A sparkling debut from Detroit's Dwele – a sweet vocalist in the Donny Hathaway tradition, but with a tight, beat heavy soul sound that glides between 70s soul jazz, mellowed-out Jay Dee synth hop groove, and the natural soul vibe ?uestlove brings to his productions! We first caught wind of Dwele on Slum Village's "Tainted" single, and that's a good indication of the sound you'll find on the debut. Mellow, trippy keys and sound washes drench the album from beginning-to-end, with Dwele's often deeply layered vocals weighing the bright, modern groove aspects of the sound with a rich sense of soul history. There's a slight 70s soul jazz vibe, too, in spots – a sophisticated studio groove with bright bass and some sunny, soulfully strummed electric guitar. Dwele finds some truly nice middle ground between the natural soul scene, modern groove, and the mellower beats and grooves of the best Detroit hip hop of recent years – a scene that Dwele indeed was a player in before finding his soul muse. Great stuff – similar enough to some of his contemporaries – but still wholly unique in Dwele's embrace of a bright, sunny, polished sound that still manages to maintain naturally soulful grit and grease! The title track is a classic – crackly, thumping beats, sweetly chiming keys, and capital M Moody vocals – and many others are nearly as strong! Includes "Truth", "Find A Way", "Day At A Time", "Subject", "Sho Ya Right", "Possible", "Money Don't Mean A Thing", the bonus track "Let Your Hair Down", and more. 15 in all on the CD. CD

A tremendous step forward for Jazzanova – an album that's overflowing with classic soul touches, and done in a style we'd hardly have expected from the group a few years before! Jazzanova have always had an ear for older sounds in their music – which is something that first set them apart from the dancefloor pack – but this album's a really amazing achievement, and one that's put together with the solid sound of some lost late 60s sessions from Motown at points – or with some of the cooler sounds of European jazz of the 70s! There's still a 21st Century vibe to the music – a bit of crackle here and there that marks it as contemporary – but the backings also have tight orchestrations, occasional strings, and that perfectly put-together quality that still makes us marvel at old soul and jazz records after all these years. Vocals are sublime too – as the album features contributions from Phonte, Paul Randolph, Ben Westbeech, Jose James, Dwele, Bembe Segue, and Leon Ware – all of whom fit in perfectly, without any of the sort of random "vocals with sound system" feel you might get in another album of this type. Most tracks are co-written with the vocalist – which is an even hipper touch that ensures a depth of quality – and titles include "Gafiera", "Lucky Girl", "Little Bird", "I Can See", "Look What You're Doin To Me", "Let Me Show Ya", "Lie", and "So Far From Home" – plus a great cover of "Rockin You Eternally". CD

Kanye's tightest, most heavily synth soaked set yet – and possibly the best – a leap ahead for his evolving sound! Graduation gleams and shines more than it bounces on the bottom end, and if his LP titles to date overtly suggest that this caps off a trilogy – it really goes beyond the title – it's POST Graduation! By the end of Late Registration Kanye was dabbling in hip hop symphonies (for the better) with a few too many skits, but this one's all laser beam efficiency with a human heartbeat. Kanye's moved on, well past our expectations anyway, and he better not call the next one Class Reunion. A bunch of these cuts could rule several radio formats, and they sound great in the headphones, too. To tell the truth, any modern hip hop record with a big fat (and surely expensive) Steely Dan sample is going get an automatic recommendation from us, but Graduation works for us for many more reasons than that alone. Well done, Kanye! "Good Morning", "Champion", the Daft Punk-ed hit "Stronger", "I Wonder", "Good Life", "Can't Tell Me Me Nothing", "Barry Bonds" with Lil Wayne, "Drunk And Hot Girls" with Mos Def, "Flashing Lights" with Dwele, "Everything I Am" with DJ Premier, "Homecoming" and "Big Brother". CD