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I believe I found a good mix of high and low for this one. A couple of tunes stand out.

Pnau - The new album is not as fantastic as the previous one. Less uptempo and electronica. This is fine though.
re:jazz - love that voice. Inga Lühning. A fine live clip on YouTube, doing People hold on, a classic song.
Parov - his new album is worth a closer look. Sound of Austria btw.
Pendulum - I have to get this band out of my system. Played it to death almost. I need to move on...

MP3 sound bite (3.5MB)
20 seconds from each song. Cover shot: eggs on sourdough. 8/10 points.

A fine compilation by Dixon. Electronica all the way, with names like Âme, Jazzanova and Kruder. The now sound of Berlin. Works as headphone music, club (when played loud) or pre-club (as background groove).

Some nice soul/nujazz to begin with. That Deborah Jordan album is pretty solid and worth a closer look. The second half (b-side?) is a bit more club/disco.

Bleep district - I love that hook. Catchy.
Opolopo - the album is nice. More samples at myspace.
Minogue - no comment.
Freemasons - nice contrast with her vocals. The music sound is a bit rough and she sounds a bit stiff (maybe just the accent that I'm not used to).
West end girls - A Pet Shop Boys tribute band. That's unexpected.
Pendulum - started out doing drum&bass but is now... metal? Brillant anyways.

MP3 sound bite (3.5MB)
20 seconds from each song. Cover shot: bluberry cheesecake. 6/10 points.

Very late posting this month. I changed hardware (Mac Mini instead of PC/Vista) and it's takes some time to get used to that. It's still a bit shaky and the production tools are not that smooth. Any tips on how to produce a sample of all songs on a CD? On the PC I used scripts and rippers, like mp3split.

Lizzy - a consistent performer, always sounds good. We need more.
Atjazz/Domu - what a track! I just love this.
Simian - I like the uptempo synth sound.

MP3 sound bite (3.5MB)
20 seconds from each song. Cover shot: apple pie, again... 6/10 points.

The comp marks the end of this years vacation. Too short and not even close to being exciting. The vacation, I mean. Vacation in Uppsala - what was I thinking?

The A-side is quite light and suitable for the warmer days of August. The Samantha James acoustic EP (just released) is pretty nice. This is the best track. I'm kind of impressed, actually. I played this EP so many times it's embarrassing.
Maxwell - sadly the long wait for his album was not worth it. No killer tracks, even if some songs are ok. I obviously had my hopes up - the concert he did in Stockholm some years ago is maybe the best concert I ever been to (yes, *ever*). It was so controlled and well planned. I remember the backing vocals (one man and woman) did not make a single dance step during the whole concert... well in control. Maybe it's a question of his hair...? Time for Maxwell to grow a funky dread cut for the next album I say.
Tosca - sometimes a favourite band of mine, but I don't think I should add songs like this to the comps. Dub requires more of a whole album. Besides, dub in the car/ipod does not really work. Fat Freddy maybe is the exception. Their new album is ok, maybe not quite the same quality as on the previous (excellent) albums though. Still, worth looking into if this is your cup.
Guru - he on here because of Omar.
Mos Def - I like this. It's a bit old school, like eric b and rakim, right? The TV show when Mos Def raps while Dave Chappele is driving his SUV is one of the best ever. You know if you saw that show. It is not available on youtube, I looked.

MP3 sound bite (3.5MB)
20 seconds from each song. Cover shot: organic cake. 5/10 points.

Some lighter "food" to beging with, soft and delicate vocals. Pop. Then some soul sounds. I really like the broken style of Nuspirit Helsinki. That "Honest" remix is so good, a real genre anthem! A finish with more beats and just a bit more uptempo. I like this kind of commercial dance music but I'm trying to keep that a secret...

Alphawezen - Ernst Wawra of Achen.
Dadamnphreaknoizphunk - new to me. I like it I think. The album does not all sound this ambient, it also has some turntable action by DJ Rafik (Lordz Of Fitness Crew).
Nathan Haines - this is a solid soul album, "right now". Very much recommended.
Nuspirit Helsinki - it's not too often you hear music from Finland, right? "Neo jazz" their bio calls it. I like their collaborations, with Jazzanova, Lisa Shaw, 4hero, K&D etc.

MP3 sound bite (3.5MB)
20 seconds from each song. Cover shot: raspberry cheese cake. 6/10 points.

I'm falling behind schedule, each monthly compilation is published later and later. This compilation is not bad, just done with haste and not as planned as I hoped. Oh well.

S-Tone Inc - nice album, good summer music.
Nathan Haines - excellent album, the style is just right - classic acidjazz and soul. Very smooth and nice vocals.
Juju - I should find some more new dub for the summer. Definitely the genre of sunny days and long warm nights.

MP3 sound bite (3.5MB)
20 seconds from each song. Cover shot: apricot cheese cake. 5/10 points.

Pop on the side of electronica. Elegant and minimal. Not too far from Books Shade's icy and cool synth sounds. A safe buy if you are into the minimal techno-inspired pop. It is not typical radio pop though - it's too slick for that. Is it worth 8, or even 9, out of 10?

Old fans of acidjazz will probably recognize this name, Stefano Tirone is a veteran in this genre. The style is typical italian acidjazz, light and jazzy. It's on the jazz and latin side of AJ. I like the bossa style. Good lounge music for the summer. "Ponta de Pedra" is the best track.

Soft start in dub land, followed by swedish soul and pop, then some excellent australian new wave. I really looked hard at the new Depeche album and these are from the Deluxe boxset (otherwise nothing, sadly...). I like that Tiga track ("The shoes stay on...") and Dahlbäck's mix.

Tosca - you really cannot select just one song from an album like this. Listening to this kind of dub requires the right mood and time.
Salem - not even close to his debut album, but I still like the style.
Loney, Dear - a big song, imo. I've already played it too much. Close (in sound) to my 2008 favourite, Lars Bartkuhn.
PSB - I'm not quite sure what this track is doing here. I was hoping for something like "Being boring" on their new album but maybe that's too much to ask for. I wished for something extremely sentimental and understated.
Empire of the sun - Excellent voice.
The presets - This is my favourite album (Apocalypso) currently. Absolutely fantastic imo. Did it really take 20 years for New Wave to reach Australia?

MP3 sound bite (3.5MB)
20 seconds from each song. Cover shot: Breakfast at Café Einstein, Berlin. 9.5/10 points.

The aussies are coming. They have not made that many marks in the newer music genres, at least not to me. But lately Grafton primary, Pnau and now Empire of the sun show clear progress. This duo is Australians Luke Steele (The Sleepy Jackson) and Nick Littlemore (Pnau). Uneven, strange falsetto (sounds like "Thriller" sung by cats says Pitchfork) but I still like it. Refreshing take on psych-pop and dance music. It's different in a good way and has just the right blend of art and psycadelica.

Not that much going on in the new albums department this month. I'm still harvesting from previous buys.

Pnau - love the hard beat and electronica style.
Grafton primary - the best song I've heard so far this year. The album Eon is from 2008 though. I don't see how it can improve at all.

MP3 sound bite (3.5MB)
20 seconds from each song. Cover shot: Chocolate and cognac. 7/10 points.

More like the mother of mashups!

Synth-rockers Grafton Primary are a real surprise. Who knew they made music like this down under? It sounds very much like Human League (especially Joshua Garden's voice) and Depeche Mode to me. The album is really good, if you are into this kind of electronica (that is, 80s synth pop). See the video for a fun live performance and some strange dance moves. The best album in a while imo. Lots of young energy and a grand feeling. Love the voice.

As always, more sound bites at myspace.

Back on track with mostly new tunes. Some are new remixes, some albums are just new to my collection. A little less soul than usual and a bit more electronica and house.

Empire of the sun - I like this kind of voice; a bit straight/flat maybe (lacking vibrato) but produced in a nice style, like it was recorded in a home studio with non-professional microphones.
Lisa Shaw - the opposite in vocal style and production. Glossy, luxury feeling.
BNH - this is the way BNH should sound. So much good music has been wasted through the years from the different experiments and lack of pushing out more music.
Grafton primary - this is really good! He sounds just like Human League or some other old "new wave" band. The album is quite nice and I can recommend it to anyone into this kind of electronica. Reminds me of Depeche Mode and others.

MP3 sound bite (8.5MB)
20 seconds from each song. Cover shot: Blueberry cheese cake. 7/10 points.

Just a quick comment; got this album today and only had time for a couple of spins. It's in the same style as before: house music with a touch of soul. It has a rich, luxury feeling - that typical Miguel Migs sound. "Dance music's Sade" I read someone saying about Shaw. How true.

Motorcitysoul is the deephouse production-joint from Matthias Vogt (re:jazz, infracom records) and Christian "c-rock" Rindermann. The project is named after the german motorcity (Ruesselsheim, Frankfurt, the Opel headquarter).

I'm a big fan of all the re:jazz projects Mattias Vogt has been part of. Especially the first albums are worth looking into. The "Point of View" released in 2004 is a personal favourite.

Having heard Vogt's solo albums and the re:jazz project, this album is pretty far from that sound. This is deep house and feels very (of course) electronic. There is a soul vibe but no jazz feeling at all. I like the rich sound and the instrumental style. Good headphone music.

I'm wrapping up the best of 2008 in this comp. Bring on the good releases of 2009 now, please.

MP3 sound bite (3.5MB)
20 seconds from each song. Cover shot: Cinnamon. 5/10 points.

I've had mixed feeling about Domu. I cannot really explain why. So, I was a bit surprised by this album - understated and very solid soul. I didn't expect Domu to sound like this at all, not this soulful. Fly describes it as the "James Ingram/Michael McDonald period brought up-to-date" and that's on point. More sounds at Myspace.

8 out of 10? Even 9? Had I seen this earlier, it would have been on my top 20 for 2008, for sure.

Maybe it was the two previous great albums that first made me a bit unsure about this one. A few spins later, I think this is just as good (maybe lacking one or two big hits though). It may not be as immediate as Just like you but in style is not that different.

I'm not so interested in songs like "This is us" - grown up and close to adult contemporary... On the other side: the big production in the duet with Monica, "Trust", and the uptempo "Please don't stop" are prime r&b stuff.

Playing the album now, I think it's better than I first thought. It's still the same Cole, and that's a good thing. This r&b genre lacks big names at the moment, right? The last Brandy album was a big disapointment, and the list goes on...

Ok, here goes... I continued on last year's YouTube extravaganza, with one clip for each of my favourite albums. Making a list like this is really hard work, in every way. It's like when you were a kid and had to clean up the comic magazines on the floor in your room and you ended up reading them all, all day.

It's still the case that some artists don't have a web presence at all - how's that even possible in 2008? Just a note on the videos: some are a lot better than others. Don't miss Booka Shade or London Elektricity!

I felt it was difficult to make a fair and sorted list of all the 20 albums. I definitely think Bartkuhn's was the best, but apart from that I don't care that much; it's all good, imo.

01. Lars Bartkuhn - The new continent
This album tops my list with a margin. The youtube clip is also nice, a studio report about the album. I like the fusion sound, the large scale and the perfect sound production (08:00 into the video if you don't have the time to watch it all).

02. Booka Shade - The sun and the neon light
I like the hard and tough sound on the album. It requires a bit of volume, maybe headphones or a PA, to be at its best. Decent web site for the band. Excellent video, even if I think the album sounds a bit different.

03. Bennson - Let the love
A mix of disco and soul. At times it sounds very old, and you wonder if it is a cover album. The mix of styles and the slight happy, upbeat reminds me of CrazyP and Freemasons. An excellent pre-clubbing warm-up thing.

04. Jazzanova - Of all the things
This a quite a shift in style for one of my all-time favourite groups, there's no more electronica. It's very much retro soul, but in a nice way. The whole album is solid and has some great guest vocals.

05. Roland Appel - Talk to your angel
This could be a future classic club album - "Secrets" and "Dark soldier" are big, big tunes. Sady, I think I have worn this album out completely as I find it difficult to play it now.

06. Christian Prommer's Drumlesson - Vol. 1
This is very low-key: dance classics as jazz interpretations and almost without moving, at all. Slow, abstract at times, solid performance and will definitely grown on you. Maybe I should have listed this higher on this chart?
I find this performance impressive. It's Âme's song Rej which has to be a genre classic by now. Stellar.

07. Lindstrøm - Where you go I go too
This albums is the most original of all on this list. Pitchfork called it "epic space-disco". "Balearic" some say. You have to experience this by yourself. The first track is 30 minutes and the whole album just 4 tracks. Restrained and in control, you could say. Last week I tried to listen to it in the car - it doesn't work at all.

08. Reel people - Seven ways to wonder
UK soul from the 80s, maybe even something you could call acidjazz. Some of the best vocals you can find, like Omar, Imaani, Momrelle, Freeman, etc.

09. Ed Motta - Chapter 9
All lyrics are by Robert Gallagher and the sound is more straightforward. Ed's a nice guy and he, like me and all other nice guys, likes his Framboise and Kriek beers...

10. Sonar Kollektiv Orchester - Guaranteed niceness
Here's a good opportunity to practice on your German skills. This is the record label's own all-star group made up of label artists and close friends.

11. Incognito - Tales from the beach
There are no surprises to be found here, only more of the old same. Nothing wrong with that - exactly what we fans want. Good video clip. The unique sound and vocals make every Incognito album a winner.

12. Melo - Off my chest
Swedish soul, reviewed earlier.

13. Dinka - The temptation
Here's something completely different - progressive house. The instrumental style and loops brings a bit of trance feeling to it.

14. 2 banks of 4 - Junkyard gods
I think this band is an acquired taste, like Gin or Coffee. We know it was bitter and tough in the beginning but now we love our coffee...

15. London Elektricity - Syncopated city
Tony Colman continues to make drum and bass. Intense rythms and laidback vocals. Decent web presence and easiliy the best video of them all!

16. The Ting Tings - We started nothing
This is normally not my cup. Maybe I like them because it's a duo, maybe it's her singing, the strange bouncing dance or just good songs? Refreshing somehow.

17. Crazy P - Stop space return
I like these silly band videos, it shows they care and it's nice to see a band do this kind of an effort. For a fan, this is way better than the normal MTV-style videos.

18. Veronica Maggio - Och vinnaren är...
This will make no sense unless you speak swedish. It also helps if you have been a student in Uppsala. The best song on the album is Stopp.

19. Nor Elle - Taxi
I could not find even one song from the album on the web - what's up? See the album info for sound bites.

20. Jazztronik - JTK was Poni Hoax - Images of Sigrid
The release date of 28 December made me miss this fine entry. One of his best albums in a while. He's back to uptempo nujazz. The clip below is also available as a live version.

This month's comp was a bit rushed. It's mostly to have someting new in the car for the drive back home for Christmas.

Bennson - not bad album at all... came late in the year, and just might make it to my top favs of the year.
Btb - just a classic oldie that I found in the archives.
808 - another oldie.

MP3 sound bite (3.5MB)
20 seconds from each song. Cover shot: Crème brûlée. 9.5/10 points.

I suspect this album will be my #1 for 2008! It really impressed me from the first listen, and it's now been on heavy rotation for two days. There is so much of what I like here: jazzy in a non-traditional jazz way, nujazz and house influences (but light and discrete), lots of fusion (especially vocals and guitar). It reminds me of the best work of Pat Metheny, in his fusion style.

It's a delightful listen, easy and with a soul. It's also varied in sound and obviously done by skilled musicians. Quite Sane comes to mind.

A safe buy for nujazz/fusion fans, and scores 10/10.

This month's comp came a bit late because I was away, looking for some inspriration in Berlin. It is no coincidence many of the artists on here speak German.

Jazzanova - I'll post a separate review of their new album in a day or two.
Jukes - sounds just like Kirsty McCall, right?
Ed Motta - one of my old time favs is back with a new album, "Chapter 9". All lyrics are by Robert Gallagher and the sound is more straightforward. Motta is all talent, as you can see in this older clip. The new style and english lyrics should suit a larger audience. I hope so. He's a nice guy and he, like me and all other nice guys, likes his Framboise and Kriek beers...
Nor elle - fantastic tune from an album that sound just like this, all the way.
Uusi fantasia - it's difficult to find good music from Finland. I don't even know where to start looking.

MP3 sound bite (3.5MB)
20 seconds from each song. Cover shot: white (rc) chocolate cake. 8/10 points.

