Wonderfully jazzy work from Micatone – a rich album filled with lots of lovely twists and turns, all of them coming off with a level of care and class that we wouldn't expect! The group's core is the instrumental combo – very heavy acoustic bass, drums, guitar, keyboards, vibes, and other jazzy sample bits – and some of the best tracks on the set feature vocals by singer Lisa Bassenge – singing in English, with a very accented tone, on moody and smokey tunes that really stand out from the usual retro jazz diva mode. The instrumental tunes are equally nice – a mixture of electronic club jazz and more classic elements – standing up quite well on their own with a depth of construction and solid instrumentation. Titles include "Plastic Bags & Magazines", "Sit Beside Me", "Another Road", "Sweet Child", "To The Sound", "Mon Coeur", and "Quiet Boy". CD

The genius of Nicola Conte gets the remix treatment – in this wonderful new album that steps off heavily from his massive Jet Sounds set of a few years ago! If you know Nicola, he's the wunderkind behind the Schema label – and, probably more than anyone in the world right now, one of the few producer/musicians who can really handle a retro-sounding groove. Conte's steeped in classic jazz, soundtracks, and bossa nova – all of which come into play in his music – and this set has him working with a host of able talents who help to take his unique creative vision even farther than before! US version features a slightly different track list than the European one – with titles that include "Arabesque (vocal version)" done by Micatone, "Forma 2000" reformed by Les Gammas, "Tema In Hi Fi" by Nicola Conte & Gianluca Petrella, "Jet Sounds" by Nuspirit Helsinki, "Bossa Per Due" by Thievery Corporation, "Fuoco Fatuo" by Koop, "New Standards" by Nicola Conte & Gianluca Petrella, "Love Me Till Sunday" by Nicola Conte, "Dossier Omega" redone by Espen Horne, "The In Samba" done by Kyoto Jazz Massive, "Missione A Bombay" by Eddy & Dus, and "Mambo De Los Dandies" by Gerardo Frisina. CD