... LP, Vinyl record album

A really well-titled set, especially given that as a drummer, Pierre Alain Dahan lent his talents to a whole host of French jazz, funk, and soul outings in the 70s – although his approach here is different than on some of his more famous work! The album's a set of duets with electronic musician/keyboardist Mat Camison, and the tunes have a sound that's rhythmic – sometimes very funky, with great drum breaks in the mix – other times maybe a bit darker or spacier, with the rhythms moving off into nicely moody territory! There's a great sense of variety here, even though the instrumentation is relatively spare on most numbers – and titles include "Rythmiques" numbered 4 through 11 – plus "Piano + Piano", "Gay Shopping", "Auto Rythmiques", and "Ocean Horizon". LP, Vinyl record album

... CD

We love the vibes-heavy music of Chien Chien Lu, and love it in an even different way here, as she collaborates with bassist Richie Goods – an artist who really helps deepen the sound of her music, and creates this great balance between bass and vibes that's completely amazing! You might not be likely to put the two instruments together right away, but they sounds fantastic here – as Goods has this melodic way of handling his instrument that stems from some of the best electric bass advances in 70s jazz, yet leaned out with a more contemporary vibe – and given these gentle funky elements in the backings that are mighty nice. All those touches make for a perfect setting for Chien's vibes – every bit as spacious, soulful, and seductive as before. The set features guest vocals from Sy Smith and Jamison Ross, plus keyboards from Big Yuki – and titles include "Rain", "Water", "Dull Ice Flower", "Embrace The Now", and a great remake of the Donny Hathaway tune "Someday We'll All Be Free" – plus a bonus radio edit of "Someday We'll All Be Free"! CD

Excellent work from Setenta – a Parisian combo who work with a great blend of Latin roots and funk – served up with lots of percussion at the core, topped with Fender Rhodes and other keyboards from jazz genius Florian Pellissier! The acoustic percussion and electric keys are perfectly balanced – as you might find on a mid 70s album from Mongo Santamaria, but with a different flavor too – given that these guys explore some Afro roots in their music as well, which creates shifting patterns of rhythms throughout the set. Most tracks have vocals, and titles include "If We Ever Get There", "Permiso", "Mecanica Bestial", "DIA (parts 1 & 2)", "Materia Negra", and "Llego El Malo". LP, Vinyl record album

Great grooves galore – a sweet selection of tracks from the late 60s onwards, none of which were made available to the public at the time! The French Tele Music company was one of those secret sound library labels – recording top shelf tracks during the 70s, but then only passing them along to TV, radio, and film producers – for possible use in later projects! This meant that there was a rich array of wonderful sounds that never made it to records that the public could buy in stores – and the result is a collection like this, which is overflowing with killer grooves that you're not likely to have in your record collection at all. Styles range from funky jazz to clubby grooves, with plenty of soundtrack-styled funk numbers in the mix – and titles include "Gang Train" by Bernard Estardy, "West Coast Drive" by Pierre Alain Dahan & Mat Camison, "Mitsuko" by Jean Jacques Debout, "Percussionissimo" by Hervey Roy, "Suspense Time" by Michel Gonet, "Meteor One" by Sauveur Mallia, "Pop Percussions" by Janko Nilovic, "Rocket 2" by Bernard Lubat, and "Les Copans De La Basse" by Guy Pedersen. 26 tracks in all – selected by Lord Funk & DJ LC! LP, Vinyl record album

Dre's solid and hugely successful follow-up to The Chronic, and production-wise it holds up really well after all these years! Chronic set the sound bar so high, even 6 or 7 years later its shadow loomed large, but Dre delivers a headnodding groove that was pretty tough to resist, then and now. The most misogynist rhymes haven't aged nearly as well, but guests Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Xzibit, Hittman, Kurupt and more have some nice moments. 22 tracks counting interludes, including "Still DRE", "Xxplosive", 'What's The Difference", 'The Next Episode", "Let's Get High" and more. . . LP, Vinyl record album

A later album by Joao – but a really lovely live performance that sparkles with the warmth and intimacy of his earlier studio albums! The album's got a total of 13 tracks, all recorded at the Montreux jazz festival in 1985 – with no backing for Joao's voice other than his light lively acoustic guitar, which holds up extremely well over the nearly 70-minute long performance. Titles include "Estate", "Menino Do Rio", "Adeus America", "Rosa Morena", "Sandalia De Prata", and "Sem Compromiso". CD

Jack White following his farthest reaching eclectic tendencies wherever they'll lead him – as has been his modus operandi for years – but this time farther away from the raging, if still pretty idiosyncratic guitar rock of Lazzaretto and much of his past catalog to a more wildly diverse, intentionally all over the place sound! Starting with a rock & soul anthem complete with a gospel style chorus that leads to a leaner synth rock ballad, Boarding House Reach reaches from there to call-and-response funk rock, to folk soul hybrids, to straighter hard grooving rock and beyond. 13 tracks in all: "Connected By Love", "Why Walk A Dog?", "Corporation", "Abulia And Akrasia", "Hypermisophoniac", "Ice Station Zebra", "Over And Over And Over", "Respect Commando", "What's Done Is Done", "Humoresque" and more. CD

A beautiful issue of this beautiful magazine – filled with the stories of people and their records, and the other elements of culture that move their lives! As with other volumes, this one is super-hefty – over 200 pages, and as much a magazine with photography as a music publication itself – with loads of shots inside that rival the cover, and which often feature a more close-up look at a record collection. This time round, features are on Alexis Le Tan, Ron Morelli, Eddie Ruscha, Phil Mison, Andee Frost, Kim Ann Foxman, Suso Saiz, Joe Goddard, and others – and there's also a very cool section on rare party invites by Keith Haring! Magazine

We love the vibes-heavy music of Chien Chien Lu, and love it in an even different way here, as she collaborates with bassist Richie Goods – an artist who really helps deepen the sound of her music, and creates this great balance between bass and vibes that's completely amazing! You might not be likely to put the two instruments together right away, but they sounds fantastic here – as Goods has this melodic way of handling his instrument that stems from some of the best electric bass advances in 70s jazz, yet leaned out with a more contemporary vibe – and given these gentle funky elements in the backings that are mighty nice. All those touches make for a perfect setting for Chien's vibes – every bit as spacious, soulful, and seductive as before. The set features guest vocals from Sy Smith and Jamison Ross, plus keyboards from Big Yuki – and titles include "Rain", "Water", "Dull Ice Flower", "Embrace The Now", and a great remake of the Donny Hathaway tune "Someday We'll All Be Free". LP, Vinyl record album

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