The artist name - and record label - is a bit misleading. At least I would expect more electronic pop from Mole/Listening Pearls. Behind the name is Terry Lee Brown Junior - a House DJ from Darmstadt, Germany. A bit surprising, there is ambient, downbeat and a hint of dub to be found here.

I find the dark sound very appealing. It's full of deep bass, almost physical - and pictoresque like a movie soundtrack. The taxi reference is just about that - a taxi ride through the streets, forming a movie by itself. The sound reminds me of Booka Shade's The Sun & the Neon Light. Maybe that's just an geographical coincidence (Booka Shade's Frankfurt being very close to Darmstadt). Anyway, Taxi is highly recommended in this instrumental dub electonica genre!

Ripped an old CD with "jungle jazz". Maybe it's just long time since I played this album, but I found it nice and refreshing actually.

MP3 sound bite (2.8MB). 20 seconds from each song, downsampled a bit.

Isn't it almost a universal taste, these Brazilian classics? I don't know anyone that doesn't like them (given the right context of course). On this album you'll find an updated version of bossa and samba. There is a drum'n'bass influence as the name suggests but it's not too strong.

The band consists of Darwin Barboza, music producer with a long experience, and Darlly Maia, Brazilian singer and guitarist.

I find most of the album very enjoyable, especially songs like Agua de beber and Corcovado are nice. Ok, we all heard too many versions of these songs but I still think these are enjoyable. They are not too far from the originals, but instead just slightly updated in the sound. The drum'n'bass influence is not as heavy as on Sambass 3 (the best ever album in this genre). It has the right blend of brazilian softness and a new electronica sound. Makes for a perfect pre-club lounge mix on a friday.

Sound samples available at myspace. Check out Flor de lis - very nice take. Mas que nada is probably the best track, thanks to the harder beat.

Not too bad comp this month imo. Some latin and soul vibes, then just a bit disco, and a finish with a dub feeling.

re:jazz - The new album is a bit jazzier than I wished for, but still nice. I especially like the vocals, like on this track.
Maysa - The right song, the right producer and she's pretty hard to beat... that voice is big and beautiful.
Stephanie McKay - a decent album. This track surprises with a thick bass line and being very non-standard soul, if you understand what I mean.
Crazy P - I'm quite exited by their new album. I want more of this.
The Cure - nice remix.

MP3 sound bite (3.5MB)
20 seconds from each song. Cover shot: a red vs. blue (berry) pie. 6/10 points.

This is music for the club land out there.

If you like 80s disco just a bit this is worth a closer look. The sound is quite modern so it's not just for disco freaks, according to my deep house friends. James Baron and Chris Todd put the bass in the front in the mix - "Caught up" feels like slow grinding funk, maybe because they now are a "real" band and not just another producer duo. Danielle Moore on vocals, works for me. The live feeling is there now, and in that sense it's quite different from A night on earth and 24 Hour Psychedelic Freakout. All albums worth an extra look imo.

Just a quick note, I've had the album just a few hours in my hands. Mr. Bongo put out this nice 2CD collection of classic originals from the Fania label and on the second CD some indeed nice remixes (by Gilles Peterson, Nicola Conté, Louie Vega, Bugz in the Attic etc).

Check out Ralfi Pagan - I Didn't Want To Have To Do It (4 Hero) (20 seconds mp3 clip) - the track of the month?

This month's compilation turned out different from what I had planned. It's so on the club side, but that's not really my normal taste (not this much anyways).

Crazy P - I'm waiting for their new album "Love on the Line". Should be out any day. This is a great song imo. From the 2007 album Collection.
Jazztronik - from a new EP; nothing special but still ok.
Sneaky - nice with music you never heard before. The vocals remind me of the Ting Tings a bit; how unexpected!
Lindstrøm - the whole album is brillant, if you like this minimal style. The tracks are extremely long, and there's only 4 tracks on the whole album. This one is 16 minutes.

MP3 sound bite (3.5MB)
20 seconds from each song. Cover shot: toffee and ice cream at "en smula". 9/10 points.

This comp is a quick fix to have something new to play. Some of the newer tracks are more then ok. For exemple, I really like NERD and Lady Gaga. Samatha James' whole album is worth checking out.

MP3 sound bite (3.5MB)
20 seconds from each song. Cover shot: coconut flake cookie. 6/10 points.

I have her hit single "Rise" but why I didn't check out the album earlier I don't know. A one hit thing I thought (without any reason at all). It turns out the album is nice. It is so close to Aya's album Strange Flower, in style and sound. Sweet vocals, bass heavy, smooth.

Swedish soul, from Nils "Melo" Tull. This is the kind of soul that almost never gets played on radio. The album is (imo) very good but lacks a hit. It would be nice if more people would hear this.

The style is like those slow ballads that Janet sometimes does - sound of light rain in the background, someone leaving, downtempo chorus, no more love, a piano playing, bitter taste, a slow dance alone, more piano and no funk whatsoever, heavy rain, the end.

For me, this is the strength of the album. There are almost no weak songs (well, the lyrics at times) and you can easily play this over and over. It sounds the same, all the time. There's no funky tunes, no uptempo hits, no Timbaland. It is dark and sad all the way. In that sense it reminds me of Lewis Taylor or D'Angelo.

At the moment I cannot think of a better Swedish soul album.

Melo will play at Berns, 3rd of August 2008. I'll try to be there.

It's nice to have some new music for the long car rides in the summer. It's not exactly car music but still... This month's compilation is more than usual based on the Sonar label.

Ting Tings - see my earlier post.
Poni Hoax - I'm impressed by their albums. They include so many different styles on the album it makes you just a bit confused. I thought they were a typical indie pop band, but "Antibodies" is a very nice example of new wave. And they are french - another surprise.
Rej - Ok, I know it is a bit much putting the same song three times in a row. The versions are all different so it should be alright I think. A modern electronica classic, this song. I'm very fond of the Sonar Kollektiv take.
Appel - it's refreshing having such a good electronica album for the summer. Music in the summer usually is reggae, jazz or something else soft. The album Talk To Your Angel cuts through it all.

MP3 sound bite (3.5MB)
20 seconds from each song. Cover shot: apple pie. 7/10 points.

Not my music normally but the live performance is worth seeing. Sometimes live means everything. (ok, there's also a tape playing somewhere, but I think you'll understand what I mean)

The orcherstra is fifteen musicians strong. This Sonar Kollektiv (SK) super-group is mostly made up of label artists. For me this is the album of the summer!

The songs are re-makes of older SK songs. There are so many excellent songs here it makes little sense naming them. You can read all the details at the SK site. I just want to say that "No Use" - from Jazzanova's album In Between - is one of the best nujazz songs ever.

Click album for band's site.

Some initial soul tunes from Incognito's excellent new album. Then moving towards deep house, via hiphop.

Incognito - Maysa does this well (track 1). I also like "When the sun.." because the breaks remind me of some of the old aj classics (like BNH).
Jay-Z - not so much for Jaz-Z maybe, I'm a D-Influence fan.
Grey - Should I hide that I also like commercial hits like this...?
Booka - not that far from Trentemøller. Booka Shade is a German techno/electrohouse duo, Walter Merziger and Arno Kammermeier. See bookashade.com.
Tellier - yes, he took part in the Eurovision Song Contest.
JDC - I grew up loving these uptempo mixers. They are not so easy to find now though. Have a try at youtube. According to that page: "JDC Records was an important record distributor during the golden years of dance music (1976-1990). It was originally located in San Pedro, California and owned by Jim and Dale Callon The company name came from their initials, JDC. "

MP3 sound bite (3.5MB)
20 seconds from each song. Cover shot: surprisingly good almond (tosca) pie. 7/10 points.

I didn't even realize they had a new album going on until it was here. It's pretty good, and very much Incognito. It's even something you could call acidjazz.

The brass section is busy, it has the best vocals money can buy and the overall sound is surprisingly fresh. "I've been waiting" is the track for me: Maysa on vocals and a heavy (slap) bass. The album is close in quality to Adventures In Black Sunshine.

I must have been insane - why I never bought this album in 2005 is beyond me. I had a couple of MP3s and liked them but never got any further. This album is equally good as their new album Seven ways to wonder. Maybe even better, since it is more uptempo and dance/club oriented. "Soul fusion" I would like to call it. Angela Johnson on most vocals - makes it even more strange why I didn't pay better notice.

Click cover for band's site.

Angla on guest vocals with Reel People

Some initial soul tunes, moving on to reggae light and an ending with slightly more electronica.

Duffy - I was not that impressed by the album, but now - when some of the hype is gone - I kind of like it. Maybe it's because it is not like most other mainstream albums.
Coldcut - from 1993, that's 15 years now!
Beady Belle - I'm getting soft. Lizz Wright, Bedingfield and now this. I'm a sucker for vocals like this. They are from Norway btw. http://www.beadybelle.com/
Angela Johnson - quality soul all the way. See my comments on her album.
Frost & Wagner - a reggae/dub remix project. See the album page at Sonar Kollektiv.
Matinalsystem - great tunes, very addictive. And here's a chance to practice your Spanish skills. Or try the Google translation.
Portishead - a big comeback and quite a change in style. A lot harder than expected. Almost brutal. It is quite difficult to listen to softer music after playing their album. Will surely make it to the top10 of 2008.

MP3 sound bite (3.5MB)
20 seconds from each song. Cover shot: how boring... the ever-present latte. 7/10 points.

A surprising setup on the album: Angela writes and produces, and then (mostly) lets guests do the vocals. It is not such a strange or bad idea, since the guests include Rahsaan Patterson, Maysa Leak, Julie Dexter, Eric Roberson, and many more...

In this "Neo Soud" genre this is one excellent album! Even if it is possible to recognize the style from her previous albums and Cooly's Hot-Box days, this feels more like straight-up soul. The 80's soul style is still there. It's only for soul-heads though.

Sound bites at myspace

Some Swedish stuff this month.

Q - starting with some old school style aj.
Rémy - more aj, from the nice (laid-back) album "First protocol - Incognito guitars". No stunners, no hits, just music.
Firefox - I'm not so sure about Keller's voice, but in a duet like this it is ok.
Maggio - I don't like that I like this...
Familjen - Swedish electronica with a real southern accent.
Tellier - the whole album "Sexuality" is good. French pop.
Reel - more aj, the retro sound suits me fine. It relaxes me hearing Omar on vocals; you don't need to worry about if he will hit that note, will there be wailing a la Stevie, will it sound like a set at old Bar Rhumba etc. It all of the above.
Phonique - with my current favourite Hunter...! Unexpected and good.

MP3 sound bite (3.5MB)
20 seconds from each song. Cover shot: raspberry chocolate mousse mess. 7/10 points.

Girls fight it out this month... Some of my current favs, of course. Not exactly my normal nujazz selection. A few comments:

Lizz - Tanita T. comes to mind. Not usually my cup, but a solid performance and you can hear the quality right through.
Hercules - Anthony H. is no girl but his voice can compete here. An odd album, but I like the hard dance style on the album.
MaryJ - The album...? I'm not so sure, sadly. "Stay down" works but I didn't find anything else for me. This song is quite alright though. More of this melancholic feeling.
Janet - Same here. As always, you have your hopes (too high) when it comes to some artist's albums. I've always had a weak spot for her slow, whispering songs.
Natasha - I saw a live take from (I think) Abbey Road Studios with her. Impressive. I like the very english style, but the song is too short, right? YouTube: Soulmate (Live from Abbey Road)
Keyshia - from 2005. For fans, check out this YouTube collection from this album.
Bembe - from the new 2bo4 album "Junkyard gods". More complex than most other songs here. Bembe wins imo.
Janet - Daft Punk fever (Daftendirekt sample)? video
Daft - the "original" sounds. Brilliant live mix. 10 minutes long.

MP3 sound bite (3.5MB)
20 seconds from each song. Cover shot: chocolate square with candy topping. 5/10 points.

A couple of electronica (or close) tracks. Very much a guy's selection.

Ane shows how to dance to dub.

Awful sound quality, but the crowd reaction... amazing.

Two good songs combined.

Utterly bizarre ending to this performance.

Brilliant DnB, nice vocals by Cleveland Watkiss.

Here's some of the best Keyshia links on YouTube, in order of quality (imo):

Keyshia Cole - I Changed My Mind: Live From The Village. This clip is the best one, but not possible to embed like the rest.

Live recordings can be... a mixed thing. The often poor sound quality makes me hesitate. This was a bit different: electronica sounds pretty much the same when performed live. It is more like a dj set. It reminds me of Kraftwerk's Minimum Maximum, also a "live" album similar in style. It is so much electronica it actually sounds like Kraftwerk at times. Click cover for band's site.

The crowd noise is actually refreshing, and some of the songs are surprisingly good in this format. Check out track 8, "The Prime Time of Your Life - The Brainwasher - Rollin' & Scratchin'". Catchy.

Bored, tired and jaded... these are not fun months. No sun, and few album releases this time of year. One exception here. Somehow this album found it's way into the playlist at work. I've always liked Reel people, but this was a surprise. It's really a solid album, with a hint of that (typical 80s) soul sound I grew up with. Not a retro thing at all though - it works as a modern uk soul take. "Soulful dance music" they call it and what could be better than that. I find this extremely satisfying. If you are anything like me, this is a safe buy.

As always, vocals are impeccable; Omar, Tony Momrelle (Incog), Imaani, Vanessa Freeman, Joy Rose (Incog) etc. Click cover for band's site.

Leaving the jazzier January style - going a bit more classic aj, and some electronica at the end and a great live radio recording.

NSM and Magic number - nothing special, just good music. Kind of a no-hit character, but I still like them. This could almost be called old school now?
Reel people - fantastic stuff. Cannot get enough of it! The album "Seven ways to wonder" is worth a closer look.
MdCL - I like the fusion side of this kind of electronica. I got hooked by the recent Politik album. This is from 2003 "Melodius Beats Volume 1".
Pommer - many people raved about him in their best of 2007 charts. This is the sound. Jazzy and intellectual. Quite ok but requires a couple of spins. Album "Drum Lesson Vol. 1".
Kosma - this track is a real killer. Quality all the way, an oldie from the 2005 album "New aspects".
Moloko - Live on radio. Just the DJ's intro (in Dutch) is worth the track! It's a weird sounding language... this is coming from a Swede!

MP3 sound bite (3.5MB)
20 seconds from each song. Cover shot: hommage to the town where many of the artists on this comp are from (or at least their record label). 9/10 points on style, 2/10 on visibility. It's Berlin Alexanderplatz btw.

A little on the jazzy side this month. A calm start.

Quasimode and Robert Glasper áre on Gilles' top5 of 2007.
Jill Johson - Swedish pop/country singer. Like Shania, only prettier... her 2005 album "The Christmas In You" is one of the few acceptable Christmas albums.
Bémbé Ségué - not only good together with Mark de Clive-Lowe, she can also do this nujazz thing.

MP3 sound bite (3.5MB)
20 seconds from each song. Cover shot: chocolate mousse. 6/10 points.

A Swedish newspaper has today published the list of most sold albums and singles in 2007. It's terrible. Don't read the list. Really.

Mostly soul in this years selection - is it my taste that is changing, or was it a soul year? Not much electronica at all, which isn't like me. I promise to be more on the electronica side in 2008.

I think this is the last year I will be doing it this style. Next year will be a top track list I think. The album as concept is still important for us oldies, but the single and online presence is more important. It will make a big difference in the selection I'm sure. Compiling a top album list tends to fokus on certain old school qualities, and I'm getting a little tired of this.

I've added a sound clip per album, so you get an idea of the sounds I like. I also list a youtube link - another important dimension of the music for sure. When it works, it really adds something to the song.

I've looked at some different top lists for inspiration, but it was a weak year I think (I say that every year). The albums on my top 10 are all good imo, but there were not that many candidates. The other top lists I thought were worth reading were Pitchfork's top 50 albums and SPIN's 40 best albums. The iTunes "staff picks" was also quite ok.

All 10 x 2 songs in one mp3 file (30 secs per song, downsampled, 4.7 MB)

1. Robin Thicke - The evolution of Robin Thicke
Solid, both in writing and performance. Smooth without being too sweet. Quite unknown album, for its quality I mean. It really should top more lists.

