Back catalogue: Broken Beat/Nu Jazz/Nu Soul

Review: It would be fair to say that post-disco outfit Unlimited Touch's 1980 single "I Hear Music In the Streets" is one of the greatest boogie/electrofunk records of all time. Louie Vega clearly agrees, because late last year he decided to gather together the remaining members of Unlimited Touch and record a fresh 2020 version. The A-side "Touch Mix" is the bomb. It features a more organic-sounding disco-boogie groove than the 1980 original, with delicious guitars, bass and electric piano/organ underpinning seriously good group vocals from the sometime Prelude-signed outfit. Over on the flip, Vega serves up an electric piano solo-laden dub mix, as well as a "Classic Boogie" take that naturally sounds very similar to the band's much-loved original version.

Review: While he's not put out many re-edits of late, Luke Una has serious scalpel-job pedigree. Back in the 2000s, he and then DJ partner Justin Crawford released a series of largely disco-focused edit EPs on the hush-hush Electrik Souls series. Here he returns to the format with the first in a series of reworks focused on his popular, dusty-fingered E Soul Cultura project. He begins by teasing out and lightly toughening up a killer Caribbean cut from the 1990s, Ella Andall's 'My Spirit Is Music' - an insanely rare and hard to find number that the Sheffield-born DJ has naturally tweaked sensitively. Elsewhere, he emphasises the 'proto-house dub' feel of Slick Mission's early UK house number 'Time's Up', before going even dubbed-out and more percussive on Manu Dibango's lesser-known cover of Latin disco classic 'Jingo'.

Review: UK-based United Freedom Collective unites a throng of talents from Jordan Stephens, Falle Nioke, Eliza Shaddad, Labdi, William Rees and Facesoul, emerging from a collective yogic and breathwork practice before mutating into a full musical outing. Debuting on Maribou State's Dama Dama label, they now return to Multi Culti for a psychedelic five-tracker documenting the euphoric somatic states reachable by the confluence of entheogenic therapy and progressive house production. A through-composed odyssey in many keys, 'Bright Patterns' opens the proceedings with piano-led vocal house, complete with sliding leads and oceanic feels, continuing in this way until a steel-panned sunriser takes form on 'El Yo', and 'Moonshine' brews its own blissful future garage vat.

Review: Upstairs P. is also known as Garrett Rowley) and is a DJ and producer who is currently based in Los Angeles. So far his sounds have come on the likes of Germany's Public Possession in the form of a collaboration with Baba Stiltz, who has contributed to part 2 on the flipside of this new 12" on Punchy & Friends. 'Grem Freche (part 1)' is a melon-twisting bit of psyched-out dark disco, chug and downtempo no wave with endless percussive evolutions and winding rhythms. 'Grem Freche (part 2)' has a more loose, DIY and dubbed out edge but is just as excellent

Review: After a four-year hiatus, Urban Volcano Sounds returns with their eagerly awaited single, "Disco Taberna," released on 7" vinyl. Known for their Balearic crossover style, urban boogie influences, and elegant sound production, the track showcases their signature blend of lush strings and soulful melodies. "Disco Taberna" is a nod to the golden age of 70s disco, capturing the era's opulence with meticulous production. The track's lush arrangements and soaring strings reflect a deep respect for the classic disco era, while the urban boogie influences add a modern twist. The single's release follows the inclusion of their track "Ame no Uta" from their previous album "Blue Hour" in the "Tangent" compilation by Nick The Record & John Gomez, released by MR.BONGO in July. This feature has further cemented Urban Volcano Sounds' growing reputation, both in Japan and internationally. "Disco Taberna" not only reaffirms the group's commitment to high-quality sound but also highlights their evolving influence in the music scene. The single's blend of nostalgic and contemporary elements promises to captivate both longtime fans and new listeners alike.

Review: Do you know Utena, Fukuoka's hottest soul jazz band comprised of Yamagiwa Mai, Seigo Takeshita, and Toshiyuki Morishige? If you don't, now is the time to get familiar as they drop their debut 7" single on Exhume Exhume Production, which is a label helmed by DJ Horishi. This double A-side features a stunning reimagining of the Japanese classic 'Natsu Hikari ni' which was originally by Tasumiko Yamaga and is transformed with smoky, soulful jazz stylings. The flipside presents 'Moon,' an original track by vocalist KAYO and guitarist Soraha (aka KEIJI), which showcases the band's signature new soul sound.

Review: In classic jazz style, this collaborative three-way debut album brings together three musicians at the top of their game: SML members Gregory Uhlman (guitar and effects) and Josh Johnson (saxophone and effects), and sometime Louis Cole, Sam Gendel and Chaka Khan collaborator Sam Wilkes (bass and effects). Musically, what the trio offers is undeniably unique, with International Anthem describing the album as "a jazz-informed take on progressive electro-acoustic chamber music". Certainly, there's much to enjoy, from the tracked bass, guitar and sax loops and subtle changes of 'Mavis' and the dreamlike ambient jazz of 'Arpy', to the bubbling cosmic jazz of 'Frica' and a stunning, off-kilter instrumental cover of Magical Mystery Tour-era Beatles number 'The Fool On The Hill'.

