Neo Soul — Recently Added

A set that's even better than the first album from Str4ta – a great side project from Jean Paul Bluey Maunick of Incognito, and one that takes him back to the British 80s funk world from which he came! Gilles Peterson is Bluey's partner on the project – and he's opened the door to a ... CD

A massive overview of work from Swing Out Sister – a group who were a real standout in the UK scene of the late 80s, then just got better and better as the years went on! When they first appeared, Swing Out Sister were a real breath of fresh air – clearly committed to older jazz and ... CD

A really great project from Erykah Badu – a set that's quite spare compared to the fuller sound and energy of her New Amerykah records – done in a bedroom studio in Dallas with producer Zach Witness! The music is lean and stripped-down – hip hop-influenced soul, but almost at a ... LP, Vinyl record album

That's bassist Kenichi Ikeda standing strong on the cover of the album – but he's not alone in the music, as the whole thing features a full funky combo that's definitely driven by strong inspirations from 70s funk! The vibe is a bit fuller – think some of the bass-driven funk of ... LP, Vinyl record album

Few folks get a classic groove as right as T-Groove – and here, he's working with the George Kano Experience for an even more classic vibe – this wonderful blend of soul, jazz, funk, and boogie – all put together with the best sort of 80s groove production! The album's got a ... LP, Vinyl record album

A wonderful collection of Japanese soul from the end of the 90s onward – one that tracks a big explosion in new music on that scene – a time when the influence of American soul was finally urging Japanese artists to come up with new sounds of their own! Of course, the city pop of the ... CD

The first full length set from London duo Blue Lab Beats – a pair who are very well-placed on Blue Note Records, but more as ambassadors of some of the more soul-styled work the label has done in recent years! There's a very collaborative vibe going on here – as the core producers open ... LP, Vinyl record album

Sudan Archives looks a lot hipper on the cover than any prom queen we ever had in high school – and on this amazing set, she sounds a heck of a lot better than any of them did too! The album's maybe the full flowering of all the promise that Sudan gave us the last time around – a rich ... LP, Vinyl record album

A fantastic album from Mourning A BLKstar – even more powerful than their set dedicated to Eric Garner, and a batch of material that really gets at the righteous energy of this Cleveland combo! The group see themselves as part of the James Baldwin tradition of the artist bearing witness ... LP, Vinyl record album

A really great project, and one that definitely lives up to the new flava promised in the title – as the album features mid 90s gospel groups that are all working strongly with some of the neo soul currents that were going on in the global underground of the time! Don't think of this as a ... LP, Vinyl record album

A warmly wonderful blend of hip hop and contemporary soul from the LA scene – not the first record we've heard from Duckwrth, but one that definitely marks him as being at the best level the city's been giving us in recent years! There's a genre-breaking quality that's effortless here – ... LP, Vinyl record album

One of the hippest records we've ever heard from Esperanza Spalding – a set that almost feels as if she's stepping back into some of the more experimental, individual qualities that made her so different at the start! There's definitely some appealing, catchy songs here – but the ... LP, Vinyl record album

Take it from us, Leon Bridges is no gold-digger – as with music like this, he'll be bringing plenty of the gold himself – as the record is the sort that should really put Bridges over the top! Leon's already been giving us some great sounds in recent years – but this set has ... LP, Vinyl record album

A set that's even better than the first album from Str4ta – a great side project from Jean Paul Bluey Maunick of Incognito, and one that takes him back to the British 80s funk world from which he came! Gilles Peterson is Bluey's partner on the project – and he's opened the door to a ... LP, Vinyl record album

A stunner from Georgia Anne Muldrow – a record that makes us love her even more than before – and that's saying a lot, given the love we've shown her over the years! The cover's got the feel of some dusty old record, and many of the tunes do too – some wicked 70s soul elements ... LP, Vinyl record album

A sweet little group with a real 70s Cali vibe – very much in the spirit of the cover, with kind of a blue-eyed soul approach to jazzy AOR! The instrumentation is great – plenty of Fender Rhodes and other keyboards – providing this warm glow for the lead vocals of the group's two ... LP, Vinyl record album

We've loved the music of soul singer Ledisi since her first self-released album back in the 90s – and since that time, she's matured even more as a vocalist – to a point where she can easily take on the music of Nina Simone with all the glory it deserves! This special set features ... LP, Vinyl record album

Lady Blackbird takes on a Nina Simone tune on the very first track on this set – quite a risky move, but the Lady's got a voice that's definitely up to the challenge! The singer's the sort that comes along once in a blue moon – a richly talented artist who's able to take any sort of ... LP, Vinyl record album

A soaring set from Leon Bridges – a full length second album that's every bit as classic as his debut, but in a completely different way! Where Coming Home was maybe Leon's answer to the generation of Marvin Gaye and Sam Cooke, Good Thing is more of a nod to the era of Maxwell and D'Angelo ... LP, Vinyl record album

Pretty fantastic work from Eamon – a set that's even more classic-styled than some of his previous efforts, and which really lives up to the legacy of vintage soul that has always informed his music! There's cuts on here that almost feel as if they're served up by a full deep funk ensemble ... LP, Vinyl record album

Kendra Morris looks lovelier than ever on the cover of the record – and she sounds lovelier than ever too – thanks to a rock-solid, all-soul approach that shows just how much her vocal strengths have grown in recent years! Morris has always had an ear for the classic, but this time ... LP, Vinyl record album

There's nicely messed-up, nicely homegrown vibe to this debut from Spencer – a soul record that was cut in a very personal, private sort of space – but one that didn't let that stop things from getting funky either! Spencer's got that one-man funk band appeal that we loved in the early ... LP, Vinyl record album

The "cover" here should be taken literally – as Valerie June serves up a whole set of covers of tracks by other artists – a range that includes Bob Dylan, Frank Ocean, Nick Drake, Gillian Welch, and others – all of whom get folded into the same territory through Valerie's ... LP, Vinyl record album

There's a nicely dated look to the cover, and Moniquea comes across here with just the sort of 80s vibe you'd expect – plenty of beats and fat basslines underneath the keyboard-heavy instrumentation – all served up with a sweet sort of update on an older electro soul mode! The ... LP, Vinyl record album

A wonderful collection of contemporary soul – a set that brings together cuts from the global underground, and also reflects some of the recent taste for updating older modes from the AOR generation! The range of artists is wonderful, and the package is full of surprises – very ... CD

A damn great record from Aquakulture – and a set that's way more of an R&B album than we might have expected – fleshed-out, fully formed, and with a sense of tracks and timing that really makes for a great flow al the way through! There's a lot of guests on the record, and while we ... LP, Vinyl record album

Plenty of luxury, and plenty of soul – as you'll be living like a king with this well-priced set – a massive batch of music in one 3CD collection, and a heck of a lot more enjoyable than trawling the internet for underground soul songs you might have missed! This long-running series ... CD

Vocalist Mimi Koku joints Monzanto Sound for this wonderful EP – bringing a soulful flow to the four tracks on the set, at a level that really blends nicely with the group's laidback combination of keyboards, bass, and drums! Keys are by Mali Baden-Powell, aka Mali-I – who you might ... LP, Vinyl record album

There's a nicely dated look to the cover, and Moniquea comes across here with just the sort of 80s vibe you'd expect – plenty of beats and fat basslines underneath the keyboard-heavy instrumentation – all served up with a sweet sort of update on an older electro soul mode! The ... CD

A damn great record from Aquakulture – and a set that's way more of an R&B album than we might have expected – fleshed-out, fully formed, and with a sense of tracks and timing that really makes for a great flow al the way through! There's a lot of guests on the record, and while we ... CD