Complicated + Lost without you. (2 x 30 seconds, mp3)

2. Keyshia Cole - Just like you
A big album. Maybe it's just the initial fascination, but this could be a new classic album in this genre. Laid-back and holding back in a good way - less is often more. Check out tracks "Falling out" and "Give me more". I don't know how r&b could be any better.

Give me more + Just like you. (2 x 30 seconds, mp3)

3. Rodney Hunter - Hunterville
What? No videos at all? That's not really acceptable in 2007 guys! All I could find was this basic myspace page.
This is how Vienna sounds today. Not at all like K&D, but with an own style. I like this album a lot. Nice to play in the background, mixed in styles.
Definition pt 2 + Universe. (2 x 30 seconds, mp3)

4. 4hero - Play with the changes
Wikipedia says: "4hero is a band from Dollis Hill, North London, comprising Dennis 'Dego' McFarlane, Mark 'Marc Mac' Clair, Gus Lawrence, and Ian Bardouille. While the band is often cited as 4 Hero (or 4-Hero), 4hero is the style of the name used on the band's albums and website.".
The album is almost too polished and perfect. There's nothing wrong with rough and organic imo.

Bed of roses + Look inside. (2 x 30 seconds, mp3)

5. Jazztronik - Grand Blue
One thing's for sure: there will always be a new album by Ryota Nozaki. He's incredibly productive. He shows a new style and sound for every album. This is more "classic" Jazztronik though, almost like jazzfunk in style and maybe a little bit acidjazz too, no?

BRA. Step + Jazztronik had a party. (2 x 30 seconds, mp3)

6. Freemasons - Unmixed
I like quality dance music (if there is such a thing). This means bands like CrazyP and some house labels (Naked etc). I could have selected David Guetta instead I guess - he had an incredible year with lots of airtime. I know it's a bit lightweight but there's nothing wrong with that.
I'm quite weak for the vocals on Unmixed, like in this video clip. You'll see.

Love don't live here anymore + Uninvited. (2 x 30 seconds, mp3)

7. Miguel Migs - Those things
More of upbeat club music. More house than Freemasons but otherwise quite close. Lisa Shaw and Aya on vocals.

Side2side + Sometime. (2 x 30 seconds, mp3)

8. The Politik + The Politik
Bembé Segué and Mark de Clive-Lowe are The Politik. I like the funky, broken style. Not immediate music - you have to play it a number of times to get into it. A different kind of quality. There's a fun remix competition that could get you a place on their next album.

Saturn + She's gone. (2 x 30 seconds, mp3)

9. Albin Janoska - Le grand baheux
Who knew an album cover like that could hold this good music? Again Vienna. He used to produce old acidjazzers Count Basic.

All I wanna do + Ruffcutz. (2 x 30 seconds, mp3)

10. Jill Scott - The real thing: word and sounds vol. 3
She's better live than on album. The youtube clip clearly show this. A couple of strong tracks.

Only you + Wanna be loved. (2 x 30 seconds, mp3)

A little soul, swedish hiphop, more soul, the excellent Hunter, Nicole remixed, Swedes again, and then disco like no other (Freemasons used to be Phats & Small), and an impressive ending with an accoustic Callier set.

MP3 sound bite (3.5MB)
20 seconds from each song. Cover shot: raspberry pie. 5/10 points.

Not much going on... working on the Dec comp though. Meanwhile check out this remix.

What do you get when growing up down the street from another boy named Peter Kruder? I have seen Hunter's name here and there, mostly in the days when the dub sound of Vienna was huge. Now, Rodney has his second album out. It turns out it is absolutely great!

You can hear traces of the K&D sound on the album. Some tracks have a beat that is repeated over and over, with tiny variations and echo effects. The mix of soul and funk is like a DJ-set on its own. The "definition part 2 feat. l´enfant terrible" is a nice example - nothing really happens, the beats rolls on, smoke gets in the eye, more beats, a break, heads nod. Vienna is back!

I'm not too fond of double or tripple albums - no one is that good. So, maybe I shouldn't have done this comp as a double. Part 1 is uptempo/commercial, part 2 on the soul side.

MP3 sound bite, part 1 (3.3MB)
MP3 sound bite, part 2 (2.3MB)
20 seconds from each song. Cover shot: blueberries on stereoids. 5/10 points.

Nice, is my first impression. There's a lot to take, 17 tracks. Spoken word. Neo soul. Rap. It's a whole different thing, compared to "Who Is Jill Scott?". This requires more listening. Quality soul for sure. I think this will sound and feel twice as good live in concert.

My favourite tracks are the really slow ones, sung almost with a whispering voice - just like Janet Jackson does sometimes. "Come see me", "Wanna be loved" and "Only you" works for me.

This is not your average, bland pop star. One thing's for sure: she's never boring. The new album "overpowered" is out now. Check out the video "Let me know".

I listen to music most of the day at work. That's at least 5, maybe 10, albums per day. It's important to have a large archive of (ripped) music to select from. It's boring and hard work ripping old CDs so I tends to do that only when I'm tried of everything else I have available. In the last batch of ripped CDs I found an old Lewis Taylor album, from 1996.

Damn, this album is good. I had forgotten how good. You really should watch this (24 minutes) video - Lewis hanging in a tour bus, drinking tea. "Jay Kay... too happy for me". Strangely happy when he listens to vocal exercise tapes... Also, the 18 with a Bullet video is exceptional and a must see!

The usual mix of acidjazz, nujazz, and r&b. Going a bit more uptempo towards the end.

DJ Mibor - from a solid album. Straight up acidjazz from Spain.
Urban species - an oldie from 1994 (I think). Excellent vocals.
Politik - if only all songs on their album could be this good. A killer broken beat track.
Lekman - does not realy belong on my comps. I'm not sure I even like this...
Keyshia - this comp's star! Cannot get enough of her.
Motorcitysoul - I like this kind of nujazz. The guy behind it is Matthias Vogt btw.
Jazztronik - no comments, too much smoke here... rob, is that you?
Numbers - tight and groovy. Again, the vocals...! Valerie Etienne, of course. This is not "Magic Numbers" - that's something completely different. This is Demus (Young Disciples and 2 banks of four). From the album "Safety In Numbers" - an album that deserves to be better known. From 2001.

MP3 sound bite (3.3MB). 20 seconds from each song. Cover shot: raspberry crumble and vanilla. 9/10 points.

A big album. Maybe it's just the initial fascination, but this could be a new classic album in this genre. Going straight to my top-10 for 2007.

Laid-back and holding back in a good way - less is often more. Check out tracks "Falling out" and "Give me more". I don't know how r&b could be any better.

It's strange to still find sites that automatically resize your browser window and immediately starts playing music. Do label people have a life outside their own interests?
Clicking the image above opens a new window because of this.

It does not happen too often but sometimes you find an album so fitting your musical taste that you cannot stop playing it over and over. I'm afraid I will get tired and not be able to listen to it in the long run. I shouldn't play this more than 2 times per day.

Get your copy at Infracom.

Straight-up acidjazz/nujazz from Spain. The album is better than expected and sounds almost like a compilation with all its varied styles. Rather nice as a lounge album too. Some good instrumentals on here. Solid.

More from the Chocolate Soul label - a chance to refreshen your Spanish skills...

A quick note, got this right before leaving for the weekend. After a first spin it seems just as good as one can expect. A safe buy in my mind. I don't quite get why this is called a sideproject - it sounds like it always does, no? Click image for her site (nice design and style).

Get your copy at Sonar Kollektiv.

It's been a good year for broken beat. The 4Hero album is still on top imo. Now a new album to look for.

The Politik is Bémbé Ségué and Mark de Clive-Lowe, two big names in this genre. This album is for the fans of broken beat, not beginner stuff. Very solid though. The vocals! As good as it gets...

For practical reasons, I had to make the September compilation a bit early.

Maysa - some earlier tunes, from 2002. Amazing songs these two! The best money can buy.
The black seeds - I just had to include more from their great album, "Into the dojo".
Rahel & Eric Lau - A bit like Badu?
Pretz - Zero 7 keyboard player.
EZ Rollers - happy to see them out with more classic drum&bass.

MP3 sound bite (3.3MB). 20 seconds from each song. Cover shot: apple pie. 8/10 points. I'm not sure why, but don't you feel just a bit girlish drinking coffee from a cup like that...?

I'm back to work, but keeping the summer feeling here with a reggae-flavored compilation. Reggae light.

The black seeds - my god their album "Into the dojo" is good! Out on Sonar Kollektive.

MP3 sound bite (3.2MB). 20 seconds from each song. Cover shot: apricot pie w/raspberry icecream. 7/10 points.

Maysa continues on the path with classic soul songs. This take is nice and the album has been spinning a lot this summer. I like it. There's obviously something about her voice, but the song selection is also good.

The 2004 album Smooth Sailing album didn't work at all for me. "Sweet Classic Soul" from 2006 was better but not solid. "All my life" is, by far, her best solo album I think. For me, her best stuff is with Incognito.

Some tracks from the 2002 album "Out of the blue" are also worth looking into. I recently realized I had skipped this album - why I don't know. The track "Friendly pressure" is perhaps my all time favourite Maysa track.

This compilation starts and ends with Swedish artists, from soul to electronica. To be fair: I've been lazy this month - a lot of the songs are from the new Brownswood Bubblers 2 album.

Zzaj - an oldie from 1989. Sounds a bit dated but works sort of. Heavily influenced by Sade.
Adriana - on a good day I like this a lot. The style and voice is fine. I would like something more uptempo.
Sarah - lead singer from D-Influence.
JuJu - fantastic cover! I just love it. From the album "Bossa Nova is not a crime".
Boomclap - where does Gilles find this...?
NSM - as always, good broken stuff.

MP3 sound bite (3.5MB). 20 seconds from each song. Cover shot: plain coffee from Stabby. 4/10 points.

None of her albums has come close to her self-titled album from 1997, imo. This album is a step closer. The Neo Soul genre has moved on though. Maybe it isn't a fair comparison, but when I put "The evolution of Robin Thicke" side by side the difference becomes clear. Robin Thicke wins hands-down.

Even if the sound is nice - with a basic instrumentation and vocals in the centre - it doesn't reach that level when you play some album over and over. I found it works fine as lounge music, but not at all for headphone listening. Good or bad? Is it just that I miss a hit single?

All for love and Calling me are the best tracks. Maybe I sound bit negative but I had my hopes up. The album has an elegance to it, there are bossa influences I like, and the move to Expansion Records sounds like a good thing.

nu-disco some call it. It is a different style, I guess. I have not made my mind up yet, but there definitely are things I like: the bass sound and the production (Maurice Fulton). There's a good vibe on the album, and it doesn't sound like anything else out there. The track All woman is pretty catchy and funky.

Trying a bit harder style, mixing in disco and club sounds.

Grosvenor - slow start but an amazing track when it picks up some speed.
Rihanna - I like it, mostly for the influences or "samples". Quite irresistible.
Moodorand and Outwork - quirky but fun.

MP3 sound bite (3.5MB). 20 seconds from each song. Cover shot: Lemon pie from Hotell Floras Trädgård. 8/10 points.

Going a bit commercial this month, with my own current "best of" compilation. Ending with some more typical songs in this series tough. A few tunes deserve to be mentioned:

R. Kelly - his cooperations often shine. We need more in this style.
Rihanna - don't listen to this! Really. You will not be able to get it out of your head. The hit of the summer, already? The video ain't too bad. Eh, eh, eh, eh, under my um, umbrella, ella, ella...
Robin Thicke - Why didn't I know about this album? This is exactly my cup, and I had no idea... saw it first on MTV - how often do you pick up new music on MTV these days? Almost never I would say. That "Lost without you" single is fantastic!
Blue six/Miguel Migs - vocals by Aya and Lisa Shaw. This is it.

MP3 sound bite (3.5MB). 20 seconds from each song. Cover shot: Sweden's best café in 2004, En liten smula. 9/10 points.

My apologizes for not writing here in a long time. I still buy music just as before, I just don't find the time to write about it. Anyway, here's a start to document some of the better recent albums.

Maybe not what you would expect from someone signed to the Neptunes label. This is sweet, sweet soul. Quite refined and with a delicate touch. I find it surprisingly solid - music like this often lasts a single or two, not a whole album. A safe buy.

This is something completely different. Funky house, with a better-than-average female vocals. I'm quite fond of this style, and the singers. Almost everything on the label Naked Music sounds a bit like this. Ok, Migs' new album is not out on Naked, but he used to be there.
Very solid album. It's happy, upbeat music. It reminds me of the CrazyP style of refined disco.

As usual, one should buy everything Jazzanova releases. This is not quite as commercial as the first "broad casting" compilation. Still, worth looking into for fans of eclectic nujazz. Sound samples at the Sonar site.

Deep house, by Germany's new stars Âme. On a roll right now, these guys...

Packed cd this month, 16 tracks and not one second left.

The Makossa + Megablast album is excellent. Mixed in style, harder sound than expected.
Tracey Thorn, equally good.

MP3 sound bite (3.7MB). 20 seconds from each song. Cover shot: Swedish hard bread (knäckebröd) and fresh fish (strömming). 9/10 points.

It sounds like much of her previous work, mostly because her voice is such an defining part. Her voice is so unique imo. This being a solo album made me think it somehow would be different, but it is not. It's like a new Everything but the Girl-album.

"It's all true" is a fantastic song, very catchy. All of the songs with harder beats, or dance, sound great. Don't know why, but I was surprised by how much I liked this album.

Strong beginning this month - atjazz delivers a nice remix (as always), the Jazzanova theme reminds me of the breaks BNH used to do. JoyD deserves to be more known. Reel people, nice change with that 80s style, sounds like something from SOS Band. Chungking - I've played that song over and over - fantastic voice; the skylab remix is even better, if you are planning to buy the single.

4Hero also deserves mentioning - an excellent album, many good songs on there.

MP3 sound bite (3.5MB). 20 seconds from each song. Cover shot: Egg sandwich + raspberry pie. 7/10 points.

I've always thought the tradition in jazz, to do covers of standards, is strange. It's like the performance is everything and the song writing means nothing. Ok, only a few artists are gifted enough to both be a song writer and performer. This is why I was happy to hear that these two Swedish jazz singers were doing a album with Steely Dan covers. Not only is this a fresh change in the song material, it is also a statement on the value of good songs.

To me, Steely Dan is not jazz. However, the interpretations on this album sound quite natural. It's mostly two voices and a piano. It's definitely a jazz take, maybe not a typical one though. The production is so basic you could easily mistake this for a demo. Small gestures.

I like their performance, and the straight-on style. Being a Steely Dan fan, I miss some of the sound quality and the intellectual touch of the originals. This cover album does not have that typical SD groove - but then again, it was probably never the idea. The focus is on the songs and everything else is secondary.

Even if it mostly sounds like the old 4hero, it still isn't quite the same. There are the massive strings in the background, the vocals are just as good (if not even better). But, it's not as uplifting or catchy as they once were. It lacks the monumental feeling of the past even if I like it as an "album".

The overall feeling I get is of a broken beat album, updated to a current sound. The production is clean, waiting for additional interpretations? I suspect I may like this more in the long run.

Let's face it: all Christmas albums are crap. Everyone of them, basically. Those few songs that have a hint of quality gets played over and over (a bit of Run DMC, Moyet, Pretenders etc).

The somewhat varying quality may not be fixed with this release, but it certainly got funnier and funkier. A Christmas album by Bootsy! Who saw that one coming?

It's not all big laughs and jokes - this is one of the best christmas album I own, seriously. It cuts like a knife through the rest of sugar-coated holiday albums.

Going "Lounge" this month; plenty of echoes, laid-backed sounds, slow tempo and electronic piano.

The Swedes (Jay-Jay + Salem al Fakir + SLS) on this comp are holding their own.

MP3 sound bite (3.2MB). 20 seconds from each song. Cover shot: Egg + brownie. 5/10 points.

Starting this year's series with some Swedish soul. Watch out for the album by Salem Al Fakir, out soon they say. It's going to be big!

Included a couple of tracks from my top-10 in 2006, like Donald Fagen and Trentemøller.

MP3 sound bite (3.0MB). 20 seconds from each song. Cover shot: Classic combo. 7/10 points.

Mole, a label in south of Germany, has been around for ten years now. This is their 75th release. Many of their releases are a mix of lounge, electronica, drum'n'bass and pop. It's often straightforward stuff and quite easy to like. This compilation is a nice mix of the label's artists.