Review: Uhlmann Johnson Wilkes is the debut album from Gregory Uhlmann, Josh Johnson and Sam Wilkes, a collective of three versatile improvisers, arrangers and producers whose work spans jazz, rock and experimental. Across 11 instrumental tracks, they explore a jazz-informed take on progressive electro-acoustic chamber music that brings beauty, melody and rhythm to the fore. The record was conceived during live shows and a home session in Los Angeles and features Uhlmann's mournful fingerpicked guitar, Wilkes' bass chording and Johnson's effect-laden saxophone. Their arrangement-minded improvisation results in some nicely otherworldly textures as they push their instruments to create a spacious, lyrical sound.

Review: Check classic dance music books of the 1990s - and even some later music texts, such as Richard King's The Lark Ascending - and you'll find plenty of praise for Ultramarine's work of the early 1990s, which added pastoral and folk-rock inspired sounds to the sample-heavy pulse of dance music. What you won't find is any reference to their final album of the decade, A User's Guide. Yet it may well be their best album. A conscious exploration of techno and IDM shot through with references to Detroit, Berlin and Sheffield (well, Warp Records at least), it reportedly took the duo almost two years to record. A largely unheralded British techno classic, it has been painstakingly remastered for this first ever vinyl reissue and boasts extensive contextualising liner notes from UK techno historian (and sometime Juno writer) Matt Anniss.

Review: Unchained is the longstanding solo project of Nathaniel Davis. Gabbeh is his latest offering to the world, a suite of blissfully introspective tracks that envelop the soul in a blanket of soft, delicate moods, their sole purpose to comfort aching heads. Remarkably, dedicated fans will know you can trace the artist's lineage to noise mix tapes on CD-R, although more recent excursions into Bossa nova influenced tones perhaps help bridge the gap between then and now. Recorded at home over a three year period, from 2020 to 2023, Grenoble, Switzerland, played a big part in end results here. "I think certain songs reflect, in ways, Grenoble's natural surroundings. 'Drac' is named after the river that flows from the mountains down to the city - 'Dru' is the name of a well-known peak near Chamonix," Davis has explained. That as may be, nevertheless there's something more transportive than that here - songs feel as though they would be at home anywhere green, slow and thoughtful.

Review: London-based quartet Uniri takes a unique approach by composing as a collective and bringing in new-beat aesthetics while steering away from traditional jazz band and "bedroom production" concepts. Founded by Chiminyo, Uniri, meaning 'one unified dream,' came to life in his private studio, inviting jazz peers Amane Tsuganami, Al Macsween, and Luke Wynter for spontaneous collaborations. The result, Infinite Reflections, delivers a psychedelic, rhythmic journey infused with cosmic synths and hip-hop beats. Embracing a global trend in jazz fusion, Uniri's debut album promises an innovative aesthetic akin to artists like Flying Lotus and Ras G.

Review: Hydeout Productions continue their full comprehensive recataloguing of Nujabes' work, not only those of his immediate productions, but also the works of the lives of others whom he'd touched through collaboration. Saxophonist Uyama Hiroto was a frequent collaborator of Nujabes', appearing as early on in the latter's storied career as 1996's Modal Soul; it may be said that this mere fact was enough to launch Hiroto's career in his own right, and his debut record A Son Of The Sun is a testament to this fact, evidencing Hiroto's preoccupation with themes of freedom and heliophilia. This debut has Nujabes' unmistakable mix thumbprints all over it, but the headspace is decidedly polished and yet more expansive, and is all produced by Hiroto despite the association and similarity; his saxophone shines best and most brightly non-hip-hop cuts such as 'Climbed Mountain'.

Review: It's been seven years since Freeform Jazz was released as a new frontier for Uyama Hiroto. Now hearing Japanese label Roph return to the jazz and hip-hop artist receive a second round of recognition, we get a thorough reminder of the directions in which jazz can be taken when not mired neither sophistry nor overcomplexity; the liners on this one remind us, likewise, of the reversals and flip-sides of every substance on Earth, that "If there is no movement, there is no stillness, and on the flip side, if there is no stillness, there is no movement." Hiroto's last record, Freeform Jazz, was his obverse side to Breath Of Love; one is duskier than the other, but the works are inseparable - so make sure you listen to the former too. Here though, we hear Hiroto synergise with participating artists Substantial and J Soul, both based in Virginia, as well as Marter and Reinaria; all the artists reign supreme over one wax side each, casting a healthful vocal light over Hiroto's otherwise impeccable recordings, as though they were each happily-ever-after kingdoms anointed in sound.