorts of sonic bits and sounds of color – live instrumentation, samples, electronics, and contributions from key guests – all with a spirit that's as beautiful and evocative as you might expect from their name! Some cuts have vocals, which are often somewhat in the background – but the main approach is instrumental, with all sorts of ways of pursuing a new direction and tone – in modes that shift nicely from track to track, but make for a whole album that's got this really unified spirit. Titles include "Drive", "Revival", "Tidal Wave", "Duo", "Unheard 2", "Ancient Futurism", "Mystery", and "Jyro". CD

Genius work from a man who's ready to take on the best bossa arrangers of the 60s! Guitarist Carl Henry Breuggen may hail from Chicago, but he's got a sound that's as sunny as Rio and the Italian Riviera all put together – a wonderful wash of light strings, bossa rhythms, gentle guitar, and wordless female vocals that are enough to rival the best Italian soundtracks of the glory years. The production on the entire set is incredible – arranged with Claus Ogerman-like perfection, and recorded at a level that's far beyond that of most bossa-revival work these days. All three tunes fit together perfectly – and although the CD's a short one, it's completely without fault to our ears – and is a title that we're gladly stocking next to classics like Jobim's Stoneflower and Wave albums for CTI! CD

Moody and atmospheric work from Japanese producer/keyboardist Kaoru Inoue and his Chari Chari ensemble. The style is a bit similar to some of the work coming out of Japan in the mid 90s by the Toys Factory/Idyllic artists, but has a rootsier quality that's almost part of a "back to nature" move. A few tracks have vocals, but most are instrumentals with a spare and naturalistic quality, inflected with slight touches of soul. Titles include "Tidal Wave", "Liberation", "Remains", "Aurora", "Folk Tales", "One" and more. CD

The record's definitely a nostalgia blitz, but one that has a very strong grounding in the 80s! Benjamin Herman plays saxophone throughout – but in a setting that's very new wave, post-punk, and no wave as well – lots of sharp reed lines colliding with frenetic work on bass, guitar, and keyboards – all with a vibe that makes you feel like you maybe stumbled onto some hip performance spot on the New York downtown scene in 1982! Yet despite the bombast and other instrumentation, Herman is actually pretty amazing on his solos – coming up with all these great sounds that really push the boundaries of the instrument – on titles that include "Chancelot", "One For Deelder", "Captain Zorg", "Zaat", "Hornin Out", and "Asman Graves". LP, Vinyl record album

A broad leap forward for Detroit, from a few years back, with Carl Craig establishing himself as a visionary not only amongst the first wave of techno artists, but for the new beat generation too – alongside like minded producers like Kirk Degiorio and Larry Heard. Electronic music imbued with a sense of human warmth, and one of the few techno full lengths we enjoy listening to front to back. 15 tracks in all, with 4 more than the LP, some quite short, others song length, including "Goodbye World", "Alien Talk", "Dreamland", "Butterfly", "Suspiria"and "Frustration". CD

Shadow finally returns to release a record under his own name, and believe it or not, it's as much of a pop/rock record as the UNKLE LP was! We're not complaining though, because this one's got a great new wave twist to it, and on the third track of this single, Shadow's back in battle mode, with vocal cut-ups over a slower beat. (Hip Hop, New Grooves) CD

A killer classic from Moodymann, aka Kenny Dixon – a record that's perfectly in that new wave of Detroit sounds that helped push things past the early years of techno in the Motor City, while still holding onto the stark, spare sound that made the city such a different scene than Chicago! Tracks are nice and lean, and have a cosmic energy that's still as important now as it was back in the late 90s when Moodymann first dropped these tracks – future forward, with qualities that also resonate strongly with changes that were taking place in London – on mostly instrumental tracks that include "Mahogany Brown", "On The Run", "Sunshine", "Radio", "Joy Part 3", "Black Sunday", "Stoneodenjoe", and "Me & My Peoples Eyes". LP, Vinyl record album

Comet Is Coming are one of those groups who are almost a genre unto themselves – certainly part of the rich criss-crossing of styles that has been taking place on the London scene of the past decade or so – but also a trio who've found a way to forge forward and hold the world at bay with a record like this! At the core, the approach is simple – tremendous tenor work from Shabaka Hutchings, drums from Betamax, and keyboards from Danalogue – the latter two of whom are equally important as producers, in the way they take the live performance at the core, and work it into so many other shifting shapes and sounds! Hutchings' solos are always kept mostly intact, which makes for a beating soul to the record, and a nice link to previous generations of jazz – on titles that include "Pyramids", "Tokyo Nights", "Technicolour", "Code", "Lucid Dreamer", "Atomic Wave Dance", "Mystik", and "The Hammer". (Jazz, New Grooves) LP, Vinyl record album