Sound samples at their site. I usually buy my Mole albums from Humpty Records.

Here we go again. This year I feel I'm too early with this chart. I would have liked to see some more of other people's lists - just to make sure I didn't forget something.

At first I thought I wouldn't even get a top 10, maybe just a top 5 or so. But, it turns out there were a few nice albums after all in 2006. Not as strong as last years lineup, but still.

All 10 x 2 songs in one file (downsampled, 4.7 MB)

1. Trentemøller - The last resort

I was really blown away by this album. A mainly instrumental double cd with progressive dub electronica wouldn't normally do that. At least I wasn't expecting that.
It kind of reminds me of the feeling when you first heard Portishead's Dummy. Not the sound, the feeling I mean. The album is big like a landscape, fitting an experimental art movie. A strange movie, by Peter Greenaway or David Lynch.
I like the physical experience that you get when played in big speakers. It's not easy to listen to the album - it goes on forever. You cannot listen to it on low volume - it just doesn't make any sense that way. It requires something like Audio-Tronic speakers - not something your average mp3 player will handle. I'm actually not quite sure how to listen to it; I play it at work, leave for a coffee break, return to find it still playing, fetch some things in the library, again it is still playing but now with even more energy and building a climax. It sounds like the same song, or is it just a theme on the album?
The live performance of "Moan" on national Danish television/radio, featuring Ane Trolle is spectacular IMHO. A held-back and controlled ecstasy.
Always something better + Moan.

2. Clara Hill - All I Can Provide

I've said it before - this is the modern sound of Berlin. There are many things to like about the album. Her voice, the delicate performance, the dark soundscape, the guest appearances. Electronica, but still heavy on the soul side. Not as catchy as the previous "Restless times" maybe. The mix of her soft voice and the harder melancholic beats is nice. Bittersweet.
Hard to say + Paper chase.

3. Monday Michiru - Routes

We fans have many times thought it all was over. The output over the years has been very varied in quality and almost nothing of that first freshness (from the UFO days) was to be found. But as Dusty Groove wrote "If you were ready to get tired of Monday's sound and style, this isn't the album to do it". I like this "comeback" very much - maybe it's because of less co-producers or the live recording in the studio? A couple of killer tracks, like "Be who you are", "Touch the sky" and "Remember". Attached to tunes like that! For me, this is very immediate and I need only to hear a few seconds of a track like those to know I'm going to love it. A sentimental favorite, if you like.
Her best album so far I think. Her recent change into more of a singer-songwriter hasn't affected the overall sound - still plenty of jazz and bossa influences, and that heavy bass we've come to expect. Thanks.
Be who you are + Touch the sky.

4. Markus Enochson - Night games

A brutal electronica and house sound. It's quite a free form of house, and not at all like some of his earlier work. Again, more Berlin, less New York - if that makes any sense. A high-tech sound combined with soulful vocals. The steady beats and saturated dance sound is a great party tool. It's a clean and minimal sound, based on very hard drums and beats. Behind it all, you can hear a quiet and reserved Swede coming out to play thanks to the music!
Tonight the night + Take me away.

5. Zero 7 - The Garden

I sense a carefree approach and relaxed attitude behind it all. To me there's a flow and inner quality in this kind of soft approach. Way better than many other strained efforts to produce something delicate and light. I don't mind the earthy colors at all. "Today" is an excellent song btw.
Today + You're my flame.

6. Bugz in the attic - Back in the doghouse

A big phat sound, produced and fine-tuned to death. Very rich, very much of everything. The broken beat camp will never survive with this kind of approach. Crazy good vocals. A new kind of funk. If Prince did anything funky now, it would/should sound like this.
Redhanded + Consequences.

7. Alice Smith - For Lovers, Dreamers & Me

This doesn't belong here, because I've struggled with this one. For me, this is an aquired taste. Slightly bluesy, I hear the sound of the country-side. There is no doubt this is a quality album. A refreshing artist even if it doesn't come naturally to me.
Do I + Love endeavor.

8. Donald Fagen - Morph the cat

Groovier than expected. Almost with a jazzfunk twist. Music for oldies or hifi nerds? Not at all as grey as I first expected. I find the skilled performance appealing.
Mary shut the garden door + What I do.

9. Whitest Boy Alive - Dreams

Not the best of singers, but definitely one with character. Unplugged club music. Brilliant at times.
Burning + Fireworks.

10. Airmate - Carry on wiseguy

Hannes Bieger produces more of that Berlin type of soul. A warm club feeling, and a pop-appeal in the more catchy tunes. Surprisingly solid, unlike most other albums in this genre. The many guest vocals provides a broad mix of sounds. I'm genuinely impressed.
No chains + Slow down.

Soulish. Acoustic. Mainly based on the compilation Soul Lounge 3. This was a quick compilation before the work on the best of 2006 begins.

Saint privat - A bit strange or too esoteric? Maybe. In headphones you hear dub echo effects in the background... can't wait for the dub remix album!
Conya - I'm still struggling with the album "Love rain down". Some days I kind of like it, other days I don't get it all. There are a couple of songs that work most of the time.
Gwen - the new album is a disappointment, for me. Too many gadgets and "fun" samples. Plain songs would be enough I think, with her excellent voice. Sometimes less is more.
Alice Smith - I first thought I wouldn't like her album "For Lovers, Dreamers & Me" at all, but it grows on you. Quality stuff.
Adolphson - a classic Swedish hit from ages ago. 1981 I think. Funny how a quality song still works.
Divine comedy - I blame this on my friend's recommendations. Not something I normally buy, but you can hear there's something going on here. Artsy, right?

MP3 sound bite (3.7MB). 20 seconds from each song. Cover shot: Sosta Bar, Stockholm. 9.3/10 points (on coffee alone).

Not very nujazz at all this month. Mainly pop and soul. Lots of Tosca.

Tolstoy - the best track on the new album. With a hint of a fusion-like quality towards the end. This song, remixed by Jazzanova or the re:jazz team would be great. Or with a proper fusion band? Santa: I wish Azymuth did a remake of this track. Thank you.
Naomi - the long-awaited album is here. It sounds nothing like the previous albums. To me, they were the typical electronic piano lounge masters. Now it's straigh up pop. It's not bad, just very unexpected. The sound is a lot like Phoenix'!
Beverly Knight - spent the last of my credit at allofmp3.com before they finally close... I like her old-school sound. There should be more new music made in this genre.

MP3 sound bite (3.1MB). 20 seconds from each song. Cover shot: bagel + cranberry muffin + brownie. 7/10 points.

Managed to find 17 songs this month. Starting off with a few good vocalists. Ending with club tunes and a harder electronica sound.

re:jazz - I think the best tracks on their new album are when they do covers. Especially the more club oriented originals.
Incognito - amazing album of covers (their own and others). The two best tracks are with Jocelyn and Carleen.
Soundscape - classic AJ, from 1996.
Everybody loves the sunshine - I put these back to back. The quiet boys did this in 1997, I think?
Falk - very typical sound for him. Sometimes it worksm like on these two tracks.
Airmate - surprisingly good album btw. Solid.

MP3 sound bite (3.1MB). 20 seconds from each song. Cover shot: chocolate mousse in a chocolate cup! 7/10 points.

New releases from the Incognito camp are always good news. I've been very satisfied with the last three or four albums.

This is not a proper full-length album - as their web site says - it contains new arrangements of four old Incognito classics. Plus, covers of Roy Ayers' "Everybody Loves The Sunshine", Earth Wind & Fire's "That's The Way Of The World", "Summer In The City" and America's "Tin Man".

As usual, the line-up is pretty amazing. Carleen Anderson, Jocelyn Brown, Maysa, Joy Rose, Imaani and Tony Momrelle on vocals. I pretty much like everything about the album, but I've always been a big fan so I don't know if that's of any use to you.

The album is close to an unplugged session. All recordings are performed with small gestures. I think Carleen's voice and the Incognito sound is a good match. She does Tin Man very well. Her voice is slightly rugged and darker, as a contrast to the overall polished Incognito style. Jocelyn Brown and Maysa can sometimes be almost too perfect. Jocelyn on the stripped down version of "Always there" is perfection though.
I'd love to hear this album performed live on tour. A gig at the Forum or the Jazz Café and I'm so there!

Small MP3 sound bite. 20 seconds from 3 songs, downsampled.

1. Everybody Loves The Sunshine 2. Everyday 3. Summer In The City 4. Always There 5. Raise 6. Still A Friend Of Mine 7. Tin Man 8. Crave 9. Deep Waters 10. You Are Golden 11. That's The Way Of The World

If I count correctly, this is the fourth album from the re:jazz project. The style has changed a bit with this release and they experiment with a more straightforward jazz band sound.

For newcomers - the idea is to re:make (club) songs in a jazz style; CeCe Penistons "Finally", Coldcuts "People hold on", Joe Smooths "Promised land" etc.

The jazzier pieces are, well, jazzier in a traditional sense. It's more like a proper band this time, and focus is on the band's performance. On previous albums some of the shine has come from the many guest appearances. The song selection before was on the nujazz front line. Now, it's a bit less edgy I think. They are showing more of themselves this time.

There's a big band sound, on "People hold on", with Tobias Kremer Big Band. Quite fitting and fun. "Promised land" starts with something that, at first, sounds like Jevetta Steele's "Calling you" from the movie Bagdad Café. Nice vocals on that song, a duet with Inga Lühning and Mattias Vogt. It's too slow and laid back to be a hit, but it is maybe the best track on the album. Hancock's "Rock it" was a surprise. "Finally" is quite nice, the ending with Jaydee's "Plastic dreams" is well performed.

I get the feeling of a band that is going on tour with this material. It should be a no-brainer to invite them to the many jazz festivals next summer. Personally, I kind of miss the more daring and exclusive song selection. Maybe that's too much a fan's view from someone with quite some time in the nujazz/acidjazz genre.

Small MP3 sound bite. 20 seconds from 3 songs, downsampled.

A mixed set that turned out a bit electronic. The sound - at least in headphones - is deep, dark and synthetic. The highlight for me are the Bierbeben and Clara Hill. Germany leads the way.

Markus - a deep (house) sound. Unexpected, but well done. The whole album is rather good.
Clara - not quite as easygoing as the previous album. Darker, heavier. Nice touch with the many collaborations, even if it easy to get an overdose of Duplaix, Britt and friends sometimes. The Slope collaboration feels fresh.
Aquarius - latin rules. Especially these old classics. Some day I'm going to make a compilation only with latin classic covers.
Jaxx - more of the typical Jaxx sound. It doesn't work that well for me anymore, not a full album anyways. A single or two is still fine. The energy is always high with the Jaxx.
Outkast - quality music but not my cup normally. There are a couple of highlighs on the album. These two tracks are nice because they are a little different.
Ryuichi - nice remix. Spacy. Nice sample.
Sumo - a follow-up from last month's new Swedish music exhibition.
Bierbeben - maybe I'm sick, but I get happy when I hear this kind of music - the lyrics and the band profile isn't exactly "happy" so I don't understand why. I'm bad.
Kim - I like the remixes of the older stuff on the new album. I know, it's only because of nostalgia and her pretty face but still...

MP3 sound bite (3.1MB). 20 seconds from each song. Cover shot: mud pie. 7/10 points.

German electronica. Nothing like Kraftwerk though. It is very electonic and German sounding. From Hamburg and Berlin. I like the acoustic guitars that make it sound like some modern folk/nujazz bands. It is also enough "artsy" to be fun.

I think this is very refreshing, and with a unique sound. The best album in a long while! Their homepage is also refreshing...

This is Erlend Øye's latest project. It's music without any programmed elements, despite being dance music. His music is always a bit atonal. Not off-key, but with a slight disturbance in the soundscape. It's not at all immediate even if it can be catchy at times. I like this style a lot.

The band played in my home town Uppsala yesterday but I couldn't go as it was a closed gig, only for undergrad students!

This is the modern sound of Berlin. Soul girl Clara is good on her own, but she also has some special friends. On the album she meets up with Atjazz, Victor Duplaix and King Britt, to name a few. Mixing it up like that makes sure it never gets too repetitive.

Readers of this blog know I like this style. The tracks that get close to electronica are the best imo. Her voice seems to suit the (synthetic) backing keyboard sound - it provides a clear contrast that is appealing. This is best heard on the Atjazz collaboration, "Nowhere". On her own, as in "Wake up", she still manages to set the mood. I prefer the slightly uptempo tunes. Even if many tracks will work quite well in clubland, the is no real killer track here. I guess the remixes to follow will solve that.

Get your copy at Sonar Kollektiv.

Some select Swedish stuff on this comp, probably unknown artists for most. Tracks 7-12 are by Swedes.

Zero 7 - some (like Portishead) complain and whine about Zero7 being muzak, but I think the album is surprisingly good. It was way better than expected. I was quite tired of their slow vocals on the previous albums, but found this refreshing somehow. Strong material I guess.
Ramjac - is Björn Ehlen, an old acidjazzer that turned to funk and instrumental hiphop. He says he was inspired by the early Mo'Wax sound. Plenty of local guests on the album. A hard sound. Groovy in a nujazz way.
Up Hygh - Brilliant. One of the best album out of Sweden in a long time! Pure-P och Rick Skizzo, as so many music producers here, are into the hiphop vibe. Be sure to check out the track "Be known featuring Eska". Eska! That deserves cred in my world...
SUMO - This is the Swedish Underfed Music Operators, or Alf Tumble and Combo Rydén. Dance music, with a twist. Unexpected style with all the latin and jazz influences on the album. Deephouse is the main thread.
Kelis - finally! I've been waiting for the album too long. The first single and the first couple of tracks on the album are really boring imo. It's the second half that's the stuff I'm looking for. I selected two slight discrete tracks, Trilogy and Goodbyes. I think those kind of slow-paced songs suit her voice. Small gestures sometimes make all the difference.
The whitest boy alive - This is the acoustic band of Erlend Øye. He normally does electronica, as best heard on the DJ Kicks compilation. I highly recommend the DJ Kicks by Erlend. It's a fantastic re-work of selected pop-electronica. It was #7 on my top 10 of 2004.
Maggio - music from the town where I live, Uppsala. You have to understand Swedish to get the point. I cannot decide if I like or hate this.

MP3 sound bite (3.1MB). 20 seconds from each song. Cover shot: brownie + soda. 5/10 points.

I got two albums from Freddy himself - the self-titled one and Politicamente incorrecto. I've written about this kind of music before; it's mainly music for musicians in my mind. Especially since Freddy plays the bass - this is never going to be a big solo instrument. The music is funky in a slow style, sometimes with discrete vocals, and bass heavy.

I like some of this, mainly because of the fusion-like style. The album Politicamente incorrecto reminds me a bit of the sound on the solo albums of acidjazzer Tony Remy. As I said, music for musicians. The track Victorious is close to the Azymuth sound.

The long-awaited album from the Bugz is out. With band members like Orin "Afronaught" Walters, Paul "Seiji" Dolby, Kaidi Tatham, Daz-I-Kue, Alex Phountzi, Cliff Scott, Mark Force and Matt Lord, the expectations are high. If it would contain another track like "Booty la la" then success would be guaranteed. It was the track of the year according to Gilles, in 2004 right? No such track to be found, but many other nice bits and pieces.

The lack of another monster hit will make this an album for the broken beat fans only. As an album, it is not at all immediate (as Booty...) and will require a number of spins. Most tracks are jerky, syncopated and with heavy b-lines. Broken beat does not get much better than this. It's not exactly made worse by having a vocalist like Bembé Segué.
The slightly unpredictable style reminds me of some of Missy's experiments. After a while, the mix of jazzy sounds, house and 80s funk is catchy, uplifted by the complex vocals. When there's so little going on in the funk domain IMO, this album should be able to find a new home next to some old Prince and P-funk albums.

1. Intro 2. Move Aside 3. I'm Gonna Letcha 4. No More 5. Once Twice 6. Redhanded 7. Doghouse (Interlude) 8. Knocks Me Off My Feet 9. Consequences 10. It Don't Work Like That 11. Sounds Like 12. Happy Days 13. Don't Stop The Music 14. Inna Row 15. Worla Hurt 16. Booty La La

Stuff from HedKandi compilations, the new Jazzanova Broad casting, the new Heavies album, the Malheiros remix album, older Sambass3 leftovers, etc.

