Amazing work from John Carpenter – still a dedicated soundtrack composer long into his film career – and always a master of spare, spooky electronics! The instrumentation here is a bit evolved from some of his earliest classics – different keyboards and electronics developed during the 80s – but the overall approach is still very similar, and co-performed with Allan Howarth, who always gives Carpenter's music the right sort of careful balance! Carpenter does a lot with just a little – never making things overblown, especially in the way that some of his contemporaries might do – and titles include "Transient Hotel", "Wake Up", "Underground", "A Message", "Return To Church", and "The Siege Of Justiceville". CD

Mindblowing work from Navasha Daya – a singer you might know for her key role in the group Fertile Ground many years back – still one of the most important contemporary acts we've ever stocked at Dusty Groove! Here, Navasha returns as a tremendous soul star on her own – working on these incredible songs of righteous power – in a full concept album dedicated to black families and their quest for freedom in America! Some of the songs are quite topical, others are very universal – and the musical approach here is a mix of deep funk, contemporary soul, and even some surprising 60s and 70s elements – all composed and produced by Fanon Hill, who's Daya's key musical partner on the album. There's still all the jazziness and warmth that we love in the music of Fertile Ground, but the style is also nicely different – and the whole thing is a tremendous statement of power from this always-compelling singer. Titles include "I Am Because We Are", "Operation 666 Poverty", "I Too Dream Of Things Beautiful", "Better Than This", "It's Still About Freedom", "Baltimore Stand Strong", and "Whose Child". (Neo Soul, Soundtracks) CD

A catchy little soundtrack for a weird sort of film – one in which Italian comedy heavyweight Bud Spencer plays a boxer, and gets a great theme to match his action in and out of the ring! The core of the score is a groovy electro pop tune titled "Fantasy" – almost a mix between late 70s ELO and some of the cop/crime work of Guido & Maurizio DeAngelis – served up here in many many variations – some vocal, some instrumental – so that the whole thing almost feels like a long set of remixes dedicated to a single tune! There's a few other tracks in the mix too – and these space things out slightly – and although we've never seen the movie, we're betting that this repetition of Bud's theme is part of the charm of the whole thing. LP, Vinyl record album