New releases last eight weeks: Funk Soul & Jazz

Review: Colemine Records has devoted itself to releasing top notch soul music for close to 20 years now. Those who follow the label closely trust the purveyor of the label (Terry Cole) enough to blindly pick up each and almost every release. The label's knack for finding and sharing some of the best versions of soul music is clearly evident from the latest by a group called The Splendids. Originally recorded in 1961, these two songs were destined to launch this talented ensemble. Two things' happened in 1962 though. Beatles music made Doo-Wop almost irrelevant overnight. In addition, members of the group got called into Vietnam. 63 years later after originally forming, the surviving three of the five members recording once again. The result is phenomenal and makes us feel like we are back in the 1950s. Only 500 copies in total have been pressed.

Review: Cali soul supergroup Thee Sinseers premiere their next album Sinseerly Yours, strutting down the proverbial red carpet with ten new, contemporary rerubs of classic soul standards. Fronted by bandleader and son of East Los Angeles Joey Quinones, the group has quietly chipped away at the sounds of r&b and soul for the last half-decade; he and his crew are heard at the polished end of an extended studio session held in Rialto, California, the ineluctable Second Hand Sounds. Making unprecedented use of a converted studio space which used to be a dentist's office, the unique acoustics of which lent them a fuller sound than formerly heard, we hear the band expertly toggle between 60s pop vis-a-vis early Beatles records to obscure Jamaican dancehall here.