MP3 sound bite (3.1MB). 20 seconds from each song. Cover shot: butter bun. 8/10 points.

My regular acidjazz/nujazz readers can skip this entry. Nothing for you here this time. You have been warned.

The first album I bought with my own money was by City Boy - The day earth caught fire. I blame a friend's older brother for this taste in music. I was more into disco really.

This was in 1979 I think. The style is progressive rock, from Birmingham, England. I still like this album, and yesterday bought the albums City Boy, Dinner at the Ritz, Young Men Gone West and Book Early. I may have them on vinyl somewhere but of course I need them in digital form.

More information at the City Boy fan page. Plenty of info and also some texts from band members. Max Thomas talk about the very early years is a good read. Excellent fan site.

MP3 sound bite (3.1MB). 20 seconds from each song. Cover shot: the band, taken from the fan page. Signatures provided by Dag Young (as shown on the band's unofficial fan site).

allofmp3 is a slightly different and unusual music site. The prices are about 1/10th of those at iTunes Music Store. They claim to be legal, according to the Law of the Russian Federation. Hard to tell, but I have no reason not to believe them.

I like that they carry so many old albums and not just music on the current charts. I bought some oldies (70s rock...) that I haven't heard since I was a kid - for about $1-2 per album! Incredible.

The steps in the purchase process are not exactly fine-tuned and mature like Amazon's... The download section is bizarre ("Do not left-click"), you must download each song in an album separately, and the payment is a bit unusual. You pay in advance to some third party company (Dutch?) and then you use that as store credit. I don't know if I'm being paranoid about it, but there are times when you don't exactly feel comfortable leaving you credit card number on a site.

Again, I have no real reason for complaining or mistrusting them. I'm just saying it was a very different online shopping experience. With regard to usability, not so great. Money-wise, excellent.

Some exclusive tracks from the Osaka label. It's more of that jazz-based dancefloor stuff. A hip style. Club-friendly but still works in headphones. Not a bargin as such perhaps, but cheap if you compare to the separate cost for all these tracks on vinyl.

01. Sleep Walker - River Of Love (feat Bembe Segue) 02. Bakura - Empty Faces (LP mix) 03. Masa Collective - Love Is Everywhere (KJM Reconstruction) 04. DJ Kawasaki - Like Thunder (feat Ernesto) 05. Mark De Clive-Lowe - Twilight (feat Lady Alma) 06. Markus Enochson - You'll Shine (feat Demetreus - The Full Shine mix) 07. Hajime Yoshizawa - Endless Bow (original mix) 08. Hajime Yoshizawa - I Am With You (main mix) 09. Chris & Nina & Friends - Mash Banana 10. Bossa Free - Rise Me Up 11. Bakura - Thinking About (DJ Mitsu The beats remix)

Five years on radio, 10 years as a band, time has come for a "compilation that combines highlights from the most recent back catalogue with exclusives from long time Sonar Kollektiv affiliates, rookies and brand new talents."

Many, many great songs here. There's plenty of that typical Sonar Kollektiv sound - slightly trippy, influences from the broken beat camp, and a genuine club touch. A big compilation.

1. Candlelight - Wahoo 2. Orat Least - Slapped Eyeballers 3. Intermission - Soulphiction 4. Excelsior - Ame 5. Flashback - Fat Freddy's Drop 6. Skitsophrenic - Slapped Eyeballers 7. In The (Re)Mix - Capitol A 8. I Just Wanna Sing For You - Weeks, Norman & The Revelations 9. No Memory Of Time - Eva Be & Joe Dukie 10. Clapz - Studio R & Mocky 11. Ain't Nothing Like This Feeling - Studio R & Mocky 12. Boom Clicky Boom Klack - Jazzanova 13. Nowhere I Can Go - Hill, Clara & Atjazz 14. Rhythm My Vision - Agora 15. Serve It Up - Clyde & Capitol A 16. Sun Of A Beach - Roche, Pharoah 17. Beatzeps - Jaslopski 18. Step Off - Arken 19. So Long - Arken 20. Just A Lil' Lovin' - Jazzanova & Outlines

This is a continuation of the Dwitza and Poptical albums. It's more of that jazz-soul mix Ed does. It's not always direct, instead it has a fusion-like complexity. His voice sounds very Brazilian to me (why wouldn't it?), more so than many other Brazilian artists. Good music for the summer imo.

DJ Patife - first I was disappointed by the album, but I was wrong. It's a slightly different style of drum&bass, slower, not so much "in your face" as d&b used to be. It's nice like this.
Omar - more new stuff. This is the Omar we know from the old aj days. I think he sometimes too much mixes good with the bad. Not very consistent in style.
Latrice - I think I recognize the lyrics from some other song, but cannot remember... anyone?
Tunng - Who thought folk music could be like this?
Nelly - Don't understand what the text is about, but I like it.
Quite Sane - amazing song - tight, so tight. What vocals!
Zwicker - a killer track! Very groovy. I like the monotonic female vocals. It's like she's falling asleep.
Tyree - headphone music. You need to hear the bass on max.
Patife - a real blend of everything. It's all over the place. A nice surprise with all its twists and an excellent ending to this compilation. Watkiss on vocals, of course.

MP3 sound bite (3.1MB). 20 seconds from each song. Cover shot: bramble. 8/10 pie points.

Don't have much to say. I never played or looked at her two previous albums - did not care for the style on those albums. This new album is surprisingly good though. There are a couple of really nice tracks on here - even some of the ballads are acceptable. Didn't expect that.

It's been a while since I regularly bought music from the Compost label. Maybe it's because it's hard to find their albums - at least I don't run into them that often. They are not exactly on display at your average record store.
Compost used to have some pretty amazing compilation series, like "Future Sounds Of Jazz" and "Glücklich". The Future series started in 1994 and was a nice intro this new kind of jazz for many people.

This compilation of black label 12" is a different story. I wonder if the jazz days at Compost are over? I say this because the black label series is very electronic. It's dark music, and quite inaccessible I think. A sign of a big change at the headquarters in München?

There are some things on the album that I like, like Tricksky, and especially the robot-like sound on the Zwicker track.

1. Made Up - Zwicker 2. 51 Cents - Syrup 3. All Night - Flowerz 4. Hormony - Trickski 5. Child Of Dancer - Lopazz 6. Close Life Off - Goosebumpz 7. Solaris - Minus8 8. Water Samba - Suzuki, Keisuke 9. Erlangen Sud - Kammerl, Julius 10. Crisp Court - Peter, Martin 11. Boogie Beat - Phreek Plus One 12. Kholi Number - Brahmasonic 13. Estrella - Lopazz

I remember this album as being a lot older, but it's from 2002. I think it's because I got some pre-album tracks from the man himself, Anthony Tidd. This was a lot earlier than the album release I guess. Anyway, a couple of computer and hard drive switches later, somehow those demo mp3 tracks were lost. Today I had to buy the album to get those tracks back.

So, Tidd used to have this band in London (Quite Sane), moved to the US in 1996 or so, played bass for Steve Coleman and Meshell N'degiocello, guitar for The Roots, and produced for The Jazzyfatnastees, Erika, Jill, Ursula Rucker, etc. The resumé is not bad...

The sound is still very right, much like New Sector Movements, IG Culture and other broken beat stuff. The best song on the album, "Once as queens" is still a hit with me. Wonderful vocals by Eska - check out the challenging song "Short stories". Only Eska can perform it like this. I find the album surprisingly solid. It's certainly slick, tight and well-produced. 9 out of 10. I'd say it's classic in its genre.

I'm cheating here - I found an old CD-R of mine from 1998 that I think deserves to be put back into rotation. Some songs are even older than that. It's mainly uk soul on this compilation. I'm a sucker for this kind of smooth soul... the best music money can buy.

MP3 sound bite (3.1MB). 20 seconds from each song. Cover shot: old school coffee break, or "fika". 5/10 points.

Just in time for a May compilation. Sadly I havn't bought anything exciting in a long time.

Yonderboi - convincing. Quality stuff. The plain sounding version, a "no-mix".
Cat5 - hyped swedish disco-girl duo. Fun, at least for a while longer.
Lo-Fi Fnk - Swedish electro. Not bad at all.
Phoenix - I did not like the new album as much as the previous two. These two songs I liked though. Up-beat. Nice vocals.
Crazy P - have you ever heard something this good? Happy house. A good opening for any party.
Pet Shop - PSP goes Kraftwerk? Strange. I like the simplified sound and the small gestures, but does it not lack something? Still, I like this move.
Janita - nice DM cover.

MP3 sound bite (3.1MB). 20 seconds from each song. Cover shot: white chocolate cheesecake. 7/10 pie points.

A lot is like on the previous albums - a clear pop music feeling, good vocals, etc. I think the band solved the difficulty of the second album with ease (Alphabetical was just excellent). It was a very direct album, full of good songs.

Maybe this album requires more listening? I don't find it as easy to like. There are some song that still has the same immediate effect, like "Rally". There are not enough of those songs for me I guess.

http://www.wearephoenix.com/

Ok, not really about music as I labelled it, but definitely worth seeing. It's a video of different dance styles over the years. Impressive guy.

Sometimes it's hard to stay focused late friday afternoon at work. To kick-start the weekend we play more upbeat songs in our office. The song that's gets all my votes right now is CrazyP's "Kicks". Check out this short sample - you'll see why.

Some oldschoolers might label this acidjazz, but it's really more classic jazz than acid. Nothing wrong with that. It's in the groove tradition, but not quite as uptempo as JTQ.

The band is Bob Rockwell (sax), Kjeld Lauritzen (hammond) and Esben Bach (drums). Nice in a jazzy, laid-back style. I think they since long time are well-known on the danish jazzscene, meaning they have a solid, professional sound.

For us fans of Ryota Nozaki - two remix compilations with Jazztronik tracks! That's almost too much at once...

The remixes are in a Club/House style. Quite ok, even if it can get a bit dull in the long run. Some excellent remixes, by Reel People, Domu, DJ Mitsu etc. I recommend the original albums, before looking at these remix albums I mean.

Update: ok, so I played the albums at home (instead for at work) and it was a whole different thing, for the better. It was also Valborg here in Uppsala - the biggest party day of the year (not really a pretty sight, we party pretty seriously on this day). I'm not saying that you need to be drunk to appreciate the music, but it didn't make it worse anyway... seriously, it's meant to be played rather loud for an audience that do more than just lounge.

Many aj listees had this compilation on their last 5 cds playlist, so I had to check it out. I like both Drum&Bass and Brazilian music so I don't really know why I didn't do that earlier.

At first I was a bit sceptic, d'n'b is getting older, number 3 in any series is usually a stretch. The first spins confirmed this - I had heard this before. Still, somehow it grows on you. Now I play the 2 cds once a day. The language is beautiful, the groove is fine for programming (keeps the tempo up) and it's a quite varied mix of songs.

Yes, the album box is covered in cloth.

An expensive month this... two compilations per month is not really a good idea. I went a bit nuts on my birthday and ordered way too many CDs. Payback in April I guess.

I'm quite happy with this compilation. Even if the first comp in March was ok, it didn't feel special. This one feels fresher.

Andrea Kellerman is Firefox. Heavy on the electropop, but a nice change in style. Swedish music.
Some highlights from the Feed our soul album, with Incognito remixes. Two of my favourite singers as guests: Ed Motta and Valerie Etienne.
Two live tracks from Gilles' worldwide show. Fat Freddy brilliant as usual.
Changing into this special mix of Samba and Drum'n'Bass, as best heard on the "Sambass" compilations. Arcoiris is here mainly for the bass line. Helen Christina has an amazing voice! Ram Science has a fresh sound that I like.
A finish with four tracks from the Listening Pearls label. The sound is typical for this label. Good to see Yonderboi back. That Quesh track has a groove that really sticks.

MP3 sound bite (3.1MB). 20 seconds from each song. Cover shot: fudge pie. 5/10 pie points.

8 + 7 tracks, double cd. I kinda like this, but then I've always been a fan of Incognito. The remixes lean towards House, but still with a hint of soul. It's not all good, but many tracks are. It's mainly for us collectors of Incognito albums. I think their regular albums are good enough, without the remixes.

The track "Where the levees broke" with Ed Motta is nice and also a bit different. "Waiting 4 the sun 2 shine" with Valierie Etienne, excellent.

13+14 tracks on this double cd. It is a collection of recordings made by some of Peterson's guests on the Worldwide show at Radio1 over the last five years.

I have no idea what to say. Some good performances, some interesting names (of course). Nothing spectacular though. Maybe I expected more? I definitely like the live radio show more.

The web site for this compilation is worth checking out.

I don't know if I managed to find a common thread at all this month. It's all over the place: jazz, soul, house, latin. Worse than ever.

The highlights for me are Lisa Shaw (great album, in a cool sexy? style), Monday Michiru (back in style, a pleasant surprise), some older remixes from the FarOut label (that first Azymuth track, Tudo que voce podia ser, is absolutely great) and a fun oldie sample on the Bob Sinclair remix.

MP3 sound bite (3.1MB). 20 seconds from each song. Cover shot: lemon pie. 7/10 pie points.

She once was a big name in the aj world - remember the fantastic "Hear Between The Silence" with UFO? Then followed a couple of really lame, imo, albums (not all of them though). They lacked that freshness that started her career. The song writing (mainly the lyrics I think) was not quite there. Maybe she didn't do the albums with the right people?

I recently read a review at Dusty Groove, saying "if you were ready to get tired of Monday's sound and style, this isn't the album to do it". I trust Dusty Groove, and do a lot of my shopping there. Today I got the album Routes and it's just like DG says: a warm glowing quality! The vocals are better (more in her range, comfortable range that is), there is a good live feeling, some quite catchy songs. I also like that the sound is a bit harder, touching on funk (although lightly) and groove. I'm impressed.

Tracks to check out: Remember, Be who you are, Touch the sky.

15 + 12 songs in total. Will 'Quantic' Holland is quite productive. The double album collects together the best of his one offs, remixes and b-sides.

Not sure what to think really. B-sides are never a good sign, right? Remixes usually are though. It has its ups and downs. Skalpel's 1958 and Quantic's Perception are the best tracks imo.

Currently available on iTunes only is 'Brazilian Love Affair Remixed' - a digital only collection of classic remixes that have previously only been available on 12" vinyl.

01 Marcos Valle - Para De Fazer (4hero Remix)
02 Marcos Valle - Besteiras De Amor (Jazzanova Remix)
03 Sabrina Malheiros - Maracatueira (Incognito Main Remix)
04 Vertente - Chuva (Seiji's Oreja Remix)
05 Marcos Valle - Parabens (Daz-I-Kue's Bugz In The Attic Dub)
06 Natures Plan feat. Azymuth - Somewhere Beyond (Marc Mac's Dollis House Mix)
07 Azymuth - Ah Voce Nao Sabe (Roc Hunter's Body and Soul Mix)
08 Azymuth - Laranjeros (Flytronix deep deep mix)
09 Friends from Rio - Francisco Cat (APE remix)
10 Grupo Batuque - Battle of the Giants (Roc Hunter's No Comment Mix)

If you should know anything about my taste in music, it's that Brazilian fusion rules! Nobody does it better than Azymuth. A 2 cd thing, with 6 remixes (by 4Hero, Jazzanova etc) on the bonus cd.

Note that it isn't safe for everyone to buy this without first hearing a sample, as some think it's introvert and monotonic music. You'll get over it.

I'm thinking of going to the 24 May gig at the London Jazz Café.

Mattias is most known from the re:jazz albums, or maybe as Motorcitysoul for some. The three vocal tracks on the album are good. I was hoping for more in this style. I'm not so sure about the instrumental piano pieces. Straight up piano-based jazz is not what I normally listen to, and there has to be something special for it to catch my eye. Again, I'm not so sure.

The instrumental "Circle of friends" is nice though. You recognize the sound from the re:jazz project - especially the calm piano. Andreas Manns and Volker Schmidt on bass and drums. Mattias himself on vocals on "Pilot"; not bad at all.

I had my hopes up for this one, maybe too high. I've said this many times before, that in my mind the re:jazz albums are among the best albums ever. Especially true for Point of view.

I didn't know she had an album out. It's out on the excellent Naked Music label, most famous for their smooth mixed compilations. Had I know about this album earlier, it would have made it on my top-10 in 2005 for sure. The album is available from iTunes.

