Mash-up maestro, bootleg remix king and talented beat-maker Jim Sharp launched the Soul By The Pound label last year to offer up sneaky re-edits of classic soul and funk jams from the '60s and '70s. Here he finally delivers the imprint's second-single, delivering some Blaxploitation-era goodness that should tickle the fancy of all those who like their funk energetic and enthusiastic. A-side "I Got It Funky" more than lives up to its name, with call-and-response vocals, wah-wah guitars, tasty Hammond licks and rising horns riding a snappy, breakbeat-driven groove. He switches focus a little on flipside "Trippin' Out", adding bouncy hip-hop beats to a dewy-eyed, string-laden slab of Curtis Mayfield style soul.

Long-serving Swedish producer Joel Mull, previously best-known for his club-focused techno sets, first started work on Nautical Dawn, his first album under his occasional Damm alias, over a decade ago. Inspired by the natural phenomenon of 'nautical dawn' - that point when the sun is not yet above the horizon, but bathes the sky in vivid colours - he wanted to make music for the break of dawn that combined home-made field recordings with suitably drowsy, opaque electronic motifs, slow-burn ambient chords, tactile aural textures and, when the mood took him, horizontal and hypnotic beats. It may have taken him a while, but the resultant set is little less than inspired: an evocative set of enveloping compositions that tease and tingle the senses.

Edmond Gladston recorded only two tunes, and they both came back in the eighties. Both are early era dancehall jams that are earthy and organic like lovers rock but with some nice studio effects that give them that subtle sleek and futuristic edge. Both tunes are presumably about his love interests - for the first one in 1984 things were going well, but by the second one a year later in you feel things had maybe soured. Either way this is another crucial dub that pairs a fluttering lead melody and nice crisp hits with some storytelling vocals that tug at the heart strings.

Bobby Ellis is behind 'Ska Baby', which was produced and directed by the Upsetter and now comes backed with a lush dub and a custom bag. It's actually one of the more subtle instrumentals to come from the famous Black Ark studio founded by Lee "Scratch" Perry and epitomises a warm day, beer in hand, dusty dry earth beneath your feet as you saunter though downtown Jamaica. Well, we assume this is how it must feel, never having been there during the 70s or 80s ourselves. Whatever, it's a perfectly organic and authentic vibe that is perfectly transportative.

It was in 1984 that Edmond Gladston put out his 'Untrue Love' single. It is one of only two tunes, according to Discogs, but boy that a good one, which since release has been incredibly hard to find. A rare gem of the smooth moving lover's rock scene, it has earthy drums but digi-synths, organic guitar twangs but oodles of echo. It's old yet new, classic yet innovative, and that's why it still cuts through to this day. Flip it over for the ever silkier dub which cannot fail to melt your heart and sink you in deep.

Denise Sherwood, as you may have guessed, is the daughter of legendary dub innovator and On-U Sound man Adrian Sherwood. And it is he who has mixed and produced this record, but Denise more than shines thank to her elastic vocal deliveries. Lee "Scratch" Perry also feature son the opener, a drum & bass cut with twisted electronic and an angelic vocal. Elsewhere are trip hop joints like 'Let Me In' and dreadzone dubs like 'Ghost Heart' that find Denise in haunting style. On this evidence, she is more than capable of keeping up the high standards of the family name.

Supreme minimal and techno label Cabaret calls upon Matthias for this 25th release, and he help the label mark a quarter of a century with real panache. 'Galaxy Rebellion' is a shiny and space age tech house cut that has rickety drums and fist pumping bass stabs that are sure to wake up and club. 'Shinning Waterfall' sinks into an equally cosmic groove and layers in all manner of star-gazing chords and wandering basslines then 'Night Racer closes out in turbocharged tech fashion with some new age ambiance thrown in for good measure. What a trip.

Jazz Is Dead is a series that welcomes contemporary musicians to revisit jazz storied of old. This collection challenges Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad to utilise vintage equipment to create new master soundscapes, and they really come correct. Roy Ayers, Gary Bartz, Marcos Valle, Azymuth, Doug Carn, Joao Donato, & Brian Jackson are some of the legends who feature and the album is a free flowing delight that touches on soaring and soulful highs as well as bossa-tinged shufflers and plenty in between.