Back in stock: Broken Beat/Nu Jazz/Nu Soul

Review: More gold from the always in the know and on point 5 Boroughs label. Again here it digs into the vast annals of hip-hop history to come up with some still relevant gems in the form of Rakim and DJ Premier's staple 'It's Been a Long Time.' It is a classic boom-bap joint with lush strings and horns, some old-school scratching and cool bars. As walls, the label serves it up alongside the original sample source on the flip which is Cecil Holmes's languid soul slow burner 'Call Me, Come Back Home'. These plays shift in quick time so do not snooze if you want a slice.

Review: Back Pluwatsch, or simply Bajka, is an Indian-born, South-African raised singer with diverse catalogue of music, and an equally compelling set of vocal chords. Her voice was first picked up by London's Jazzman circa 2005, and has travelled across other like like Ubiquity, Raw Tapes, and even on NYC house-techno conglomerate, Ibadan. Philophon feels like a much more natural place for her music to prosper on, a label that's been on our radar since day one, and always comes heavily recommended. "The World" is a true pearl of a song, charged and catapulted into the ether by a deep, raw percussive sway and, of course, Bajka's singular voice. "Invisible Joy" is a similarly deep and tropical, but here the tone is much more jazzy, reminding us of Sun Ra in places. All in all, this is some pretty killer material.

Review: The Cromagnon Band's debut 7" back in 2019 was a sell-out and critically acclaimed success. They make a welcome return here with another natural fusion of all of the tastes and styles of the individual band members. They have said before they make music in a reverse engineering fashion after years honing their skills producing beats on MPCs before moving to real instruments. They've already featured on compilations from Andy Votel and Doug Shipton's Finder Keepers label and these two nuggets are likely to become crate-digging delights of the future. 'Green Smoke' is a tumble of funky drums and jazzy keys that never let up and 'Thunder Perfect' is a deeper, more spacious approach to funk.

Review: Marcello Cassanelli is back on Ten Lovers Music after previously appearing on TLM030 with the incredible track 'Fantasia'. This time around, we're met with the follow-up, 'Espresso', on which the producer programs every twist and turn of this organic jazzdance bit himself. The title track on the A goes ham on the glitzings and arps, all backed up by jittery electric piano chord counterpoints; the B, 'They Groove', pares back the tempo to focus further on the piquing frequences of the latter instrument's higher notes, set against a weighty backbeat.

Review: You can always count on Nautilus to deliver the most sophisticated covers of soul and jazz standards. The Japanese jazz funk outfit have a pristine approach to their craft, but they also know how to edge their own personality into the versions they lay down. So it goes as they approach the monumental 'Move On Up' by Curtis Mayfield, which is no small task. The actual cut on this 7" is the DJ JIN re-edit, which makes the track fit comfortably on a 45 but also makes sure it works for the DJs out there. On the flip 'Beyond The Redemption' has a more uptempo feel thanks to the sharp angles of the drums and the ascendant keys gliding over the dynamic low end.

Review: Ewonee has some superb credentials - he is a Mutant Academy member as well as having done some production for Fly Anakin, Henny LO and Koncept Jack$on amongst others. He shows his class here with two deep and stylish joints for High Water Music. 'Do Your Dance' is up first and has nice low slung and dusty kick drums, organic finger clicks and muttered vocals for a late night feel. 'The World Is Ours' then layer sup some tender piano chords with another dusty and minimal drum line then layers in some sun kissed chords and classic hip-hop samples for outdoor fun.

Review: Fashioned around the concept of a Swiss zoo, Kind & Kinky Zoo are the animistic four-piece coming-together of Olivier Bill (flute), Adrien Knecht (bass), Marc Siegenthaler (keys) and Sylvain Rutti (drums). Together they routinely invoke a wild and spirited jamboree in the veins of funk, groove and rock, best exemplified by their latest single 'Pamukkale' here, a bustling thicket of offbeat stinkplant wafts, big drum canopies and hitherto undiscovered species of sound. The two new follow-ups on this Soul Garden edition, a remix by Soulsupreme and a new original featuring Koperu, plunge us further into the band's audio jungle, expanding outwards into six-eighting funk-hop and Hammond-organic house.

Review: After the success of the first Alessandroni Proibito box set, which sold out in pre-sale before it even hit the stores, Four Flies is proudly back with Volume 2 of the compilation. This new release too features five exclusive 7" singles, housing a total of ten seriously rare tunes. All previously unreleased in physical format, the tracks have been carefully selected from the soundtracks of five obscure Italian films from the late 70s - sexy flicks that flirted with the line between erotic and explicit, and which are now largely forgotten, having been out of circulation for decades. As was the case with the previous volume of the compilation, Alessandroni's music rises above the films' flimsy plots, improvised actors, and amateurish production, exuding his distinctive touch thanks to the (typically Italian) artisanal approach he took to his musical craft. The composer let his creativity run free, playing with his instruments at home as if he were in his own little amusement park; trying to have fun and produce something entertaining and captivating with just the few means at his disposal.