Sometimes it sounds similar to Aya's album Strange Flower - the same laid-back style, the whispering voice, the focus on the very female vocals. Push Button is a great song, with strange sound effects. Always is known from many compilations in this genre. The style reminds me a little of the SOS band.

Maybe I'm the slowest reviewer of all...? Two months late, here's my top-10 from last year. I will cheat with 4 entries: 2 of them came so late in 2004 that all singles and air time was in 2005 (Gwen and Fly); 2 albums are compilations and maybe shouldn't be on a list like this. I put the compilations last because of this.

I will not be as pedantic with the sound clips as last year. Rip, split into clips and merge clips is hard work enough. This year I simply get 20 seconds from two songs from each album, each at 01:30 into the song.

All 10 x 2 songs in one file (4.7 MB)

1. Fat Freddy's drop - Based on a true story

A real band (how unusual). A live sound. Heavy bass. Excellent lead vocals. Cool, laid-back style. Also Gilles' number 1 in 2005. What more do I need to say?
Cay's crays + Ray Ray.

2. Crazy Penis - A night on earth

The best disco money can buy! House, with style and finesse. Just buy!
Music's my life + Sun-science.

3. Gwen Stefani - Love angel music baby

Out in December 2004. So many hits it cannot be ignored. Luxurious is my favourite.
Luxurious + Serious.

4. Incognito - Eleven

I sometimes complain and whine when the ballads get too soft, and the hit feel isn't there. But, fans of aj always return to Incognito. Not always a recipie for good music, but the musicians here are simply the best. Solid stuff.
When tomorrow brings you down + I'll get by.

5. Jazztronik - en:Code and Cannibal Rock

Two excellent albums in one year! Ryota Nozaki delivers. The albums are surprisingly varied - no album sounds like the previous one.
South of the border + Reminisce of joy.

6. Jenny Wilson - Love and youth

Not accessible at first maybe, but quite addictive in the long run. Artsy. Note - "Let my shoes..." is not on the album.
Common around here + Let my shoes lead me forward.

7. Sabrina Malheiros - Equilibria

Sabrina - daughter of Alex from Azymuth, one of my all time favs! Cool, relaxed latin style.
Passa + Capoeira voce.

8. Fly - Fly

Finnish music. Quite jazzy. Satellite is an amazing track!
Skip + Satellite.

9. Another view by jazzanova and Resoul - Secret love 2

Compilation.
Chungking/Making music + Fat Freddy's drop/Del fuego.

10. Jazzanova - The remixes 2002-2005

Compilation. That Nuspirit Helsinki track is the grooviest thing in years. What a club tune.
Heavy/Wonderlove + Nuspirit Helsinki/Honest.

A bit of electronica, at least on the first half.

Jaxx - happy, happy music.
The knife - Their album Silent shout is going to be one of the best album of the year! The Knife is Olof Dreijer and Karin Dreijer Andersson. Is that a 2Unlimited sample on "Neverland"... I can't be?
Tiga - I like Tiga's DJ Kicks compilation more, but this is also good. The DJ Kicks album was even more of a 80s thing. My cup, I guess.
Depeche - sadly the only track on their latest album that works for me. I miss this old DM sound.
Takemura - not very accessible or enjoyable on the first spin. An acquired taste. Quite beautiful though.
Incognito - maybe my favourite track on the album. The album gets better all the time.
Mattafix - excellent track! On heavy rotation right now. I'm not so fond of his voice on the other tracks on the album, but here it's just right.
Stakka (Johan Renck) is now best known for his Madonna videos. This has to be the best song of his career as an artist himself.

MP3 sound bite (3.1MB). 20 seconds from each song. Cover shot with the built-in camera in my mobile phone. Yes, it's a pie in the background...

A bit of disco, heavy on the horn section, outstanding vocals and smooth ballads. The usual stuff. I'm happy with most things, especially the craftsmanship. Carleen Anderson on vocals is a nice touch. That Tony Rémy guy on guitar is wicked. Sadly the songs are not as good as on the previous album Adventures In Black Sunshine. I might be wrong because I like Eleven a little more every time I play it.

It feels good when you find a band or an artist to idolize. It feels even better when that artist keeps on producing albums like crazy. I don't know how many albums Ryota Nozaki put out the last two years but it's a lot.

Valerie Etienne and Robert Gallagher on vocals! Ryota's back to the more electronic sound here. NuJazz I would call it. I like it, even if it's not one of the "great" Jazztronik albums. Sound bites at Juno.

Not so much new stuff on this one. Slow first half, and house ending. Some old classics here.

Jenny Wilson - she did the best Swedish album last year I think.
Lisa Stansfield - good album. It's been a while... some of her older stuff still works.
Incognito - from the new album "Eleven". Real quality, excellent musicians, the best vocals possible. Tony Remy on guitar is fantastic. But, the songs are not as good as on the previous one. Carleen Anderson on one track - I like that.
Sabrina - daughter of Alex from Azymuth, one of my all time favs!
Fly - you'd never guess this is from Finland. Long version, 12 minutes.
And so the house tunes begin...

MP3 sound bite (3.1MB). 20 seconds from each song.

Rounding off the year with some recent albums.

Elza - I like the many new takes on these classics.
Five - they've got many rave reviews, for their direct no-nonsense approach and quite standard jazz setup. Good album.
Ony - my normal cup of electronica.
Slow train - great voice. Big song. Why are not songs like this more known?
Annie - man, this a whack! She's not this good normally... From her DJ Kicks compilation.
Freddy - excellent album! Why did I sleep on that for so long? It got Gilles' vote for the album of the year I think. They sound like a real live band. Authentic, somehow. The sound is surprisingly bass heavy, but you need to play it real loud.
Crazy P - just as good as last year's album. House, but with style and finesse. Just buy! The sample on "Music's my life" makes the whole song.
Magic - no, not magic numbers, that's something else. This is better.
Helsinki & Free design - from Jazzanova's compilation "Remixes 2002-2005". Maybe the best compilation this year? Nuspirit is real club music, extremely groovy.
Akcent - I have no excuse for this. Romanian euro disco, by a boy band...? Don't know what I was thinking.

MP3 sound bite (3.1MB). 20 seconds from each song.

He's very productive, Ryota Nozaki. The albums are surprisingly varied - no album sounds like the previous one. Impressive.

There are some good tracks on here - "Madrugada" and "Reminisce On Joy" are excellent. The style is back to his normal sound; latin flavoured aj. Some tracks sound a bit like Gypsy Kings!

I think I'll write something on all Jazztronik albums some time soon. Maybe even a compilation.

MP3 sound bite (470 kB). 20 seconds from the two songs mentioned above.

A Sonar Kollektiv special this month. Most tracks are from that label. No "liner notes" yet...

MP3 sound bite (3.1MB). 20 seconds from each song.

Watch out for the new album - out December 20th. If it is anything like the single Be without you, then it's going to be her best album ever.

I used to buy a lot of the old compilation on Expansion Records, something like 10 years ago. The compilations (from about that time) Inside and Outside are among the best ever in this genre. Probably really hard to find now?

This brand new compilation was a pleasant surprise - just as good as I remember them. Highly recommended! Especially check out Dana Devine and Maysa.

Note the weird scan pattern in the cover photo - am I using my scanner the wrong way?

This compilation is more on the soul side than usual. I'm really into the UK soul style, smooth and with a focus on the vocals. Not so much r&b.

Players - Swedish soul. An excellent album if you can get it...
Martin/Chrisopher - good take on that song. Like a jazz standard (the song I mean) for the soul genre.
Dana - you can only pull of such a minimal production with quality vocals.
Janet - except for the Rythm Nation album, I never understood her uptempo hits. This kind of slow songs is a completely different thing.
Clara - a remix from her album. Ok. Too uptempo I think.
Hooverphonic - an overdose of hand claps and shuffle sound. Nice.
Maysa - damn this is good! There's something about this kind of happy, upbeat Incognitoesque sound that suits her. Nobody sings like Maysa. Maybe Caron Wheeler did once. Ok, Sarah Anne Webb of D-Influence is even better imo, but it's so long ago we heard anything from her.
Venue - let's not be afraid of instrumental music. Ambient aj.
Audio - sounds a lot like The Streets, no?
Levin - takes a few spins to get used to. A bit quirky. Grows on you.
Jay-Jay - I know... a bit too much pop. Not bad though. The new album, Rush, is quite ok I think. Reminds me of the 80s synth pop.
Kim - more of that 80s sound.
Madness - and a re-take on that same song. Interesting. Didn't listen that much to them back then. Sounds good now though.
Bar-Keys - you should hear this on my CM3 Pro speakers in my office! That bass line is really something.

MP3 sound bite (3.2MB). 20 seconds from each song.

It's not every day you find music labelled acid jazz. The band's web site says "acid jazz lounge music" and it's quite fitting. The band members list many aj bands as influences.

The first track, At the jaffa's, is mellow, in a style that is close to Vibraphonic's. That's pretty good imo. Miles away, jazz guitar heavy, reminds me of the Ronny Jordan sound (on So What). The whole album could sounds like something out on Acid Jazz Records from 1990. It is a bit retro you could say. Well, a lot of stuff on aj records was like that, even when the genre was new...
I tend to like the instrumentals the most, but that's just a matter of personal taste. Did I mention they are from Spain?

Perfect timing! Got my 05.1 sampler delivered just a few hours before the weekend start. This works fine as headphone music. Requirements: headphones that sound good at high volumes; an hour to "vaste"; fresh batteries in your mp3 player; an empty space not to distube people with second-hand beats.

It's completely crap as entertainment in the car - your driving tends to be affected by the uptempo beat. Not adviced. There should be a sticker on the album, warning for improper use in cars.

There are some heavy classics on here: Cops don't like us, Dust (the original mix is the best), Submission, etc. If you already have those, I recommend the Rollers' new mix of drum&bass. It's actually a lot better and fresher. It's also harder and more uptempo. Not music for everyone I guess.

I think there still are sound bites at Juno. The sampler is so cheap (£2.80) there's no need to hesitate.

The September comp came early. I'm on a roll now, spending unhealthy amounts on new albums... some months are like that. To be fair, many tracks are from other compilations.

I'm starting a new series of cover images for my compilations. For those of you that care enough to read my photo blog (not a very good one, I admit) at Flickr, you may have guessed that the theme will be close-ups of pies... We all have our interests in life, right?

Setting the blueberry pie theme with a classic tune. I regard their album Confessions of a pop group to be one of the best albums ever.
I don't think I like the new album by Roisin - it's strange and quirky. This was, sadly, the only song I really liked. Which is surprising, because the thing that makes Roisin interesting is her unpredictable style.
Stonebridge, almost happy house, or should we just call it plain disco? I still like the upbeat style and the vocals. Easy-going stuff. The whole album is like this; a good party album.
Sabrina Malheiros, pretty standard aj+latin. Makes my head nod.
Sound surgeons, nice groove. A trumpet here and there. Thick bass line. Too easy as an concept but I like it anyway.
Katia B, no comment.
Bebel, good flow. Her normal stuff can sometimes be too calm, but when remixed like this I'm all for it. Couldn't be better. 10 out of 10.
Azymuth, again a band that sounds very different when on their own. Normally they play straight up fusion jazz with a latin flavour. This remix has a beat that transforms it to something very different. Must be played loud.
Airlock, almost a dull start with little more than standard drum beats, but with the vocals and constant drumming it still works.
Goldfrapp, included mostly to raise the tempo. Weird synth sounds, in a good way.
Ringleader, could it be more British? Fantastic drum&bass. "You ain't fucking good enough to be that arrogant"!

MP3 sound bite (3.2MB). 20 seconds from each song.

Many online stores raved about this release. The usual sales pitch, I thought... but I was wrong. This is really something! It is not just another latin comp - it is "latin flavoured" tunes, and there is a difference. It is also quite club oriented, beat heavy and definitely danceable. One of the best compilations in a long time!

2 x CD. 24 tracks in total. Sound bites at Juno. With 24 tracks there is a danger of getting a latin overdose but in this case you are safe. The mix is not too complex, rather a (tiny) bit commercial and definitely accessible (even for non latin-heads). An excellent addition to any acidjazz/nujazz record collection.

Drum & bass is not dead yet... It is never as strong as in the hands of these guys. I seriously recommend checking out the compilations on Moving Shadow, if you at all like this kind of uptempo music.The sampler series called "0X.1" (X for each year, since -98 I think) is good value. I wouldn't say it's timeless music, but some of the older comps still work just fine. This album is out on the Roller's own label Intercom.

Look out for the compilation 05.1, out very soon. An E-Z Rollers extravaganza they say!

Omni Trio is another favourite at Moving Shadow.

This is Farout's 100th release. Decent mix of some typical Farout-sounds. Latin groove mostly. As always, Azymuth rules! Joyce is also easy to like.

I wish they instead did a compilation of all the interesting remixes - by Incognito, Jazzanova, etc - and put them on a big fat CD. Back to the "Friends from Rio" style of compilations I say. A matter of taste for sure, but I believe the strongest material from Farout is the remixes. Many songs and artists get a new fresh updated sound from this. It's not a small thing; for me it's a matter of buying or not.

Sadly no more vacation... but a slow start at work gives me time to put together a new compilation. I didn't buy that much music during the summer though so some tracks are a bit older. Still, I think it should be ok. A good start with a nordic lineup for the first three tracks.

Tolstoy - excellent vocals. I wish she did less straight jazz and moved towards the nujazz field. She's getting a bit more cred from being on the re:jazz album.
Markus - good web presence.
Röyksopp - sometimes too much pop, but this is just fine. Complex sound with lots of things going on in the background.
Cleveland Watkiss - great voice! The best (male) voice ever in the nujazz genre? Oh, there's Omar too of course. Cleveland is one of those artists that often is best when doing guest vocals. Like Kelis for example. Here in a mix by Kyoto Jazz Massive. I just love this style. I'm going to play this track to death.
Medina - talking about voices...
Shaheer - at first I really disliked this song, but something happened. Now I think it kind of cool. A bit different, maybe even off-key?
Dutch rythm combo - vocals by Joe Dukie I think. Remix by Sebastian Gaiser. From the excellent compilation "02" on Pulver Records. You'll find the comp at Soul Seduction.
D'Nell - I hope you havn't got tired of this song yet. It has that magic sound of an anthem - just like the best Jill Scott tunes.
Cross - how many covers is it possible to do of this song? Weak start, but the freestyle vocals towards the end is nice. Mad piano solo. Mix by Kyoto Jazz Massive.
Freeman - sounds close to something Incognito could have done, but slightly different. The sound is not at all Incognitoesque, not that polished or studio-like. I like it this way; almost like a live recording in it's simplicity.
Pleasure - typical jpop style. Almost too much.
dZihan & Kamien - good flow and a quite jazzy feeling. I didn't expect their album to be so jazzy.
Tosca - reminds me of the early Vienna sound - deep, slow-moving bass and plenty of echo. Hey, where is all that smoke coming from...?
EZ Rollers - it's always full speed ahead with the Rollers... they really are the videogame music masters! The bass that kicks in about 01:30 is really something. Play it loud or you'll miss the point.

MP3 sound bite (3.2MB). 20 seconds from each song.

I'm really loosing it... I used to be able to do one compilation per month, but now it's been ages since the last effort. Sorry about that. I guess it will not really improve during summer.

A slow start with a 80s cover. And I don't mean ML Gore.
More smooth sounds from Micatone, of Berlin. The new album Nomad Songs is not quite as immediate as the previous Is you is. I think I liked the old style more. This song is cool tough. Relaxed style.
Beanfield is from 2004, a great tune.
A bit of the good old Jazztronik sound. Quite a lot of his music is more experimental now - is he going down the same (too) complex path as Nobukazu Takemura did? I hope not.
Why I put Annie on here? Go watch a video...
I like the vocals of Jake Shears. Secure and stable.
Again stable vocals. The new album with JK and the guys is surprisingly good.
Stereophonics - just checking to see if you are awake?
dZihan & Kamien brings us back to my normal style of music. The end of this comp is pretty strong and heavy imo.
Thick'n rich - not very nice to say perhaps but why not? The whole album is good and definitely worth checking out. Quite a mix of different styles too.
I just have to mention the cd cover of Tosca - it's made of leather... Valerie Etienne on vocals - time for an album on her own?
I've said this so many times it's getting boring, but we need more of Clara Hill.
A fantastic voyage into sound and space with Kosma! A few amazing tracks on the album. Fantastic cover and package too. Downtempo and quite abstract at times. Not very easy or accessible though. Not for beginners.

