Very cool work from Ben Cenac of Newcleus fame – a set of house instrumentals that use all the keyboard genius of that earlier groove and move it into the lean clubby sound of the New York scene in the early 90s! There's a great post-Todd Terry vibe going on here – bassy rhythms, crackling beats, and that approach that was definitely learning that less is more with club cuts like these – very much in the spirit of the best work on Nu Groove at the time! The set's only got six tracks, but all are great – and titles include "Breathe Deep", "Liquid", "How Do I Love Thee", "Mystery Of Love", "Dream 2 Science", and "My Love Turns To Liquid". LP, Vinyl record album

Sun Ra, Parliament, and other soul and jazz acts famously took us into space back in the day – and in the wake of their journeys, countless other artists elected to take the trip too – soaring to the cosmos on a blend of beats, basslines, keyboards, and vocals – all elements that are given an especially electro-tuned vibe in this great second volume of the series! The space age journeys are maybe more akin to the world of Newcleus than Earth Wind & Fire – lots of processing on the vocals, sweet riffing on the keyboards, and basslines that are tightly tied to the rhythms of the grooves – served up here in a way that references sounds of the street, west coast funk, and even earlier hip hop – all brought together in a very well-chosen array of tracks! As always with Soul Jazz, the presentation is as great as the music within – a set list that includes "More Ounce Rap" by Bobby Deemo, "Master Groove (inst)" by Chance, "Shine Your Light" by The Grainers, "Get Right" by Mid City Crew, "Summer Times" by Frank James & Shadow, "Year 2001 Boogie" by Rich Cason & The Galactic Orchestra, "Smurf Trek" by Chapter Three, "Let's Ride" by Junei, "Breakdance" by Command Performance, and "Computer Pop" by Maggotron. LP, Vinyl record album