MP3 sound bite (3.2MB). 20 seconds from each song.

I've mentioned this before, that someone should make a dynamic map of music. music-map looks really impressive!

It could be a good tool to find new music, stuff that you normally wouldn't find.

I'm not normally into Evans' kind of r&b but this is ok. I like my music more on the uk soul side; this leans towards an US style of r&b and hiphop (of course, why wouldn't it?). The singing is soulish, the beat is hiphop. Compared to her previous albums this is a lot more soul though. Is this what the title "The first lady" says? A reference to Ella? Aretha?

"Until you came" is a nice piece of retro-soul, very convincing and with a nice flow. I enjoy the small surprises, like the funk beat on "Lucky day", and the Incognitoesque "I don't need it"; close to something Maysa would/could have done.

I only list and write about albums and music I like, even if I also sometimes complain... To me this album is a step in a direction that I like, away from the hiphop image. Her next album could be even better.

I bought this on AmazonUK just because it was so cheap (£3) and because I used to like Mica a lot. I even saw her once in a musical in West End, quite ok I remember. She replaced Chaka Khan in that musical - not that easy, or even wise.

Anyway, when I first got to this compilation I thought it was terrible. It sounds so dated, so old and even flat. I now tried it again, and it's a lot better. You just have to play it loud enough to make it work. Some songs though are completely impossible, like "Like dreamers do". The production is laughable. "Just make me the one" also is hard to like. It's mainly the keyboard sound that is so different from today's style.
On the other hand, there are also great songs like "Love keeps coming back", "More love", "Who can we blame" and "I never felt like this before" that still sound fresh. Fantastic and classic song that "I never...". I've been humming it all day now...

Slick. Too much production work. A bit predictable. But, it's up there with her previous albums. It's so easy to complain, but she is still (again) the clear leader in this genre. I don't see much competion - Mary J, Kelis, Ashanti are all ok but lack that flow and heavyweight punch. Maybe Janet... but I don't think so. Well ok, Janet on a good day then.

I don't care much for the single, but the soul ballads are fine. The lower (tempo) the better is the rule here. Circles and Fly like a bird are just excellent. I'm quite happy about most of the album and it's been on heavy rotation in my player.

The worst thing about this album and the whole comeback is the strange and fake emancipation talk, the glossy image and bizarre objectification. Finding a "normal" photo was not exactly easy - it's all bikini shots, or spreads on a sofa.

A ToDo list for the day when I will rule the world: make Mariah only record live gospel albums, fire and send back her photographer to Hustler, and - oh, I almost forgot - bring world peace.

I'm not sure what to think about Beck's new album. Dust brothers-produced and influenced by hiphop, but it's still in the "drowsy talking-blues" style we heard before. Que Onda Guero is the most funked up song, with a slow beat matching Beck's rap. I guess it's ok, but it will not make me a Beck fan.
It's pretty amazing though - he's got cred in genres ranging from blues to nujazz (see the photo below).

Gilles to Beck: I give you my nujazz blessing. It's worldwide.

Review of Guero at Pitchfork.

It's been a while since my last compilation. Been busy, bought stuff that didn't fit into this context and then been lazy...

A slow start with soul feeling. I've almost played that Megablast track to death.
Strong vocals - to say the least - from Hoist, and then Avani and friends. A bit of a "Loose Ends" feeling on the Avani track.
I like everything with Clara Hill. She can do no wrong.
Same goes for Aya (on Blue Six). It's her on the cover btw.
A bit off for Trüby I think. Only so-so, but still works.
KestWest, really impressive stuff.
The TikiTiki album is wacky. A cover of "Eternal flame" and "Midnight at the oasis"? All done in a tropical swing style. Didn't see that coming.
The stongest possible finish - with 11 minutes of Jazztronik. This is the normal Jazztronik sound.

MP3 sound bite (2.9MB). 20 seconds from each song (track 6 cut short).

This is Dego & Kaidi Tatham in disguise (sort of) - with such a typical sound they are hardly fooling anyone. The sound is a lot like on the DKD album "Future rage". It broken beat, quirky jazz, slightly atonal, and verse-heavy. I don't quite get why it is so different from what they do normally, with 4Hero and New Sector Movement. Silhouette brown is really a challenge, not exactly aimed at hit radio charts. I guess the guys try to take new ideas further, and mix it up with influences from modern jazz and fusion (something like Herbie Hancock's experiments).

Maybe this will be one of those albums that will sound great in a year or two. Maybe it is a question of giving it a number of spins before it sinks in? I find the two last tracks, "Moday's comin" and "Just a little more" the best; slow ballads and less quirkyness.
BTW, really good vocals by Deborah Jordan with Bembe Segue.

Ether records

I browsed through amazon's (uk that is) bargin bin, and found plenty of good CDs. JTQ's "Collection" was one of them.

It nice to hear this early acidjazzer again. Quite many years ago I saw Swedish funksters Blacknuss Allstars play the set right before JTQ on a festival and it turned out to be quite embarrassing for the Allstars - JTQ played in a league of their own (I'm being kind now).

This kind of music requires a certain surrounding to be enjoyable. There's something about that Hammond organ sound that just don't work in elevators, ipods or malls. I think this music works in all places where you can hold a gin and tonic while listening.

JTQ home

I've spun the album a few times here at work, but actually listened more to their Winter Music Conference 2004 Sampler. Tracks from that sampler can be found on the net (the band says!). I do prefer the sampler. Look for the tracks "One 3 Five Funk", "Se Fue (f. Ester Godinez)", "Seed (f. Rajiah)", "Souvenir (f. Steven Ekoka)" and "Otokoyama".

We know there is a certain type of music that goes well with other musicians - like Pat Metheny, Level42, etc (I suddenly cannot come up with better examples. Sorry). You know when you hear some albums, this would go well with your friends that play music for a living. I'm not sure what makes it so, but again I get this feeling. Sometimes that's not a good sign, as it could mean the songs are crap but well performed... not so here. Some of the songs remind me of the fusion sound of Pat Metheny (a good thing I say - I know we don't all agree on that), the quick turns on some old BNH instrumentals, the broken breats of 2bo4, the jazz sound of Quite Sane and funk a la Light of the world. It's quite funky with a focus on bass. Should suit any modern acidjazzer.

A funny thing: Amazon lists Aya's Strange Flower as a recommendation when you look at Keston and Westdal. I don't see the connection at all, but somehow it is correct. It can be really amazing this kind of smart agent technology.

Band site

I'm quite fond of compilations - often good value for money and, as a bonus, you discover new artists for further exploration. This compilation is in the trusted series of Barely Breaking Even records. The style is more on proven quality songs than on groundbreaking stuff. Fine I say.

It's a 2CD thingy, with 22 tracks. Not really on the cutting edge, but it's anyway nice to get a solid collection of dancefloor tunes. I especially like Georg Levin & Clara Hill, Sunburst band, Jazztronic's Samurai and Tiga.

Barely Breaking Even

Warning! There's no acidjazz to be found here. Not a bit.

Our next album? It going to be about two guys that experience an exceptionally bad hair-day.

I think the previous album Deloused in the comatorium was absolutely brilliant. This is almost just as good. Deloused was more immediate, slightly more melodic.

I don't fully understand the music or whatever the album is about, but there is undeniable quality hiding in this display of "dinosaur prog". This is music that grows on you when you know more about the story behind the album. There's some information on that at the band homepage. The band doesn't like the idea of being a concept album band, but at the same time they say it is impossible not to be one.

There are many things to like here. I like the melody-driven sound, the high-pitched voices, the complex mix of genres and the technical proficiency. This in combination with a large pompous sound and the energy of punk results in a fantastic overstuffed album.

Very short sound bite: Multiple spouse wounds. [13 sec, 160 kB]

There's a long review of the album at Pitchfork. Their comment on the 30-minute track "Cassandra Gemini":
"Smoke a bowl first if you need to, but nothing short of opium will convince me that there aren't more productive ways to spend 30 minutes trying to fell a redwood with a plastic spoon than listening to this beast."

Many interesting tracks on this collection of twelve remixes. The bonus CD has another fourteen tracks. Most tracks sound more electronic than expected - it's more Club than Lounge. It's good (as expected) but I find it difficult to listen to it as a normal album, from start to finish. I prefer to put the tracks into a more mixed and varied playlist.

Why waste good money on a photographer when you
can shoot promo pictures with elevator surveillance cams?

If you have real good speakers you will get some extreme deep bass, especially on Make a move (Guillaum Boulard remix). People at my office wondered what was going on... a bit like that old 12" by Baby Ford-Ouchy Koochy.

Out on Compost Records.

There used to be a swedish TV show called "Anders and Måns". Sometimes bad, but most of the time really fun. Their best show ever was the one about the Cash Card - an embarrassing attempt by Swedish banks to get into the wallets of all Swedes. This monumental failure was covered by Anders and Måns in the form of a musical. The lead role was perfored by Swedish soul singer Stephen Simmonds.

See Stephen sing and praise the cash card [1 minute/9 MB]. I have this entire 30 minute TV show as MPEG, but it's probably not a good idea to publish it here...

I hope the old TV site will stay up. Completely useless if you can't read Swedish. It now seems the site is also useless for all of us - I cannot view the show (avsnitt 6) anymore.

Blue Six is the alias of producer and Naked Music co-founder Jay Denes. This is house music, but quite elegant and laid-back. Lots of soul influences and sweet vocals.

Sweeter love is really nice. Solid stuff. Just buy!

As seen on Slashdot: Google has taken 20 years of Usenet posts (yes, all 800 millon of them) and made them available (this was done in 2001 I think). Look at their Usenet Timeline for some nice pointers to modern history.

Of course, I must mention one particular acid jazz-related post, from 1994. Hey, it's been more than 10 years now!

I'm trying to set a new standard here. I just hate it when I read someone's interesting list of favourite music, and I have no idea of what the artist or album sounds like. Given that so many people (especially music journalists) try to show off and only list rare, obscure albums it gets even worse. The hardest thing is when gurus like Gilles Peterson list their white labels or unique, limited DJ pressings... Heaps of money or weeks online digging though obscure music sites will not help you then. I want to hear the music! My listing is no way near "rare", but I still think sound bites will improve usability.

I've captured 30 seconds from two songs from each album. I've tried to (manually) get the best 30 seconds from each song; I probably will never do that again - it was really, really boring work. I have an idea and a draft design for an interactive tool to do just that. It would speed up the process by a factor 10 I'm sure. I hope to get some free time in a few months to implement this.
All the below sound bites in one single file. [7 MB, 10 minutes]

1. Aya - Strange Flower

Looking for the sun + Sean.
Soul at its best - why aren't there more albums in this cool style? Amazing debut album.

2. re:jazz - Point of view

Push Push + That night
The experiment of re-working dance music to jazz continues. This is the best take so far. There's some real talent here, which is not always the case, right?

3. Incognito - Adventures In Black Sunshine

The principles of love + Mindin my business
The heavyweight champions in the aj genre are back. Strong material, the best vocals you can get, and funkier than ever.

4. Crazy Penis - 24 Hour Psychedelic Freakout

13th movement + Summer song
Disco, but done with finesse. Really, check this out. There's an elegant touch to the production, the way funk and disco is blended into this sound that somehow feels very new.

5. Âme - Âme

Sun sugar + Shiro
A blend of two opposites: soul and electronica. About 90% electronica.

6. Clara Hill - Restless Times

Maybe now + Silent distance
Soul girl meets 2/6 of Jazzanova. Being responsible for the song No Use (see Jazzanova's "In between" album) automatically gets her extra credit - an aj anthem in my mind.

7. Erlend Øye - DJ Kicks

Poor Leno + Always on my mind
A compilation/mix album but since Erlend is on almost all tracks, adding vocals, I still count this one. Weird vocals I have to say. Quite atonal. Very addictive.

8. Phoenix - Alphabetical

Everything is everything + Run run run
We need more of french pop/electronica. This is probably as good as it gets.

9. Lizz Fields - By day by night

I gotta go + Star gazer
A crystal clear voice and nice production.

10. Zero 7 - When it falls

Home + When it falls
Beatless, sleepy, moody music - in slow motion - for rainy days. It hardly moves at all.

Making a new compilation in a hurry, for the long Christmas travels. Mostly mixes by the Bugz plus some oldies.

Stereophonics, don't really know why I like this. Not exactly my cup of tea. I saw a unplugged session with them recorded at Hultsfred (a big Swedish music festival held each summer) that was really impressive. I guess that left a mark.
Opaz, hasn't it been a long time since they put something out? Or have I missed something?
Aya, still far from the potential. Better remixers, please. So far the album versions are way better than the remixes.
Safari, Swedish... electro, I guess you should call it.
Bugz, great tune!
Lisa, I wish she did more songs like this (a bit more on the rock side). We don't need yet another cute singer-songwriter writing ballads. There's a re-release of her first (self-titled) album out - 19 tracks including some new material. A very nice album.

MP3 sound bite (3.5MB). 20 seconds from each song.

Quite nice compilation if I may say so myself. There are some really strong songs here, and a finish with a couple of select Christmas songs.

The two first tracks again from the latest re:jazz project album Point of view. Truly an excellent album. I never understood how Tolstoy got signed by Blue Note, but this is convincing. Don't get me wrong, I like her, but the Blue Note...?
Lizz's voice cuts through the noice. Crystal clear. Weird production though - there are a lot of strange background sounds way back in the mix. You hear them when listening in headphones.
A track from Lewis Taylor's The lost album. Many of the songs are from older albums, but the production has changed. For the better I think.
Dharma, is it Weekend with "brandy", or "Brandy"? It does make a difference... I say both.
Micatone, two really good tracks. I think I've heard a remix of Sit beside me somewhere.... I cannot find it now though. Anyone?
Âme, interesting electronica from south Germany. The whole album is good, if you are into this style. Brilliant tune.
Gwen, what a track! I was pleasantly surprised by the album. It is nothing like I expected, but with names like Dre, Hooper, Neptunes, Austin, Jam & Lewis, you understand there is some quality stuff here. I like her voice a lot.
Christmas section: bringing it down in tempo now. A nice oldie by one of the best voices in the UK, then some lighter but still good classics. Karen Carpenter did this kind of songs well. Finishing off with a locally well-known Swedish band. Hilarious if you are Swedish and know the the guys playing.

MP3 sound bite (3.5MB). 20 seconds from each song.

There's quite a change going on here. It doesn't sound much like his first albums, even if some of the songs actually are the same...
The production is what changed the most, it's way better and different. When I compare with some of the older albums, they almost sound like recorded on a porta studio. At the same time I miss some of the rough indie style he used to have.

Some are sure this is a rock album, and comparisons to Brian Wilson's "Smile" have been made. I'm not so sure even if there are plenty of 70s rock influences and that "creamy multi-layered vocal choirs" he always uses.
There is a piece of everything here: rock, soul, funk, film music, black music, white music (not sure what I mean by that really), etc. It's like he's showing us he really can do them all.

www.lewistaylormusic.com

Again a month with two compilations. Buying new albums at this rate is will soon damage my economy... A lot of new tunes from the Sonar and INFRACom labels.

Starting off with calm and jazzy tunes from the re-jazz project project. The two first tracks are really nice. Straight up jazz.
Fertile - not as good as their previous albums. I'm a bit worried actually; will they find their way back to the sound on "Seasons change"? That album was exceptional, a future classic, so it will not be easy I guess.
Micatone - a bit like old school aj I think. Double bass and good vocals.
DJ Ghe - very short track, with that sound Gilles likes.
Kabuki - Watkiss on vocals doing his usual thing, works just fine. He even uses old lyrics from the Project 23 days...
Nils - yes, it is an ABBA tune.
Players - Swedish soul. The best soul ever recorded here? The whole album is good. Can be hard to find though.
Badu - the bass line is fantastic.
Âme - hard and inaccessible at first, but it gets better after a few spins. It's worth checking out the album.
Nuspirit - Azymuth rules! Hammond is king.

MP3 sound bite (3.5MB). 20 seconds from each song. (except track 8)

It's must now be obvious that I've been shopping at Sonar Kollektiv lately. Went a bit crazy last week because of their low prices and bought a bit too much at once... high or low prices, you tend to spend the same amount of money anyway.
Now, the album by this Berlin singer was a bit surprising. Her vocals are sweet and mellow, but the overall production is electronical and leaning lots towards a harder Jazzanova sound. I kind of like that blend, it keeps it from going too laid-back. Just about right.

www.clarahill.com

Electronica from Karlsruhe, Germany, out on the excellent Sonar Kollektiv label. Kristian Beyer and Frank Wiedemann form the duo with this strange name. The style? Something like deep house, with a hint of soul (not sound-wise, more of a feeling). Quite enjoyable in it's strict electronica suit, complex sound and slight industrial touch. Or is it the nearby autobahn A5 we hear?

Band page

I got the CD just a few hours ago, so I have not listened enough to write a full review yet. It is more than promising though. I like the whole re:jazz project. This is in a style I really like: good original material, re-makes that are on the jazzy side, excellent performers. Now, that last bit is an understatement. Here you'll find Jhelisa, Ultra Naté, Nils Petter Molvaer, Viktoria Tolstoy, etc. The lineup is strong indeed.

The original songs are from Soul II Soul, Air, Jazzanova, UFO, Kruder & Dorfmeister etc. There's no way you can go wrong with material like that...

Not much new or exciting this month... not very consistent either. It's all over the place, from r&b to disco to broken beat. This compilation is made for my own needs - there are a couple of songs here that I must hear daily, at least for another week or two.

I'd forgot just how good the Quite Sane album is. It's tight, has excellent vocals and nice breaks. The track "Once as queens" on the same album is absolutely fantastic. This track is only fantastic.
The heavies' album hasn't got a real killer single, but this is alright. This is the good old bnh.
A soul trio: Hicks out first. I wish she did more. She seems talented and she has the voice/looks but the albums are few and not always on top. Simmonds is probably the best swedish soul artist right now. I cannot get enough of Aya. There's a remix of the next single "Sean" out soon. I'm hoping the mixes will bring more than this one (a bit lame, isn't it?).
I need more Kelis. More.
One strange Taylor song. Here he's almost... like, happy?
"No return" is from the unreleased Propaganda album. The rough mixes you can find of the album (or whatever that is) shows it was not quite ready. Maybe it all was for the best, the way it turned out with the band. Good song though. "Cloud 9" was also on that to be released album but is a lot better in this pop style.
I don't remember where I first heard this Alliance Ethnik song (probably on broke n'beat radio) and I loved the version they played. This is the album version, not as good as the one I heard on radio. It has a sample of the disco classic "Come into my life" (included for reference).
Never been a No Doubt fan at all. Gwen is alright though. She's definitely got that star quality that makes some artists really shine.

MP3 sound bite (3.5MB). 20 seconds from each song.

This is music in the not-so-big genre "Swedish soul". Simmonds is most known for the song "Tears never dry" from 1997. Excellent song btw. He's done a couple of albums since then but they have (imo) been weak and lacking in the song writing. They contained mostly soul clichés and wailing with no obvious purpose.

Now, I think the production and writing is a lot better. Track 8, "Louder", is alright. Not bad at all as an album.

www.stephensimmonds.com

As the album title says - it's definitely about the funk. A lot more funk than ever before on a BNH album I think. It's more like they sound live. As can be expected with the heavies there's a lot of those tight breaks and quick turns. Nice. The first track, also the single, "Boogie", is surprisingly bland though. There are many better songs on the album. All in all, good to see they are on the right track again. The new singer Nicole Russo fits in well. And nice to hear Kincaid sing too!

Web sites that automatically play music is so annoying. Who, except complete net newbies think this is a good idea? Don't believe me? Check out the heavies' looser site. You cannot even turn off the sound on the page. Terrible.

I have this idea for an online campaign against web pages with sound. Just to show how bad it is, on one entire day, all participating web pages would play sound bites automatically, as loud as possible, with someone shouting "Porn! Porn! I'm surfing for porn!" or "Thank you for your viagra order!" no matter what the content is. Ok, this has nothing to do with the heavies album so I think I'll go home now...

A new album from one of the great voices of Incognito should be exciting news, but I'm not so sure... isn't this too smooth? It lacks an edge. It feels very much like something filed under adult contemporary - not really what you are looking for in an artist like Maysa Leak. It should be more r&b or more on the club side imo. Even if the album is full of good soul I don't think it is challenging enough.

Her first album "Maysa", and "All my life" are way better as solo projects. I still listen quite a lot to All my life.

Check out some of the old videos at her own site to see what I'm talking about. For example, try "Still a friend of mine" or "What about our love" - they are so stunning you cannot even compare them to this album.

I'd like to see Ray Hayden (Opaz) come in and bring some order. While I'm at it, Ray, hire a web designer... please.

Wal-Mart is playing hardball with the record labels. This is good news. We definitely need lower prices on music, no matter what the labels say. In Sweden the situation is a lot worse - a "cheap" CD is about $20, a more common price is $24! The always increasing album prices are excused with reference to other things also getting more expensive. Of course other things are getting more expensive - everyone needs to make more money to be able to afford the insane costs of new music CDs...

Wal-Mart Wants $10 CDs

Still no sign of iTunes Store here. I predict a total collapse of the record shop business once iTunes will hit Sweden. The shops tell us they don't make a lot money with the prices they charge today. If iTunes will sell CDs for €10 I cannot see what will keep the shops going. So, I guess 2004 was the last year one could still find a record shop in Sweden.

I miss the sound of the band Propaganda. They had a special approach to electronica (dark pop, charismatic lead singer(s), strange lyrics, blended with the 80s synth sound) that is hard to find in any other band. Depeche Mode also had this special sound - before they started using drums and guitars mind you. Anyways, I read that there's going to be a concert, "Produced By Trevor Horn", on November 11th at Wembley Arena, London, in aid of the Prince's Trust. Bands to appear include Yes, ABC, Simple Minds, Belle and Sebastian, Seal, Lisa Stansfield, and the Pet Shop Boys. Propaganda will unite for this evening, and Claudia Brücken will be singing! Should be an ok concert to say the least.

More on the same topic: Claudia and former OMD member Paul Humphreys have formed a new band, Onetwo. Should be pretty interesting. The label site has some nice and fun reading - although with a tiny, tiny font that makes it really difficult to read. Am I getting old or what...?

There's also an interview with Onetwo in remembertheeighties.com.

Two major bands in the aj world are about to release new albums. Pre-order now!

"All About the Funk" - The Brand New Heavies. Should be out 18th of Oct.

"Brazilian soul" - Azymuth. Also out in mid-Oct. This is going to be massive according to rumors online. Of course it will be.

I saw Phoenix live here in Uppsala yesterday. Quite good, sounded a lot like on album. Because of this it was not exciting (in terms of new interpretations or so), but still very enjoyable. Lots of hits and good tempo throughout the whole concert.

Thomas Mars on vocals was very secure. Good voice. Nice, long version of "Everything is everything" also. They even tried an acoustic version of Everything as an encore, but that didn't really work.
The live sound was more guitar heavy compared to the album production.

More at wearephoenix.com

Yet another comp in September! I'm fast... I looked in my archives and this is the result - some new, some old.

Weller: being a fan of both Style Council and Carpenters it's hard to pass on this.
Blige: nice to hear her sing like this. No wailing here. It's her on the cover.
Bob Hund: they don't usually sound like this. They are more of a hard working rock band.
Incognito: the last minute and a half of this song is amazing.
Pat Metheny Group: this band easily match the skills of Incognito. This shows their strange style, with a mix of jazz, fusion, something close to muzak, and a hint of (almost) broken beat.
Mondo grosso: they never hold back, do they... full speed ahead.

MP3 sound bite (4 MB). 20 seconds from each song.

Some say this album displays Bluey's inspiriation and roots, from the 70s. I don't really see that. To me this is the old proven Incognito formula - complete with the second (or third?) return of Maysa Leak. It is business as usual I would say. Ok, the house and club sound from the Talkin' Loud years is completely gone, but that's alright with me. Sadly, the band might need those kinds of songs to sell. I don't see regular commercial radio or MTV playing this album. There's no "Always there" or "Don't You Worry 'Bout a Thing" here.

The album is surprisingly groovy - many of the instrumental tracks have the feeling of studio jam sessions. There's quite a lot of horns and bass. Tracks 7-8 minutes long also show something different is going on. This is not your average 3 minute pop song. "Minding my business", 8.13 long, just keeps rolling on. Absolutely massive.

When it comes to musicianship Incognito is second to none. I liked the guest appearance of Ed Motta (not only talented, but also a nice guy) on the "Who needs love" album, but nothing beats Maysa on vocals - this is the way the band was meant to sound.
When listening to the album I cannot help thinking this is quite different from most other bands or albums. Just as with some exclusive product you sense the quality in every detail. I get this overwhelming quality feeling when playing this.

Some sound bites at the Narada Label. Not the best label site I've seen... and where's that Incognito site gone? The Narada label seems to be the home of some interesting music though. A belly-dance compilation anyone? Ramsey Lewis is here. Flora Purim and Airto Moreira also.

I know, I've been sleeping on this... in my defense I've ordered it twice from my on-line store, and both times it got lost in the mail! It has to be one of the most expensive albums I've bought lately. Enough about that - I just loved that first [re:jazz] album, and the whole idea behind the project. That first project featured acoustic jazz interpretations of electronic music, that have appeared on the INFRACom label within the last ten years. It was, IMO, a double success: the original selection was very strong and all songs were justly interpreted.

This album is, of course, a remix album. The acoustic jazz compositions of the first album have now been translated back into electronica. It is confusing, is this still jazz, or are we now back to the original songs that formed the base for the [re:jazz] project? It's a bit like using babelfish to translate a sentence back and forth a couple of times, while observing the generation of new meaning (or distortion) to the text. "Jazz not jazz" as INFRACom calls it.

Strange album ideas aside, this is a good album. Many of our acidjazz heros take the originals a lot further. The range is broad, from dub to straight up electronica. Fantastic remix work by my long time favourite Jazztronik!

INFRACom label

The September compilation is ready. Watch out for some lightweight commercial pop music on this one. You have been warned.

Notes:
That Arkestra One album "Skydiving" is quite good, in an album kind of way. No big hits, just good music.
Faze Action, as expected. Shiny. Solid. Buy that "Broad Souls" album!
The Crazy Penis album is fantastic. There are many things to say about that album, but with a band name like that it's better not to - anything you say will end up as a joke, or worse.
A nice track by Madonna. Definitely the old school Madonna.
Emma's album is... not good (I'm holding back here). This is the only decent track. I like this style though. My guess is I may not like this in a week or two.
Raymond & Maria, well, you must understand Swedish in order to get what's so special about this.
Finally, cleaning up. Prodigy wipes out any sweet aftertaste. Like brushing your teeth really long and hard. Refreshing. I think I can see clearer now.

MP3 sound bite (5 MB). 20 seconds from each song.

The The Wicked Is Music album was good. The new 24 Hour Psychedelic Freakout is even better. Funky house, and a bit of soul and disco thrown in. Excellent vocals. Very much dance floor music by these DJs from Nottingham. I especially like the bass line (bouncy, with a hint of old school funk) and the simple straight production. Not unlike the Heavies once sounded.

The album is a collection of new tracks and CP remixes.

Shiva Recordings

I didn't exactly plan it, so I guess I'm lucky in that I've saved (more like being lazy and not throwing them away) almost all of my old mix tapes - my own production and especially the ones friends recorded. Even if the music can be pretty outdated it is still nice to have documented the music I listened to back in the vinyl years.

Mix tapes took absolutely forever to produce, at least a couple of hours per tape. Sometimes it took a whole day, because you felt you had to go through all of your 12" to find just the right ones! With CD-Rs and mp3s the production is a bit faster but actually not that much. The first copy still takes at least an hour or two: you have to find the right set of songs, maybe start with an overall theme for the whole compilation, arranging the songs in the right order and to write some liner notes... maybe do a proper cover too.
Ok, not all of my compilations get this thorough treatment.

Here's my "olympic" comp, with a cover image from Athens.
MP3 sound bite (5 MB). 20 seconds from each song.

I'm still to decide if I think the move from producer Rodney Jerkins to Timbaland was a good idea or not. The sound and beats are different, at least for a fan's sensitive ears, but there are signs of this being a move in the right direction. The somewhat harder beats and less electro-pop for example (even if I loved the previous album Full Moon).

Her cool voice is still the same; in my mind one of the best voices in the r&b genre. There's a hint of scratchiness to it now - a trace of the things happening in her life lately? I think she does those dark, downbeat songs a lot better than anything else. I guess this simply is a sign she's not a teen anymore?

I like the album even if there are a couple of really weak songs towards the end. At first, I was worried that with someone like Timbaland there would be too much of eccentric effects and hip-hop inspired beats, but it is quite the opposite. The slow songs are weaker and this was never the case before.
Ten out of ten for style and voice, but minus several million for the filler songs... ;-)

Sweet...! It's been a while (the debut of Adriana Evans?) since I've heard someone this good. Amazingly good debut album by this London-born singer. Sounds a bit like Sade maybe, perhaps leaning towards pop? UK soul maybe?

It's a very stripped-down, soulful production. The material is surprisingly strong. Naked Music strikes again.

The second release from the Berlin duo. Typical new german electropop, warm and mellow (actually, yes...). I like this style a lot. Maybe it's because they are on the Mole label. Almost everything on Mole is good - they have a very special distinctive style and sound. Quite often experimental and bizarre.

More at the label site.

This is great stuff! It's more of that french pop/electronica that the band Air is the most famous for. This is Phoenix's 2nd album. The first, United, is also very good and a safe buy.

"Alphabetical" is maybe even better, slightly more up-to-date in sound (where United was just basic and plain) and a bit faster in tempo which I think suits the genre better.

A must have I think. The first 2 tracks, "Everything is everything" and "Run run run" are very catchy.

Still haven't played it enough be able to say something proper, but I think it sounds a lot like their Simple Things album (which probably is a good thing, right?).

"The space between" is excellent, calm and mellow. Very much what Zero 7 is to me. Simple, slow flowing, plenty of strings, downbeat electronica and almost whispering singing voices. "Look up" even better. Slight hint of 70s movie tunes.

A safe buy. Band homepage

Essential, important stuff imho. Not as much broken beat as they used to be. The sound is the same though more jazzy, in the way we say jazz here on the list. Slow thoughtful jazz. Nice vocals and a solid 'album' feeling. I could buy the album for Valerie Etienne's vocals alone. I miss Galliano (the band).

Band homepage

Electronica from Norway. The amateur album is maybe a bit better. They sound, almost exactly, like Red Snapper. Twisted, fast instrumental jazz with double bass. Somehow all their songs sound new and fresh.

Band homepage

Not quite sure what to think about this one... I just loved the Inner flight album (which is absolutely essential for any acidjazz:er), but this is a step in an another direction - this is more club jazz than before. I like the female lead vocals on most tracks, but the music is what makes me hesitate. I cannot help thinking of the transformation DJ Takemura went through - from light accessible (almost j-pop) tunes to very experimental introvert and sound-oriented electronica. There is not such a big change here, but there is a definite change going on.

I think my conclusion is that it's nice with music with a challenge... after all, I listen quite a bit to this album even if I'm actually not sure I like it.

Track 12, Andromeda, is a very nice song, beautiful and the vocals are solid. Worth checking out.

Quite a surprise - uptempo heavy beats all the way through the album. This is not really the MG I know from MG4 or previous work.

I like this change a lot. To me this is Grosso's best album so far! The sound is more pop than before and there are plenty of guest vocals. Almost a bit like brit-pop at times...

This band has become a personal favourite. It is absolutely neccessary to have at least one album by this group! The band is bound to become huge, although almost completely unknown to the public right now.

I recommend starting with their 2002 album Seasons Change. That album makes it on my best-20-albums-ever list. This remix album is for us that need a new "fix" of Fertile Ground. The remixes are good but not worth starting out with. It doesn't stick out enough I guess? Band homepage

Every new D-I album is a major event in my little world.

This doesn't feel as solid or whole as a normal album; it more like a collection of singles, all with different lead vocals. A lot of the songs are in the old school d-i style, and you can't go that wrong with singers like Dee C. Lee, Deed and Shola Ama.